Chapter 12 #3
“People can’t know the Grim Reaper’s happy?”
“Ruins the image.”
My mind snapped to us on the bridge, me sitting on the stone and him leaning against the edge. “Have you ever thought about changing the image?”
Something warm stirred in his expression, and he looked on the verge of smiling again.
The world suddenly blurred as I was jerked back away from Hudson.
My shoes caught on the sticky tile, and I would’ve fallen if Jaden hadn’t hauled me up against his side, tucking me there without a second’s notice.
It jarred my shoulder painfully. “I’m sorry,” Jaden said, and with his arm around my waist, his intentions were clear.
“She didn’t mean to cut in line. You guys can go first.”
I angled my head to peer up at Jaden, who might’ve been able to pass for calm if his eyes weren’t wide with fear. Which made sense. To Jaden, this wasn’t just Hudson Bishop—this was the Grim Reaper with one of his four horsemen. Even if he was wearing a happy color.
Hudson regarded the shorter boy without a trace of expression on his face. It was funny how it’d transformed from when he spoke with me, like this was a different person entirely. “She didn’t cut,” he replied calmly, tilting his head. “If anything, I cut in front of her.”
“That’s okay,” Jaden insisted, waving his free hand wildly as if it would deescalate the conversation. “She was going to wait for me anyway.”
“Was she?” Hudson glanced at Derrick, who looked as if he wanted to open his bag of chips to munch on as he watched. After a second, Hudson raised his eyebrows at me. “Were you?”
The challenge in Hudson’s voice was clear—so clear that I didn’t need to see the mocking eyebrows or the glint to his blue eyes.
I could’ve been blindfolded and known what he was implying.
He was waiting to see if I’d allow myself to be tucked away like that.
For my choices and intentions to be decided for me.
Was I really going to wait for Jaden? No. Hudson knew that.
As nervous as Morgan was about Hudson, I could trust her not to spill the beans.
I couldn’t trust Jaden, who was practically a snitch for my parents.
I couldn’t introduce the two boys to each other as nonchalantly as I’d introduced my other friend.
It wouldn’t end well. My own house of cards I’d begun to build trembled in this wind, but I wasn’t ready for it to collapse yet.
So, I simply nodded.
Hudson picked the chocolate nuggets off the counter and offered them out to me. His eyebrows hadn’t lowered, but his smile had. “My mistake, Sophomore,” he replied as I took the candy back.
Jaden seemed to dig his fingers in firmer at the word, not picking up on anything except the way Hudson said it. I could see past the tone of his voice though, because the intention of it stung more. Grow a backbone, Sophomore.
I held my breath, waiting for him to back away, but he didn’t.
Instead, he swiped his stuff to the side of the counter and turned to us.
He reached out and laid a hand heavily on Jaden’s shoulder, causing the boy beside me to stiffen like a board.
A slow smirk crawled across Hudson’s lips, his signature mocking smile.
“You can go on ahead of me. Jaden, right?”
Jaden looked like his life flashed before his eyes at the sound of the Grim Reaper saying his name. I didn’t understand why Hudson was purposefully making a game out of getting Jaden to squirm. I didn’t understand why he was putting on such a show, putting on his Grim Reaper mask.
“Someone check out,” the cashier interjected, finally seeing an opening. She glanced around our little circle with annoyance. “Or am I going to have to listen to your high school drama some more?”
Derrick snorted, not even trying to cover up the sound.
Hudson threw a few bills onto the counter, nodding his chin at us.
“Add what they have to my tab.” To Derrick, he said, “I’ll see what’s taking Tee so long.
” And then finally, he regarded Jaden and me one last time, and the amusement in his expression was gone now.
There was only his mocking malice. “See you two around.”
Jaden didn’t linger to say anything else.
With his fingers digging into my waist, he tugged me toward the door.
I took one last glance at Hudson, who didn’t turn around as he went to the aisle his friends were in.
Derrick turned to look at me, but wisely didn’t react.
Instead, our gazes held until the door shut between us.
Jaden let out a sharp breath of relief once we were out into the air, like we’d both narrowly avoided our early demise. He clutched his soda with white knuckles. “Oh my gosh, are you okay? Did he say anything to you before I came up?”
I pulled away from him, drawing in a deep breath. “No.”
“Gemma, he knows my name! How does he know my name?” He sounded on the brink of hyperventilating. “Oh my gosh, am I on his radar now?”
Of course, that was what Jaden first thought of, being on Hudson’s radar. I rubbed my waist, hating that I could still feel the pressure of his fingers.
“Gemma.” Jaden tried to catch my eye where it was trained on the gas station door. “This is the Grim Reaper we’re talking about—he knows about us now. He—”
“He’s a person,” I cut Jaden off without even thinking twice, voice rising for possibly the first time ever with him.
The shock of it reflected on his face. “He’s a person who wears dark colors and has a scary nickname, Jaden.
That’s all. We’re not ‘on his radar’—he was talking to us because he wanted to.
You should get to know someone more before you decide you know everything about them. ”
The words had come like a rubber band snapping, full-force and hard-hitting and then losing all momentum. My chest ached like I’d finished a sprint, and I let out a harsh breath.
Jaden blinked in astonishment, probably not knowing such a harsh tone could come from Gemma Settler. “But he attacked your brother.”
Now it was my turn to jolt with surprise.
There were times when that fact would weave in and out of my mind, but I couldn’t even picture Hudson lifting a hand against my brother.
Sure, he could be snarky and harsh sometimes, but how could a boy who closed his eyes in scary movies beat my brother and his friends up?
How could the thick glasses-wearing boy from the bridge do anything like that?
It was so contradictory that my brain couldn’t even conjure the image.
I glanced toward the gas station doors before walking away, leaving Jaden kicking up gravel to catch up.
“I guess the Most Likely Tos made me touchy,” I said softly, because even though my thoughts were still stuffed with confusion, I needed to clear the air.
The last thing I needed was Jaden saying something to Mom.
“I just don’t like the idea of judging someone I don’t know. ”
“How about this?” Jaden leaned closer, brushing my arm with his. “I promise to not be so judgey. I think you’re right—I think we all can give someone the benefit of the doubt.”
I tilted my head up to look at him, taking in the way his deep brown gaze settled on me.
I searched for any sign of suspicion, but there was none.
Like always with him, his expression was nothing but open.
“Sounds like a plan,” I told him, and we both walked away from the gas station with our items bought by the Grim Reaper, not looking back.