“We all need to report to dad after school, all warriors fifteen and older are going to start running patrols. He wants to pair underage warriors with seasoned warriors so we can all learn the routes and procedures. Ride with us or don’t, it’s up to you, but we’re all going to the same place.” Sam huffs at both of us, still not looking at me, before heading off to get lunch.
The rest of the guys stand in the hallway a little longer just staring at us, then they all walk away as well.
“Well they must really be pissed at me if Sam is the one giving the cold shoulder. You should go sit with them, you both do not deserve to be caught up in the BS between the twins, Oliver and I. I swear I will be okay on my own for a little bit. I promise I will even sit close enough for you to keep an eye on me. I look at Sierra, who’s staring longingly at Sam’s retreating back
I walk away, not waiting for her to respond, to a corner table no one is occupying, my appetite is lost after realizing what my behavior is doing to my
friends’ relationship. This time I can’t just give in when they say sorry though. Their opinion won ‘t change, but neither will mine.
It’s nice and quiet over here. Most people don’t like it because it is tucked into a corner, you cannot see a portion of the lunch room and, more
importantly, you can’t be seen. I can keep Sierra in my sights, which means she can see me, so Pm technically not alone. I pull out a book from our
strategies class. We are working through wars that have happened in the last hundred years and analyzing why they started in the first place, what
ultimately ended them and how each side was either successful or failed. Our teacher also posed the question of should they have started in the first
place?
I was so caught up in a war that Alpha King Reggie’s grandfather fought in, I didn’t see my brother sneak up on me. Another downside to this corner i:
the AC unit blowing across my head making me upwind, I didn’t smell him coming up behind me either.
“You need to see this from our side, Shorty. Wecan’t protect you if you go away and we don’t know who you’ll be with or what they are going to do
with you and that scares the sh*t out of all of us.”
I didn ‘t look up from my book. “I will accept your
position…” He took a deep breath in, sighed it out loudly and relaxed next to me, but I wasn’t finished. When you all accept my position. You do not
NEED to protect me. Pm sure in our short time together you have all at least figured that out. As far as who I will be hanging around with, get over
yourselves. Do I need to remind you that until Sierra came, none of you gave two sh*ts what happened to me, or who I was with. So find a new
excuse for your behavior. Just because you care now doesn’t change that. I am doing my best to not hold that against you, but it’s hard when your
archaic misogynistic sides come out in all their flying colors.”
“That’s not fair, you never said anything, never asked for help, never complained. Had you said something we would have stepped in sooner.”
I take a deep calming breath, I cannot lose my temper here. “Did you just say it’s my fault that dad treated me the way he did? Pawned me off on a
nanny who wasn’t allowed to do more than feed me and get me to school. Or that getting bullied was my fault? What happens to me now, I will fully
own, it is my choice to take the burdens of those younger and weaker than me, but not originally. You did not take notice and I won’t let you put that
blame on rne_ I am full on glaring at him now. “I’m not going to let you make me feel guilty for how you feel now.
“That’s not what I said., and you know it.”
“That’s exactly what you just said! At least I know how you really feel. It won’t matter howmany times I beat you and the guys, you all think you are
better than me and that I need you and can’t survive life without you. Thank you for clarifying Mateo, excuse me, I have class to get to.” I shoved
everything in my bag and got up to leave. I wasn’t waiting for anyone to catch up with me.
I got to our Health and healing class and made my way to the backof the room in the corner, hoping that people would sit around me and none of
them could come near me. I was not lucky enough though, no one was going to mess with the guys looking the way they did when they came in the
room. Sierra sat next to me, Oliver in front of me, Mateo diagonal, and Sam, Kota and Cam finished out the back row next to Sierra. Again we all only
speak when necessary, but you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. If this keeps up, I may go to the Luna and see if I can just finish my
classes remotely. This is ridiculous.
