CHAPTER SEVEN
Pinned By Predator
Warren left at the end of the period and swaggered the two blocks over to his house. He stopped when someone pulled on his shirt and hauled him into his house. He was strong, and confident in it, so he didn’t notice there were two girls following him, one marching up and the other sneaking behind and doing her best to stay undiscovered.
“What are you doing this time,” the girl growled in his ear.
“Marina?” He looked back at the girl behind him and shook off her grip. “What is a good kid like you doing skipping school?”
She frowned at him. “Stacey is sick, so I stayed home to take care of her with my teacher’s permission. What I’d like to know is what you are up to being at home early.”
She was four foot something and stood there with every inch loaded with determination. “I see you looking like you’re on top of the world. Don`t you dare do more things that’ll get you in trouble with the school or the law and ruin our name for us. The kids are already getting bullied in school for the stupid stunts you do.”
He looked at her, raising a single brow. “Why should I care what happens to the squirts,” he said nonchalantly. “If it doesn`t affect me, why would you think I would act any differently because of this?” He pushed her back a foot so that she couldn`t continue to hover and buzz around him, walking determinedly away from her nagging.
“It matters,” she growled again. She paced determinedly behind him. She had to walk in double time to catch up with each of his strides, but she refused to back off from him. “I do all of this work to keep the family going and cared for, and all you are doing is goofing off. You’ve been goofing off for years. A decent person would have grown up by now. I`d think you`d be ashamed of yourself,” she continued.
“I`m never that,” he said. His own paces seemed to increase in speed and in length, but it hardly deterred her at all.
“What is wrong with you?” He didn’t react, just kept walking. She threw up her hands, finally giving up on him and walking away. “Fine. If you`re going to be like that, that`s just fine. I never thought you`d be a dead beat like them, but it seems like that`s what you`ve secretly always been.”
He stopped abruptly in the middle of the path. “Like them,” he whispered. He walked back to her, grabbing her up by the collar. “Did you just say ‘like them’,” he growled. She shook her head violently ‘Nope, not all.’ HE pulled her up harder, her air mostly closed off, and she flinched. She gave a single, hesitant, nod of yes. “Well, actually at least a little bit. You can’t see the similarities?”
“Never like them!” He yelled at her, flinging her away. “I`ve never been like, will never be like, them,” he snarled. “You got it?” She nodded vigorously, massaging her neck. “Then leave,” he said curtly, turning away from her. She stuck out her tongue at his back, discreetly so he wouldn`t notice and start flinging her around again, then she walked away to go to the pharmacy on the end of the block and pick up some cough syrup for her little sister.
Raucous cries and whistled catcalls followed her as she went down the street, a rowdy band of boys coming in to relieve her of her boredom or stress or curiosity, whichever led to her hanging out with them. She sneered at their backs as she went away as well.
“Hey Warren,” one of the boys called out. “Seems like Marina gets hotter every year.” Warren was silent, face stony. They took that to be an encouragement, continuing their noise. “Can I give her a whirl,” the one boy cackled. “I`d like to give her two,” another grinned. Warren glared. “I mean, she`s a real stick in the mud, so it might be fun to see how you could liven that up a bit,” the third called.
Warren swing back then punched him, straight to the gut. The boy doubled over, clutching his stomach. “Not my sister,” he said with menace. “You can mess with any of the girls but my sister,” he growled.
“I guess that includes Stacey,” a boy sighed. The others pushed him back, laughing at his stupidity. “You can`t mess with a Middle Schooler, especially if she’s his sister,” they laughed. “They break too easily and you don’t know if the repair cost’d be worth it.” The boy grinned sheepishly, but stopped when Warren gave him a death glare. “It was just a joke, I didn`t mean anything by it,” he muttered sulkily. Warren looked at him a second more, silently, then turned away when the boy started to squirm.
“What are you lot here for, anyways,” he said. His tone was fashionably bored, but they all knew that it was best to change the subject when he acted that way. It was a sure sign they would have broken bones if they didn`t switch tactics soon.
“It`s about this new Alyss girl,” the one boy said. “Word around the school is that she is just soo lovely,” he sneered. “We want to do something about that.” The others growled in agreement, a pack baying for the hunt.
“Might show up that Aeon jerk, trying to take over our turf,” another muttered. It was a sore spot among them all. Their first attempt to bring the playing field back in their favor had left at least half of their members hospitalized, so they weren`t feeling up to any direct attacks anymore. But flirting with and breaking the heart of his latest
