The principal turned red faced, but when Donnie stepped forward and asked if there was a problem, everything changed. The principal may try to take on Jake, Luiz, and Tonio, but he knew he was beat when Donnie stepped forward.
“Where have you been, Mr. Martinez?” the principal asked.
“The bathroom. Now we’re headed for class unless there is a problem with us doing that?” he asked.
“No, of course. Everyone, back to class.” The principal tried to take the power back into his own capable hands.
Donnie had what he wanted, and with Luiz, Jake, and Tonio at his back, they walked toward their drama class. They tended to sit in the back so they weren’t called upon to take part. He wasn’t going to be caught acting out shit unless it was shooting the fucking teacher.
They sat in the back, and Donnie pulled out the file. It had everything from her date of birth, to her mother’s contact details, to a photo of her taken from a couple of years ago. He flicked through her personal information while he handed the file out to the other three. They couldn’t keep the file for long, especially if Paige decided to go and change her information.
“She’s flunking math,” Jake said. “Wow, in a bad way. She can’t count for shit.”
Donnie took the papers and saw the teacher, Mr. Adams, had in fact said some shitty things about her.
“There’s you’re in,” Luiz said. “Go and talk to Adams. See if you can tutor her.”
One of the good things about being Anthony Martinez’s son, you learned math and numbers. No one fucked with you if you could out-calculate them. As Donnie snapped the file closed, they left, and Donnie sent Jake to hand back the file and to also flirt with the secretary. By the time lunch came, he was famished, and they entered, going straight toward their table after grabbing their pizzas for lunch. The ladies who served didn’t try to stop them as they pushed their way through the line. The students also knew not to come near their table or risk humiliation.
“I’ll talk to Adams this afternoon.” Donnie couldn’t look away from the door. All morning he’d been expecting Paige’s friends to come swarming around him. Nothing had happened. He’d not even seen Paige, which again was a surprise to him.
Biting into his pizza, he wouldn’t look away from the door. Luiz, Tonio, and Jake kept up the conversation, leaving him out of it.
The moment she entered, Donnie tensed, and the conversation at the table went silent.
He frowned. She wasn’t with anyone. Her fingers working on the catch of her bag, she pulled out a purse, going toward the line of sandwiches.
“Where are her bitches?” Luiz asked.
Donnie didn’t look away as she was shoved from behind by Chantelle and Leanne. The two girls were giggling, but Paige didn’t do anything. She grabbed her sandwich and paid for it at the counter. The woman looked at Paige with sympathy, and then he watched as his stepsister walked right out of the door. She’d not looked around for him, hadn’t told anyone about him.
“What the fuck just happened?” Tonio asked.
“I don’t think Paige is going to a problem for you, Donnie,” Jake said.
“No, she’s going to be my problem all right.”
Taking his pizza he made his way toward the door. He ignored the girls who stepped into his path. Donnie didn’t like how he was becoming intrigued by a girl he’d not known existed a day ago.
Chapter Three
Sitting outside turned out to be okay for Paige. Not many people were around because she’d picked the worst bench in the whole of the school yard. She sat on the cleanest side of the bench and pulled out her book, along with the sandwich she’d just bought. Opening up the wrapper, she started to look through her math problems, and it was like looking at a bunch of foreign letters. She just couldn’t make anything out. This was what it had been like for her throughout the whole of her math life.
Her mother never helped, but her father was great at math.
“What the fuck are you doing out here?”
She looked up to see Donnie invading her space and sitting on the opposite corner of the bench. Swallowing past the lump in her throat she saw Luiz, Tonio, and Jake crowd around the table.
Don’t look at them.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She took a bite of her sandwich, tugging the book closer to her, and trying to ignore the three scary guys who were intent on destroying her lunch.
“You could have sat with us.”
She looked up then. “Why?”
Luiz chuckled. “Is she for real?”
“What is your problem?” Donnie asked.
“I don’t have a problem. When it’s warm outside, I eat lunch out here. I’m not doing anything different. You, however, you’re changing. What are you doing out here?”