Chapter Forty-Two: They're Staring."
MOM LEFT early in the morning the next day. I was already awake, and she apologized for her attitude. She kissed my head then left.
Dad wasn't mad. He understood immediately and was just glad I came back safely. I did, however, get a lecture about not listening to the hospital.
The Sunday and Monday were uneventful, and I just lounged around watching TV all day because I was sore from walking for hours after getting stitches. Apparently the doctors were serious when they told me to 'take it easy.'
Now, it's Tuesday and I'm going back to school. I got an hour-long talk about how I needed to not lift anything heavier than a watermelon because it could cause strain on the nylon and possibly loosen it. After assuring my dad that the school didn't even serve watermelon, I was freed.
However, except for today.
The mountain-load of homework and lessons I've missed made my school bag a lot heavier than usual. I had work in three subjects except for Home Ec, and apparently I missed a chemistry test.
My point being, my bag actually probably does weigh the size of a watermelon.
"Dad, I can take it, I'll be fine."
"No!" He snaps. "Unlike you, I actually follow doctors orders, and I'm going to carry this damn book bag downstairs and make Liam carry it to your locker."
"Don't be mean to the poor kid, he's just a kid."
"I don't care, he has muscles, he'll be putting them to great use. Now, eat a banana or something and get out of my hotel room."
"Wow, I've only seen you for a couple days and you're already trying to get rid of me. I feel the love, Papa. I really feel it."
He rolls his eyes and chuckles, slinging my bag over his shoulder and holding the door open for me before he closes it and we walk to the elevators. Liam messaged me a couple minutes ago, saying he was downstairs in the lobby.
I messaged Lance saying that I wasn't going to school yesterday, so he skipped out on driving me. He seemed fine by it, since that left him more room to study.
When we finally get down, Liam is sitting in one of the chairs patiently, scrolling through his phone. His hair is styled differently, it's gelled up to perfection, and he's wearing black skinny jeans with a dark grey hoodie and his usual high tops.
He looks up and finally catches sight of us, and he gives me a small smile before throwing his phone deep into his front pocket before standing up and strolling over to us in three large strides.
I don't know how he does it; I couldn't even make it in five.
"Hello Mr. May." Liam greets with a grin.
"Hello Landon."
"It's Liam." I whisper to dad, whose eyes widen and his cheeks turn red.
"Sorry." He grumbles, and Liam chuckles.
"No worry, sir. It happens. I'm always mistaken as the hotter twin." Liam smirks, and I roll my eyes, slapping his shoulder.
"He's very egotistical, dad."
"I can see that," dad says. "I also seen that you two were identical twins so somehow you've mistaken your statement, son."
Liam's smile falters but he hides it, clearing his throat. "Should we go, Cupcake?"
I nod, turning to kiss my dad on the cheek. "Stay away from this one, honey. Something tells me that he'll make your grades drop."
I laugh. Surely dad has him wrong; Liam is freaking smart. Obviously not as smart as me before I started flunking, but there's no doubt in my mind that he's top of his classes.
"Dad, Liam tutors me. He knows his stuff." I explain.
"Huh," he grunts, "I'll be the judge of that. Anyway, I'll see you after school, okay? Don't stress yourself! Here," he shoves my bag at Liam, "whatever you do, don't let her carry this."
Liam laughs. "Okay, sir."
I widen my eyes in amusement. Liam never made a comment about not speaking English!
Oh my gosh, this day may just be one of the best ones yet!
"Bye sweetie," dad kisses my cheek. I wave in response and follow Liam out the door to a lime green 2016 Jeep Wrangler. He tosses my bag in the back before hopping into the driver's side, me following.
"Good mood?" I question as he pulls out of the parking lot.
"Was I that obvious?" He questions, raising an eyebrow.
"No," I say, "but you didn't seem bothered when I was talking to my dad about you in Spanish."
"I've grown used to it now, I guess." He shrugs. "I thought maybe if I bothered you enough to the point where it really pissed you off then maybe you'd stop, but apparently that isn't the case considering you keep slipping up your words more often than not."
"Hmm," I hum.
"Why do you do that now?" He asks curiously. "Slip up? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you've never used to do that before and now it happens all the time."
I nod as I take in his words. Sadly, he's right, and it's starting to frustrate me that this family is starting to grow on me; that it may be harder to leave than I hoped.
"It happens whenever I get comfortable." I explain softly. "When I go somewhere new, or meet new people, I'm cautious. That being said, I think before I speak so I don't make mistakes, like slipping up. But, when I get comfortable with people, I stop thinking before I speak because I feel no need to, and that leads to me mixing my languages up. Because I was so used to speaking Spanish at home and English for only at school, I would often ramble and not even know I switched. I don't know why I do it it's just always been that way and I thought I would change but I guess not."
"Interesting." He says. "So, you're getting comfortable at our house?"
"Sadly, yes." I grumble.
"Why do you sound so upset about it? Isn't that what people want, is to be comfortable where they're living?" He questions.
"Of course." I reply. "But I didn't want to get comfortable. I wanted to get out of there and go home as soon as I could. And now that you guys are making me slip up my words, feelings will start getting involved and once I have feelings, I'm done. I can't escape from them. And you guys are fucking growing on me and I hate it because it'll be harder to leave."
"Then don't leave." He whispers softly.
"Why not? I wasn't even acknowledged at the house. None of you liked me and I didn't even know that none of you knew I was going to arrive. It was a surprise to all of you, and I felt like a nuisanceâI feel like a nuisance."
"You aren't, Cupcake." He argues. "Believe it or not, but you're not disliked. We're a household of boys, rememberâ"
"How could I forget?" I say sarcastically.
"âso we tease. We make fun of each other, we fight, we annoy, we even bond, you know. So really, once we all started getting used to you, we started treating you the same. You're one of us now, Cupcake."
"Louis hates me." I say.
"True, but he's a little shit. His opinion doesn't really matter anyway." He tells me, and I chuckle.
In a way, I guess we have all bonded in our own little way. I never really talk to Lance all that much, but it's nothing we have against each other. He works a lot throughout the week, and on top of that, he has chores at home, colleges to look for, and assignments at school to get done. He doesn't have a lot of time to socialize; he sounds like me before I met Taylor.
It surprised me indefinitely how I've come to actually enjoy the McGibbon's. I've only been living there for a couple months, but it feels like I've known them forever. However, I don't know them that well, except Landon I know a little bit better than the rest. Lucas I know, because he's young and very talkative and loves sharing stories about his family. They may tease each other and act like they want to rip each others throats out, but I sense the love and respect they have for each other. If one of them is targeted, they have the whole clan to target and they're a scary group of boys together. They're tall, hot, and. . . rebels. I still have yet to figure out how they got that name, but I'll press it when I think they're ready.
We pull up into the school, and Liam parks in a spot closer to the doors, and I smile slightly when I see that it's for me. He usually parks near the back by the track, but knowing he's actually putting me first makes my heart swell. We got off to a bumpy start together, but now we're actually cooperating together.
I step out of the Jeep and Liam grabs my bag, swinging it over his shoulder as he waits for me to walk around before stepping with me to the doors.
"Nervous?" He questions.
"No," I lie. "Just for the amount of work I got."
"Liar," he chuckles. "But it's okay. I'll help you at lunch or something with your homework."
"It's okay," I assure him, "you don't have to do that."
"Cupcake, I'm your English and Criminology tutor. You're going to need my help." He laughs, and I groan internally. I totally forgot about that.
"Right." I curse inside.
"We're having a catch-up period in English, so I can help you during then, if you want?" He offers.
"But don't you have to catch up on anything? After all, you stayed home a lot last week to help me."
"I caught up while you were in the hospital." He explains. "So I can help you."
I give him a smile as we reach his locker. "Okay, thanks, Liam."
"No problem." He chuckles. "Just sit in the back with me instead of up front."
I nod, and for some reason, I don't feel weird walking around with one of the Rebel Brothers. People have started to stare, but I've paid no mind to it, which was weird because I'm not one for publicity ever since I got thrown off the popularity throne.
And Liam doesn't seem fazed by walking around with me. He seems completely okay.
But a part of me still feels off.
"People are staring." I whisper as I lean against the locker beside his.
"Let them stare." He shrugs. "They don't matter."
"Yeah, butâ"
"Brooklyn, stop." He says, cutting me short. His tone in voice leaves no room for argument.
I nod and wait silently for him until we head across the school to my locker. I try to ignore the stares and dirty looks I receive from girls, and I feel a pit form in my stomach when I pass Annabelle and Mary through the hall.
I'm shoved roughly where I almost lose my balance, but quickly recover. "Watch where you're going, you alien." Mary hisses, and Annabelle lets out a high-pitched giggle.
I take a deep breath, forcing myself to ignore her, and walk away. No fights, Brooklyn, no fights.
"Are you okay?" Liam asks once we're out of earshot.
"I will be once I shove both of those two hundred dollar heels down her throat." I say casually, reaching my locker and punching in my combination. Liam chuckles from beside me and helps me put my books in my locker. "How much time until first period?"
"Mmm," he hums, grabbing his phone from his pocket. "Five minutes."
"Okay, so I'll just keep my English out." I say to myself. I put my bag in my locker and close it shut, clinging the book and binder in my hands.
"Here, gimme," he says, taking the two items out of my hands and placing them over his own.
"What are you doing?" I demand. "I am perfectly capable or carrying my own books."
"And you are also perfectly capable of loosening your stitches, and we don't want that, now do we?" He fires back, and I get taken aback.
"Well, no, butâ"
"Exactly. Case closed." He says, and I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.
"You're such an asshole." I hiss.
"Oh, I know, only the assiest of assholes." He retorts sarcastically, and I roll my eyes, nudging his shoulder. He chuckles and we walk to class, and about halfway there, the bell rings.
I haven't noticed that I'm walking slower than usual.
It took us ten minutes to get to class compared to the five minutes it should have taken in the first place.
Oh no.
I follow Liam to his spot in the back. Everyone piles in chunk by chunk, and I don't fail to notice people whispering and staring at us.
Like, have they not seen a girl sit with a bad boy? Sheesh, people! Mind your own damn business.
"Just ignore them," he whispers. "As long as you're with one of us, they won't touch you."
I nod, trusting his words and grab my pen out.
Ten minutes into class and the door opens, revealing Carly, who struts to her spot, but she catches my eye and her eyes widen. I break eye contact when her gaze is too strong to handle. I'm not sure if she's surprised I'm here at school after being gone after nearly two weeks, or that I'm sitting beside the boy she once caught me talking to. Of course, she knows he's my tutor, but thankfully, she doesn't know that I live with him. I'll definitely gain a rep from that, and I'm not prepared for it.
It could cause a lot of problems, and if I were to fight, I want my stitches out and healed so I don't end up hooked up to machines again if I twisted the wrong way.
The rest of the class passes with ease, Liam helping me out with my English homework, and he walks me to my locker before rushing down to his automotive class.
I throw my English into my locker and grab my Chem stuff, putting the textbook above my notebook. Someone throws their arm around my shoulders when I'm almost done and I jump, scared at the sudden touch but I relax once I notice that it's Landon.
"Hey hot stuff," he grins. "How are you?"
"People have been staring at me all morning," I admit. "It's making me uncomfortable."
"Why have they been staring?" He asks in concern.
"Because I've been with Liam since we arrived at school." I say. "Mary ran me over once she saw me."
"They'll back off once they realize you're one of us." He tells me.
"That's what Liam said." I say.
"Here," he says, and goes to grab my stuff but I stop him.
"Nope." I say, holding them away from him. Whether my dad made them carry my bags, I'm not having them carry my binders all week. "Liam carried them this morning, I'm carrying them this afternoon."
"Luckily for you then," he hums, and I glare at him when he sneakily steals my work out of my hands. "It's still morning."
I sigh but let him take them anyway. Home Ec is the only class I don't have any of the brothers in, so that's a relief that it's a class I can carry my own stuff in. Sure, at the moment we're just cooking stuff, but sometimes we do in-class work and cook later. Well, at least I think we're still cooking.
I guess that's what I get for not being at school.
"Hey Landon." Annabelle purrs from ahead as she approaches us dramatically. She has a determined look on her face for whatever reason, and I have to admit, it's kinda scaring me. I was told by everyone not to mess with her, yet I messed with her. Part of me believes she can't do anything because I have relations to the brothers, but a bigger part of me says that that isn't going to stop her.
If she was intimidated by them, then Mary wouldn't have pushed me.
Right?
"Hi Annabelle." Landon says. His voice is strained; he clearly doesn't want to talk to her.
"My parents are away this weekend, and I was wondering if you wanted to come over. You know, finish what was interrupted last time?" She giggles, and I visibly wince at how piggish she sounds. I'd rather hear real pigs squeal for hours on end than hear her talk.
"I'll pass." Landon replies, and steps us around her, but she blocks the way.
"Why?" She pouts. "I thought you liked me."
"I also liked hummus and now I hate it." He says annoyedly.
"So what?" She says, then changes her line of sight to me. I admit, I shrink at it. She gives me a twice over and scoffs. "So you choose this over me?"
"Well, let's see sweetheart," he says, "I'm holding onto her, and not you. I want her attention and not yours. So what does that mean to you?"
She doesn't answer, and analyzes us. Suddenly, a smile breaks out on her face. "Ah, you're upset I didn't call you back and now you want a hookup. You're playing hard to get, I understand it now."
"Cool, great. Now that you know that he doesn't need to get syphilis again from you, you can leave, because I have a class to get to." I interrupt, causing Landon's grip on me to tighten, and Annabelle's eyes to go wide in anger.
Perhaps I shouldn't have made that comment.
She starts laughing, an angry 'ooh' coming out of her mouth, like a ooh-you're-so-lucky-there's-teachers-here-otherwise-I'd-bash-your-face-in way. "You'll pay for that." She howls. "I'd keep an eye out if I were you."
"Whatever." I shrug. She gives me a deadly glare before turning around and walking away. "I'll see you in class. You should go get your Chemistry stuff."
He nods, kissing my cheek before walking behind and heading to his locker. I balance my books and take the couple steps to get to the classroom and curse internally when I realize that I need to sit beside my chemistry partner. Everyone is in class, except for a couple kids.
"Alright, grab the chemicals you were working on yesterday and prep them for experimentation." Mrs. Ox announces, but I see that everyone already has their workstations set up.
Atticus is sitting in our usual spot, and I groan as I make my way over to the lab desk, where a bunch of chemicals are placed. They're of all different colours, and something tells me that we're doing more than just making different solutions smoke. They're not the usual chemicals, especially when one of them reads 'CAUTION EXPLOSIVE.'
Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it, and I'm terrified about that.
All of a sudden I'm pushed and my books are thrown out of my hands onto the counter closest to me, which happened to be Carly's, and I land right under her desk, in an uncomfortable position on my back. I widen my eyes when all of the chemicals on her desk fall over onto the ground, mingling together on the floor and a little bit on my clothes.
Then the mixed chemicals explode.
I let out a scream as I reach to cover my head in my hands, blocking it from the small burst, and when I think it's over, I look up to the source and see Annabelle there, smirking down at me. Sadly, the burst happened before my hands reached my head.
"Whoops. I tripped. Sorry." She teases, walking to her seat with a triumphant smirk on her face, and if I wasn't in shock right now, then I would have strangled her.
I knew something bad was going to happen. Except this time, this wasn't bad, it was seriousâdangerous.
I don't care about messing around with me, but when my life is put in danger, that's crossing a line and Annabelle has definitely crossed it. She could push me, shove me, fight me to the bone, but having dangerous chemicals fall right beside me where something bad could happen, is definitely pushing it.
"Miss McAdam's!" Mrs. Ox screeches. "Principals office. NOW!"
"But Mrsâ" Annabelle argues, but I see Mrs. Ox give her a glare and Annabelle looks at me warningly before stomping out of the class.
"Mr. O'Connor, please take your partner to the nurse immediately. See if there's any damage." Mrs. Ox says calmly, and I still make no move to get up.
Admittedly, I'm scared to. What if something did happen?
"Come on, Sweetheart," I hear Atticus say softly, and he helps me up, wrapping an arm around my waist. I nod numbly, already cursing myself for saying she has syphilis. Maybe today would have been better if I hadn't said that.
The whole class is wide-eyed, and I especially notice how Carly looks upset and pitiful. I don't know why, I mean, I deserve it. I deserve it all. With her hitting Carly with a calculator, I don't think she would have gone this farâI think this was definitely her syphilis talking. I mean, her. . . stupidity and idiocy.
Atticus leads us out of the classroom, and we're silent as we head down to the nurse. I haven't seen Landon yet, but I remember that his locker is in the opposite direction, so unless he lied and wasn't at his locker, then I shouldn't see him.
A few minutes later and we reach the nurse's office. "Hello Atticus!" The nurse says politely.
"Hey Anita." Atticus greets.
"What brings you here, boy?" She asks as she stands and puts on a fresh pair of medical gloves.
She's an average woman with dirty blonde hair in a ponytail. She's maybe in her thirties, and before Atticus betrayed me, he told me how she loves her job and loves the students, and how she's an amazing nurse.
"Chemistry experiment gone wrong. They blew up in her face." He explains, and the woman gestures for me to sit on the small bed there, lined with paper.
"What chemicals?"
Atticus tells her the several elements that were used in the explosion, and all she does is nod.
"Can you see well?" She asks me, and I nod. "Follow my finger." She moves her finger then walks to the far end of the room. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
I squint at her, a blur forming to my eyes. "Five." I say after a minute.
She comes back, and holds three fingers in my face. "Now how many fingers?"
"Three." I say.
"Please remove your shirt." She says softly, and I nod, unzipping my sweater and taking it off, revealing a black tank top with Los Angeles Tour written on it. She examines the arm I said I used to block my head, and grabs a bottle, a small plastic dish, and some tweezers. "Looks like you have some glass fragments from the beaker." She explains.
"Is there any permanent damage?" Atticus asks.
She stops, and looks at me sadly. I don't like the look on her face. "There's no way to tell completely without seeing a doctor, but I think it may have impaired your vision, so I recommend you go to an optometrist to make sure there isn't any permanent retina damage."
"Wait, but I said the number!" I argue distantly.
"I was holding up four fingers, not five." She explains softly. "I think it's your long distance vision that was affected. Your short distance seems to be fine."
The door to the nurse's office is thrown open, but this time I don't jump because I'm still a little in shock of what just happened.
"I'm gone for five minutes and you're already hurt?" Landon exclaims as he rushes up to me. "What the hell happened?"
"She's still in shock," the nurse says.
"Annabelle is what happened." Atticus explains for me. "She knocked her books out of her hands and she fell, and brought down Carly's chemicals with her. They blew up in her face."
"That little bitch," Landon snaps. "Where is she?"
"Ox sent her to the office." He says.
Landon then looks at me and brings my face into his large, warm, soft hands that have slight roughness to them. "Are you okay?"
I nod. "I think so."
"Are you her boyfriend?" Anita asks, finishing up taking the glass out, and applies a dressing, and a deep blush rises to my cheeks.
Landon and I never discussed what happened after the kiss; all I know is that he's more physical and clearly, more publicly protective. I don't know what this means, but I'm sure the topic needs to be brought up because I am so confused.
Clearly, though, so is he because he doesn't know what to say. He looks strained, like he wants to say one thing but needs to say another. "Um. . . Iâshe lives with me."
"Oh, well if that's the case, then she should see an optometrist."
"Will she need glasses?" He asks, his voice full of concern.
"It's a possibility. I think so, though."
"Huh," Landon laughs, then looks down at me and whispers, "well, you'll look hot with frames."
A deep blush rises on my cheeks. "U-um," I stutter, "can I last the school day, or. . ."
"If you can see the whiteboards then you should be fine, but I recommend seeing an eye doctor as soon as you can just to see if it's just a temporary visibility reduction, or if it can be long-lasting."
"I want to stay," I announce, and face Landon. "We can go after school. You have to drive me anyway."
Landon groans, and tosses his head on my shoulder defeatedly. I glance at Atticus, who looks sad and I can't help but roll my eyes. It's his fault, he should have thought before he spoken. "I. . . I'm not needed here anymore so I'll see you in class, Brooklyn."
I nod, and suddenly Landon's head shoots up and he raises my shirt without my consent. I gasp at the sudden coldness that touches my exposed skin but it's warmed up immediately when his fingers graze the flesh. I already know what he's doing. "It's okay, they're fine." He says after a moment.
Anita looks at us curiously and walks around, and sees my stitches. "Appendectomy?"
I nod. "It ruptured."
"I'm sorry." She says softly.
I give her a smile and pull my shirt down. I step off the bed and she rolls the paper into a ball before changing the gloves and sets up a new sheet. Landon thanks her before grabbing my hand and walking out of the room, back to class.
"So how far can you see without it blurring?"
"She stood across the room from where I was, so six-seven maybe." I say. "Not very far."
"Are you sure you want to stay?" He asks gently, squeezing my hand.
I nod. "I've already missed so much school, I can't miss anymore. I'm sure I can make it through the day."