Dragon Amour (Dragon-Half Breed Book 1)

by Robin Ambrozic

  “Hi.” He said.

  “Musical.” Kaylene whispered as those around her nodded.

  Brooke snarled. “Pathetic. Hey Gabe, how’s the first day going?” Brooke scooted down, pushing the others away, much to their dismay. Gabe came around the table and sat across from me. “Hi JJ.”

  “Hey Gabe.”

  “Great job in Dr. Daugherty’s class. Your presentation was spot on in my opinion.”

  My face flushed again and I placed my hand over the side of my face to hide some of the color. “Thank you.” My eyes shifted around the room to keep from looking into his.

  Kaylene did a not too subtle cough and elbowed Brooke.

  “Gabe, this is Kaylene…”

  “My pleasure.” Kaylene extended her hand and Gabe shook it.

  “Somer”

  Somer nodded, red creeping down her neck.

  “And Kennah.”

  Kennah was staring openly at him and Gabe seemed a little embarrassed by the attention.

  “Geez, you guys suck.” Brooke’s face scrunched up in disgust.

  Gabe turned back to me and out of the corner of my eye I saw Kennah pull out her cell phone and immediately begin texting.

  “So, whose class do you have next?” I asked.

  He smiled. “Ms. Pendragon’s.”

  “Do you have running shoes?” Somer asked, concern clouding her eyes.

  Gabe looked confused.

  “Ms. Pendragon has a tendency to take her classes on runs as she teaches. Always good to go to her class with running shoes on.” Somer explained.

  Gabe laughed and more sighs issued around me. “I don’t.”

  Somer, Kaylene and several other girls jumped up from the table, “Mr. Winckler always has extras, come with me I’ll show you.” Somer enthusiastically took Gabe’s arm.

  “We’ll show you.” Kaylene corrected her.

  Gabe let himself be guided away from the table. “See you later, JJ, Brooke.”

  I waved to him and fumed under my embarrassment for not thinking of that first.

  “Pathetic!” Brooke yelled at them. “That’s my cousin…. you whores!”

  The girls laughed and waved as they exited the lunch room.

  Brooke shook her head. “I knew this would be a bad idea.”

  “What?”

  “Letting him come here. Should have sent him off to Valor too.”

  Deep down I didn’t agree, but on the surface I nodded. “Yeah. He might disrupt things around here and you know how Mr. Resler loves order.”

  Brooke agreed. “Valor is a little stricter. Less chance for him to get into trouble, not that Gabe makes trouble. He’s probably the gentlest soul I know, but trouble seems to find him.” She smiled.

  “Is Set your other cousin.” Kennah asked looking up from her cell phone.

  “Yes, why?”

  “He punched some kid at Valor.”

  Brooke’s face grew angry.

  An Egg?

  I’ve seen Brooke get really mad maybe a handful of times in the four years I’ve known her. She’s usually very cool and doesn’t let much get under her skin, though, on occasion just her ‘angry’ look will send most people scurrying away from her in fear. But this time, her eyes grew a deeper shade of blue, her neck strained just a little, and her breathing slowed. She was majorly pissed. Brooke grabbed her cell phone and immediately began texting.

  “Who are you texting?” I stared around the table gauging the different expression of the few that were listening.

  Kennah was texting so fast that it was hard to see her fingers.

  “My Mom. When I get my hands on him.” She mumbled as her fingers flew too.

  I couldn’t help but wonder why Set would punch someone in the face, but having just been around him a few days or so, I’d have to say it didn’t surprise me. He seemed a little too aggressive. But on the other hand, Brooke appeared to be able to handle him, so just to say he did it on purpose wouldn’t be fair. I’m sure the person he punched, probably deserved it. Though you can never tell.

  Brooke slammed her phone down. Her eyes narrowed and her breathing became even softer.

  “You okay?” I asked uncertain. She looked ready to punch something.

  She locked on me with her blue eyes, “Idiot!”

  “Me?” My eyes grew larger in surprise.

  She shook her head. “No, of course not. Set. This is not a low profile.” “What?” Low profile, what is that?

  She waved away my question. “It’s nothing. I should have expected it. Should have kept him here and sent Gabe to Valor. Cripes.”

  I thank you for not doing that. “Is he always getting into trouble? Set that is.”

  “No, actually, he’s usually so cocky that he never needs to prove himself, but usually some idiot thinks he can handle him or thinks that he is too cocky and tries to start some shit.” Brooke laughed. “They quickly find out they picked the wrong guy.” Evidently, “Well, what now?”

  “Nothing, Mom will take care of it and I’ll take care of him when I get home.” She turned to Kennah. “Anything about the fight?”

  “Plenty,” she said.

  Kennah looked almost awe struck.

  “Tommy, my boyfriend, said that Garret, you kn…” “I know Garret,” Brooke interrupted her.

  “Well, anyway, he was like, ‘your cousin is a guy’. And Set was, ‘more of man than you’, then Garret was like, ‘she’s a dude, dude, and Set was like ‘dude, take your skirt off and quit crying to me if you can’t score on her’, then Garret was like ‘every guy scores on her, then Set was like, ‘then ask them what it’s like, since you can’t’ and then…”

  “Oh my god, will you just tell us?” I said.

  “But…”

  “Shut up and tell us. Why did Set punch him?!” Sometimes it was hard to take Kennah’s incessant rambling, she’s like an ad for Glee or something.

  Hurt, Kennah pouted her lips, which she was known for, but it quickly vanished when Brooke gave her the evil blue eyes.

  “Well, fine,” she pouted. “Garret threw a shoulder at him, missed but somehow he touched Set’s hair, and Set put him on the ground with one punch.” Kennah giggled uncontrollably.

  I stared at her. “His hair?” Really? Touched his hair and he punches a guy for it. Didn’t really expect that, I turned to Brooke who had a knowing smile on her face.

  “Seriously? Garrett all but calls you a whore and Set punches him because he touched his hair?”

  Brooke nodded her head while shrugging her shoulders. “That would sound about right.”

  I looked disbelievingly at her. “His hair.”

  She shrugged. “To each their own. Set could care less what people think of us, but when it comes to vanity, he’s right at the top.” Brooke leaned back and smirked. “I am so going to cross check Garret at the next playoff game.”

  I stood up. “Damn I can’t believe you?! All you can think about is getting even with that guy? Set is going to get kicked out of school!” Brooke looked at me as if I was going crazy. “Don’t worry about it. Set isn’t going to get kicked out of anything. Relax.”

  I was mad. Not exactly sure why, but there it was. “Whatever, I’m going to class!” I snatched my books off the table and stomped off to my next class with Dr. Zang.

  Storming my way through the hallways I fumed. My mind couldn’t decide if I was madder because of the comments made by others, or if I was madder that my friends had taken Gabe with them. Several people said hi on my way to class and I remember giving brief hellos to them. My determined feet walked into class and Dr. Zang wasn’t there. Slamming my books down on my desk, I wandered over to the window and looked out at the mountains. They were snow covered and beautiful; I couldn’t really enjoy them though. Looking down, the snow upon the ground was tinged with dirt, and covered with foot prints. Why am I so mad? I know Brooke is like that, and it’s never bothered me before, but just the way those girls just hovered over Gabe, like some trophy to b
e won, just really pissed me off. Ah, what is going on?!

  “Hey, JJ.” Dr. Zang said walking in.

  Startled, I waved to her. Dr. Zang was one of my favorite teachers. Actually, she was one of the few teachers all the students liked. She had a vicious liberal streak that she wasn’t shy about sharing, but she also listened to other views before countering and getting her point across anyway. Her black frizzy hair bounced around her head; she shoved it back and sighed. Dr. Zang placed her books down on her cluttered desk then plopped down into her chair. She turned a knowing smile to me.

  “Boy troubles?” Her low voice asked.

  Shocked, I blushed, then regained my composer. “Tsk, when do I ever have boy troubles?”

  “That’s why it’s so clearly etched on your face.” She winked.

  My face flush deeper. I went and sat down at my desk.

  She opened her lesson plan and started to write in it. That was one of the cool things about Dr. Zang, she could read a person like a book. The silence stretched on, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one.

  “What are we doing today?” I dug out my Latin book.

  Without looking up, “I think we’ll translate Ovid, might give you some advice.”

  I hung my head, though a smile appeared. “What do I need advice for? Revenge isn’t something I condone.”

  “Revenge?” Dr. Zang looked up.

  I told her about Brooke and Set.

  “Ah, well, she is a fiery one. Almost like a harpy or dragon out of mythology.” She tapped her chin, “I wouldn’t worry about it, hockey is a violent sport, too violent in my opinion, and Brooke will calm down. She’s also one of the most rational people I have met.”

  “Yeah, but it just pissed me off so much that she didn’t care what those guys were saying about her.”

  “Really? Why should you care? You can’t change someone’s thoughts. Just shows their insecurities. Or is it that because Set didn’t come to her defense? Or because Brooke didn’t care?”

  “Both!” I yelled. “Set’s her cousin, he should have done something!”

  “Out of honor?” Dr. Zang smiled knowingly.

  “What?”

  Gabe walked in, nodded to Dr. Zang, who raised an eyebrow, and placed a bag of caramel corn on my desk with a smile. His borrowed sneakers squeaked on the floor.

  “This is your favorite, right?”

  My gaze lingered on his eyes and slowly nodded. I wouldn’t take credit for getting these snacks in our vending machines, since Mr. Resler is very conscious of providing nutritious snacks for the school, but I did make a very good argument about the popcorn, even if it did have caramel on it. “Sorry those guys took me away, see you at practice?” His smile was like a sun.

  I stared, and nodded dumbly. My body lit on fire when he touched my hand.

  He winked, bowed to Dr. Zang and left the room. I watched him go and my heart thudded heavy in my chest.

  “Ah, now the plot thickens.” Dr. Zang laughed.

  Later, my tired feet carried me across the parking lot in the snow. Once again, the forecasters said it wouldn’t snow until tomorrow, and they got it wrong. Typical Colorado weather. I pulled my jacket closer to me and walked towards the ice rink. Dr. Zang probably had the most enjoyable class time she’s ever had. As we translated Ovid’s Book 1 Elegy 2, Love’s Victim, she continually made off handed references that were meant to reference what Gabe had done. And just on cue, each reference would make me blush and she would laugh and the other students would look around confused. This made me blush even more, because they would eventually end up looking at me, and that just made it worse.

  I smiled. That was super awesome that he brought me the snack though, which just goes to show that chivalry is not dead.

  The wind picked up, and something caught my eye. Up on the roof, the snow continued to blow fiercely and from the flood lights that tried to brighten the mascot of the Valkyrie, a shadow appeared in an area that it shouldn’t have. Just like with the hallway, the flood lights clearly lit the area, and the heavy snow in front of them made flickering shadows, but this shadow appeared to be outside the other shadows which again made it look out of place. Stopping, I squinted against the blowing snow and tried to figure out how the shadow could appear there, and then someone bumped into me almost knocking me to the ground.

  “Sorry, JJ.” One said out of the group of underclassmen that were running towards the restaurant.

  Perturbed, I waved, looked up and the shadow was gone. I moved back to my original spot and still didn’t see anything that would have made the shadow disappear or for that matter appear. Blinking, I shrugged and headed inside. The restaurant was busy as it always was after school. Just as with the common areas, each grade had a section it gravitated towards, and no one crossed into each other’s territory, although, it wasn’t nearly as defined as the amphitheater. I waved to a few hellos, greeted some others as I made my way up to the bar where Connor greeted me.

  “Hey, JJ. Usual?” His smile was always on display.

  “No, thanks. Any hot chocolate ready?”

  He winked. “I saved you some. The middle schoolers drank most of it.” He walked back into the kitchen. I pulled my coat around me, the two ice rinks always made the restaurant cold. Connor placed the steaming mug of hot chocolate down in front of me.

  “Whipped cream?”

  “Please.”

  He swirled a good helping of cream on top and then placed a cherry in the center. My smile went from ear to ear at his generosity. Placing my gloves in my coat pocket, the wrapper of the caramel corn crunched adding to the huge smile already on my face. My body began to warm, and as I reached out for the warm mug, thinking it was Gabe’s face, and how soft and…

  “Need help popping that cherry?” A cold wind blew in from behind me.

  Shattering my vision, I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. “Don’t you need to fix your hair or something?” The mug felt lifeless and dead in my hand.

  Set leaned his body up against the bar, oozing arrogance. “There are just somethings you don’t touch.” Then his bimbos appeared next to him. I didn’t recognize either of the two blonds, but they had to be from Valor.

  “Fan club?”

  He looked at the two. “Spoils to the victor.”

  “Aren’t’ the twins going to be jealous?”

  “They will join us later.” The girls giggled.

  Disgusted, I shifted away.

  He leaned in. “Maybe you should too?” he cooed.

  His black/brown eyes were a bottomless pit that threatened to pull you down like a whirlpool. I fought to pull my gaze away, but his eyes just kept sucking me in.

  Then his head slammed down onto the bar, breaking the spell, and I blinked furiously.

  “Hey, dumb ass. Don’t do that again.” Brooke’s blue hair draped over Set’s black hair as she whispered in his ear.

  Connor stared, unsure what to do, as others began to look our way. Set’s smashed face smiled. He easily lifted his head off the bar, as the girls he was with stared in awe and adoration.

  “Take care, Blue,” Set’s eyes grew darker. “You may be the favorite, but I won’t always be easy on you.” He slapped away her hand.

  Brooke stared hard at him. “As long as I’m responsible, you will listen.” She stepped up and got in his face. “Understand?”

  The authority and threatening tone made me even want to take a step back. Set laughed at the threat, brushed by her, picked up his bimbos, and exited the restaurant. People watched him go and then slowly turned back to a fuming Brooke.

  “What happened to not worrying about it?” I said.

  She slowly turned her darker blue eyes at me and they held an anger that I’d never seen before. “Don’t start with me.” She slung her hockey bag over her shoulder and stomped off to the locker room.

  The restaurant was abnormally quiet. Even I was in shock. Wow, never seen her like that before, and I thought I’ve seen all her moods. W
hat was that about? Maybe she does care that he didn’t do anything. That did make me feel better. I finished up my hot chocolate, paid, and went to sit in the stands to do homework.

  My homework got done pretty fast, since I wanted to have as much free time to talk to Gabe when he came in, but the jerk hadn’t shown yet. Inside the rink, the stands were pretty much empty. Those on the ice kept a fair distance away from Brooke in goal, especially after one of her teammates made the mistake of coming into close and jokingly sprayed her with ice. She checked him to the ground. Coach Winckler stormed off the bench and lit her up for the check, and now she was doing latter sprints for her transgression. Bored, my gaze slowly roved the stand looking for him when a golden retriever sprinted out of the tunnel onto the ice. Unable to keep its balance, he slid across the ice and skidded to a halt in the middle.

  “Cooper!” Gabe’s voice boomed out of the tunnel and then he appeared. My heart caught in my throat. As the commotion continued on the ice as Cooper slipped and slid around, I made my way down to the glass.

  “Cooper!” I yelled pounding on the glass.

  Cooper’s head came up and he skidded and slid his way over to me until Brooke came in like a predatory animal and scooped him off the ice. She skated over to Gabe, handed him off, said a few curt words, and then continued her sprints. Gabe disappeared back into the tunnel and I raced back into the restaurant. Cooper sprinted out of the locker room hallway and into my arms.

  “What are you doing?” Cooper jumped and licked my face.

  An exhausted Gabe came running out of the hallway and stopped before me. “Sorry about that.” His musical voice chimed. His golden eyes had a deep merriment in them at the fiasco that had taken place, my heart lightened.