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I gave her a look.
She laughed, sitting down.
I sat across from her.
She leaned forward. “I told you before that Macon Rice always has a girl?” She had, and she kept on. “He does, and that annoys most guys—not your cousins, not Scout or Cohen. Those guys are the top and generally not in competition with Macon. He crossed paths against Cohen a while back when Macon started dating Cohen’s little sister. Issue was that Macon is a senior and Cohen’s sister is a freshman. They had words with him, i.e., I think they threatened him and by they, I don’t really know who. I’m guessing Cohen, you know? Anyway, Macon ended things, until last Friday. I guess he and Amalia are back on. There was a party, and they were talking. People saw, and everyone flipped out. At least, that’s what I’m assuming the fight was about yesterday.”
“Why’s Scout Raiden so invested?”
She’d been cutting her apple, and paused. “What do you mean?”
If it were just Raiden, I’d tell her in a heartbeat, but Clint might be involved as well. I shrugged. “He was in the fight yesterday, but he wasn’t in the fight. That’s all.”
“Oh.” She continued cutting her apple. “He’s loyal to Cohen and your cousins. I’m sure that’ll extend to you now, since, you know, family.”
Right.
That made me uncomfortable.
We sat and ate as Gem filled me in on the rest of the school’s hierarchy, including the popular girls. We were nearing the end of lunch when I realized my cousins hadn’t checked on me. They hadn’t texted or called, and they hadn’t found me at lunch.
Which meant . . . Crap.
I was eating a piece of bread and dropped it. It landed on my plate with a thud.
Gem gave me a look, laughing. “Don’t spill or anything—”
“It’s happening now.”
“Huh?” She bit into a piece of her bread.
“Now. Right now.” I pushed up from the table, scanning the area. There was nothing amiss. I mean, people were looking over. I knew that would happen. People were probably still curious about me, but I saw none of my cousins. Or Scout. Or Cohen.
Or Macon.
I knew it in my gut.
Whatever they were doing, it was going on right now.
I was moving before I could stop myself. If they were doing something, it wouldn’t be outside. Someone would see or hear.
Where could they be? The bathroom? No. The locker room.
The jock code was real. No one would say anything if they saw something happening in there. That was where they were.
Locker rooms were usually near the gym, or at the end of a hallway.
My mind raced. Don’t get involved, I tried to tell myself. Let it go.
My cousins knew what they were doing. This was their school.
I was new. I was a girl.
And then also, fuck that.
Gem yelled my name, but it came from a distance, far away. I pushed through the doors, going inside.
There were people at their lockers. Some leaving the cafeteria, going into the cafeteria. Going in and out of the library. Going around me. A group of girls had congregated by some lockers. They turned to look at me and grew quiet as I passed them.
I needed to leave it alone.
I couldn’t.
I moved down the hallway, and as I approached Alex’s locker, I saw a guy slip into a room at the end of the hallway. It didn’t look like a classroom. There were a couple guys set up halfway down the hallway. I assumed they were keeping people from getting near that door.
I knew it. I was right. I started toward them.
One got in front of me, his hands up. “Hey, listen. You shouldn’t—”
I gave him a look, one of my don’t-fuck-with-me looks, and it worked. He stepped back, his hands lowering.
I heard the other guy say, “They’re going to skin you alive, man.”
He sighed. “Did you see that look? I’m not messing with her.”
Once I got to the door, I could hear muffled shouting and the sound of something getting hit—someone getting hit.
I pushed open the door, and there was a second door. I could hear the voices more clearly.
“Fucking piece of shit.”
Thud.
“Told you to stay away from my sister. You should’ve listened.”
Thud. Thud. Thud!
Moaning.
A gasp. “Help me, guys.”
I pushed open the second door.
There was a set of lockers immediately in front of me. My steps faltered when I heard Alex’s voice. “She’s fifteen, you piece of shit.”
“Fifteen.”
That was Clint, and shivers moved down my spine. I’d only heard that cold tone from him once in my life.
I rounded the end of the lockers.
They didn’t see me at first.
Scout was holding Macon back, all by himself. He had an arm twisted around Macon’s arm and under his neck and his leg positioned around one of Macon’s legs from behind. Macon couldn’t fight back, except to strain to get away, but it was useless.
