One Of The Enemy (Hidden Descendant Series, Book 1)

by C. M. Chidgey

  “We should get back to class.” I said giving up on trying to smile and getting to my feet only to wobble and feel my knees start to give way before Dominic was grabbing my arms and steadying me. The skin on his palms felt warm against my arms and I felt tingles run through my body before he asked.

  “Are you sure you’re ok?”

  I nodded. “Thank you for taking me outside by the way.”

  “No problem.” He answered and we stayed silent as we walked back to class.

  When we entered the room we only had ten minutes of class left and to my dismay I now noticed that Maddy was in my history class. If looks could have killed I would have dropped dead on the spot at that point. I was now on her hate list, great that was all I needed. Sighing I took my seat next to Dominic again who kept looking at me as if he thought I was going to drop on the floor. I looked down at the table until my hair had covered my face, that way I could pretend that Dominic and his father didn’t keep looking at me and that Maddy and her sidekicks weren’t staring holes into the back of my head.

  When lunch arrived I almost ran out of the classroom and met up with Andrew before we headed to the cafeteria. After my little episode in history I couldn’t force myself to eat anything no matter how hard I tried. It wasn’t until we were halfway through our lunch hour and some guys walked past calling Andrew names that I realised he didn’t have any friends here and he was gay. He went quiet and looked at me as if he expected me to get up and walk away from him when I found out, but I just sat there wondering why people were so mean. When he realised I was staying he seemed to relax again and went back to being chatty.

  “Let’s go kick some ass!” He exclaimed when we reached the sports hall used for our kick boxing class.

  I grinned. “Sounds good as long as Maddy isn’t in this class.” I had already told him about history leaving out the part about a panic attack.

  His face fell and I groaned knowing the answer just from that look.

  I tried to stop my brain from thinking that she was going to kill me and make it look like an accident as I got changed into some shorts and a t-shirt. After convincing myself that she wouldn’t kill me in front of lots of people I went out into the hall and glanced around until I saw Andrew before jogging over to him and standing next to him.

  After a minute he smirked and whispered. “Dominic is looking at you.”

  I glanced around until I found him and Andrew was right he was definitely looking at me. Our eyes met and he smiled at me without looking away, I gave him a slow smile in return until Maddy stepped between us and stared at me like she was about to kill.

  “Save me.” I whispered to Andrew.

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry she wouldn’t dare do anything in here.”

  Mr West walked in at that moment and made us all line up facing him before he stared at all of us as if assessing what we could do. His eyes went along the line steadily until he reached me and paused.

  “Cayla Thompson?” He asked me.

  I nodded.

  “What level of kickboxing are you at?”

  I frowned. “0?”

  Several people chuckled and Mr West’s nostrils flared as if he didn’t find it funny so I quickly added.

  “I’ve never done it before sir, I was being serious.”

  “Despite not having done it before you will still have a level.” He insisted.

  “Well, in that case I have no idea.”

  He sighed as if it was a huge inconvenience to him and looked around. “I need a volunteer to fight with Cayla so that I can assess her level.”

  I grabbed Andrew’s hand quickly. “Andrew will fight me.” I looked at him desperately. “Won’t you Andrew?”

  He smiled. “Of course.”

  To my dismay Mr West shook his head. “No, no I need you to fight with the same sex so it’s a fair fight.”

  I whimpered quietly knowing what was coming and Andrew squeezed my hand trying to reassure me.

  “I’ll fight her.” Maddy said stepping forwards.

  I was pretty sure I almost cut of Andrew’s blood circulation in his hand at that point where I had squeezed it so hard.

  “Help me.” I mouthed at him.

  “It will be ok.” He assured me trying to pull his hand away and push me gently towards the teacher.

  Reluctantly I let go of his hand and slowly walked towards the middle of the floor where Maddy was waiting with the teacher.

  “What are the rules?” I asked Mr West.

  He shook his head. “No rules, I just need to see how you fight.”

  I really didn’t like this teacher I decided at that point as he walked away from us and stood with the other students. The moment the teacher told us to start Maddy stalked towards me and I cursed at myself for being so small. It wasn’t until she reached me that I realised it could be to my advantage, I may not be able to fight as well as she could, but it would be easier for me to dodge her attacks.

  Moments later she curled her hand into a fist and swung it towards me, at the last second I crouched down only just missing the punch. I was so surprised that I had done it that I wasn’t prepared for another attack so soon so when she swung her foot towards my face she hit my jaw full force sending me sprawling on the floor.

  “Ow.” I moaned clutching my face.

  She stared down at me then and hissed quietly enough that only I would hear. “Did no one ever tell you not to mess with things that were mine?”

  My eyes widened when she launched herself towards me as if to land on me, before I got flattened I rolled to the side hearing the sound of her hitting the floor before I scrambled to my feet. She grabbed my foot almost tripping me up, but she was really pissing me off now and I turned around before kicking her in the face. The kicks were pathetic to say the least, but after a few of them she let go and got up to stare at me angrily. For some stupid reason I felt a bit more sure of myself at that moment and I didn’t even realise the punch was coming until it was too late.

  I saw stars for a second before I fell on my ass and covered my nose with my hands as it gushed with blood. There had been no sound of a breaking bone so it wasn’t broken, but it still hurt like a bitch.

  “Maddy! You know that we don’t draw blood here.” Mr West was shouting.

  “Take her to the nurse Dominic.” He ordered.

  Damn, why did he have to choose Dominic? He was how I got in this mess to start with, but at that moment I didn’t care, my jaw was throbbing and my nose felt like it had doubled in size.

  Dominic lifted me off of the floor easily as I kept my hands cupped over my nose to stop blood pouring all over the floor as we walked out off the sports hall and down the hallway.

  “You doing ok?” He asked me suddenly.

  “Great.” I mumbled. “Best day ever.”

  He chuckled. “I would have thought he would learn not to let Maddy fight the new student by now, but apparently not.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him questioningly and he shrugged.

  “She never holds back like the rest of us do, admittedly that was a bit more brutal than her usual attacks. She seems to have something against you.”

  “You noticed?” I muttered. “I haven’t even known her a whole day.”

  He gave me a small smile. “You weren’t actually doing too badly, you’re so tiny you could be dangerous with some training.”

  “I’m not that tiny.” I objected.

  He chuckled. “You are a bit, but it’s cute.”

  I was glad I had my hands over my nose at that point so that my hands covered the blush that was now staining my cheeks. A few minutes later he held the door open for me into an all white room with a fussy woman who I assumed was the nurse.

  “Oh, I do wish they would stop with that kickboxing nonsense.” She groaned after Dominic had explained what had happened and my nose was being cleaned up.

  When she touched my jaw I winced and she shook her head. “You’re going to have a nasty bruise in the mor
ning, but your nose should be fine after the bleeding stops.”

  I nodded and Dominic and I listened to her whine about the kickboxing class until my nose was blood free. When she said I was free to go we almost ran out of the room to get away from her continuous complaints.

  “She always does that.” Dominic told me the minute we were out of earshot.

  I chuckled. “Why does she work here if she hates it so much?”

  He shrugged. “She’s good at the job, I think she just likes to complain about things.”

  We went quiet then and I couldn’t help, but keep glancing at him admiring his muscles through his tight t-shirt. I could definitely see why Maddy would want him, he was the guy every girl dreamt about being with. Heat spread through my cheeks when I glanced in his direction the same time he glanced in mine and our eyes met momentarily before I looked at the floor and kept walking. When we reached the sports hall I muttered a thank you to him before running over to Andrew where he was fighting a smaller guy who I didn’t remember seeing in any of my other classes.

  When he saw me he smiled and broke away from the fight before asking.

  “How you doing?”

  I shrugged. “I’ll live.”

  “Cayla, you feeling better?” Mr West asked from behind me.

  I turned towards him and nodded. “Yes sir.”

  “Good, I’ve assessed your level to be at a level five.”

  I frowned. “Is that good?”

  “Highest is level ten, so it’s average, but you definitely have the potential to be a lot better with some training.”

  “Ooooh go you!” Andrew exclaimed.

  I smiled at him and then Mr West walked off shouting. “Ok, we are done for the day, I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  “How do you get into school?” Andrew asked me as we walked across the sports hall.

  “Walk.” I replied.

  “I drive, I can give you a lift if you like?” He asked as we stopped outside the changing rooms.

  I swallowed at the thought of getting into a car again, the taxi I had taken here had been scary enough.

  “Hey, are you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  I jumped at the sound of his voice and forced a smile. “I’m fine, and thanks for the offer of a lift, but I like to walk.”

  He frowned at me for a minute before nodding. “Ok, well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  I nodded and said. “See you tomorrow.” Before we went into our separate changing rooms.

  After changing back into my jeans and t-shirt I walked out of the changing rooms and then out of the school doors. I had actually managed to make it through my first day of school.

  Chapter 2

  I walked home as slow as possible, I had no desire to get home quickly and see my Uncle Nick getting so drunk that he didn’t even know who he was. Before I knew what I was doing my feet were heading in the direction of the forest where me and my parents had taken Toby for a picnic sometimes. There was a clearing somewhere, but I had no idea where it was so I spent time wandering through the trees instead. I had spent hours in here climbing the trees, it always made me feel free.

  After dropping my backpack at the base of the trunk I grabbed the lowest branch and pulled myself up. It didn’t take long for my tree climbing skills to get me half way up. I bounced on the branch a bit to make sure it would hold my weight before settling down with my back against the tree trunk and closing my eyes before sniffing the air taking in the familiar scent of the leaves, bark, earth and the faint sound of running water from the close by stream.

  I felt tears begin running down my cheeks as thoughts of them ran through my mind. Sobs burst out of my throat and before I fell off the branch I climbed out of the tree carefully trying to hold myself together until my feet touched the ground. The moment they did I collapsed against the trunk and cried until my eyes were sore.

  I jumped when I felt something against my leg, after opening my eyes I managed to make out the form of a cat through my tears. Wiping the remaining ones from my eyes and cheeks I ran my fingers through the shiny jet black fur of the cat. It purred rubbing against my leg again before climbing onto my lap and looking up at me with yellow eyes. I wrapped my arms around it and hugged it pressing my cheek against its soft fur.

  Looking up at the sky I noticed the darkness slowly stealing the light away from the sky. Letting go of the cat I struggled to my feet after running my fingers through its fur again and murmuring.

  “I need to get home little guy.”

  He purred and circled my legs before I picked up my backpack and headed back to my Uncle’s apartment. To my surprise he followed me all the way back to the doors of the apartment building. I bent down and stroked him once more.

  “You can’t come inside I’m afraid.”

  He rubbed his head against my leg before he walked off and I walked into the building. I lowered my head and stared at my shoes as I walked knowing my eyes would be red and swollen from all the crying.

  When I reached the apartment I closed the door behind me and dropped my backpack next to the door when I heard glass being smashed.

  “Uncle Nick?” I called walking down the hallway towards the kitchen where the sound was coming from.

  I heard a grunt and another smash of glass before I opened the kitchen door and walked in. My mouth fell open as I took in empty bottles of nearly every alcohol I could think of, two had fallen on the floor. I guess that explained where the smashes came from. My eyes travelled over the counter until I found my Uncle leaning against it heavily with another half empty bottle of Brandy.

  I ran over to him quickly and shook his shoulder. “Uncle, can you hear me?”

  He stumbled to his feet and shoved me away into the wall. “Is all your fault.” He slurred.

  I didn’t have to ask what he was talking about, I knew it was my fault. He was stumbling everywhere and the stench of alcohol was almost choking me.

  “We need to get you to bed.” I told him grabbing his arm.

  He dropped the half empty bottle on the kitchen floor smashing it into hundreds of pieces and let me lead him to his room. I have no idea how I managed to hold his weight up as I struggled to get him there, but it wasn’t long before he was sitting on his bed.

  “It should have been you.” He hissed and swung his hand out.

  He hit me hard in the face just above my already swollen jaw before I had a chance to even avoid it. Tears stung my eyes as the pain throbbed in the side of my face, but I managed to ignore it and pushed my Uncle’s feet onto the bed before he rolled over and started snoring.

  Sighing I turned away and walked out of his room, turning the light off and closing the door on the way out. By the time I had finished cleaning up the kitchen I was exhausted and didn’t even bother to have any dinner before heading to bed. It felt like my face had its own heartbeat as I lay my head on my pillow and closed my eyes. My head was killing me, but it wasn’t long before exhaustion won out over the pain and I fell asleep.

  When I woke up from my nightmare I had trouble forcing my eyes open before glancing at the clock and seeing that it was almost 8am. The side of my face felt like it was on fire, but I tried to ignore it as I jumped out of bed and ran for the shower. The second the water hit my face there was an explosion of pain before I had the sense to move my face away from it. After that I sped up and it wasn’t long before I was drying off and pulling on a clean pair of jeans and a top. The mirror was my next stop and to my horror my face looked nearly as bad as it felt. My jaw had a huge bruise on from Maddy and I had a black eye thanks to my Uncle’s drunkenness. Hopefully I would be able to play off the black eye as a result of the kickboxing incident. I groaned and brushed my hair down around my face to help make the bruises less noticeable, but who was I kidding no one was going to miss them.

  Giving up I walked away and ran down the hallway before picking up my backpack and leaving. I had heard my Uncle moving around in the kitchen, but I hadn’
t really felt like talking to him this morning.

  When I was a little way from the building I slowed down to a walk and headed towards school. The cold air numbed the pain in the side of my face as I walked. By the time I reached school I couldn’t even feel it, but I knew a few minutes inside would warm me up enough to bring feeling back into it.

  I stared at the floor trying to hide my face as much as I could as I walked down the hallway and headed towards Biology. Without pausing I walked straight to my seat and sat down. I started unpacking my bag and soon after Andrew arrived.

  “How you doing girl?” He asked as he walked towards me and I looked up without thinking only to have him raise his eyebrows. “Oh shit!”

  “Can you please keep your opinions to yourself Mr Rogers.” Mr Davis said turning around, but then he saw me and his fluffy eyebrows shot up into his hair. “Oh, Miss Thompson, do you need to go to the nurse.”

  My face went red as I felt everyone’s eyes turn towards me, luckily being in the front seat no one could see what all the fuss was about.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m ok sir. It’s just from kickboxing. It looks worse than it is.” I assured him trying not to wince as I spoke.

  He hesitated before nodding and continuing with the lesson.

  “I could have sworn that she didn’t kick you that hard.” Andrew whispered to me still staring at my face.

  I shrugged. “Like I said, it looks worse than it is.”

  “It looks really painful.” He whispered.

  I forced out a laugh trying not to admit that it was before he whispered again.

  “Dominic is looking at you.”

  I whispered back. “I expect everyone is looking at me wandering what you and Mr Davis were talking about.”

  He smiled. “Sorry about that, it was just a bit of a shock.”

  I shrugged trying to pretend that having everyone stare at me didn’t bother me. “It’s ok.”

  “What you doing tonight?”

  I shrugged. “Not a lot, you?”

  “You want to come over mine?”

  I hesitated knowing my Uncle might be a mess again. I didn’t really want to leave him alone so I replied.