I’m not sure how long we stayed there, me looking at her from my hidden place, she lost in her drawing, but I heard the footsteps before she did. I was on my feet as soon as I saw the same group from the day before approaching her. She looked like a trapped deer, not able to move as the Victoria girl towered over her.
My feet were moving before I ordered them to, and I heard my name as I drew close. None of them heard or saw me approach until I was right up on them. “Give it to me. Are you drawing him again? Dream on, Gabe Russo has no interest in the likes of you.” What the fuck? Victoria held out her hand for the book while Gianna clutched it closer to her chest.
My anger was not warranted, I’m sure, they were just a bunch of high school girls being teenagers, but I wanted to toss them the fuck into a tree trunk headfirst. Instead, I walked into the midst of them without saying a word. “Let’s go.” I held out my hand to Gianna, and she took it without question, letting me pull her up from the ground, that sketchpad still held tight against her chest.
It was then I saw the mark on her cheek. “Who the fuck hit you?” I glared around at her bullies, who all stepped back as if finally sensing the danger they were in. I saved the worst of my glare for her so-called sister before taking her hand firmly in mine and walking away through them.
She just followed along same as the day before, no words spoken between us. Once we made it back to the schoolyard, I looked around as if coming out of a daze. What the hell am I supposed to do with her now? I saw the twins off to the side with their posse giving me strange looks while onlookers whispered behind their hands. Well shit, with this bunch, we’ll be married by the end of the day, according to the gossip mill. I hadn’t thought this one through.
GABRIEL
Fuck it! Unlike the day before, I didn’t look for any out-of-the-way places, just took her to the first open seat I found, which was easy because the onlookers knew to get the hell out of my way when they see me coming. I’d been holding onto my temper pretty well until I sat down across from her and saw her face again.
I didn’t say anything for the longest while, just looked at her. “Who slapped you?” The bruise had to be more than a few hours old at least, and I hadn’t seen any of the twits that surrounded her raise their hand, which is the only reason I walked away without laying them all out. In case you haven’t noticed, I do not discriminate when it comes to dealing with assholes. Male, female, the only time they get a pass is if they’re under the age of ten.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” I got up without another word and got a jolt when she reached out and grabbed my arm.
“Where’re you going?” She sounded terrified, but I couldn’t put too much focus on that at the moment since I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell she’d zapped me with.
I seriously looked down at the connection, and she caught herself and dropped my arm, but it was too late; the damage was done. “I’m going to slap every last one of them, starting with your stepsister.” Her eyes damn near popped out of her head.
“You can’t. Besides, it wasn’t them.”
“Was it your dad?” Somehow that made me even more pissed off, and I’ve got to tell you, I already had a good mad going.
“No, it wasn’t my dad; please, stop. It’s nothing, just an accident.” I’m guessing she thinks I’d believe that shit. Thinking about how often she must’ve told that same lie and why made my guts hurt. I wanted to ask her a million questions but couldn’t seem to form one. There was a whole lotta shit going on at that table, so much so that I’d forgotten about the people around us.
“Shit, give me your hand.” She didn’t ask any questions, just reached her hand out to me over the tabletop. I took it knowing that all eyes were on us but had to take a minute to let the jolt run through me again before it settled. I didn’t let on to her or anyone else that I was in trouble, though, just smoothly put it away for later.
“Do you know why I’m doing this?” She shook her head no while her face burned red, making that damn mark more pronounced. “This is to protect you. If I don’t show these idiots that you’re with me, they’ll hound you like an animal.”