Chapter 26 #2
“After a few good punches, it was like a switch flipped. Like Hudson went into survival mode. He must’ve had self-defense training at some point or something, because in a second, he had Kyle flung into the brick wall by the school and Ashton’s arm behind his back.
From how loud Ashton yelled, I thought Hudson was going to snap it.
I—I tried grabbing him, to pull him off Ashton, but he kicked my feet out from under me.
He punched me a few times, but I didn’t even try to stop him. I deserved it.”
From the way Landon’s voice quivered as he spoke, it was clear that he was still heavily affected by what happened that day.
It reminded me a little of Hudson in the first few seconds that he saw Ashton in the hallway—freezing, body locking up as it recalled the fight.
“And then what happened?” I asked Landon.
“Ashton shoved Hudson into the brick wall, but his face—” Landon squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing.
“Hudson’s face cut open on one of the bricks.
There was so much blood. He still didn’t stay down, though.
For a kid so scrawny, he looked terrifying.
Ashton said he looked like a zombie. Even with his cheek cut up, he kept at Kyle and Ashton until we all bolted. ”
“That’s where the nickname came from,” I murmured distantly, pressing my hand to my stomach. “The Grim Reaper.”
My sickness was reflected on Landon’s face, because even he looked filled with dread at recounting the story.
Throughout the years, it never occurred to me that Landon could’ve lied about what happened.
I never would’ve guessed that Landon had it in him to lie about that.
But then again, he didn’t lie exactly, since he never said what happened—he just never contradicted the rumors others spread.
Thinking back to the day he’d come home with a split lip and a quickly swelling eye, he’d been sobbing so hard.
Too hard to speak. Like he’d been beaten up…
or like he’d been a part of something bad.
“Why are you still friends with them? Ashton and Kyle?”
“You know how much Mom loves Ashton’s mom. We were all on the junior varsity football team together, our parents were friends, they made us do everything together… I could never get away from them.”
“Why didn’t you turn them in?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you tell anyone the truth of what happened?”
Landon looked at me with a slight downturn to his lips.
His eyes were bright, and from here, they looked a little red.
“Mom was the one who told me to not tell anyone,” he said.
“She was the one who told me she’d take care of it.
And the next time I went to school, I found out that everyone thought it was Hudson who started the fight.
That was what Ashton and Kyle were going around saying.
That was what Mom had told the school board. ”
I blinked once, twice, but the words still swam in the air like alphabet soup, mushing around, not making sense. My voice was almost a whisper. “Mom?”
“I went to her, telling her that wasn’t what happened, and she said—” Landon cleared his throat.
“She said ‘what’s done is done, and we’re not going to talk about it again.
’ It was the next few days after that where the ‘no bullying’ policy came out.
Mom had been planning to make stronger consequences for it the whole time, and she couldn’t have it getting out that her son was a bully himself, now could she? ”
I almost felt like I needed to lie down with how hard it all hit me.
I tried to picture Mom doing that—saying any of that—throwing Hudson under the bus.
Could she really have been the one to sweep everything under the rug?
The woman who taught me to do the right thing my entire life…
could she really do something like that?
“W-Why didn’t you say anything anyway? Why did you let her say those things? ”
Even after I asked, I knew Landon’s answer.
I knew it before he even opened his mouth.
Because we were cut from the same cloth, with parents we were raised to never let down.
“It was Mom. I never thought to doubt her before. But I should’ve told the truth.
I should’ve said something when they gave Hudson that stupid nickname.
I was so, so afraid of making her angry or disappointed, Gemma.
I was so afraid of messing things up for her. ”
The Settlers have always been in the spotlight, especially Landon.
Landon, the golden child, always praised for his athletics and cooed over for his shyness.
He’d been in the popular crowd since middle school, and Mom and Dad celebrated him for it.
Encouraged him for it. I never even considered Landon suffering under the pressure placed on him, but this was a clear example of him giving in to that stress.
Backing down and falling in line. During his freshman year, he was exactly where I was now.
“There was a time that Ashton saw Hudson in the hallway,” I said, recalling the event with perfect clarity. “He grabbed Hudson’s backpack. And then later, Connor said something about telling you about it. Why you?”
“Hudson’s off-limits.” Landon didn’t even hesitate, didn’t seem the slightest bit confused.
His voice was steady. “I made it clear that if anyone messes with him, I’m not standing down this time.
People might’ve made that choice for me then, keeping quiet about the whole fight, but I’m not going to sit back again.
I told them that I’d kick them out of the stupid Top Tier.
I’d get them cut from the team. I’d use the Settler status to do whatever I needed to. ”
For some reason, his words made my throat sting, almost like my tears wanted to make a reappearance. I repositioned my ankle on the pillow, swallowing hard. “I guess that’s one way to try to compensate for everything that happened.”
“I’ll regret that fight for the rest of my life,” Landon said, pushing to his feet and towering in the center of my room. “But I sure as hell am not going to let it happen again.”
Me either. The thought trickled through my mind, faint but there, but everything in me braced as if the sentence was a scary one.
As if it was an impossible one. Landon had been exactly where I was, except he vowed never to let it happen again.
He made a promise to himself that he’d fight whoever he needed to for Hudson. Could I say the same?
Mom’s face flashed across my mind, angry and disappointed. The image nearly had tears springing to my eyes again. “I have to find out if Hudson’s in trouble,” I whispered, shaking my head a little. “If he’s in trouble…”
“I’ll find out tomorrow,” Landon promised, and kicked his foot out to lightly nudge my bed. “Try not to let your thoughts spiral, okay? We’ll make sure everything works out the way it should.”
Landon left me alone after that. Everything felt all jumbled, like all the puzzle pieces were still in a box being shaken around, not putting together a picture yet.
Knowing the truth about the fight left me feeling even worse, especially now, knowing that Mom had a hand in painting Hudson as the monster instead of Ashton and Kyle.
It was like history was repeating itself.
If Mom did something now, said something, painted Hudson as the bad guy for the knife situation—I wasn’t sure how I would react.
Worse, though, I wasn’t sure if I’d be brave enough to fight her on it.
The idea of standing up to her, going under her fire again, made me want to duck underneath my covers, never to emerge.
I looked down at my ankle sadly, hating that it twisted, hating that I had to stay off my feet, hating that I wasn’t going to school tomorrow.
When I needed to face Hudson the most was when I was separated from him, and of course, that was when he decided not to text me back.
Because even now, my cell still sat silent underneath my pillows, all my texts unanswered.