Chapter 34 #2
“Skye isn’t doing too well,” I muttered. “She’s really upset about Zephyr.”
“Okay? So am I!” Willow cried.
“How come you always talk so loud when people are right next to you?” Noah asked.
Willow’s jaw dropped.
“Is she eating?” Mia asked me quietly.
“Of course not,” I replied, pausing my sparkly purple pen on River Mac’s name.
Okay, so it was Willow’s pen. I never brought anything with me to class. Whatever.
Willow ran a hand over her face, and I took my first good look at her. She didn’t have much makeup on. Her freckles were showing. Her eyes were red and the tip of her nose was pink. She even sounded a little congested.
“God, I can’t believe this,” Willow said. “I feel so awful for her.”
“Yep,” I said, searching the gym for River.
It turned out that being a TA wasn’t so bad. River hadn’t shown up to class once, and Coach was always in his office screaming at his phone. Willow and Mia kept me company, and Noah filled the silence with random facts.
But River was here today.
He stood across the gym, his back to the wall. One knee was bent, his foot resting against the brick. He hadn’t changed for class, keeping his sweats and hoodie on. He had his gaze trained on the floor while Anton and Carla argued around him.
“That guy looks depressed,” Noah said.
I snorted.
“Noah!” Mia scolded. “That’s rude.”
“It’s literally an observation,” Noah said with an eye-roll.
“It’s a rude observation, but that guy sucks, so it’s okay.” I said. “Don’t roll your eyes, though. It takes away from the impact of your words if you have any attitude.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s shitty,” Mia snapped. “You can’t call people depressed!”
“Rolling my eyes takes away impact?” Noah asked, ignoring Mia.
I nodded. “Yep. Makes you look like a brat.”
Noah pondered that so deeply, he didn’t even scold Mia for cursing.
“If only there was a professor or TA here to go tell those two to shove it,” Willow snarked, her blue gaze aimed at River, Carla, and Anton.
I snorted. “I thought you hated him, why do you care if they’re bothering him?”
“I want to be the one causing his suffering,” Willow said, rubbing her hands together.
“That’s scary,” Noah said.
I began to walk away from them, heading for River. The sounds of Noah and Willow arguing faded behind me as I came to a stop in front of River, Carla, and Anton.
“Hey, can you two get to work?” I said.
Anton sneered at me while Carla blinked several times, pushing her hair behind her ear. Anton stormed off, and Carla batted her eyelashes at me.
“Hey,” she said softly. “What’s up?”
“Doing my job,” I replied flatly.
River looked at Carla with so much disgust, I thought he might throw up.
“Are you kidding me?” he snapped.
Carla jumped, glancing at him and then dropping her gaze. “Aiden and me are friends.”
River stared at her for a long time, and after several seconds of Carla shifting uncomfortably, she left to follow Anton without another word.
Then, River’s blue eyes snapped to my face.
We stared each other down, barely holding back snarls. The last time we’d been this close was when I attacked him in the quad.
I felt like I’d lived a whole lifetime since that day.
“‘Sup?” I said.
“Not much,” River said through clenched teeth.
I bobbed my head in a nod, looking him over. He looked better, minus a bruise on his cheekbone, but–
“Wait,” I zeroed in on the cheekbone. I’d hit him on the other side of his face. And this bruise was newer.
River pulled up his hood, obscuring the view of the bruise. “Fuck off, Red.”
“No,” I said, ignoring the shitty nickname. “What happened there?”
“Nothing,” he ground out. “Fuck off…please.”
Please?
Who the hell was this guy?
While we stared each other down again, something Skye had told me rang back through my mind.
‘River said he’s taken hits before.’
I knew what bruises looked like, and I knew that bruise on his cheek wasn’t from me. Wyatt had told us he’d healed River after River ran from the Health clinic.
“Listen,” I said slowly. “Skye likes you. I don’t know why, but whatever. I’m not sorry I punched you, because you running away like a baby really fucked with her head.”
“Did you just…call me a baby?” River looked bewildered.
“Wyatt ran away from her the first time they kissed, and it really messed with her. Her parents’ Chain was fucked up,” I went on.
“She’s going through a lot, and I can see you are, too.
” His expression shifted to something a little scary.
“But, I’m…here for you, man. Skye wouldn’t be cool with someone hurting you. ”
“You’re the only one hurting me,” River said darkly. “Your voice is giving me a migraine.”
I shrugged, going on and ignoring his comment. A lot of things about River made sense now that I’d seen that bruise.
“My mom used to beat the shit out of me. She tossed me down the stairs once. I think I was like, nine. When I got too big for her to hurt me physically, she moved onto mental things. Psychological things. Anyway. Skye would fuck up whoever did that. I know it wasn’t me.
” I jerked my chin toward his face, then walked away.
Noah was on my heels, having snuck up on me at some point to watch the whole interaction.
“What happened to him? Did his mom hit him?” Noah asked.
“Nah, it was probably his dad. Probably because we got in a fight.”
“Why would a mom or dad hit their kid?” Noah asked, confused.
“Good question,” I said. “But I don’t know the answer, buddy. Some people just suck.”
“Yeah,” Noah said sadly. “Like the people who killed my parents.”
I swallowed uneasily.
“You think they’d talk to me if I prayed for them? My parents.” Noah asked.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think yeah.”
“Then yeah,” I replied. “It’s worth a try, right?”