Popularity Rules

by Shamika Lindsay

  My mother turned her attention back to us and folded her arms tightly over her chest, looking ready for a court case. “Jason, what did I tell you?”

  I met her eyes levelly and shrugged, ensuring I looked appropriately innocent, which wasn’t hard to achieve due to my bedraggled state. “Listen, I know what you told me but—”

  My mother cut me off. “You need to leave now,” she announced menacingly, enunciating each word, ensuring they were coated with the right amount of disdain.

  “You can’t make her leave I—”

  “Jason, shut up, she wasn’t talking to you,” Jade interjected, sounding and looking like a carbon copy of my mother.

  I narrowed my eyes at them both when my mother turned slightly and patted her on the knee. “Please, don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

  Avery was still beside me, nodding and accepting their words. I shook my head reluctantly; this wasn’t what I meant when I told her everything would’ve been okay. “If you make her leave, I’m leaving too.”

  “What?” my mother queried, obviously not hearing my mumbles.

  “I said, if you make her leave, I’m leaving too. Go ahead, kick me out.”

  My mother threw her hands up in the air conceding but said the exact opposite of what I expected her to. “Fine. Leave, go on.”

  I stared at her in disbelief, unhinged; whatever I’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. There was strained silence as everyone joined an immobile staring contest. My mother pressed her lips together, mainly to hide her satisfaction of calling my bluff and making me want to recant. I mean I didn’t know about anyone else, but I enjoyed a comfy bed just fine.

  “Before anyone makes any rash decisions, I have to say, no one’s leaving. At least not tonight—not in this weather.”

  Both my mother and Jade turned to my father and gave him incredulous looks. I breathed a sigh of relief at his levelheadedness. Avery looked over at him and nodded, emotionlessly, fighting not to look at my mother or Jade.

  “Do I even want to know why you both are wet?” my mother asked with a raised eyebrow. “You know, never mind, don’t tell me, just go get cleaned up and Jason, use my shower,” she finished, giving me a deadly look.

  I nodded obediently and pulled Avery along, to my surprise she looked reluctant to come.

  “Hey. What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as we entered the foyer.

  Avery looked up at me and I noticed her eyes were pooled with water, she bit her lip and averted her gaze, “Jason, I don’t want to stay here, they don’t want me here,” she whispered, sounding very broken. “No one wants me,” she continued, this time her voice cracking on the last word.

  I shook my head at her, but I doubt she could see me through the downpour of water from her eyes. I wanted her to stop crying because I felt helpless, feeling as if nothing I did would fix it. I grabbed ahold of her face and wiped the streaks of tears from her cheeks, more staining them as soon as I did. “Don’t say that, not because my family is a little hostile—”

  She cut me off with a weak laugh that tore up my insides severely. “You’re too good, Jason, you really are. But we can’t be the good guy all the time.”

  I stared at her open-mouthed for a moment while she sidestepped me and started for the staircase. In all honesty, I wasn’t doing what I inadvertently wanted to do and that was to protect her. That fact made me a little afraid of what would happen when Elijah decided to strike.

  Chapter

  XXVI

  “I still can’t believe that boy,” I heard my mother mutter from the kitchen, the sound of mixing meeting my ears.

  My father, who was there too, quickly cut in. “Honey, she’s a nice girl. Give Jason a break.”

  There was strained silence and I fought to hear what my mother’s response would be. I really hoped she wouldn’t tell him—

  “She was involved in a gang, okay?” I heard her say with a sigh.

  “A gang?” my father asked in disbelief.

  “A gang,” my mother confirmed sullenly, which made me surprised because she was supposed to hate Avery, not pity her. “What did I do wrong? I just know that now I have to sever any relationship before anything serious happens.”

  “I’m afraid you’re too late,” I said abruptly, much to my parents’ surprise. I’ll admit, I was a little shocked at my boldness as well.

  My mother gaped at me before pulling a spoon out of the mug she held and throwing in the sink. I could tell she was buying time, trying to find something to say. She motioned for me to come take it. I stared at her skeptically, wondering if this was just a ruse to throw scalding hot liquid into my face. Okay, maybe I was being a little unfair; my mother wasn’t that diabolical.

  I quickly headed over to her and cautiously took the mug from her grasp. I took a sip while she studied me, her eyes finding every crook and cranny of my face. “What do you mean ‘it’s too late’?” she asked, way more calmly than I imagined she would.

  I gulped down the remainder of the tea in my mouth and held the back of my neck uncomfortably. “Well, Elijah may have said that he has to get rid of us.”

  My mother covered her mouth with her hand and stared at me wide-eyes. “Elijah…? Jason, honey, I warned you about this girl from the beginning.”

  “What’s going on?” my father boomed from the table, looking concerned.

  I rubbed my arm while I thought of the best way to tell him this, so he wouldn’t go haywire. My mother seemed just as disconcerted as I did, wringing her hands over and over. My father was looking at us both expectantly while we tried our best to form coherent sentences. We both looked like deer in headlights I could tell because there was no easy way to break criminal news to your police husband/father.

  “Mr. Forbes,” I heard Avery call from the entrance to the kitchen. “Mrs. Forbes is right; it’s all my fault Jason is in this mess.”

  Avery inched closer and I could see she was about to throw herself under the bus. She was wearing my hoodie and sweats and I smiled briefly at how casual she managed to look when dealing with a situation like this. Although my mother certainly didn’t approve of Avery, she was concerned about the mess we were in.

  “Avery,” I began slowly, trying to tell her with my eyes that this wasn’t worth it. I wanted my parents to accept her, not resent her for possibly putting the entire family in danger.

  She glanced at me briefly and gave a feeble smile. She heaved a tumultuous sigh before beginning to speak. “The truth is, this isn’t Jason’s fault, he was just trying to help. I mean, I had tried to deter him from getting involved with me. But he’s very stubborn,” she said, giving me a curious look as if she was mystified by my stubbornness.

  My mother snorted. “Like father like son,” she muttered under her breath and stared at the ceiling.

  “Anyway, Elijah is a control-freak and he—he… um,” she trailed off struggling to speak. “He wants us… gone.”

  I cringed as she said it, it sounded too real, too close to home. Avery bit the corners of her lip and glanced back and forth between my parents silently. I reached my hand out to her and gave her an encouraging smile, she came closer and took it albeit reluctantly. I pulled her closer to me and gave her a long, hard stare—wondering if our time together would be shortened. I sighed almost inaudibly and squeezed her hand in reassurance.

  “Elijah is not a good person,” my mother said thoughtfully, staring into the distance, her voice seemed ominous. “There’s not much I can say because of lawyer-client confidentiality but it’s quite possible that his threats are not baseless.”

  My father finally spoke, “Avery, what were you doing in a gang, especially that young?”

  Avery squirmed a little and shrugged slightly. “I was tired of being the innocent little girl everyone walked over. The fights appealed to me so much, I thought it was harmless fun and I enjoyed it. That is, until something happened that completely changed my view.”

  Like a lightning bolt, a memory snapped
into my mind, it was of the pool party, the first time I caught a glimpse into Avery’s mind, I could remember everything clearly:

  ‘My cup was half full. I stared at the clear liquid in the cup and looked directly across the circle. Avery’s eyes met mine and I found myself trapped in her gaze—maybe it was the after effects of the liquor talking.

  “Never have I ever,” I said, enunciating each word, “killed someone.”

  The next person was about to speak when Avery, her eyes never leaving mine, took a long gulp of the alcoholic beverage.’

  I stared at Avery, who was still vividly describing her time in the gang, engaging in petty crimes of all sorts and why she thought it was so much fun, I couldn’t even focus on how aghast they appeared, all I could think about was ‘killed someone.’

  “…killed someone,” I muttered, staring at the wall.

  Avery stopped speaking mid-sentence and stared at me. “What?”

  My eyes snapped to hers and I could finally understand the wide variety of emotions that would play across her face, day in, day out. I understood why she was so much different from everyone I knew, she had way too many horrible experiences to count. I could finally understand why she couldn’t let anyone in, let me in even, to let me know the truth about her past. She seemed like a new person now, like I was opening a door to a foreign version of her personality. And finally finding out what made Avery, Avery.

  “Elijah, he… he killed someone didn’t he?” I asked in a fleeting whisper, noticing how uncharacteristically relaxed my voice was.

  Avery’s eyes widened and her breathing hitched, she fought to pull her hand from mine and when she succeeded, she held onto the counter, staring at the granite counter-top, trying to control her breathing. I decided to give her a little space and stared at my mother who didn’t look particularly surprised, she was just peering at Avery weirdly. I decided to sneak a glance at my father instead, he looked especially upset and a little unnerved.

  “He did,” she confirmed, after regaining her composure. “He did and I saw. I let it happen,” she continued, almost shaking. “It was after that little ‘fight’ we had, there was a guy who owed him some money and he didn’t pay up. To make me afraid of him, I guess, he took me to where he held the guy and made them force me to watch. I remember the guy’s weak pleas for help, and I couldn’t do anything because I’m so feeble and a puppet and I just let him die there.”

  I pulled her closer, despite her initial reluctance and tried to console her as much as I could, thankfully she didn’t cry because my parents had enough Avery vulnerability for one night. She just had her arms up my back and shaking slightly. My parents just stood staring at us in awkward silence. The warmth of her embrace was enough to console me in all of this. I wasn’t sure if I was doing much to console her though, I’m not sure how to console someone in a situation like that.

  I lowered my head to her ear. “It’s not your fault.”

  Before I could even finish the sentence, she had already begun shaking her head profusely. I held her head with both hands and forced her to nod. She pulled away from me slightly so I could see her narrowed eyes and pursed lips.

  “Does he know where your school is?” my father asked, looking fidgety.

  “Yes unfortunately,” I replied off the bat.

  “Does he know where you live Avery?”

  “Yeah.”

  My father sighed heavily and got up from his seat at the table, looking very irritated. He ran a hand over his face and shook his head slightly as if to clear it off all the horrid things we had told him, too much too quickly. I watched as he pulled his phone out and gripped it tightly, gesturing to my mother to come on. I could tell they were probably making a game plan already—something to fix all our problems in an instant.

  As soon as they left, I grabbed Avery’s face and kissed her, a kiss that left me light headed and happy that she was almost all mine. I pulled away first and gave her a small kiss on the nose with a smile.

  “What was that for?” she asked, her orange-brown eyes burning holes into mine.

  I shrugged and pulled her closer, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. “I’m just not sure I’m going to have an opportunity to do so in the next couple of days.”

  Avery grimaced and moved her hand to my cheek. “I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” she said sadly, and when I began to shake my head, she cast her eyes downward, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Jason I… I—I don’t deserve this kindness. All I do is attract trouble.”

  “That is true,” I conceded, making her purse her lips at me yet again, I smoothed her hair down and smiled. “But who says I don’t like trouble.”

  Avery shook her head at me and sighed. “You better be prepared. Because Elijah is not going down without a fight.”

  It was weird, knowing that Avery was here, asleep so close to me. Of course, she had already slept here before but there was something different about my entire family knowing about it, it made me feel better that they were all inadvertently looking out for us. Even though she was in the room across the hall, I was still less worried about her than the first night. That, however, didn’t do anything to counteract the bout of insomnia that was slowly consuming me, I couldn’t close my eyes for a moment without panoramic images of being killed flitter across my mind.

  I began drifting away at the darkest part of the morning, knowing I wouldn’t have a lot of time to sleep but knowing that I’d have to in order to be fully awake in case anything happened. I had to protect Avery even if it meant getting hurt by Elijah myself—nothing could happen to her, I wouldn’t allow it. On the off chance that it did, I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.

  When I woke up, it was with a start. The room was all too quiet, and I couldn’t ignore the insistent feeling at the back of my mind that something had happened and I somehow managed to escape unscathed. I quietly jumped out of bed and made my way across the room, careful not to make any unnecessary noise. I opened the door slowly and looked across the hallway—nothing. Everything was painfully silent. I crept along in the carpeted hall listening for any sound but there was nothing. A twinge of fear crept up my throat as I made my way downstairs, fearing that I had failed again.

  Downstairs, a few windows were open, and the curtains blew billowing in their wake, leaving an ominous chill in the room. I moved along to the kitchen where I immediately noticed my mother and Jade sitting, their hands around respective mugs of tea, staring into an impalpable future. I hoped something hadn’t happened that subtracted both my father and Avery from the equation.

  “Where’s Avery?” I demanded, startling them both.

  My mother regarded me warily. “Good morning Jason, there’s some tea if you want.”

  I was aware of how cold and raspy my voice sounded. “Where. Is. Avery?”

  “I’m going to start breakfast in a few minutes, is there anything in particular you want?”

  I laughed without humor and raked my hand roughly through my hair. “Tell me where she is.”

  My mother ignored me yet again and turned to Jade who was looking at me as if I grew two heads. “How about you Jade? How about some eggs?”

  As soon as Jade spun her head around to make a reply, I hit the countertop of the island roughly and they both flinched, I was aware I was pretty demented looking but I needed an answer, no beating around the bush; it was driving me crazy not knowing. I felt as if a fist was around my throat, constricting my attempts at regulated breathing.

  “I’m serious, where is she?” I asked, my voice more controlled but still a little stiff.

  When my mother answered, I was a little surprised at how easily she relented. “Your father took her somewhere.”

  I blinked once, not expecting that. “What? Why? Why didn’t you wake me? I could’ve taken her.”

  My mother gazed at me sympathetically and shrugged, shaking her head at something and casting her eyes to the ground. “Jason, don’t worry about it, she’s safe—�
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  “What do you mean she’s safe? I have to protect her. I—I’ll go get my keys and go find them. Where are they?”

  “This is why I shouldn’t have said anything,” my mother grumbled to herself, subtly rolling her eyes. “Calm down and have a seat.”

  I heaved a breath and tried to find something to look at, something to stop the continual struggle to catch a breath. I was being a little dramatic I know but I could image three horrible things happening to Avery and my father right off the bat. The paranoia was slowly creeping up my throat, choking off the air that was still there. I held both sides of my head in my hands and tried to calm down—nothing bad would happen. Maybe if I stuck to my mantra it would’ve been true. I snuck a glance at the kitchen table and noticed my mother was watching me worriedly.

  The kitchen door swung open and I belatedly noticed the cheerful voices coming toward me. A fast exhale left my mouth as I saw Avery talking and laughing. Her face fell as she noticed my grim expression. She rested the package of muffins she had gotten on the island and looked at me questioningly. My father too regarded me with raised eyebrows, shrugging his jacket off.

  Avery hurried over to where I was and held my face in her cool hands. “What’s wrong?” she whispered urgently. I began shaking my head as she stroked the side of my face, searching my eyes. “Jason, what is it?”

  “Nothing. I was just—uh—worried about you,” I muttered, embarrassed.

  Avery’s brows scrunched together and she pursed her lips at me. She sighed briefly and looked down, her hands still lightly caressing my face. “Jason, you’re going to make yourself crazy worrying about me. I’ll be fine.”

  “And if you’re not?” I asked, placing my hand over where hers was. “Who’s to blame then?”

  Avery let out an exasperated breath and laughed shortly, pulling her hands from my face and folding them over her chest. “I won’t blame you; no one will. You’re hardly a part of this.”

  I pressed my lips together while we had a staring match, her eyes gradually narrowing until she threw her hands up in the air and left the kitchen in a huff. I sighed and shook my head, finally looking over at my family, they looked so intrigued that I rolled my eyes. They didn’t even look remotely embarrassed that I caught them staring, it was so annoying, never having any privacy.