Chapter Forty Four

I ducked down into the crowd and started shoving my way through, toward my friends. It was dark, loud, and festive. All the perfect ingredients for avoiding a run-in with football players. The gym was packed with students from all four years wearing a diverse mix of attire. The dress code was formal, but over half in attendance took that to mean, no jeans.

That said, the overall turnout was larger than I'd ever seen, so suits weren't rare. I cut back to approach the DJ booth from behind. Looking out at the floor, I saw flashing multi-colored lights all around the otherwise dark gym. There were tables filled with food and drink on the far side. On the other, two rows of the collapsible bleachers had been left out for sitting.

The center was a sea of dancing with balloons and paper ornaments hanging from the ceiling. I meandered around this sad excuse of a DJ booth. It was little more than a couple laptops on top of old wooden fold out tables, surrounded by amplifiers—a couple rolling and a few on tall stands.

Across the gym, I saw a group of football players, but it was too dark to make out which ones. Their presence made me nervous, certain they'd come with word of my intrusion and humiliating punishment.

I couldn't understand why stepping through the spire had gone so horribly for me. It was supposed to bring good luck, that was my experience and that was what Esmeralda had claimed. Yet, I failed to see the good in getting clocked by Jerome for rescuing him. The only thing I had left to hope for was that the 'good luck' hadn't been immediate, but I wasn't sure I wanted any luck involving him.

Katy Perry's song was coming to an end, so I raced over to Faith and Kristen. I danced with Faith wordlessly, but I couldn't stay long. Saylor was uncomfortably close to the rolling amplifier that the spire was underneath. He had no reason to move it, but letting him stick around there unaware wasn't a chance I was willing to take.

I walked around the booth, to meet up with him, but by the time I got there, he was gone. I shoved the amplifier and stepped on the spire. I breathed a sigh of relief when it disappeared and started looking for Saylor among the crowd.

A hand slam down on a foldout table nearby.

It was Juice.

I shifted my weight from side to side to fake him out, but he reacted too fast. Go fucking figure. From standing, he hurdled the table separating us. I tried to slip away, but he punched the table, startling me, forcing me still. He grabbed my wrist with his other hand.

I tried shucking it away until he kissed my ear and whispered, "I ain't trying to hurt you, just hear me out, ight?"

Juice led me out of the gym through a rear exit, out into a hallway that led to classrooms. He pressed me up against a locker with hands on either side of my head and kissed me. I sunk down and away from his lips.

He asked, "Anything I want, remember?"

I sank down to my butt, keeping my eyes to the floor as he crouched over me. "You punched me like I didn't mean shit to you and then looked at me the same way. Maybe I never have, but now I can't even pretend anymore."

Jerome hugged me. I didn't resist him. I cried in his arms, not caring if I scared him off. He stayed, clinging to me like his precious football.

He said, "I didn't mean it. I was naked and being close to you like that... I couldn't get caught like that, not in there." As much as I wanted to hate him, I couldn't pretend I didn't know where he was coming from. Not even Juice's rep could survive getting stiff for Mad-Eye Rudy. "I ain't saying it was right. I fucked up, but wasn't no other way out. I swear I'll make it up to you, ight?"

I stared up at him, into those deep brown eyes and shook my head. "I'm such an idiot" —I laughed in misery— "I used to think you held back, that you'd never actually hurt me. Tonight, you hurt me, Jerome. I didn't deserve that. I've never deserved that."

He grabbed my face the way I liked, even in my moment of clarity, it still meant everything to me. It was his trump card, spare batteries to my heart's remote. "It won't ever happen again. You wanna know the real reason I picked on you?" I nodded, couldn't resist. "To talk to you. That's why it was so easy to stop once we were cool." I tried to argue, but he cut me off. "I've always cared. I'm shitty at it, I'll admit, but lemme get better."

He was staring so hard and with such intensity, I was eager to believe him. He could've convinced me I was a butterfly. I only looked away because I heard someone. I said, "Tell me the first part again and I'll forgive you."

He saw my eyes react and turned to look. Blake was in the hall. "Forgive him for what?"

Jerome forced a laugh. "I'll be right in. I gotta make sure he's good. You, of all people, should know."

Blake nodded and started backing away.

"If he should know, then tell him." I looked up at Jerome daringly, then to Blake and back to him. "Tell him we're friends and I'll forgive you, both of you. I won't say a word."

Jerome cupped his chin in his hand and stood up, seriously considering it.

Blake stepped in between us. "That's not how this works, Mad-Eye. You walked in on us and got what you deserved." He pulled me up to my feet by my collar and slammed me against the locker. "No one will believe you. Look at you, you're a joke."

I stared past him. Jerome reached out as if he was going to grab Blake's shoulder, but stopped short. He said, "Come on. It ain't worth it. You wanna lose football?"

Losing football, as if there was no other reason to be kind. I laughed at how pathetic this was, at how pathetic they both were. It was a mistake. Blake punched the locker beside my face. I flinched, but limped free of him, then bolted for the gym and would've made it, if Jerome hadn't stopped me. I leaned into him as he wrapped me up in his arms. I whispered, "Don't let him hurt me, you promised."

Blake roared with laughter. "Oh, so you're really friends then?"

I fell pale. Apparently, my frantic whispering needed work. Jerome grabbed me up by the collar, but stopped short of slamming me like Blake had. I stared holes into him. He stared back, as if he had something to prove.

He did, whether he intended to or not and I was seconds away from finding out if he could. I opened my mouth to call out to him, but a much louder voice drowned mine out entirely.

"Let go of him! Now!" Saylor shouted in an assertive tone I'd rarely heard him use, "I'm not in the mood for either of you. Leave!" I winced my eyes closed.

"As long as he ain't gonna run his mouth," Blake said. I heard a shove, but couldn't bear looking. I heard a second shove. It sounded much harder than the first. "It doesn't have to get violent. He walked in on us. Just squash it, alright?"

I flinched and ducked down after I heard a fist crash into a locker.

"Squash it? Juice gave him a black eye!" Saylor screamed. He was inconsolable. "No, it's more than that! You hurt Rudy. I've loved him since the day he moved in next to me. It's always been him, but I stayed away, for you! Because I'd rather see him happy than myself."

Saylor was breaking down. I could hear it.

I was scared for him.