Page 7 of Transition

“What are you doing here?” I asked, with my hands folded across my cotton pajamas.

He stared me up and down. “I’m sorry about earlier… at school. You didn’t deserve to be yelled at like that.”

I nodded, not entirely satisfied. But I’d take what I could get. “Okay.” When I started to turn, he continued.

“My dad used to hit my mom…”

Well, I hadn’t expected that. I turned to face him and took his hand before dragging him to sit on the rug by the foot of my bed and motioned for him to continue.

“One particular day, it got so bad that I was sure he was going to kill her. I ran inside, took an ax, and rammed it into his head with all the strength I could gather. The cops ruled it as self-defense,” He sounded defeated like he didn’t believe it was self-defense. “I was fifteen when I killed my father, and I don’t regret it.”

He stopped and watched me for a while, but I gave nothing away.

“Redwood is a small town, and everyone knew what I had done. Suddenly no one wanted their kids around me, and no one wanted to be associated with my mom and me. I lost my friends too, and that’s how it has been ever since. If people see you talking to me, they’re going to…”

I didn’t let him finish his sentence before I wrapped my arms around him in a hug. “I’m your friend now, and you won’t lose me,” I whispered into his ear with conviction. I felt him smile.

We spent the rest of the night talking, and then, suddenly, it was morning again.

CHAPTER SIX

“It’s good to have you back, man.” Mason grinned as he slapped Jake hard on the back.

Jake glowered. “What the hell was that for?”

“That’s for thinking we didn’t want you as a friend anymore because of some stupid, small-town gossip,” Liam said.

Aaron nodded. “I concur.”

All five of us were seated at our usual table in the school cafeteria. The other students stared in shock as Jake Grayson joined our group. Ever since I had learned that the boys were Jake’s childhood friends and had stopped hanging out with each other because of his father’s death, I had made it my sole mission to get them back together.

It turned out the boys had reached out to Jake after the incident, but he had been so wrapped up in his own despair and self-loathing that he had unknowingly pushed them away. He mistakenly thought that all three of them would treat him the same way as the townspeople, so he separated himself from them.

Finally, I had gotten them to put their egos aside and talk things through, putting us in the exact moment that we were now in.

“Well, it’s good to be back,” said Jake, with the most genuine smile I had ever seen on his lips. It made his face light up, and he looked even more handsome than normal if that was even possible.

We couldn’t stop people from staring at him like he was an alien or avoiding him like the plague; that was going to take time.

“Jake’s back, baby,” Mason hollered, and Liam joined in while Aaron looked on with a dazzling grin of his own.

My eyes met Jake’s, and when he mouthed,Thank you.I replied with a nod. My boys were all together.

*****

The bell rang, and we all walked to the gym for fourth period. As soon as the boys moved over to their section, it was like an alarm had gone off, and I was suddenly accosted by Leila and her gang.

She approached with her arms crossed and her friends behind her. “Well, well. If it isn’t Miss Whore…”

“Excuse me?”

“All three of them weren’t enough for you? You just had to have the bad boy too, didn’t you? What’s it like fucking all four of them, huh? Are you that much of a slut?”

“Miss Hamilton! That language isn’t tolerated on school grounds, especially not to a fellow female! Do you understand?” said Mrs. Peters, our gym teacher, who had suddenly appeared from nowhere and had overheard that last sentence.

“Yes, ma’am.” Leila directed a glare at me before turning to walk away with her friends.

“Back to the routine, everyone,” Mrs. Peters yelled, blowing her whistle as we all took our positions. We were doing a gymnastic routine, and my post was at the top as six other girls held me up, two on each level.

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