Moon Phased: The Triple Claim

Chapter6

Raven’s POV

My head instantly began to spin, as I thought that I was having another one of my episodes, where I was seeing things that weren’t really there. Taking the advice that my shrink had given me to be able to decipher what is real and what isn’t, I reached over and pinched the arm of the Chase that was sitting beside me.

“Ouch. What the hell was that for?” He asks, making me realize that he was real, but if he was really sitting beside me, then who was following Jessica?

Just as I was about to feel another panic attack come on, Mazie says, “Raven, this isn’t Chase. This is his brother, Cash. I thought you knew he had brothers.”

My head turned to look at Cash, taking in his appearance, and when my eyes landed on his green eyes, there was a speck of gold around the rim of them, which I hadn’t noticed when I looked into Chase’s eyes this morning. Other than that, they were identical twins, and it would have been easy for anyone to mix the two of them up.

“I’m sorry.” I said, apologizing to Cash, as I turned away from him embarrassed, while I just stared at my food in front of me with a loss of appetite.

That was twice now, on my first day here, that I almost lost it, making me question if I should still be back in California at the mental institution. I thought that it was the place and its surroundings that was driving me mad, but now, being free from there, I realize that it was me.

“No need to apologize, Raven. We still fool our own father on occasions, but I guess I had better warn you that there’s a third one of us, so you don’t go pinching Chance.”

“Oh, my goddess, could you imagine? He would lose his shit.” Mazie says, as a giggle comes from her lips, and I look up to see her and Cash making faces at each other, as if they were trying to portray what Chance’s reaction would have been.

My stomach at that moment tied instantly into a knot, as I thought about there being not just two of them, but three, and this Chance being worse than Chase. I had no clue how that could be remotely possible, but as I sat there thinking about it, my eyes moved to the doors of the cafeteria as the third one of them entered.

Unlike Chase and Cash, Chance had his own look about him, and there was no way that I was going to mix him up with his other two brothers. Dressed in all black, with his hair slicked back, this brother gave off the vibes of pure trouble, and if I was being honest, there was something about his bad boy persona that called out to me.

His eyes scanned the cafeteria, as if he was looking for someone, and when they landed on me, he came walking full stride towards our table, making me sit up straight, as I waited for him to approach me. But when he reached the table, I quickly realized that it wasn’t me who he was looking at.

“What is this I hear about a party at Big Rock after school? You know, we promised dad that we would help him tonight.”

“Yeah, well, we helped dad all weekend while Chase ran off with his friends and Jessica. Let him be the one to help dad tonight. Plus, I have already invited Raven, and she is looking forward to hanging out with all of us.” Cash told Chance, making me turn my head to look at him, as he gave me a cunning smile, while he knew damn well, I didn’t agree to go.

But as I thought about Chase having to help his father while his brothers got to relax, it served him right after what transpired this morning. Plus, as I turned back to look at Chance now hovering over me like a Greek God, I couldn’t help but want to go if he was going to be there.

His eyes moved down to look at me at that moment, and as they widened with recognition, he began to say, “Wait, this is Raven? Mrs. Wilson’s daughter? The one that Chase said…” But Cash cut him off before he could finish by saying, “Yes, that Raven.”

“Wait. What did Chase say about me?”

“Nothing.” Came out of both their mouths at the same time, and I looked over at Mazie, who looked just as intrigued to hear what Chase had said about me too.

But before I could insist that they tell me, Jessica appeared and said, “Look what we have here. Are you two really that desperate to go slumming?”

It took everything I had to control my urge to stand up and slap her across the face, but I knew if I did, then I would be screwing myself out of my future, as I was sure that Berkeley would frown upon a disciplinary action on my records. So instead, I lowered my head, looking at my food, as I tried not to let her words bother me.

“You of all people would know about slumming. So, why don’t you get off your high horse, because we all know if it wasn’t for our brother, you would still be a nobody omega.” Chance says to Jessica, defending me, making me look up just in time to see the smirk fall from her face, before she storms off.

“You know you are going to have to deal with Chase now.” Cash says to Chance, but Chance lets out a huff, before he says back to him, “I really don’t care. I can’t take another year of this s**t. She needs to learn her true status and quit living in the make-believe world she lives in because of our brother.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any problems.” I told them, hoping that this wouldn’t cause any more friction between the three of them, even though it was clear there already was.

Cash placed his hand on my arm, making me turn to look at him, as he said to me, “It’s cool, don’t worry about it. The only thing you caused is for Jessica to show her true colors, and I am sure that once Chase sees her in a different light like we do, it will be bye-bye Jessica.”

“Yeah, right. She’s got her claws dug too deep into him. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that to make him open his eyes.” Chance says, before he walks away, leaving us sitting there, while I wonder what he meant earlier about her knowing about slumming.

“I had better go too. Hopefully I will see you ladies later at the party.” Cash says as he stands, now leaving just Mazie and I at the table alone, and I couldn’t help but look towards the back of the cafeteria to see Jessica glaring at me.

So much for my plan to stay under the radar, as it was clear by the glare Jessica was giving me, this thing she had out for me, was far from being over with. Even though it was nice to have someone stand up for me, it just made things worse for me with her than they already were.

“Don’t worry about her. She wouldn’t dare to challenge you now that Chance stood up for you. If she does, then she is as good as dead.” Mazie tells me, making me turn my attention to her, wondering what she meant by that.

“I don’t understand. Why would Chance standing up for me have anything to do with her leaving me alone?”

Mazie looked at me with that same look on her face as she had in the hallway when she said about Jessica and Chase being mates, before she finally said, “Every school has that one student that is like the leader of their class. Here at Beaumont High, Chance is like that for us. What he says goes, and no one is stupid enough to challenge him.”

A part of me felt relief at Mazie’s explanation, but as I looked once again towards the back of the cafeteria, something told me that Jessica might just be crazy enough to.