Page 18 of Free Fall

I smile for her. “Thanks.” She opens her mouth to say something, but I interrupt. “I don’t want to talk about what happened last night. Can we just forget it happened?” The truth is, if I stayed angry at Jules, I would literally have no one. Also, none of it is really her fault.

We eat in silence for a little while, then she says, “I heard what happened this morning.”

“Oh yeah?” I say with a roll of my eyes.

“Reid’s not very happy.”

“He needs to put a muzzle on his girlfriend instead of being pissed at me.”

She tilts her head to the side. “That’s what I mean. I heard him give her a hard time for saying something to you about Brady.”

I flick my gaze to her. “You’re serious? He said something to her?”

“I think his exact words were, ‘I should have let her kick your ass.’ So, yeah, they’re fighting.”

“Breaking news,” I deadpan. Reid and Sasha are the quintessential couple who you always wonder why they’re together. They’re either always fighting or kissing. I don’t see any in between with them. No times where they’re just having fun as a couple, unless people count ganging up on others as fun, but I wouldn’t.

“Ha. Right?”

A sadness takes Jules over then. She and my brother were couple goals. It’s not as if they didn’t fight, but they had more good times than bad times, and even when they fought, it was never nasty. It was never a cut-the-other-person-down-to-the-quick harsh words battle. They were seriously perfect for each other. It makes me wonder how much Jules has lost without him here. A future, possibly? A future filled with love, marriage, children, perhaps. When I think about things like this, I realize how selfish I’m being for only thinking about myself, but I’m at a point where I can’t seem to stop myself either.

Instead of saying all that to her, I ask her how her classes are going, and then, she asks me the same. Is it weird that I kind of miss learning? I don’t miss the homework or the studying, who would? But I miss learning new things every day. I glance over at Theo’s table and find him again with his nose in a book. I hate that guy. I’d like to see how he’d handle losing a family member and see if he was still gung-ho on being perfect at everything.

Or maybe everyone is just better than me? They seem to have everything well-handled while I’m sitting nearby drowning.

“Oh shit,” Jules says.

I snap out of my own thoughts and look at her. She’s staring over my shoulder with wide eyes.

“Shit,” she says again. “Move!” Jules jumps up from the table. I jump up too, but when I turn, it’s too late. I’m flooded with hot, brown liquid. I gasp as it runs down my skin and over my dress. The metal serving tub falls to the floor, and Sasha stands there with her hands on her hips, one of her bitchy minions beside her.

“Figured you were used to dressing like shit, so I wanted to make you feel more comfortable.”

She takes one of the brown spatters that hit her in the arm on the tip of her finger and then sucks the gravy served at lunch today into her mouth.

Stepping forward, she smirks, but I’m too shocked to move. “Stay the fuck away from Reid.”

By the time she moves away, the cafeteria attendants are already on us as the whole cafeteria either laughs or stands there with wide eyes, gawking at me. “Miss Pontine,” one of them gasps, chastising Sasha.

There’s a tug on my hand. When I look over, it’s Jules who’s got me. “Don’t worry about her,” she says, then she yells, “She’s just a fucking bitch.”

“Careful, Jules.” She smiles, barely raising her voice. “You’ll be next.”

Right before Jules pulls me away, my eyes find the table my brother used to sit at. Reid is glaring at the whole scene, his arms crossed over his chest. Lex is shaking his head, and for once, Cade isn’t smiling. Their eyes hole into me, and it’s as if they’re saying I deserve all of this. I’m not following their status quo, and they don’t like it. Anyone who doesn’t fall in line, gets shit.

Jules tugs me into the girls’ locker room and shoves me in the shower, dress and all. I’m shaking as the water runs from brown to clear. “Hey,” she says, her voice soft. “I got you some clothes.” I peer behind me. She’s placed a stack of gym clothes on the concrete divider. “You’ll have to go commando though.”

I don’t know whether to hug her or cry. I was right earlier. I could never be so mad at Jules that I would never speak to her again. And not just because I need her since she’s the last person who’ll tolerate me, it’s because I like her too.

I turn the showerhead off and dress in the gym clothes Jules gave me. With every piece of clothing I put on, I tell myself that it’s armor. The shirt is to protect my heart. The pants to hide my position.

This isn’t high school, it’s a freaking war zone.

8

On my way to detention, I notice a certain person lounging against the wall next to the classroom I have to go into. I stop to stare at him. I’m still so pissed about earlier. Sure, Jules told me he gave his girlfriend shit for saying that about Brady and me, but did he really? She could still be trying to protect me. I go to turn the other way. Screw detention, it’s not worth having to talk to him. But he’s already seen me. “Briar.” His voice comes out like a demand, and he’s only spoken one word—a name. How can that be? How can someone be that sure of himself?

My jaw clamps together, and I turn back toward him. He’s sauntering toward me casually like he has all the time in the world, except he doesn’t. He has a freaking game tonight, and I know for a fact he should be in the locker room right now.

---