Chasing Rebels

Chapter 6

If cupid's arrow was an anesthetic syringe, I would have gladly welcomed its post-injection. Maybe it would drown out the feeling of multiple pairs of eyes trained on me as I walk down the hall.

I don't have a sliver of doubt that they have already forgotten the little display yesterday at the cafeteria. Some wishes just don't come true.

Now I wished I had worn my glasses. Would it have done anything good? Probably. Maybe Clark Kent this s**t and become incognito until everyone decides to forget about the whole ordeal.

I made my way to my locker hoping to avoid the cafeteria today. I didn't want to return to the scene of the crime—that is if fighting back was a crime. But why did I feel more at fault than blaming Tyler Kregg? Maybe I should have walked away instead igniting more fire by dousing him with water.

Before I could reach the handle, I notice an end of a folded paper sticking out from the small crevice of the door. I pull it out and immediately a small smile appeared on my face as I saw the name at the bottom of the paper.

needed an excuse to get rid of some of my sweaters. after yesterday, i kind of have a feeling the douche will try to drown you in the caribbean in the next few months. call it a hunch not a premonition so don't be all up on my s**t. anyway, hope to see you at lunch.

—Shay

When I open my locker, sure enough, there were three folded up oversized sweatshirts on top of my books. My heart would have warmed at the gesture if not for the lingering thought in the back of my head: how the hell did Shay get into my locker?

Leaving it up to a simple assumption she got it from the principal's office, I let it slide. I'll have to ask her about it later. I hate people prying into my s**t they had no business with. But seeing Shay's genuine kindness, I can't will myself to get mad at her.

It left me no choice but to abandon my mission to avoid the cafeteria.

I shut my locker, tugged on the lock to make sure it doesn't unhinge for good measure, and head to the cafeteria where Shay was.

It was nice to have something to look forward to at school. Shay was a change of pace than what I'm used to, which I'm grateful for. Now that Mal was gone, it was hard enough that he aged out of high school and now he was out of the house, I've never felt more alone than ever.

Sadness creeps up my throat at the memory Mal wasn't around anymore. He isn't just a few miles either like how we planned it.

Self awareness engulfs me. I always depended on Mal to be by my side. I never needed anyone because I had Mal ever since this whole thing started. He was enough. I didn't need friendships or parents, Mal was both.

He left a little after dusk. He texted me telling he was off and I somewhat appreciate that he didn't force me to meet with him before he hit the road. I don't think I have any reserved kind words for him at the time.

Now, I regretted it. I missed him right before scaling the fence that surrounded Merriway High with the canisters heavy on my shoulder.

I close my eyes and force the bad thoughts out my head before entering the cafeteria. No good comes out of celebrating a pity party alone.

Immediately, I spot Shay at a different table from yesterday sitting alone. I make a beeline for her.

When I reach the table, I'm struck with a profound sense of not knowing what to do. Should I sit down? Would she be mad that I didn't ask for her permission? Will she stop talking to me if I manage to offend her if I did? But Shay technically invited me over from the note she left at my locker.

Unless she takes it back.

God, why was this so hard?

I opted not to sit and cleared my throat. "Thank you," I say and she looks up from her pad. "For yesterday, I mean. You didn't have to do that." I sure as hell won't if our roles were reversed. Shay and I were strangers. I had no business with her and she didn't have one in mine.

So why did I feel guilty for hypothetically intending not to do the same to her?

She waves me off. And smiled. "Settle it by sitting at lunch with me from now on?"

I smile. "Deal."

She gestures across the table and I take that as my invitation. "Hope you don't mind, I went ahead and grabbed you a sandwich. Noticed you don't like to eat. You barely touched your food yesterday." Shay tossed me a wrapped sandwich and I catch it swiftly.

I eye her with suspicion. Why was she watching me yesterday?

Shay noticed my stare because she waves me off. "Don't think too much about it. I saw you enter the room and had an internal battle with myself whether to sit with you or not. You don't seem too friendly."

I shrug, unwrapping the plastic. "I prefer it that way."

"Why?" And there it was again. The questions.

I have to remind myself she was being friendly. After all, some people do thrive without a hidden motive. "I don't know. It's just the way it is."

When I take my first bite, the creamy flavor of mayonnaise immediately filled my mouth. It didn't even register to me how much I was starving until I took a third bite.

Frank went home late last night and Mal mostly does the take out calls. I didn't feel like eating after coming home to an empty house. So I just head straight to bed not even bothering to change out of my clothes.

If Shay was bothered by my gluttony, she doesn't show it. "It doesn't have to be. What's so wrong with making friends?"

Having to leave them.

"I don't know . . . it's just, I don't always have anything in common with people," I lie. "And I'm not into the whole gossip thing which, when you think about it, is kind of the start of most friendships."

"But don't you get lonely?"

I don't answer her mainly because don't know the right answer.

Does it get lonely moving from place to place without certainty of a safe haven? That every third week from the move I have to put my guard up since s**t starts to go down usually by then.

It didn't feel like I was lonely. I had a friend who filled in as my protector.

I was spared from answering her question when someone occupied the bench next to me. The woman doesn't look up from her phone. Then, it doesn't take long for a man to park his ass next to Shay slamming his own lunch tray on the table who, creepily, stares at me for no apparent reason with a Ted Bundy grin plastered on his face.

My hand quickly flies to the edges of my mouth in case I had mayonnaise coating.

Shay stares at the man beside her looking as if she was on the brink of annoyance. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Wanted to talk to the new girl. What she did yesterday was badass," the man said without hesitation or regard that I was staring at him.

The woman beside me dropped her hands to her lap. "I told you to drop it, Jay. I'm sure she doesn't want to talk about it."

He shrugs. "Want to at least hear her voice before she's dead."

My eyes bulge. "What?" I asked, my mouth full of bread.

He grins. "There it is." I swallow. "Kind of stuffy, but that's exactly how O imagine a voice would sound like."

The woman beside me rolled her eyes and turned to me. "Don't let him scare you. He just wouldn't shut up about your encounter with Tyler yesterday."

"Man, s**t's hilarious!" Jay expressed.

"Glad I could amuse you," I deadpan. At least someone was having fun.

Having enough, Shay straightened her back. "You done harassing Sylvie or do I need to switch tables again?"

Something shifts in the ambience because Jay's grin slowly disappeared and the woman next to me frowned.

Shay knew these people and I can't help but ask, did something happen between the three of them?

The woman with the cellphone sighed. "When are you going to stop acting like this, Shannon? It's almost been a year."

This ticks her off. "You're seriously telling me how to feel?"

"I don't mean it like that. Just . . . listen to what he has to say, okay? It's not going to kill you."

I'm tempted to ask about their background story but I don't think any of them are too keen on explaining given the current tension at the table. From what I'm surmising, Shay wanted to stay away from the two.

They don't look like the people Shay shared a table with yesterday either which gives me a reason to believe Shay was avoiding them. But why?

As if snapping back to her usual self, Shay scratched the back of her head. "Uh, Vie, this is Tara and her i***t boyfriend, Jay. Don't mind him, he likes to spew s**t out of his no good mouth."

"I could think of ways my mouth can be good," he replies, wagging his eyebrows.

Shay flipped him off and I let out a small smile. "We'd love to hear about your gay tendencies but I don't think Vie would be too thrilled about that."

"I'm not gay." He turns to me. "Hey, I'm not gay." I went along and nod at him.

"See? Bullshit."

I hadn't realized I finished my sandwich until I was absentmindedly chewing on the plastic. Despite that, my stomach rumbles and I can't help but stare at Jay's unopened one that laid on his tray.

Would it be a sin to steal his bread and make a run for the back door? The line of students at the counter stretched too far and I don't think my stomach will be able function when I do make it to the counter.

The tray suddenly jolts in my direction and I look up to see Jay's face with his nose scrunched up. "Take it. Hell hath no wrath than a woman starving."

I smile, muttering a small thanks, and gladly snatched the wrapped bread from the tray.

I really have to stop skipping meals.

"Damn, mama. You know how to munch."

"Sue me," I say, but it became muffled with the food in my mouth.

"By the way, have you seen Beck?" Tara asked. I know she was talking to Shay but my head turned to her. Food still in my mouth, my attention was fully towards her now.

"I saw him in Chem this morning. He was bruised up again. Honestly, you should really tell him to stop getting into fights. He's not a fuckin' bull," Shay said.

Somehow, it kind of fazed me at how casual they were talking about him. Then again, the way Beck Asher spoke to Shay yesterday should be indication that they were friends or at least knew each other to some extent.

"You guys are friends with Beck?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Jay opened his mouth. "Why? Are you interested in him?" Shay asked, cutting off Jay.

Oh, hell no.

I look away from her. "You didn't see our short conversation at the hallway yesterday. It was rather lovely," I mock.

Shay immediately chokes on her food and Jayden's eyes widen before he loosens up then smiles.

"Wait, you were that girl?" Tara asked.

I furrowed my eyebrows. I was definitely missing something.

"What are you talking about?" I asked confused, setting down the sandwich Jay gave me.

That boy better not have talked s**t about me.

Jay whistles like a canary. "Boy, is he pissed at you. You really do have a death wish, huh?" Why do people say that a lot? "You even dare pull a stunt with Tyler," he points out.

"That's what I told her yesterday," Shay adds.

"Still not following." I'm flat out confused.

I'm still left with confusion when Tara lets out a scoff. "What the hell is this?"

I turn my head to see her engrossed with her phone again, her fingers pinching and unpinching the screen. "What you got there?" Shay asked, her body leaning against the table.

Tara doesn't hesitate to flip her phone toward Shay, their display of mild hostility gone. It was the someone flipped a switch and the two were friends again. As if their display earlier didn't happen.

Shay squints her eyes before taking the phone in her hand. Jay hastily leans against Shay, his body hitting her shoulder almost making her fall off the bench.

They clicked their tongue simultaneously. "Ah. Whatever the hell this is, only he would know."

Jay snatched the phone off of Shay's hand and flips it over to me. "Here, new girl, look. What do you think this is?"

I blink at the grainy three second video on loop. It didn't show much, especially with it's horrible quality. The screen was dark indicating it was taken at night.

The video replays three more times before I could comprehend what it actually showed. A woman crouching on a ledge of a window from the outside with her hands working on the window's lock before it slides open. Her face angled away from the camera until she turns her head but that's where the video loops back to the beginning.

The thing that caught my eye was the single white stripe on the black hoodie the girl wore as she climbed up the window looking all too familiar.

Maybe because the hoodie was mine. Specifically, the same one I wore when I broke inside the school last night alone.

I resist the urge to snatch the phone up from Jay's hand and hurl it out the window.

My heart shot up like a rocket. Someone caught me last night sneaking inside the school. But, who?

"Who posted this?"

Shay widened her eyes a fraction before unscrewing the cap of a water bottle. "What happened to having no interest in taking part on gossips?" she asked throwing back my words I half-regret saying.

I'm still don't. But if involved me on camera doing something illegal, I'd divulge in a million gossip circles just to find out who the f**k caught me on video last night.

I clear my throat to hide the intense pounding of my heart. I'm afraid Shay and the others could hear it. "I'm just curious. I want to know what's going on in this school."

Shay pulled the bottle from her mouth and waves me off. "Don't think too much into it. No one exactly knows what's going on inside that head of his."

"Who?"

"Beck Asher."