Evie coughs, creating a distraction, and the group stops talking. “Hello?”
“Hmm … fresh meat,” one of the group members says. “What do you want?”
“Yeah, fuck off,” another one says, and they all chuckle.
“Shut up!” Evie yells. “I’m not talking to you.”
Brody calms down his peers. “Autumn, Evie?” he says. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, hello? This is the student lounge room. Everybody’s allowed in here.” Evie taps her foot on the floor.
The group Brody’s with laughs at her, and her tapping speed increases.
“Obviously.” Brody looks annoyed by her comment. “What can I do for you?”
“What can I do for you? Boy, you sound like a real gangsta, don’t you?” Evie says.
“Don’t call him that,” one of the guys cautions.
“Or else?”
“Evie,” I say, and I put my finger on my lips. “Let me handle it,” I whisper.
She crosses her arms and puffs. “Fine.”
Clearing my throat, I say, “Brody, can we talk?”
The group bursts out into laughter. “He doesn’t have time for you,” one of them says.
“We’re busy, can’t you see?” another one says, and they lean forward, looking bored and annoyed.
“Stop being such assholes!” Evie screams. “Or I’ll …”
Now they all stand up. “Or what, bitch?”
The relaxed mood has suddenly changed to a darker, scarier mood, and I’m not sure if I still want to talk to him. Heck, I’m not even sure if I should stay here one second longer. I don’t feel safe.
“Or nothing,” Brody says. “Look, girls, I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is the right time.”
“Yeah, fuck off,” one of the other guys says. “Like you’re even welcome anywhere. Fat ass.”
Now I have to hold Evie back before she charges in to start a wrestling match.
“What did you say?” she screams.
“Stop!” I yell.
“What, huh? What d’ya wanna do? Wanna fight?” one of the guys says to her, and he tilts his head in contempt.
“Fuck you! Fuck you all!” Evie screams, and she jerks herself loose from my grip. “And you too, Brody! Autumn’s your friend, and you’ve been treating her like shit.”
“What? What did I ever do?” Brody says, holding up his hands.
“C’mon, Evie, let’s go,” I say, and I usher her out of the room with trouble. “They’re not worth it.” I can’t deal with this right now, so the best solution is to cut it off.
“Damn right they’re not worth it!” she screams, but I hope they can’t hear her.
I push her up the stairs and pull her into our room. I have trouble containing her, because when she gets started she’s like a bull with horns, ready to charge.
I slam the door shut and watch her pace up and down. Kicking the door, she rages some more until she’s out of breath. Then she slumps to her bed and flops down.
“God, I hate them. And I hate him.”
I sit down across from her, and just stare ahead.
“Wow …” I say. “I seriously did not know it was that bad.”
“Do you see now? Those guys are not good, Autumn. I tried to tell you, but you’ve been blind the whole time.”
“Well thanks,” I scoff.
She sighs. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that you really need to open your eyes to the truth. He’s not who you think he is. Not anymore.”
“Damn it …” I say, and I let my back drop onto the bed so I can stare at the white ceiling. It makes things a little easier to process.
Neither of us say anything else until she’s calmed down. When I can no longer hear her panting, I sit up straight, and so does she.
“It smelled like pot in there. Brody’s really gone nuts.” Evie twirls her finger around in the air, close to her temple.
“I guess …” I say.
I don’t really know what else to say. I’ve seen it with my own eyes now. He’s hanging with the wrong crowd, and now he’s even smoking weed. Their behavior is violent and frightening, and I don’t want to have any part in it.
“Friends are supposed to be there for each other. To support one another. They don’t laugh at you or let their friends treat you like dirt,” Evie chides in anger.
“I know …”
The more she says, the more I feel tears stinging my eyes. It hurts to have her talk like this. Not because it’s wrong, but because I know it’s the truth. I don’t like seeing my friends this way.
“Oh … crap … I’m sorry,” she says, and she scoots off the bed and sits down on mine, putting her arm around me. “Don’t cry because of what I said.”
“I’m not.” I wipe away a few tears I didn’t manage to hold back. “I just hate the way this is turning out. I missed Brody. All this time I was waiting to finally go to college so I could hang out with him again, and now he’s like this.”
“I know … I’m sorry …”
“And the worst part is that I can’t change it.”
She sighs and leans her head down on my shoulder, rubbing her hand over my back. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. He won’t ruin our day anymore.”
“Yeah …”
“Hey, what do you say we go swimming? Let’s do something fun.”
“I can’t.” I reach into my pocket and take out the money I have left for the week. I don’t need to count to know it’s not enough to do anything else but buy food with. “It’s not enough. I’ll have to wait until my next paycheck, and even then I probably won’t have enough.”
“Oh …” Evie swallows. “Well, we can always go back to the library and pick out random books to read instead. Just something to get your mind off Brody.”
I nod, and she claps her hands.
“All right, let’s go.”
She pulls me up from my bed, and we go outside.
We bump into Scarlet in the hallway. “Hey, where are you going, girls?”
Brody comes up behind her, and I wince at the sight of him. He quickly walks around us and grabs Scarlet’s hand. “C’mon.”
“No, I want to talk to them.” She jerks her hand loose. “Sorry about his friends. They’re a cranky bunch.”
Evie snorts. “That’s a big understatement.”
“So, what are you girls up to?” Scarlet asks.
I clear my throat to stop Evie from starting a fight. “We thought of going swimming, but―”
“Oh, can I come?” Scarlet interrupts me.
“We’re not really―”
“I want to make it up to you. Let’s go together, I’ll pay.”
“No, you know that’s not good for your heart. Now let’s go,” Brody says, and he swiftly grabs her arm and drags her through the hallway.
“Sorry! Rain check, then?” she yells, digging her feet into the carpet as he pulls her around the corner and out of sight.
“Not a chance …” Evie mumbles.
“At least Scarlet is nice,” I say. “I can’t say the same about Brody.”
“It’s like the world is upside down,” Evie says. “Tan-and-pink chicks aren’t bitches, and they suddenly want to hang out with us, and the nerd has turned into a complete asshole.”
“Let’s not go there again,” I say as we walk downstairs.
“Right,” she says.
We make our way across campus toward the library, and I spot Hunter in the middle of the open ground. The moment his presence catches my eye I stop moving. He looks confident, but unsure of what he’s doing at the same time, and it alerts all my senses to what’s going on.
He’s standing with a group of guys that seem familiar. And now I know why. It’s the same guys as the ones behind the fence, the ones he made an exchange with.
One of them has brown Justin Bieber hair, what I’d call a flowerpot cut, but he looks quite handsome, and I swear I’ve seen him before. Maybe in class.
“Shit,” I mutter, and I push Evie against the wall.
“What?” she says, but I put a finger in front of her mouth.
“Shh … It’s Hunter!”
“So? Who cares?”
“I want to know what he’s up to.”
“Why do you care? He’s just a guy …” Evie sighs.
“Look,” I say, and I direct her attention toward the guys.
Her eyes widen when she sees what I mean.
“Shit, this looks serious.”
“Yes, that’s why I want to know what’s going on. Hunter’s been acting strange lately, and I want to find out why.”
She nods, and I turn my head and watch the guys. I’m completely focused on the voices, all unfamiliar except one. His. The gruffness of it never ceases to grab my attention.
Hunter’s standing close to the group of guys, and they’re whispering some things, but when actual words come out I can finally hear it.
“That guy,” one of them says, and he points at a guy standing near a fountain, talking to someone else.
“What do you want me to do?” Hunter says.
“You know …” the other one says, and Hunter freezes.
Their looks are stone-cold sober, so serious it chills me to my core. I don’t know what they mean, but it creeps me out. And the grim look on Hunter’s face doesn’t predict anything good.
He nods, and I gulp. They shake hands and then disperse, as if they were never even there, discussing secrets.
“I don’t like this at all,” Evie whispers.
“Me neither,” I say, and we make a run for it before any one of them notices we’ve been watching.
But before Evie and I turn the corner, Hunters eyes meet mine. His piercing gray eyes zoom in on me, and he starts to squint the moment he realizes it’s me.
Shit. I’ve been caught.
With his gaze on me I can barely breathe. I know he knows I’ve been watching him, I can see it in his eyes. I don’t need to talk to him to know that he wants me to keep it a secret. His intent glare is enough.
And then we turn and bolt away.
Chapter 6
Troubled Hearts
“Yuck, don’t they have some real food here?” Evie throws the spoon she’s holding into the lettuce behind the counter. The lunchroom lady grimaces at her, but turns around shortly after.
“Fat and juicy burgers aren’t exactly real food either,” I say, carrying my plate to the checking counter.
She snorts. “Hell, I’d prefer Mickey D’s anytime over this junk.”
I laugh as I pay the cashier and watch Evie snarl at the lunchroom lady to make her something that includes at least an ounce of meat.
When she finally has her slab of meat, we find a free spot and sit down to eat.
“I swear, one day I’ll just drag you into a real lunchroom. Some place they serve nice, tasty food.”
I roll my eyes. “You know I can’t afford that.”
“I know, but that’s why I’ve decided that from now on I’m just going to save up every cent I have so I can take you with me to one of those damn fine restaurants maybe once a month.”
I smile, but feel embarrassed because of my lack of money.
Evie’s hand is suddenly wrapped around mine right on the table. “Hey, don’t you even think about feeling bad. It’s supposed to be a good thing.”
“I know … it’s just that—”
“Stop it. I’m not taking no for an answer. You’ll come with me, and I’ll pay, and that’s that. No buts. No ifs. Once a month, we’ll gorge on delicious junk food or better.”
I chuckle. “All right. Thanks.”
She smiles and squeezes my hand a bit.
“I’m really glad I have you as a best friend,” I say.
The twinkle in her eyes disappears, and she lets go of my hand.
“That’s what friends are for,” she says. Diverting her eyes to her food, she grabs her fork and knife and starts cutting up the meat like a butcher, making me wince.
There goes my appetite.
“Could you be a little less …” My eyebrows draw together as my mouth drops open. “Is that Brody?”
Evie turns her head like a hawk in the direction I’m looking, so I say, “Don’t stare! God, do you want him to see or something?”
“Does it matter? It’s just Brody.”
I sigh. “That’s not what I meant. Don’t you see who he’s standing next to?”
“Yeah? So?”
“It’s that guy. The guy Hunter was talking to the other day. When we were going to the library, we saw them talking about some weird business.”
“Oh, that guy!”
“Shhh!” I say. “I’d rather not get caught staring again.”
I blink again, but nothing changes. It has to be the same guy. I’d recognize that flowerpot hairdo anywhere. It’s the guy Hunter was talking to. The guy who told him to do ‘something’ to ‘someone.’
I wonder what the hell he’s doing with Brody.
So many questions pop up into my mind. What does he want with Brody? And what was he doing with Hunter? If they both know him, does that also mean Brody knows Hunter?
So many things I don’t know the answer to, and it’s making me insane.
Brody bumps fists with the flowerpot hairdo guy, and they both take off in different directions. I wonder what they just talked about. I wonder how the hell they know each other.
When that guy passes us, I pretend I’m eating some lettuce and stuff my mouth full of it. As he leaves, I almost choke on the huge amount of food in my mouth. I wash it down with a bottle of water, and Evie starts cutting up her steak again.
“I wonder …” My voice stops working.
I don’t know what I want to say anymore.
As soon as my eyes catch a glimpse of that guy entering the cafeteria I’m flabbergasted.
My mouth drops open and I stare at him. Him. I know I call him ‘him’ all the time, but that’s because he is the only guy my attention is ever drawn to. It’s like there is no other guy around but him.
“What?” Evie says, but I ignore her.
I completely zone out, my eyes glued to his being. He’s not just another guy, not one of the many flocking into the lunchroom. No. This is Hunter Bane, the guy whose mood changes with a snap of the fingers. The guy who goes from being a complete jerk to a witty, cute guy. The guy who looks like a sex god, but seems to have no interest in other girls whatsoever. Or at least, not that I can see.
There is so much I still don’t know about him, and for some reason I’m intrigued as hell. I want to get to know him. Maybe it’s because he taunted me that day with my bracelet, because I want to know why he is the way he is.
Whenever I see him, all I can think about is him.
He’s the guy I’m swooning over.
And it’s making me look like a gasping, drooling girl.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and focus on the here and now. I can’t go to him. I can’t talk to him. I’m having lunch with Evie, and it’s rude to leave her like that. I have to keep my eyes shut to prevent myself from failing in my resolve. I can’t look at him, because I know I’ll falter and go over there eventually.
Still, I can’t help but open my eyes.
He’s much closer now, and he’s leaning against a vending machine. He coughs and then looks at his hand, wiping something on his dark, frayed jeans. He’s wearing unusually thick clothes today, which isn’t at all like him, and from the looks of it they’re cheap, too.
Jamming one hand into his pocket, he runs the other through his spiky hair. He fishes a few coins from his pocket, gazes at them, and then crushes them in the palm of his hand. The look on his face darkens, and I can see his chest heave as he stares with anger at the vending machine.
I gulp at the sight of him and
can’t get a word out of my mouth. Hunter Bane, the guy who seems to have it all, doesn’t have enough to buy some snack from a vending machine?
The idea alone makes me gasp. I can’t believe Hunter, out of all people, doesn’t have enough to go by. Is it just a coincidence? Or is this what he goes through on a daily basis?
Just like me?
I shake my head when he suddenly turns his head and looks at me. We stare at each other, and my eyes widen. His eyes are bloodshot, and his eyelids are swollen. There’s a huge purple mark on his left cheek.
My fork drops onto the table.
“Autumn? Hello? Earth to Autumn?” Evie yells. She’s been calling my name all this time, but I haven’t paid any attention to it. And I don’t want to right now.
I need to know what’s wrong with Hunter.
“Be right back,” I say.
“Huh? What? Where are you going?” I think she follows my gaze, because she immediately says, “Oh, God, you’ve got to be joking. Hunter?”
“Sorry,” I say. “I really want to talk to him.”
She stammers, but I ignore her, and I hurry over to him.
When he sees me coming, he pulls up his hoodie, turns his head, and starts walking in the opposite direction.
I run up to him and grab his arm, but he jerks loose.
“Leave me alone,” he says as he walks through the cafeteria door.
“What happened to you?” I say.
I push myself past the doors and step in front of him. He looks miserable. His face has all the colors of a rainbow, like he’s been hit with a baseball bat. His eyes scare me even more. They look dreary. They’re red and big, as if he’s been sick or crying.
Or something way, way, worse. Drugs.
I can’t even think of it without wanting to puke.
The abrasive look on his face sends shivers down my spine. The only time I’ve seen him more upset was when he leaned against his door in the middle of the night, crying.
He closes his mouth, leaving a small gap in between his lips, as if he still wants to say something but doesn’t know quite what.
I swallow. “I asked you a question.”
It’s not like me to be this upfront, bold, but I have to. He looks sick, and it seems to me like he doesn’t even care. It’s as if he’s completely oblivious to the state he’s in. Or there’s something else going on that makes him ignore it.
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