Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
When I walk into Biology class, I groan internally.
Fia is sitting near the back of the class, holding the desk next to her for me. I figure that out when she waves me over and picks up her backpack from the chair.
Taking a deep breath, I walk toward her and sit down in my designated spot.
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” she replies.
I clear my throat as I pull the text book out of my bag.
“Rumor has it that you know Lake,” she says.
“No.”
“Really? I guess my sources were wrong,” Fia states. “If he used to be your boyfriend or something, he’s fair game now so you can’t hold it against me. It’s not my fault he’s a slut.”
I don’t know what takes over me, but I snap my book closed swing it across the aisle, cracking her right in the face with it.
“Ow! You BITCH!”
Calmly, I reach down for my backpack, slip the now bloody text book inside, and walk toward Mrs. Melgren’s desk.
She looks up at me with a shocked, wide-eyed expression.
“What did you just do?”
“Broke her nose by the sound of it. So do I get suspended or ..?” I ask in a bored tone.
She pulls out a writing pad from the top drawer and drops it on her desk.
I watch as she shakily scribbles out something then tells me to go to the principal’s office.
I snatch the paper from her hand and walk out of the classroom.
___
Principal Bowman has been giving me a lecture for the past forty-five minutes.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” he finally inquires sternly.
“Nothing.”
“Do you want me to call your parents?” he asks.
“If you want to,” I reply with a shrug.
He looks at me in frustration as he leans back in his large office chair.
“What prompted you to assault Fia?”
“It’s that time of the month and she pushed me too far,” I say quietly.
It’s a partial truth and one that will keep Lake’s secret safe.
“An assault on school grounds means the police get called. Do you think they’ll take too kindly to your reason?”
“No. But I also don’t think they’d be too pleased to know about the repeated rapes that have been happening in your school. So, go ahead and call them. I’d be interested to see what they’d be more inclined to pursue.”
“What?”
I get to my feet, “With all due respect, you suck at your job.”
Bowman looks crestfallen as I turn and walk out of his office. I hope he does call my parents. If they both come, Dad will have to hold his temper when I explain that I was defending Lake in my own special way.
As soon as I step into the hallway, I’m greeted by the young man himself. He’s standing against the lockers opposite the office door, looking down the hallway.
“Hey.”
Lake turns his face toward me quickly and breaks into a grin as he holds out an arm toward me.
He’s going to give me whiplash.
“Did you really break Fia’s nose?”
“The rumor mill around this school really is that damn fast, huh?” I muse with a chuckle.
“You struck at the heart of the popular girls with that little move. Why’d you do it?”
“She made a derogatory mark about you. I reacted appropriately.”
“What did she say?” he asks, glancing down at me.
“It’s not important. All I know is she’ll think twice before she does that again.”
Two feet from the entrance to the cafeteria, Lake stops walking and pulls me aside.
“I’m not a little boy anymore, Gen. You don’t have to stick up for me, you know.”
I roll my eyes.
“I’m serious. I can handle myself,” he insists stubbornly.
“Do you want to have dinner with me and Mom tonight?” I ask.
“What?”
He looks slightly taken aback then his eyes harden again as he unloops his arm from mine.
“They know I’m here?”
“I told Mom.”
“What did she say?”
“She said to ask you if you wanted to go to dinner with us.”
“What did Warner say?”
“Don’t know. Mom was the one that told him.”
Lake sighs as he runs a hand over his face.
“You’re really not going to let this go, are you?” he asks me softly.
“Which ‘this’ are you referring to?”
“Being friends.”
“Not in a million years,” I confirm.
He shakes his head as he looks at the cafeteria entrance in silence for a moment.
“I’ll say yes only if you come back to my place after. I want you to meet someone, okay?”
“You got it!” I reply cheerfully.