by Tania Trozzo
45
Gabe
The following day Gabe sat at the kitchen table having a quick breakfast before going to get Clara. He thought back to last night’s conversation with his father. Sonia and Connor had taken Clara home which he was not happy about, but his father insisted they speak then and not wait. Both Gabe and Alex had given his father the abbreviated version of the series of events that had led to embarrassing Sarah and leaving her in her bra and underwear in the cold on the golf course. That obviously involved what they did to Clara with her paper and their so called kidnapping prank. Since they hadn’t gotten to Bruno yet, they didn’t focus on him too much knowing that Gabe’s father would try to interfere.
While he was sitting there, Gabe was waiting for his father to get back from playing golf with Sarah’s father. When he walked through the door in the kitchen Gabe waited a few minutes until he couldn’t take it anymore. “Well?” Gabe asked him as he put his hands in his pockets.
“Oh, he’s mad. Really mad. Tried to come up with a series of ideas on how to punish you but I told him I would take care of that.” He paused a second and leaned on the counter folding his arms. “He raised his voice, threatened revenge and then I told him that if one hair on your head was touched, or if anything came out that would ruin your or your cousin’s and friend’s reputation, then I would slap them with the biggest lawsuit that everyone would be talking about it for years. I told him that he should ask Sarah if she had done anything recently that could have provoked this behavior from you. Everyone knows that you don’t cause trouble but they also know you don’t put up with shit. I also told him that if his daughter lays a hand on Clara again, I would make sure she was charged with assault. She may not be sentenced but I would drag it out right until she had to leave for college and that would not look good on college applications. I also told him that there may or may not be a video.”
Gabe tried to hide his grin. His father shook his head. “This doesn’t get you off the hook, Gabe. I don’t approve of what you did.” He paused a second before adding, “but I understand it.”
Gabe surprised said, “You do?”
“Yes, I do. At your age I probably would have done something similar. Probably worse actually. But next time, which I hope there won’t be a next time, come to me first.”
“Ok,” Gabe responded hesitantly.
“I also expect all of you to volunteer at the Children’s Advocate Center. So pick a weekend.”
Gabe nodded. “Deal.”
“Good and be home for dinner.” Gabe was about to object when his father interrupted, “No excuses. And bring Clara. I feel like I should get to know her a bit better since you’re ready to declare war for her.” He had then winked and walked away leaving him a bit baffled.
Gabe went to pick up Clara from karate. He was waiting only a few minutes when she walked out and got in his car.
“Hey,” Clara said.
“Hey,” Gabe answered meeting her halfway for a kiss when she tried to pull away he grasped the back of her neck gently and pulled her in for another one.
“You ok?” she asked as she cupped his jaw. He kissed the inside of her palm.
“Yeah, I’m ok. Sorry I couldn’t bring you home last night.”
“It’s ok. Are you sure your dad wasn’t angry?”
“No, actually.” He grasped her hand as he pulled away from the curb and glanced at her, “I think that he’s not happy about what we did but he said he understands it.” He glanced at her while she looked at him quizzically. “He wants you to come over for dinner tonight. Actually we can’t say no.”
“Why does he want to have dinner with me?”
“Honestly, he said that he thinks he needs to get to know you better since I’m ready to declare war for you. Don’t worry. Seriously.”
“Ok. Sure. He’s probably like, I need to see what this girl is about that has my son doing crazy things over a stupid ass prank that they pulled on her,” she stated anxiously.
“Or he could be thinking something else entirely.”
“Yeah? Like what?” Clara challenged him.
“He could be thinking, I should get to know this amazing girl that my son wants to protect with all he’s got. She’s got to be something special for him to be as crazy as he is about her.”
Clara looked at him and instantly relaxed. “How do you do that?”
“What?
“Just say something that totally calms me down. Although right now I’m definitely swooning.”
Gabe grinned and shrugged. “I don’t know, with you it comes easy.”
“By the way, where are we going?” Clara asked him.
“Home. Your house or mine. I don’t care. Listen, tomorrow we all have to talk about Bruno. And Monday we go back to school and I don’t know who knows what and if Sarah will be there. But today I just want to be with you. I don’t want to do anything. With you. All day.” He squeezed her hand a tighter. Her eyes softened. “Until dinner time of course,” he smiled. “What do you say? Want to do nothing with me?”
“I say that sounds wonderful,” she responded. So they hung out at Clara’s house for the entire day, under a blanket watching movies, dozing off and holding her in his arms. They went to his house for dinner. Clara had changed claiming she wanted to look nice but hell, she looked more than nice with a sweater and a skirt. She was glowing tonight and he couldn’t stop looking at her. He was sure that both his father and Liz noticed.
Gabe thought his father would start with a lecture or a line of questioning but instead he did neither of those things. He told various stories of when Gabe was little, making Clara laugh. But for the most part, Gabe’s father asked genuine questions trying to get to know Clara better and making her feel at ease. Liz contributed to the conversation in her usual warm way.
When they were done dinner Gabe stated, “Alex and Sonia will probably stay over tonight. Aunt Crystal went off on them.”
His father answered, “I figured. I stopped by there this afternoon. Alex was there but Sonia had left and gone out. Uncle John and I tried to talk to her but she was livid. Not sure what good it did.”
Gabe nodded, “Well, we’ll go wait downstairs, they should be here in about an hour.”
“Thank you for dinner.” Clara said smiling at his father.
“You’re welcome. I admit I didn’t really give Gabe an option but I’m glad you came. We should do it more often.” Gabe’s father told her.
“Thanks, Dad. Liz, dinner was delicious.” Liz thanked him and smiled a truly genuine smile and shared a warm look with his father.
Gabe followed Clara downstairs. She was on her phone. He waited until she was done and when she looked up at him, he arched an eyebrow. “Sorry, I texted Sonia again to make sure she was ok.”
He smiled. “You don’t have to apologize for checking on your friends, especially Sonia. It’s one of the reasons why I love you.”
She blushed and giggled nervously looking down at her feet. He took a step closer to her, and grabbed her cell and threw it gently on the couch. Gabe then tilted her chin up while he pulled her closer. “I meant what I said last night, Clara, I love you.”
Just as his lips were on tops of hers, she whispered, “I love you too, Gabe.”
46
Clara
A week had gone by. Things were a bit unsettled but they were ok. So far, Sarah hadn’t come back to school. Someone told her about the infamous text sent to most of her contacts of her in her bra and underwear so at this point, everyone in school had heard about it or seen the text.
Once Gabe and Clara arrived at school, they went to her locker first. While Gabe went to his locker, Clara spoke to Sonia a few steps away and she noticed Kristin from down the hall zero in on Gabe and begin walking towards him. Although she knew that she didn’t have to worry about Kristin, it didn’t mean that s
he was just going to stand there while Kristin tried to gain Gabe’s attention. Not happening. Just as he shut his locker, Clara moved towards him. He looked at her, grinned and just as Kristin was about 5 feet away, he grabbed Clara and kissed her. Gabe pulled her closer as her hands wound around his neck. Catcalls rang out, until Leo and Alex approached. “Guys, get a room.”
Gabe pulled away reluctantly. Clara could feel herself blush so she ducked her head in embarrassment, but Gabe smirked and just pulled her closer to shield her. Kristin huffed and turned away to head in the opposite direction.
Sonia who noticed Kristin’s actions, shook her head and whispered, “Take the hint, jackass.”
Gabe grinned and squeezed Clara’s hand. He walked her to class and kissed her softly behind the ear. “I’ll see you in English,” and then joined Leo who smiled but hadn’t really said anything. In fact, Clara noticed he was awfully quiet the past few days.
Later, when she got to English, Gabe and Connor were waiting outside for her. A look of relief briefly crossed his face when he saw her. He’s still worried, Clara thought to herself. All three of them entered the classroom together. Kristin had her gaze fixed to the door and as she saw them, she smiled and said hello but no one answered. Clara caught a small smile on Kristin’s face as she lowered her gaze. Kristin definitely had something in mind and in fact, at the end of class she approached them. “Can I talk to you guys a sec?”
Gabe sighed, but as Clara made a move to leave, Kristin said, “you too Clara, please.” Curious, she nodded and they all walked outside. Connor questioned Gabe with his eyes as to whether to remain or not and after Gabe gave him a slight nod, Connor led them around the corner. Kristin looked at Connor and chuckled. “Ok, I guess I’ll speak to all of you. I,…” She looked at all of them taking a deep breath and continued as she looked at Clara, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. Once I figured out what they were doing, I should have stopped it. I should have come to one of you. It was awful and I should have never agreed to be involved.”
Clara looked at Gabe and his eyes softened telling her it was her decision. She looked at Connor who at this point had leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and doubt written across his face. Initially Clara had intended to play along and accept her apology, but instead, she surprised herself and responded, “No.”
“What?” Kristin said to her. Connor chuckled and Gabe smiled, pride in his gaze as he stepped behind Clara and pulled her back into his chest.
“You heard her she said no.” Gabe responded.
“What does that mean? I apologized. I didn’t say anything. I realize now that I made a mistake.” Kristin continued to speak.
“It means I’m not buying it. It means I don’t believe you’re sorry. I think this is another tactic. It means that I think we’ve all underestimated you. Sarah and Jamie, they wear their attitude on their sleeve. Everyone says what they say about them but it’s consistent. But you, no one really knows you. One minute you’re nice, one minute you’re not and I think it’s because you change according to the situation. I think you are trying another angle. Not sure what that angle is but let it go, Kristin. Back off. So, my answer is no, I don’t accept your apology.”
Gabe’s arms tightened around her before he spoke with a hard voice. “You heard her, Kristin. I don’t know what is going on in your head. I’m not going to leave Clara and I’m not going to be with you. Move on and stay the hell away from me and my friends.”
“Or we’ll make sure to embarrass you just like we did Sarah, hell Sarah may do it herself,” Connor added.
“Why would Sarah do anything to embarrass me? She is furious with all three of you and will come back swinging. Just watch, maybe I’ll help her.” Kristin retorted.
“She could try,” Gabe said smiling, “or she could be really upset that her best friend betrayed her and told me all the information I needed to know.”
Kristin’s eyes widened. “But, you said you wouldn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, well, things change.” Gabe stated.
“You…you..”
“I what? I didn’t forget what part you played in all of this. You thought I did because I needed you to think that. I needed you to keep quiet, until we were ready.” Clara held Kristin’s gaze whose face had paled.
“Is this adding up in your head now?” Connor asked her.
“Fuck all of you.” As she turned and rushed away. They watched her for a moment.
“She may come back, you know, at some point.” Connor stated looking at the both of them.
“Let her come. I’ll be ready.” Clara responded.
“We’ll be ready,” Gabe emphasized.
Once school was over, the guys were busy with sports meetings so Clara and Sonia decided to study in the library. Before meeting her, Clara decided to unload a few things in the car. As she rounded a corner, a hand clamped over her mouth and she was pulled back into a hard chest. “Hello, Clara.” Bruno. Clara tried to scream, but he laughed. He spun her around and pushed her against the wall. The way he positioned himself, made it seem as though they were embracing or making out. “Miss me?”
She glared at him but didn’t answer. This time she wasn’t scared, she was angry. She should have been more careful, knowing that he would try something else sooner or later. “I have to say you’re smarter than I gave you credit for. Initially I thought we got away with what we did but then I started noticing things. Lucas had a black eye. Jamie looked miserable. And then finally Sarah. Someone from the football team showed me the text of her half naked. I figured you guys either knew about me or you would find out eventually. I couldn’t wait for you to come after me so here I am coming after you. So you and I are going to come to an agreement.” Clara didn’t move.
“If you promise not to scream I’ll take my hand off your mouth so we can talk.” Clara nodded. “You promise?” he asked her softly, “if not, not only will you regret it but so will your loverboy.”
Clara stilled and Bruno chuckled. She didn’t trust Bruno and realized that if she stayed quiet and followed his instructions she may be able to figure out what he had in mind. He took his hand off her mouth slowly as Clara took a deep breath. Bruno stared at her. “Good.” He said in a hard tone. “Try to scream and you’ll regret it, understood?”
“I heard you the first time, asshole.” Clara retorted. Bruno pushed himself closer to her and Clara grunted.
“Now, now, be nice. I’m being nice. I could be doing much worse to you right now but I’m not. Every day you’ve had someone with you. They all protect you. Gabe, Alex, your BFF. Even MY friend Leo protects you.” His voice hardened as he spoke about Leo. “So I’m really happy that they finally left you alone.”
“We didn’t leave her alone.” Leo was standing there with his hands fisted. Bruno closed his eyes a second and turned to face him, as he held Clara against the wall. “Let her go, Bruno.”
“Are you really going to take sides, man? Her side? Their side?” Bruno challenged him.
“For God’s sake Bruno! She’s a girl and she’s my friend. Do you think I would let anyone hurt my sisters or my girlfriend? So why would I let anyone, even you, hurt a friend? My friends would never hurt you intentionally.”
“I’m your friend! Or at least I was!” Bruno yelled. Clara shifted slightly calculating.
“You can still be my friend. Just stop with the bullshit. You’re dealing drugs, you’re getting in trouble all over town and then you take Clara and threaten to hurt her? Dude, this Bruno is not my friend. What is happening to you?”
“You’re forgetting where we came from. Our history. Man, we’re like family,” Bruno said furiously.
“Are we?” Leo said quietly. “Because my family wouldn’t hurt my friends. Leave Clara alone. Let her go, Bruno. I won’t be able to reel the guys in. They haven’t done anything because of me and because of her. She asked
them to drop it. But now, they’re going to come after you with all they’ve got.”
Bruno face turned hateful and he shook his head chuckling. “Your friends think they’re untouchable. Always on top. Everyone listens to what they have to say. But that wasn’t enough, was it?” He looked at Clara and then turned his angry gaze to Leo, “then they take you in their circle. They don’t know you man, not like I do. Where were they when your father died? I was there. They won’t be there in the future either. They’ll dump you because you’re not of their social status and then you’ll come running back to me.”
Leo shook his head. “Is that what this is about? About them being popular or that they accept me in their circle?”
“This is about people like them thinking they can do whatever they want and not face consequences.” Bruno answered him.
“I don’t think it’s that at all.” Clara whispered. Both of them turned their attention to her. During their conversation Bruno’s attention was diverted so she was able to move. “Is it Bruno? Gabe and the others, they don’t hurt people just to hurt them. They do it to fight back. I think it’s more. I think you’re jealous because they haven’t accepted you. People respect them, but they don’t respect you. Do they? They’re considered Gods and you’re considered a douche.”
Bruno turned his hard gaze to Clara. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, Bruno, really,” as she kneed him in the crotch with all she had. He crouched down grabbing his groin and she delivered two elbows to his face before pushing him away so he fell straight on his ass. Leo grabbed her wrist swiftly moving her behind him and took a few steps back.
Red with anger and probably pain, Bruno slowly tried to stand back up. Leo spoke, “Choose your next move wisely.”
“You’d fight me? We’re like brothers.” Bruno wheezed out.