Page 36 of Catch Me

“We did,” Oscar says.

A few of the other football players nod in agreement. I can’t help but think that if this is the place Oscar came from, maybe I should be more scared of him than I am. These guys clearly came here to play dirty. Are they pissed he left them to come play for us?

“How nice,” the guy sneers. “Maybe you’ll win the All-State like you always wanted.”

Oscar shrugs. “If I’m lucky.”

Another figure comes in tight. He puts his arm around me, and instead of calming me down, I freeze. It’s Reid, so I should feel safer, but I can’t help but think if he gets hit with that golf club, he’s done for. He might not wake up this time, just like Brady.

The Rawley Heights guys look up, assessing Reid and I standing there. Reid kisses my temple and goes to lead me away, but a guy on the end speaks up. “You must hate Oscar as much as we do,” he says.

“I’m not his biggest fan if that’s what you mean,” Reid says, earning some guffaws from the crowd.

The guy quirks a devilish smile and looks at Oscar. “When Parker returns tohisteam, don’t think you’re going to head back to Rawley to play, motherfucker. You’re done.”

The guy with the golf club brings it up. I freeze for a moment, wondering what the hell’s about to happen, but all he does is swing it up on his shoulder like he just teed up from the first hole. The other Rawley guys, too, start to put away different weapons I didn’t even realize they had. There’s the guy with the gun who leans back against the car. A few guys I see stick things back in their pockets, so who the hell knows what they had? All I’m getting from this is that I’m not equipped to deal with these kinds of fights.

Our principal walks out, assessing the situation with a cursory glance. He puts his hands on his hips. “Spring Hill students, get inside.” Coach Jackson comes out next along with Ms. Lyons. “Your education awaits. If you’re from another school, I think you also have somewhere else to be.”

The crowd starts to disperse. Reid moves me away first, but I keep checking back over my shoulder. Cade leaves a moment before Oscar does, and Oscar and his old teammates are the last to leave the staring contest. When we walk in through the doors, a breath releases. “What the hell just happened?” I gasp.

“Why were you out there?” Reid asks, turning me around to stare at me, his hands on my upper shoulders. He checks me over, looking up and down, an inspection that makes me shiver.

“Cade went up to them. I wasn’t going to leave him alone.”

Cade and Oscar walk in at that moment. Cade’s not even walking with him though. He’s walking in front of him while Oscar’s jaw is set.

“Hey, you okay?” a voice asks me.

I look up to find Lex and gasp when I see his black eye.

He looks away sheepishly.

“Um, thanks for that,” a voice says behind us. Cade, Lex, and Reid all turn, staring Oscar down. “I didn’t know they were going to show up like that.”

“Don’t bring shit like that to my school,” Reid says.

Oscar looks at me. I’m pinned between Lex and Reid, which he seems to notice right away. He acknowledges Lex’s black eye and looks at me again, a quirk on his lips. “I’ll make sure to tell them you don’t want their gang-banging asses on your school property.”

Reid moves fast. He takes Oscar by surprise, holding him up against a locker. “If my girl gets hurt because of you, we’ll be fighting about more than fucking football, asshole. You understand?”

Oscar pushes him off and rearranges the collar of his shirt. “I understand, Big Man.” He looks at me and then walks away, casually walking down the hall like he owns the place. Sasha has no idea what she fucking did, does she? And she doesn’t care if everyone else fights as long as she gets what she wanted in the first place…to take Reid down and to humiliate me. All because Reid didn’t want her anymore. Her pettiness is unreal.

But that’s not the only thing I have to worry about right now. I turn toward Lex, who’s keeping his black eye away from me. I glare at Reid, but he just stares back at me. “What happened?”

“Oh shit,” Cade says. Jules walks up at that moment, completely oblivious to what’s going on. Cade takes her arm and leads her away. “Come on, Jules. We need to be anywhere but here.”

I watch them go, flinging Cade a dirty look. Coward. But it’s Reid’s voice that breaks through. “Lex and I had a discussion last night. That’s all.”

“This is stupid,” I say, pleading with him. “Did you hit Lex?”

“It’s fine,” Lex says.

Reid all but growls. “I did. Because the dumbass doesn’t know when to give up, and I’d do it again. For you, I’d do anything, Briar.”

I just stare at him, mouth slightly open. This wasn’t what I wanted at all. Why couldn’t they just talk? “I don’t want you guys to fight.”

“Too late,” Reid says.

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