Page 53 of Crew
"Yeah." She gave a quick shake of her head. "No way, but um...okay. So, speaking of Sunday..."
She looked like she was preparing for a formal interview. "Sunday is going to approach you today to apologize, and Monica is going to ask if there's anything going on with you and Cross." She grimaced, waiting for my reaction. "Can you not..." Her face pinked and her lips mashed together. "...beat them up when they do?"
I grinned. "So much for not taking her crap."
Her face went from pink to red. "This is different. That's different. I'm trying to prevent a full-out war. There'll only be one victim in all of that. Me." She pointed to herself, shaking her head. "You'll be protected by your guys, and Sunday will hide behind the squad. Me. I'm in the middle. So, for me... Don't?"
When she put it like that, I felt bad about the orange juice. "You don't want me to beat them up?"
"No!" She twirled her hands in the air. "Or pour things on them? Sunday doesn't know the tire thing was you, but if you do it again, she'll figure it out. She thought some criminals from Frisco must've been at Manny's."
And the irony of all was that she's from Roussou, thinking that.
Taz sat back up, picking at the end of her shirt. "They're trying to be real with you. Because that's how you like it. Real. No fake shit. They're scared, but they're going to try it your way."
It should have bothered me to hear people were scared to talk to me.
It didn't. I felt satisfaction. It was a perfected coping mechanism--scare 'em right away and not have to deal with them later. I felt myself smiling. Maybe Z was right. I was brilliant.
I started laughing.
Taz had been talking. "What? What's funny?"
"Nothing. I was laughing at myself. And I'll be nice, as long as they're nice." And as long as Taz didn't get hurt in the middle.
"They will be." She bobbed her head up and down. "I promise." Her shoulders relaxed. "I was so nervous to ask you about that, but I think Sunday forgot how fierce you can be. Dumping the orange juice on her, then starting a whole crew brawl in front of her--that helped her remember. I think she got lax this summer, because she didn't see you. She forgot she's not number one on the female alpha list, if you know what I mean. I mean, she is on the cheerleading squad, but outside of the crew system, there are other girls more popular than her--like Tabatha Sweets. But Sunday's domain is the squad. Tabatha's is the whole school, not the crew part of the school."
The door opened behind us halfway through Taz's statement, and someone had stopped there. I waited for them to pass us by. When they didn't, I looked back.
It was Sunday, with Monica coming through the door behind her.
Taz turned too, jumping to her feet. "Sunday! I--"
"You can't cover what you just said. I heard you." Hurt flared in her eyes, and she looked at me. "I was coming to apologize to you. I had no clue you heard me, but it doesn't matter. Spreading rumors about you and being catty wouldn't have been right. I'm sorry I was even thinking about it."
I nodded. As problems went, she was the least of mine.
But she wasn't done.
She turned to Taz again. "I--what you said really hurt, Taz."
"Is it a lie?" I asked.
All three of their heads swiveled to look at me.
"Is it a lie? Or is it true?"
Taz looked down.
Monica's eyes widened, and her lips pressed together.
Sunday was fixed on me, her face resembling an owl. Big wide eyes. Small mouth, lips pressed together almost in a snarl.
That gave me the answer. "It hurts because it's true." I nodded toward Taz. "You can't get mad at her for being honest. You do shitty things to people. It's a fact. You're not doing shitty things to me because I scare you. That's the truth, right?"
No answer. Her neck was reddening, and the color was moving up. The girl was pissed, but she looked down, and a soft "Yes" came out.
"It should hurt, but be mad at yourself, not her."
