by Jordan Marie
I thought that was good until I see they’re holding him for Larry to hit. Gavin jerks away and then, all of Larry’s friends are holding him down. Larry’s face is bloody and it’s clear his nose is busted. I look around for something to help. There’s not much, but there’s an umbrella that someone must have left there during morning assembly. I grab it and before I even think about it, I take the umbrella and use it as a baseball bat, pretending his head is a baseball. I connect and it sends Larry backwards, but not enough to make him fall. He turns to look at me like he can’t believe I just did that. I draw back to do it again, but Larry catches it this time and he pulls it out of my hands.
“Leave him alone. It’s not a fair fight with you having the goon squad hold him down!” I yell. I’m so angry that I want to cry—which is what I usually do when I get mad, and I hate that about myself.
Hate it.
“He deserves everything he’s got coming to him and more,” Larry says, advancing on me. Then he grabs my hair and pushes me, so I fall backwards. “Now be a good girl and stay out of it. I’ll give your boyfriend back when I’m done. I doubt he’ll be able to move much, but his dick will probably still work, since that seems to be all you want anyway,” Larry spews as my legs connect with the bleacher and I fall. I can feel metal cut into my leg, and I cry from the pain of that more than the fall.
I hear Gavin scream, and I look up in time to see him tearing away from the guys that have him pinned. He has Larry by the arm, and he twists it. Larry screams out in pain, and I can tell from the awkward angle that it’s broken. Gavin kicks him, sending him careening back into the other guys. Larry is holding his arm, screaming at Gavin about how he ruined his season, that the tournament is coming up. He’s not wrong, I guess. Larry plays basketball and football. The basketball championship is coming up and the team relies heavily on his talent. I guess they’ll have to find someone else.
Gavin doesn’t respond with words instead he kicks Larry hard between the legs. The boys all hiss and I don’t have balls but I even wince. That has got to hurt. Larry screams out, curling into a ball.
“What’s going on in here?”
My face jerks up as Principal Issacs walks in the gym, his face full of anger.
Shit…
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
GAVIN
“G avin, we called your father to come and get you, son.”
“I figured you would,” I tell the principal. My body is sore, my lip is swollen, and I’m mad at myself because I let Luna get hurt. All in all, it’s been a shitty day.
“He… uh… wasn’t able to come down right now. Technically, you’re nineteen, but I can’t let you leave school grounds alone. It’s against our adopted policy. You’re still a student here, despite your age.”
“What you’re not saying is that my father was drunk off his ass and can’t drive. Hell, even if he could, he would be driving on a suspended license.”
Principal Issacs looks at me while rubbing the side of his face. You can tell that the man is uncomfortable. I don’t know why that brings me pleasure, but it does.
“Gavin, I know you got things stacked against you son, but you can’t let that define who you are.”
“Where’s my daughter?” My gaze moves from Issacs to Mr. Marshall as he walks through the door.
“Mr. Marshall, I’m sorry to bother you today. I understood from your wife that you were getting ready to head out of town,” Principal Issacs says, holding out his hand for Luna’s dad to shake.
“I am. Which means I’m in a hurry. What the hell is going on in this school Issacs? Do I need to transfer Luna over into private school to make sure my daughter is protected?”
“Mr. Marshall, I can assure you that we keep a close eye on all of our student body.”
“Obviously not,” Luna’s dad growls.
“Luna had skipped class and was in the gym at the time of the incident. There aren’t supposed to be kids in the gym during that time.”
“Luna doesn’t skip class. She knows better,” her father denies. I rub the back of my neck. Damn it, I never meant to get Luna into trouble.
“I skipped, Dad,” Luna says coming out of the inner office where the principal placed her when we first got here. He kept me in the main office. Larry was evaluated by the nurse and transported to the hospital for a cast. Principal Issacs spoke with Luna quickly and after he finished talking with Larry’s dad, he came in here to speak with me. I know it’s bad and it’s probably going to get worse. I don’t really give a fuck, but I don’t want the fall out to touch Luna.
“Why would you do…” he stops talking as he notices me sitting here and his face hardens as his eyes narrow and he pins me with his gaze. “You. You’re at the root of this, aren’t you?”
“Sir—”
“Mr. Marshall—”
“Let’s go, Luna.”
“Dad, I still have a class and—”
“Get your stuff and let’s go, Luna, I won’t tell you again.”
“Mr. Marshall, Luna’s not in any trouble. She’ll have to attend detention the rest of the week, but—”
“I’ll see that she does, but right now I’m taking her home.”
“Very well, I’m sorry to delay your travel arrangements.”
“You,” Mr. Marshall says, ignoring Principal Issacs and instead looking directly at me. “You’re no better than your father.”
“Dad, stop it. Gavin was defending me!”
“Shut up, Luna,” her father growls, and I can tell by the shocked look and the sob that escapes Luna that he’s never spoken to her like that before. She goes visibly pale.
“I know exactly what you were doing with my daughter, Lodge. You’re not pulling anything on me. Here’s one for you, though. You stay away from my daughter. I forbid you to so much as get within a hundred feet of her.”
“You won’t keep me away from Luna, sir,” I tell him, bitterness welling up inside and burning me.
“That’s where you’re wrong. If you so much as sniff the wind in Luna’s direction, I’ll yank her out of this school and put her in private school. You’ll never see her again. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Gavin,” Luna cries. Before I can respond to her, Mr. Marshall grabs her by the arm and hauls her out of the room.
I stare for a few minutes at the empty space where they had been standing. Then I look back at Principal Issacs.
“I’d say it’s not me letting my life define who I am. I think other people do that just fine, Mr. Issacs.” I tell him. “I’ll call Wally’s dad to come and get me.”
“You’ll be suspended for a week, Gavin.”
“I figured.”
“There may be charges filed.”
“Charges?”
“You broke Larry’s arm. His dad will be out for blood.”
“He pushed Luna and was hurting her.”
“She told me. If it comes to court, I will make them aware, but I’m just warning you what might happen. I don’t think it will. I think once Mr. Reynolds hears what happened, he’ll choose to lock it down.”
I nod, not saying anything else.
What else could I say?
Then, I pick up the phone and call Wally’s dad to ask if he could come down to the school and pick me up. I hate to do it, but when push comes to shove… I don’t really have anyone else to call.
How pathetic is that?
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
LUNA
“Is Gavin okay?” I ask Attie uncomfortably.
I don’t like asking him, but I haven’t spoken to Gavin since the fight at school. I know he’s tried to call the house, but my parents won’t let me talk to him. They took my cellphone. Gavin doesn’t have a phone—cell or house, so there’s no way I can call him either. My parents watch me like hawks and there’s no way I can call while he’s at work with them breathing down my neck. Dad’s even postponed his business trip to keep me on lockdown. It’s ridiculous. I don�
��t know how to deal with them at this point.
“Are you seriously asking me that, Luna?” Attie asks, and I can tell he’s pissed.
“Please, Attie.”
He lets out a growling breath to show his irritation with me. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to answer me, but he finally does.
“He’s fine. Same old asshole. He had court yesterday.”
“How did that go?”
“It didn’t. The judge dropped all the charges and bitched at Richards’ dad for pushing it.”
“He did?” I asked shocked, but so relieved I almost feel like I can’t catch my breath.
“Yeah, I guess Principal Issacs testified on Gavin’s behalf. Who knows what my brother did to pull that off. Anyway, he told the judge that Gavin was only trying to pull Larry off of another student and things got out of control. When the judge found out the student was a girl…” Atticus stops talking, ending with a jerk of his shoulder.
“When does Gav get to come back to school?” Jules asks.
“Three more days.” I sigh, thinking these three days are going to be the longest of my life.
“Oh, come on, Luna. It’s not the end of the world.”
“You aren’t living with my parents. It’s like I’m on prison lockdown lately.”
“You could go to the movies with me and Darren Oakes tonight,” Jules suggests.
“You’re going out with Darren? When did this happen?”
“Eh… he’s been asking me out for a while. I had my eyes on someone else, but he doesn’t seem anxious to make any moves. He’s all strung out over some other chick. So, I figured what the hell, I’d throw Darren a bone. At least he wants me and not some other girl.”
“I’m leaving if you two are just going to talk about guys,” Attie mutters, shooting me and Jules an angry look, then gets up and leaves.
“I guess I shouldn’t have asked him about Gavin,” I gripe.
“Oh please, if he doesn’t understand by now that you are hung up on his brother and will never give him the time of day then he deserves what he gets.”
“Still…”
“Luna, trust me. Attie will be fine.”
“Yeah, you’re right. How come you didn’t tell me about Darren asking you out?”
“You’ve been kind of preoccupied. Besides, it’s nothing. I’m not even that excited about it.”
“Then, why are you going out with him?”
“I was hoping it might make the guy I like stand up and take notice. I don’t think that’s going to happen, though. He’s too busy mooning over another chick who doesn’t even know he’s alive.”
“Jules! You’ve been keeping secrets. I hate that. Who is it you like? You didn’t even tell me!”
“It’s silly. I don’t really want to talk about it. I promise when I’m ready, I’ll tell you,” she says, and I frown.
We never used to keep things from each other, and I hate that we’re doing it now.
“Jules—”
“Let it go, Luna. I just don’t want to talk about it right now. I’ve never really been rejected by a guy before. Give me time to process it.”
“Well he’s an idiot,” I protest, feeling bad.
“Yeah, most guys are,” Jules jokes.
“And I don’t know who the other girl is, but there’s no way she’s as wonderful as you,” I assure her. Jules gives me a sad smile.
“Whatever. Hey, did you hear about that girl that got killed in Hagerstown?”
“Hagerstown? That’s kind of close. I haven’t heard anything—note my prison lockdown,” I whine.
“Dude, some guy chopped her up. We’re talking she had like twenty stab wounds.”
“Holy crap,” I mumble.
Nothing like that has ever happened this close to Stone Lake before. I can’t remember something like this happening in the whole state to be honest. I mean, I don’t watch a lot of the news, but still….
“Yeah, he left her naked in the snow. Police found a black rose frozen against her chest.”
“Frozen? A black rose?”
“Yep, creepy stuff.”
“You have to go talk to Principal Issacs,” I urge her, panic hitting me.
“What are you talking about?”
“A black rose? Like the one that was in your locker? Jules you need to report it now, this is just too scary.”
“Oh, come on! Getting a flower in your locker is a long way from being stabbed in the snow, Luna.”
“Not that much, besides you’ve been getting those notes for a while too. You need to tell Principal Issacs.”
“And have my parents go crazy and ruin my date with Darren? No way.”
“Luna’s right.”
Jules and I look up to see Attie standing over us. I hadn’t even heard him come back. He leans down and picks up his Algebra textbook he left lying on the cafeteria table.
“She’s just being—”
“She’s being smart,” Atticus responds, interrupting Jules. “You need to tell him and if you won’t, Luna and I will.”
“Why do you care?” she asks, studying his face.
“You’re my friend. I care about you,” he says. Jules seems to study his face. The interaction between them is weird and it feels like there’s some kind of message being transferred between the two of them that I don’t get. Have I lost touch with my friends that much? I’m going to have to start doing better with that.
“It’s like that,” Jules says and Attie nods his head slowly.
“It’s exactly like that. Either you tell or we will, Jules. This is too serious to ignore,” I add, determined that she’s not going to ignore the danger of this situation.
“Fine. I’ll go to the office after school.”
“Nope. We’ll go now. All three of us.”
“All of us?” Jules asks, looking at me and Attie.
“Yep all three of us. The three musketeers,” I joke, smiling at the two of them.
It takes a minute, but they slowly smile too, and we all get up and dump our lunches. We walk down the hall together and I feel better. My life and my relationship with Gavin may be a mess, but I’ll always have my squad.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
GAVIN
“I can’t believe they aren’t more concerned,” Luna huffs, but I don’t stop to see what her and Jules are talking about. Hooking my arm around her waist, I pull her against me and I turn us so that her back is pushed against the lockers and I’m pressed against her. “What—” she gasps, but I don’t let her finish. Her mouth is open, and I want in there, so I claim her lips, thrusting my tongue into her sweet depths and kiss her with all the pent-up hunger I have.
Which is a lot.
I haven’t seen her in eight days.
Eight fucking days.
I haven’t spoken to her. I haven’t seen her. I haven’t had any contact at all with her.
I got desperate a few times and wanted to ask Atticus about her, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. Having her in my arms again feels like heaven.
“Gag,” Jules mutters. I want to ignore her, but Luna pushes against me and I step back, releasing her mouth, but keeping her in my arms.
“You’re back,” Luna whispers. “I missed you so much.”
“God, I missed you too, Moonbeam,” I tell her, not even bothering to try and play it cool.
“Damn the great Gavin Lodge is pussy whipped,” Jules mumbles and we turn around to look at her.
I scowl, because I don’t like that term, especially in reference to Luna. She deserves better.
“Shut up, Jules,” Luna laughs, turning, but staying in the circle of my arms. “What are you going to do about your parents?”
“There’s nothing to do. I told you and Attie before, this was a waste of time.”
“It’s not. It’s serious. I can’t believe your parents are being such morons.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, completely lost.
“Jules has gotten two notes in th
e last three days from her stalker.”
“Did they threaten her?”
“No, but…”
“But what?”
“They had the black roses, just like that girl in Hagerstown.”
“What happened in Hagerstown?”
“Don’t you ever watch the news, dude?”
“Not really.” I shrug. I’m not about to explain we’re lucky to keep the electricity on most months, forget about television.
“There was a girl murdered in Hagerstown. She was stabbed repeatedly like twenty times and for some reason Attie and Luna think the same thing will happen to me.”
“I uh…” I don’t know exactly what to say to that, I’m kind of siding with Jules. That seems like a huge jump in thought.
“Don’t you get it,” Luna says. “That girl—who was stabbed twenty-four times by the way—was found naked in the snow with a black rose on her chest.”
“Oh… Had she been getting notes like Jules?” I ask, kissing the top of Luna’s forehead… because I can.
It really feels fucking great to have her in my arms again. I felt like I was dying without her.
“No,” Jules says. “Which is exactly why my parents aren’t worried and why Luna needs to knock it off. She’s starting to freak me out,” she adds, slamming the door to her locker.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t believe your parents are leaving you this weekend.”
“They go out of town every weekend, you know that, Luna.”
“I know, but after you told them about the notes and the rose….”
“Maybe we could come stay with you this weekend,” I suggest. I’m not sure Luna has a right to be this worried, but I have to admit, it is kind of freaky.
“You just want an excuse to come shag at my house,” Jules says rolling her eyes.
“He does not, but it wouldn’t work anyway,” Luna sighs out.
“Why not?” I ask, frowning.