“Looks crowded,” North said.
“We’ll make room,” Rocky said. His eyes turned, settling on me. He took a long look, sliding down to my skirt and back up to my face. There was expectation in his eyes. “Sang can sit with us, too.”
“No, she can’t,” a smoky voice said. Jade sat at one end of the table, with a couple of guys sitting next to her. She had her dark hair twisted up into a clip, similar to how I did mine. “The team only.”
Rocky glared at her. “Shut up. She can if I say she can.”
Jade twisted her lips, looking like she was dying to say something. She stood up, snatching up her bag, dropping it over her shoulder and started around the table.
Rocky started egging North to sit with him again as Jade walked around us. When she was close to me, she snagged my arm. Her nails dug into my flesh and she whispered in my ear. “The only reason he pays attention to you is because he thinks you're easy. You've got all those boyfriends after all.”
“What?” I said softly. I’d heard what she said, but the fact that she said anything at all surprised me. I tried tugging my arm out of her grasp.
She gripped harder. “Don't play so naïve. You're keeping them in your little harem somehow. Really, do you have a platinum pussy between those thighs? Because I don't understand it.”
I started shaking my head when North dropped an arm between Jade and I, clutching at my elbow to tug me closer to him. “Sorry,” he said loud enough for Rocky to hear. “We’ve got other plans.”
“Sang,” Rocky called out, half pleading and half mocking. “Don’t let him drag you off. You’re coming to the party tonight, right?”
“Sorry,” I said, trying to avoid looking at Jade. “I can’t. It’s the team only.”
North tugged me away, drawing me toward the courtyard. I felt eyes on us, and I shivered. I missed the days when I was invisible.
I wondered if they’d heard about John yet.
When we made it out to the courtyard, I was suddenly wishing we picked a different spot for our group. The cafeteria and main hallway had windows that looked out into the courtyard. I was sure Rocky and the entire team could watch us if they wanted. I hadn’t felt this before for some reason, but in the moment, it felt like the courtyard was a stage and the lights were on us.
Victor dropped down onto one of the bench seats. “I don’t get it. How is it they call themselves friends? They can’t even talk to each other without insulting everyone.”
Kota looked up from the textbook he was reading. “What happened?”
Victor filled them in. I placed my book bag by Victor but Gabriel caught my eye, curling his fingers at me. I crossed to the other bench, dropping down between him and Nathan. I tried to shake off Jade’s nasty comments. If North and Victor filled the others in, I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to avoid her.
“Trouble,” Gabriel said. He nudged me with an elbow. “I’m off work. Finally. We’re going out.”
“We can’t,” Nathan said. “We have to stay at her house. She’s supposed to be resting. And Danielle...”
“Kota can watch the place. And Sang can leave for a few hours. She’s supposed to take it easy, and not work. Going out isn’t work.”
“Where did you want to go?” I asked, not wanting to commit, but wanting to at least hear what he had to say.
Gabriel’s crystal blue eyes lit up and he seemed pleased. “There’s the dance club I was telling you about. This Saturday they’ve got a new DJ that I heard was pretty fucking awesome.”
“I hate clubs,” Nathan said.
“Then stay home. I haven’t had a day with Sang yet. It’s my turn.”
“Nathan’s going with you,” North said. He was kneeling on the grass, and had a bottle of water in his hands. He twisted the top on and off idly.
“I’ll go,” Luke said. “We can take Sang.”
“Nathan still has to go with you two,” North said.
“It doesn’t take three of us to take Sang out,” Gabriel said.
“No, it takes Nathan, or me, or Silas to keep you three stooges out of trouble. And Silas and I have to work the diner. So either Nathan goes or you all stay.”
“I’m a stooge?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
North smirked at me. “Sang Baby, you’re the stooge.”
Gabriel groaned. “Argh. Fine. Nathan, you’re going with us.”
“Ah fuck,” Nathan said. “Do we have to go to a club? Can’t we take her somewhere else?”
Gabriel shot me a look, asking me for help.
“Honey,” I said.
“Yeah?” Nathan asked, rubbing his palm over his reddish brown hair.
“If we go to the club this time, maybe next time we can go out, we’ll go see a movie.” Was that a good idea? Compromise?
Nathan perked up. “Just us?”
I looked to North, waiting for him to tell me whether this was a good idea, or if he wanted to insist Silas or he had to go along. North wouldn’t look at me. He stared at the water bottle in his hands, twisting the cap.
“If no one else wants to go,” I said, leaving it up in the air.
Gabriel perked up. He tapped his lean fingers against his thigh. “See? And we’re all going to the game tonight. We’ll go out to dinner before it. It’s the three stooges’ weekend.”
“Four stooges,” Luke said. “I want to go, too.”
“Shit,” Gabriel said. “We need something better than stooges. It doesn’t make sense if there’s four.”
I sighed. I started to pull out my books, figuring out where to start with homework.
“Nu-uh,” Gabriel said, snagging my textbook. He claimed my book bag and shoved the book back into the bag. He fished out the 3DS, planting it in my hands. “Don’t you even think of homework. You’re on sick leave.”
“I’m not sick,” I said. “And I’ll get in trouble if I don’t do homework.”
“We’ll do it later,” Gabriel said.
I looked at Victor or Kota for help, but they didn’t protest, even though they all had their books out and had started doing work.
I grunted, wondering how I was supposed to do homework later if they wanted me to go to a football game and to a club this weekend.
I flicked on the DS, starting up the game. Luke gave me half his sandwich, and Gabriel shoved chips into my mouth on occasion. Eventually, I zoned out food and the others. The game was terribly addictive. I was trying to catch fish and bugs to sell for cute items to put into a house. It was a pointless game; it seemed to be all about collecting items. It was still entertaining. If I wasn’t allowed to do anything, I might as well have fun with it.
“See?” Victor said. I glanced up in time to catch him nudging Kota and motioning in my direction. “She likes it. Been quiet for half an hour. I’ve never seen her so still.”
I caught Kota’s eyes. He shared a secret smile with me. He seemed pleased with this.
I didn’t normally sit still?
“I don’t get this game,” Gabriel said, leaning over my shoulder to watch what I was doing. “She’s catching sharks bigger than her and then stuffs them into her pocket. Then she sells them and repeat. Hey, go into that shop right there. Oh my god, check out that skirt. Go buy that.”
Before the end of lunch, we managed to figure out you could design your own shirts and clothes in the game. Gabriel threatened to skip class for the rest of the day so he could go buy the game and play his own. Kota told him he had to wait until after school.
Despite Gabriel playing with me, I still felt oddly out of sync with the rest of them. I knew I was supposed to be taking it easy, but this felt a little extreme. Was this what Mr. Blackbourne meant?
Being out of the loop felt more stressful to me. I tried to relax and let it go. It was only for a little while.
???
When the bell rang for class, I followed Silas out into the hallway. When the hallway got crowded, I fell behind him. I wasn’t supposed to let them walk ahead of m
e, but Silas had an easier time of cutting through the throng of people and then leaving a good path for me behind him. I kept a hand on his back so he knew I was there.
At an intersection of hallways, something struck hard against my butt. I jumped, knocking into Silas.
Silas turned, catching me. I held on to him, looking back for whoever had... spanked me?