Haze Bois

Chapter 15

Katie and Haley were sitting in Katie’s room, doing little other than waiting until it became a suitable hour to drop into her Cousin’s house. 

At 9:45, it felt a little early, until a text from her Aunt gave them an excuse to pop over.

“Can I borrow your hair straighteners, please? I have a job interview,” the text read, complete with a “hooray” and a “fingers crossed” emoji.

Even though she knew she would never be getting the straighteners back, Katie unplugged the GHDs and stuffed them into her handbag.

“Are you sure you want to throw your GHDs into the abyss?” Haley joked as they let themselves in, having to push a pile of furniture from the door front as they entered.

“I’m going to repaint those,” Mel assured. She had been saying that for months, but so far had only gotten as far as moving the table and chairs to different locations in the house.

“Ah, you are my little star,” Aunt Mel cried as Katie pulled the straighteners from her bag and presented them.

“Where is the interview?” Haley asked.

“The bank,” Mel replied with a grimace before crying “eeeek,” and running up to her bedroom.

“Sell out,” Caleb called in. Katie followed the sound of his voice to the living room. She didn’t do a very good job of hiding her shock when she found Jade, cross-legged on the rug.

“Jade?” she cried. “What are you doing here this early?”

Jade looked up with a mouth full of toast. 

“Eating breakfast,” she said after swallowing her mouthful. 

Walking closer, Katie noticed the line of bruises around the top of each of Jade’s thighs. She pulled on Haley’s hand and pointed as discreetly as she could manage. The girls exchanged bewildered looks.

Katie wasn’t sure whether or not to ask Jade about her injuries. Luckily, she was saved from making a decision when Aunt Mel breezed in and began a monologue about the sorts of interview questions she might be asked.

“If they ask what your worst quality is, say overachiever,” Haley offered.

“No,” Caleb argued, “they hear that one all the time. You say you are generous to a fault. It’s true so you can give an example if they ask, like the time you gave your last twenty to the Eleanor Digby fund and had to eat 9p noodles for a week. Or that time you gave away your concert ticket to Julie because her husband left her and she needed cheering up.”

“Oh, don’t remind me. I’m still sad I will never get to see Linkin Park again,” Mel pouted.

Caleb made a face. Metal wasn’t his sort of music.

“Oh, come on, what is this crap you’re listening to,” Mel cried defensively. “It sounds like two transformer robots shagging to the tune of the old dial up tone, while trying to connect to the Matrix.”

Jade laughed, “That’s a great mixture of pop culture references.”

“I’ve got a broad taste, but this is just odd,” Mel shook her head.

“You need to listen to Welfare Wednesday by Venetian Snares,” Jade told her with a grin.

When Mel turned up her nose, Caleb laughed and told her in no uncertain terms, “It is not a song about welfare.”

‘Well this is quite the development,' Katie thought. ‘They have gone from enemies to sharing private jokes… and b**m apparently.’

The thought of her Cousin striking her friend, for whatever reason, made Katie uncomfortable. She was busy trying to erase the mental images of their escapades from her mind when Caleb’s gang filled the room. The sight of Jamie made her physically jump. He followed the others in and stood beside the window. As usual, he appeared lost in his own thoughts. Detached from the rest of the group and their idle chatter. Katie wondered why he even bothered to hang about with these guys.

Katie tried to avert her blatantly obvious stare, but it was getting more and more difficult. He was beautiful, and beauty naturally draws the eyes. It was the reason people painted scenes of beauty and grew roses in their gardens.

Katie noticed that Jamie’s eyes were drawn to Jade. Sitting cross-legged in a mini skirt and covered in bruises, she was a sight to behold. 

‘He is really staring at her legs,’ Katie realised with a surge of jealousy. ‘I have much better legs than her.’

Without warning, Jamie walked over to Jade and placed his foot on her thigh, pressing his toes into the bruised flesh. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jade replied and waited patiently for him to move his foot away. When he didn’t, Caleb threw a pillow at his face, knocking him off balance. 

“Mine,” Caleb huffed. 

Jamie laughed and shrugged, stumbling away and sitting on the sofa. He eventually acknowledged Katie's existence, looking up at her sneakily. There was something about his expression that seemed to say, “You could be mine.”

“So… what are the plans for today?” Haley asked nobody in particular. She clapped her hands and scanned the room, awaiting a response.

“Caleb’s having a boxing match with Brummie,” Kenny offered and shrugged.

“Oh, that’s… not what I expected anyone to say... ever,” Haley said.

“Erm... why?” Katie added.

“You know he is a professional fighter?” Haley interrupted.

“Ex-professional,” Caleb corrected.

“But… have you ever even had one boxing lesson?” Katie asked, worried about her Cousin’s safety. Getting knocked out could lead to brain damage or worse.

“No need,” Caleb smiled. No hint of worry. He looked to have complete confidence in his fighting abilities, regardless of their nonexistence. To the best of Katie’s knowledge, Caleb had never attended any sort of martial arts classes.

“You can take a break to come and cheer me on,” Caleb said to Jade.

“Thank you,” she replied, looking up at him with a smile. He patted her head as one might pat their dog. The most shocking thing about the scene was Jade didn’t appear to mind being treated like a pet.

“Can we come too?” Katie asked Caleb. There were several reasons for the request. One, she knew Jamie would be there and being near Jamie was a top priority at all times. Two, Katie genuinely wanted to see if Caleb could actually beat the guy since he seemed so confident despite having nothing but youth on his side. Thirdly, this could count as one of her “small-cost favours” as part of her “foot in the door” plan. He had let the pair travel to Sheffield together, which Katie was counting as favour one.

Caleb shrugged. “Well, you might as well.”

As much as Katie searched her imagination for a reason to stay, nothing was coming to mind. She had schoolwork to finish as well as a hair appointment before the big fight. Bidding the others farewell and wishing Mel good luck, Katie left with Haley. As they were leaving, she saw Jamie go and sit with Jade. The pair were discussing something, but she couldn’t quite overhear what it might be. 

‘Probably more stuff to do with that thing they are building,’ Katie told herself. Her heart sunk at the thought Jamie might be attracted to Jade. His reaction to her bruised leg had been odd. Katie wasn’t sure what to think about it.

“Well,” Haley let out a huge sigh. “Can we just take a little minute to discuss all of… that.” She flung her arms about wildly, eyes almost popping out of her head.

“Okay, but… where do we start?” Katie asked. Her instinct was to start with the Jamie thing, but she had a feeling Haley was more bowled over by other aspects of the encounter.

“Well, both the love of your life and Caleb are sadists, apparently.” Haley began. “And don’t get me started on this fight. What the ruddy heck are they thinking?”

“Sadist?” Katie asked. She knew what the term meant. To take pleasure in causing pain to others.

“Hmm didn’t you see the way he poked her whip marks?” Haley asked.

‘Of course I did.’ Katie thought, ‘I’ve been obsessing over it.’

“I mean, in Caleb’s case, it was always fairly obvious. He’s always had this whole sadistic psychopath vibe going on,” Haley went on.

“You know, that is actually a common misconception. Psychopaths have low empathy, so don’t generally tend to get a lot out of inflicting pain since they don’t have the ability to put themselves into the shoes of another person. It is more a case of they don’t care about any plain they do inflict,” Katie did her best to explain what she had learned from her Psychology studies.

“Ooo check you out, Brainiac,” Haley cried. “I learned how to make a soufflé last week.”

The girls fell onto the sofa and laughed. All of the built-up tension slipped away, for a brief moment at least.

“You don’t think Jamie has a thing for Jade, do you?” Katie asked.

Haley made a face. “No way. He is just young and intrigued, I guess. It isn’t exactly the norm, is it?”

“Oh, the bruises, you mean?” Katie pondered it. “I suppose not. I sort of want to ask her about it, but in a non-nosy way.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Haley said.