Then we stopped.
“Allison! Michael! Hey!”
Rae’s voice filled the air and I looked up from the concrete, watching as confusion rolled over their faces. Allison trotted toward us, with that confusion morphing into surprise. Michael didn’t seem the least bit entertained by the idea of seeing me.
I didn’t blame him.
Allison stopped in front of Rae. “Hey there. What’s going on?”
The two girls hugged one another, forcing Rae to drop my hand. Michael walked up and stood beside Allison, squaring off with me like he was ready for another fight. And what was worse was that he didn’t look as if he’d been in a fight. He had no cuts. No scrapes. No bruising. Nothing. Whereas my eye was still swollen a bit, I had a black eye underneath it, and the cut on my lip had bruised up.
Michael scoffed. “Yeah. What’s going on?”
Rae took my hand again. “Nothing. Just walking to school.”
Michael darted his finger between the two of us. “He’s walking you to school.”
Allison shoved him with her shoulder. “Michael.”
Rae shrugged. “He’s walking with us to school. Got an issue with that?”
I looked over at her warily before I cleared my throat.
“Hey, Mike. I just wanna—”
He cut me off. “It’s Michael, thanks.”
I nodded slowly. “Michael. I’m sorry, you know, for the whole fight and everything. It happened at a time where I was angry at shit in my house, and I took it out on you.”
He nodded. “Anything else?”
I paused. “Well, thank you for jumping in yesterday, too. You’ve got some serious fight, and I was impressed.”
“Well, I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Rae. But you’re welcome. For not letting you get killed out there.”
Allison swatted at his arm and I looked slowly over at Rae. But again, all she did was squeeze my hand. Like that was supposed to reassure me things would be all right. She stepped closer to me, leaning her cheek against my arm. And as I turned my head back to her two friends, I saw Michael’s eyes ignite with anger.
While Allison’s eyes filled with happiness.
Michael rolled his eyes. “Will he be walking with us every morning?”
Rae shrugged. “I don’t know. Part of that is up to him. But I’d really like it if you two gave him a chance.”
Michael scoffed. “He attacked me, Rae.”
I nodded. “And I apologized for that. I got some shit going on at home and—”
He cut me off again. “We’ve all got shit going on at home.”
Rae stepped in. “He’s got my kinda shit going on, Michael.”
And that quickly shut down the conversation. Though I wasn’t completely happy with Rae blurting that out. Or equating my home situation to hers. Or talking about my home situation in general, like I was some fucking charity rehab project.
Rae sighed. “Anyway, please give him a chance. For my sake. I’ll be spending more time with Clint now, and I’d like there to not always be this fighting and tension.”
Michael grumbled. “Of course.”
Allison linked her arm with his. “What he means is that of course, we’ll give him a chance. For both of your sakes.”
As the four of us walked to school, it was quiet. Rae didn’t speak with them, and they didn’t speak with us. Lines had been drawn in the sand, and we had our respective corners to stand in. And I didn’t want it to be like this for Rae. She deserved better.
So I cleared my throat.
“Looks like you got out better from that fight yesterday than I did, Michael.”
I looked over at him, but all he did was nod.
“Guess that’s what happens when you don’t run into a gaggle of guys without a plan.”
I nodded. “Gaggle of guys. I like that. Especially since that one looked like a goose.”
Allison giggled. “That’s bad, Clint.”
I shrugged. “Well, he did! And the way he announced his charges every time with that yell of his. I was waiting for him to fluff his feathers out and start chomping at me with his beak.”
Rae laughed. “Have you ever been attacked by a goose? There’s one that roams our neighborhood. I swear, it’s hellbent on terrorizing every little kid in that cul-de-sac of ours.”
Allison rolled her eyes. “I wake up to the honking of geese every morning, courtesy of the stupid pond Dad wanted to live beside when we first moved.”
Michael chuckled. “Harsh words coming from you, Ali.”
Rae paused. “Ali?”
We all stopped just outside of the school’s front doors with Rae having a tight grip on my hand. While things had flowed in conversation well enough, now it came to a grinding halt. We all stared at one another, like four dumbasses all lost in the same math class. But as Allison’s arm quickly fell from Michael’s, I knew exactly what was happening.
And neither of them had told Rae yet.
Allison giggled nervously. “Um, we’ll talk at lunch. Okay? When it’s just the three of us?”
Rae’s lips parted in shock. “I mean, I thought maybe—”
I butted in. “Of course. Just the three of you at lunch. Sure.”
Michael snickered. “At least someone gets it.”
I shot him a look as I squeezed Rae’s hand. She nodded slowly, then the two of us ventured toward the doors. But as she pulled them open, I felt my nerves getting the best of me.
And I quickly dropped her hand.
She furrowed her brow. “What?”
I shook my head. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“Look, Clint. I’m not gonna force you to do something you don’t want to do. But if you can’t do this, that means you can’t do us. I’m not your dirty little secret. I’m not just some rest stop you can park at sometimes. At least, that’s not what I want to be.”
“That’s not what you are, Rae. Never. It’s just all happening so—”
“Fast? Quick? Like lightning? Trust me, I get that. But I’m also not a slave to my image at school. I think we both know that. So, time to choose which one you want more. Your image or me.”
I watched Michael and Allison slide past as Rae kept the door held open. Allison tossed me a wary look, but Michael could have killed me with the one he gave. Rae deserved better than this. She deserved better than me. But if I was the one she wanted, then I had to do my best. Right? I mean, I understood her position. I couldn't keep us in the shadows simply for the sake of some fucking high school bullshit.
So I squared my shoulders and stood tall.
“Fuck ‘em, right?”
Rae smiled. “Yes. Fuck ‘em. Now let’s go before we’re late for homeroom.”
I reached for her and tugged her into the school. She giggled as she rested against me, her cheek pressed against my arm. We walked through the front foyer of the school together, in front of everyone. For all to see. I strutted my shit. I felt as if I were growing taller with every step I took. I walked down the main hallway before Rae took the lead, showing me where her locker was.
A locker I intended on walking her to every morning.
As she worked the lock, I started looking around. I took stock of the students. The teachers. Hell, even the principal. And while I assumed everyone’s eyes would be on me, I didn’t see a single soul looking in my direction. Not even in my general direction. I furrowed my brow as I found Roy slobbering all over Marina in a corner. I scanned the room and found the redhead from the party a couple weekends ago pressing herself against one of my other boys. No one had their eyes on me. No one gave a shit who I’d come into school with.
No one except me.
35
Raelynn
RaelynnOne Week Later
“Welcome to Grady’s Groceries. May I interest you in a—?”
The man waved his hand in the air. “Just ring me up. I’m in a hurry.”
I forced a smile. “Of course, sir.”
I scanned the groceries as quickly as I could, then bagged them. Cold items in the blue bags, regular items in the yellow ones. Eggs went down first, then the loaf of bread sat on top. Chips in the same bag. Apple juice in another bag. With the frozen vegetables, ice cream, and pint of milk in the last one.
“That’ll be $18.7—”
The man tossed a twenty-dollar bill at me. “Keep the change. I gotta go.”
It bounced off my chest and fluttered to the belt as he scooped up his bags. He lumbered away, murmuring to himself as he walked straight out the doors into the pouring rain. I shook my head as I picked up the bill, cashing him out and setting the change aside. I slipped it into the manilla envelope I had at my register for the manager to collect. Extra money for the store without disrupting the balance of the registers at the end of the night.
I sighed. “I really hate this job sometimes.”
Grady’s Groceries was a small store in town that serviced a very specific group of people in the area. It wasn’t a chain. It wasn’t some big-box store. But it always had quality, fresh items. And it seemed as if people were always willing to pay for fresh and quality. Of course, there were items like frozen vegetables and things of that nature. However, that didn’t stop the all-natural crowd from coming in and making my life a living nightmare.
Is this made with gluten?
Is this made near gluten?