Chapter Forty-Three: "Well, This Is Awkward."
CHEMISTRY was a little difficult. Sitting beside Atticus was weird as hell and what didn't help was seeing the whiteboard. I was able to see, but not crystal. I might need to skip last period, since I sit at the very back.
I wait impatiently for the bell, itching to get out so I can wash my face. It's itchy and irritated, so I think some fumes got on my skin and inflamed it. It's all red and blotchy, a telltale sign that it's reacting to the compounds used to nearly blind me.
When it finally rings, I fly out of my seat and rush to the door, binder and books in my arms and a steady speed in my step. Annabelle never returned to class, thank God, because if I were to see her again, she'll be damned if she thinks she'll get away with it. Two can play at her game, and if she wants to play, I'll play harder.
"Blue!"
"Not now," I say hurriedly. "My face is desperate for a cleanse."
"Well slow down, would you?" He demands. "You've already stressed the stitches enough as it is."
I spin myself around and glare at Landon, and point to my face. "Does this really look like I want to slow down?"
His eyes widen as they take in my face, and he shakes his head and drags me to the bathrooms, but not before taking the load off my hands. He brings us into the multi-gender bathrooms and pushes me against the counter. I turn around and oh my holy hell, I look like a tomato! My eyes are red and puffy, like I've been crying for hours, and my cheeks and nose have rashes.
Something tells me that whatever those chemicals were, were not skin-friendly.
"Okay," Landon whispers to himself, wetting paper towel with hot water and soap and applies it gently to my face. "Still want to stay?" He asks in an amused tone.
Any normal person would go home after that. I, however, am stubborn and as long as I'm not dying, then pfft, I couldn't care less about my injuries.
"Yes." I mutter, and hiss once he rubs under my eyelids.
"Sorry." He whispers. He spends a few minutes rubbing gently, all the while I stare at his face. He looks so focused, so kind and caring, I smile softly.
This boy. . . for the reputation he has, he sure is an angel.
Landon finishes up a few minutes later, and stops stroking the rashes and instead strokes me with his thumb. His thumb trails from the bottom of my eyes to my cheekbones, to eventually my lips. I grin against them, making him return it and lean in, connecting our mouths.
It's a short, sweet kiss, still as fiery as the one Saturday night. He pulls away from me, and kisses my nose. "I'm sorry. If I was there sooner I could have prevented this."
I shake my head. "This is just the beginning, though. We're just getting started."
"We'll protect you, Blue." He tells me sternly.
"I can protect myself, Landon." I say. "Just. . . be there for me."
"Okay." He agrees. "Okay. I can do thatâwe can do that."
I smile. "Okay, cool. Now, I'm hungry. What's the café serving?"
"Burgers." He says with a snort.
"Oh, I'll pass for that." I scrunch up my nose in disgust. I hate burgers. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fast food burgers, all of them.
"Don't like burgers?"
"Nope." I say.
He laughs and leads us into the cafeteria, and all eyes fall to us as we enter the café nearly five minutes after lunch started. The whole room goes silent as they watch us, and Landon brings us to the table beside Annabelle's, and sits me furthest away from them, but I have a clear view of where Carly and them sit. Everyone is sitting there. They're even looking at me, including Atticus.
Well, this is awkward.
Lance, Louis, and Liam are sat there, but their three friends seem to be gone. "Where are the others?" Landon asks once he sits down beside me.
"They're still writing a test for Emmanuel." Lance replies, munching on some cheese fries.
"I see the newbie is changing squads." Louis says, looking at me.
"I was never apart of a squad." I say, fiddling with my fingers with my head down. My face is still full of rashes and is red, and my long hair and hoodie will hide these for as long as I can get away with this.
"Why are you hiding?" Lance questions. "Ashamed to sit here?"
"No." I say. I sigh and pull my hood back quickly, showing them my face. Their eyes grow wide in disgust and intrigue. "Does this answer your question?"
"Oddly, yes." Liam snorts. "What happened?"
"Chemistry experiments." I laugh in anger, sugarcoating it. "I'm probably blind."
Landon slaps my side. "She needs to see an optometrist. Worst case, she needs glasses."
"And perhaps some rash cream?" Louis chuckles.
"Yeah, I'll need that indefinitely." I laugh with him, then turn to Landon. "Next time you slap me I'll bite your fingers off."
He throws his arm up. "Yes, ma'am." I don't reply and just glare at him, but a microscopic smile is on my face.
I'm not going to beat myself up for this mistake. It hasn't affected my life that much, though I'm sure dad would love to hang Annabelle by the throat in a sea of starving sharks if he were to ever find out what she did.
Lunch went on well.
I mean, I'm pretty sure the whole school is now talking about how I sit with the bad boys, or the Rebel Brothers as they annoyingly like to call them. However, I'm not as worried as I thought. Maybe it was because of the kiss, I don't know, or maybe it's because I'm actually getting along with these guys and not arguing constantly like I used to. Whatever it is, at this moment, I am thankful.
Chatter comes from behind me and I turn around to see a girl with two guys beside her.
"Okay, so I was looking at the right table." The tallest guy says. I notice that he's the one who caught me when I fell all those weeks ago. I can't remember his name.
They all take their seats, the girl taking the available seat beside me, and the other two occupying the ones between Lance and Liam.
"So, who's the new girl?" The other guy asks as he pulls out a brown paper bag.
"This is Brooklyn." Landon explains. "She's the roommate we were telling you about."
"Ah," the girl says, "so you're the one who drove them over the roof with Spanish. I'm impressed." I give a shy smile. "Well, I'm Maya, and the one side Lance is Zach, and that one other there is Jacob."
"It's nice to meet y'all." I say nervously. Damn it.
Zach laughs. "Does she only speak Spanish?"
"Only when she's comfortable or nervous." Landon smirks. "But I take it it's the latter?"
I nod. "Yeah." I mutter.
"Oh hey," Zach says, "you're the girl who I caught."
"Yeah." I say again.
"I'd say you've fallen for me but I guess that's not the case." He teases, and I find myself rolling my eyes.
These three don't seem that bad. I might be able to get used to them slowly.
"No, definitely not." I laugh with him, and I feel Landon's hand reach out and squeeze my thigh.
"So boys," Maya says, grabbing their attention. "Is Friday BYOB or is it supplied?"
"Both. We'll supply some but you're better off bringing your own bottle in case we run out. We don't want a repeat of last time." Liam tells her, and she nods, shrugging. "Is Tyson coming?"
"Probably not." Maya frowns. "He put me off again."
"My, how many times have I told you to dump the dick? He's a douche and he's gotten you involved in gangs!" Landon says.
"Yeah, but he's, like, really nice." She complains with a pout. "I love him."
"You deserve better." Lance states. "A man who doesn't respect you is a man not worth loving."
"Couldn't of said it better myself." The Jacob guy says.
"Whatever. I'll give him until the end of the weekend and see." She says. "He didn't push me into going on that run with him."
"Wait," I interrupt, "can I jump in this a second?"
"Yeah, sure." She sighs.
"Um, your situation actually sounds really similar to what happened to me last year. And if that's the case, then I'm gonna tell you right now, that you may love him, but he's really going to fuck your life up. Trust me, my life went into the gutter after I met him."
"But he's nothing like his work," she continues. "He accidentally got me involved, and he's trying to get me out."
"A worker turning against his boss will be chaotic." I say softly. "Now, tell me, have you been on runs with him before?"
"Yes."
"Then you're involved, and there's no way around it. I faced bad consequences when I finally left my ex and let me tell you, I'm still in the progress of fixing myself and this wasn't even two years ago."
"What happened?" She asks. "If you don't mind me asking." She adds after.
"I. . . um, needless to say, I got messed up mentally, and the healing process is a lot worse than having to cut off the relationship."
"You're not ready to share, that's understandable." She smiles.
"So, Lance, how was your test?" Zach says, thankfully changing the subject.
"It was okay. I didn't ace it but I'm pretty sure I passed."
"Who was it?"
"Blackwell." He says.
"Then you definitely passed." Jacob pipes in. "Blackwell gives out the easiest tests, you could've done them with your eyes closed."
"He's right," Maya says. "She's an easy A teacher."
"Yeah, right," Lance scoffs, "and the last thing I want is to become that bitch's teacher's pet."
"Oh, hey," Louis says, "did you guys hear that Annabelle got suspended?"
"She did?" Liam questions quizzically.
"Yeah! I heard she got kicked off the cheerleading team and got suspended for a week."
My eyes widen underneath my hoodie. Thank God I am covering my face right now, because I know that if that were the case, then there's no way that I'll make it out of this school and graduate alive. If Annabelle really had to face that big of a punishment because she tried to blow my face up, then this year is going to be a living hell.
Landon squeezes my thigh tighter, and I gulp, my heart suddenly hammering in my chest. I guess that makes sense as to why she wasn't in class and isn't here at lunch. Their table is quiet and I noticed that Mary wasn't here, either. Maybe that's why I don't feel so nervous right now.
I groan inaudibly, and place my head in my hands. I have a feeling that the next week is going to be not only relaxing, but hell as well.
All I can pray for is that she doesn't show up at the party on Friday.
"For what?" Maya questions as she takes a bite out of her burger.
"Dunno." Louis replies. "I heard Mary talking to her, though. Said something about how the 'little bitch is going to pay for fucking up my future,' whatever that means. Whoever it is, I feel bad for them."
I glance at Landon worriedly. He has a worried look on his face himself but behind that, he's trying to comfort me without making it obvious to everyone else. Whatever happens, I need these boys at my side. One is better than none but a bunch can pack a stronger punch.
I didn't mean for that to rhyme.
"What will happen?" I ask nervously. "What'll she do?"
"Anything and everything," Jacob answers. "The chick is crazy. If she's targeting someone, they'll definitely get the humiliation of a lifetime."
"Like. . . how bad? Because I've been through a lot, and knowing that I can overpower her gives me some hope."
"You're talking as if you're that person." Lance chuckles, and I sigh awkwardly. I remove my hoodie again, allowing him to get a better look at my face. His nose scrunches in disgust, but quickly recovers.
"Whoa, what happened to you?" Zach and Jacob say in unison.
I lean over the table to speak to Lance, making sure that nobody can hear besides everyone at this table. "You really think a chemistry experiment did this?" I say lowly.
I guess whispering it was pointless, since the whole class was there when it happened. I'm actually really surprised that the word hasn't gotten around that Annabelle set off a bomb in front of my face.
"Wait, hold up, that was from a chemistry experiment?" Maya gasps in surprise and. . . concern?
"No." I growl. "That person Annabelle is after is me! She got suspended because I literally got involved in a chemical explosion an hour ago and it was her fault. Ox caught her and I haven't seen her since she got kicked out."
"She could get expelled for that." Zach says. "The school doesn't pay attention much to bullying but they take the science department seriously."
"Girl, you might as well flee the country now because you're screwed." Jacob says, causing him to screech out in pain, grabbing his leg. I'm under the assumption that someone kicked him under the table.
"Shut up, man!" Liam growls.
"I've done that before, don't want to try it again." I say truthfully.
"Hey, where are you from?" Maya asks me.
I direct my gaze to her and see her eyes flooding with curiosity, and it's easily given away that she's trying to figure me out without bombarding me with questions. And I think she's purposely changed the subject for my sake.
I guess these guys really aren't as nosy as Landon said. They're curious about the new girl sitting with them and why her face is all kinds of red, but they never pressed for detailsâespecially when I said that I had been in a similar place as with Maya, and I feel thankful for that.
"Mexico." I reply.
"Oh, really?" She says. "I love your accent."
"I would choose an Australian accent over this one." I chuckle.
"I don't!" She chirps. "Call me weird or something but if I were to choose accents, British and Australian wouldn't be on my top five."
"Really?" I ask in disbelief.
I find that weird and very interesting, because every person I've met always has an Australian or British accent on their top five favourite accents.
Knowing that Maya finds other ones better, makes me intrigued.
"Yeah," she chuckles. "My top is actually Spanish. Followed by German, Russian, Italian, and Norwegian. British is my ninth and Australian is eleven. I'm not like normal people."
I laugh at this. "Clearly not. But I actually agree with you. I love Norwegian people, they're very nice."
"You've been?" She asks.
"No, but I have friends who have moved to the U.S. from there. They're very sweet." I explain. Well, ex-friends. I guess loving Taylor even had other nations turn against me.
"Interesting." She hums.
***
The day went by easy after that. Irregardless if I couldn't see well, I still went to Home Ec. I was expecting my vision to only be temporary, but the explosion happened five hours ago and it's still not clearing. I even think it may have gotten worse.
Luckily, we were cooking, which involved my short distance visibility so I didn't need to strain that much, but now knowing that it's probably permanent, has me wanting to smack myself upside the head for taunting Annabelle and Mary. All the signs were there, telling me to back off, but of course I ignored them.
Landon dropped me off back at the hotel. I told him that I'd get my dad to get my eyes checked, and that I'd see him tomorrow.
It seems like it's gotten colder out, since I wore a sweater and jacket to school today and still froze my ass off. I wanna blame the weather, but I also lived in LA, where snow is nonexistent.
I race to the lobby doors, the warm air whooshing at my face, making the good kind of goosebumps erupt on my skin. I walk to the elevators, and press our floor number, waiting patiently before it dings.
It's weird walking ahead and not being able to see anything. Everything is hazy, and if I weren't used to walking around this hotel, then I'd have difficulty with the floor and the numbers on the doors.
I reach my room and swipe the keycard against the electric lock. It flashes red before I try again several times before I finally realize that it was backwards. It flashes green and I open the door, announcing my arrival.
"Dad!" I call out into the room. "I'm back."
"In here!" He hollers from the back room where the bedroom is. My feet shuffle to where his is, situated at the desk with his laptop on top. "How was school?"
"Bad." I say bluntly.
He stops typing and spins around. "What? Why?" His eyes widen once he looks at my faceâwhich still happens to be red. "What the hell happened?"
"I had chemicals blow up in my face is what happened!" I exclaim. "I need you to take me to the eye doctor. I went to the nurse's office and she said that I should get my eyes checked."
"Can you see?"
"Kinda. Not very far." I say honestly.
"Why didn't you call me? I would have come picked you up."
"Because I already missed a lot of school, and I needed to see where we were in lessons." I explain. "So can we go?"
"Yeah, yeah, drop your bags off and get dressed warmer." He says, standing up and grabbing his coat, wallet, and keys. "Do you have your health card on you?"
"Yeah," I say. "My new one just came in."
"Great, great." He says. "Come on, kid. The longer we prolong this the worse it'll probably be."