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I shook my head. “I was going to ask one of my cousins to cover me.”
“Not a problem.” She handed her card to the lady. “It’s not like this is the only time we’ll be eating together.” She gave me a wink as she took her card back, and then we scanned the cafeteria.
It was bustling with people. Almost every table was full, and the door was opening and closing constantly. People were in the hallway, and I could see a store that had a whole line of people waiting to get food from there.
“I could’ve paid for my own food there.”
Gem shook her head. “That’s all junk food. This line has some healthy choices. It’s all good.” She nodded toward a table in the far corner. “Look. That one’s mostly empty. I know the girls sitting there.”
But as we approached, those girls got up and headed out, heads bent together, laughing and talking. They hadn’t seen us coming, so I didn’t take it as a sign of my social status.
Gem grinned at me. “Even better.” She went around to the far side, and I sat with my back to the room. She looked beyond me. “I don’t know if your cousins will come in. The elite crowd don’t usually eat in here. They get their food and go outside, or to a fast food place.” She went to take a bite of her salad but paused and straightened upright. “Oh. Whoa.”
I turned, feeling my phone buzz.
Alex: Where r u?
Clint calling.
I answered while trying to see what Gem was looking at. “Hey.”
“Where are you?” he barked into the phone.
There was a crowd gathering in the middle of the cafeteria, and Gem was on her feet.
Everyone was on their feet. People started running to see what was going on.
“In the café—
He hung up, but as I swung my head around, I found him over by the door. He nodded to me as both Alex and Trenton appeared. Seeing I was okay, they ran forward. Clint held up a hand to me, yelling, “Stay there!”
Gem heard him and grabbed my arm. “Fuck that.” She pulled me with her.
Clint angled through the crowd, coming to my side. “You should go somewhere else.”
Gem frowned at him and tugged me around. We hopped up onto a table to see better. In the middle of the crowd were three guys I recognized, which shocked me. I shouldn’t recognize anyone. I barely knew enough people to recognize someone, but I did.
And it wasn’t my cousins, which also shocked me.
Macon Rice, tattoo guy from the front office, was trading punches with the dark-haired guy that’d been talking to my cousins, and standing directly behind that guy was Mr. Raiden from first period. I still didn’t know his first name.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The crowd was chanting, egging them on, and Macon and the other guy seemed evenly matched. One would punch, and the other would counter. Then the one guy got in a couple of roundhouse kicks to Macon’s face, and that pushed him back, but teachers and security were running in. They pushed through, but Macon and the other guy wouldn’t stop hitting each other.
Clint growled and jumped off the table, pushing into the crowd.
By then, Alex and Trenton had moved forward as well. Clint grabbed the dark-haired guy, wrapping his arms around his arms and yanked him back. Trenton did the same with Macon Rice, and Alex stood in the middle, his arms held out between them. All three of them were yelling for the other to stand down.
I couldn’t stop myself as my gaze trailed toward Mr. Raiden, who I found staring at me with an intensity that made me jump back in surprise.
Glowering hatred came at me, and as I readied myself and stared back with a good fuck-you look, his jaw clenched and he swung his gaze back to his buddy. Macon and his friend were yelling at each other, and he kept trying to swing around my cousins.
Then Mr. Raiden stepped up.
He said something I couldn’t hear, but it was short and simple, and as if he’d flipped a switch, the guys stopped fighting. My cousins dropped their arms. The guards grabbed the two fighters as the teachers started waving for the crowd to disperse.
“Fuck you, Scout!” Macon yelled.
Scout? That was his first name?
Raiden started for him, and Macon melted backward. Almost literally. It was somewhat comical to watch.
My eyebrows shot up. “If that dude had the power to stop the fight like that, why didn’t he step in right away?”
“Oh.” Gem looked at me, biting her lip. “I can see the job of filling you in on all the school gossip has fallen to my shoulders. I suppose your cousins aren’t going to tell you the hierarchy here.”
I frowned at her.
“Come, my child. You have much to learn.”
