Page 17 of All the Discord

“Don’t worry. For now, just know, we have your back,” Lillian said. “You’re a good person, and we only want to surround ourselves with good people.” Anger flashed across her expression before disappearing. Hazel nudged her gently. Lillian glanced at her sister before breaking out into a smile, but it felt more forced.

“Um…” I had no freakin’ clue how to react. This had to be a joke. It had to be.

“She doesn’t believe us,” Hazel said.

Lillian shrugged. “I wouldn’t believe me either.” Her phone beeped and she glanced at it. “Oh, we need to go! Coach wants a quick word with us before class starts.” She climbed to her feet and helped her sister up. “This isn’t over.” Lillian pointed at me, her words sounding more like a challenge than a declaration of friendship.

I could only gape at them, trying to decide what even started with the two of them. They both waved at me before navigating back out. Someone stopped them, and instead of the big smiles I was used to them flashing others, they both frowned hard. Hazel said something that had the guy grimacing. He backed off, and Lillian tugged her sister away, leaving him to stare after them.

What the hell happened to them? Them approaching me was something I never imagined would happen. It just didn’t. Ever.

Even after glancing around and not seeing anything suspicious, I kept waiting for the cameras to come out and for someone to yell that I’d been pranked or goofed or whatever it was called.

Lillian and Hazel lived in the popular circle, practically running it. Everyone flocked to them, wanted to be close, wanted the honor of being able to call them a friend. They didn’t need to approach anyone to make friends.

So what was that about? Why did they approach me? What happened to them?

I shook my head and pushed it out of my mind for now. Later, after school, I’d go over what the heck happened and try to figure out their game plan. If this was some kind of prank, I’d need to nip it in the bud before they got what they wanted.

My math homework was more important if I wanted time to work this evening. I looked back down at my assignment and let it pull me into its confusing numbers. Calculus consumed all my thoughts, so much so that I screamed when a large hand plopped on top of my head and I was interrupted for the second time in a short period of time. I dove to the side, my heart pounding, cursing myself for allowing someone to sneak up on me. I was ready to bolt when I finally realized my attacker was actually one of the boys. And he wasn’t attacking me, just getting my attention.

Shit.

They’d found me.

I let out a huge breath of relief and blanked my face so they couldn’t read any of my emotions. They didn’t need to know how much they’d scared me, or know that all I wanted to do was run, my body preparing for pain.

“Whoa, sorry, Cadence, didn’t mean to scare you,” Paxon said, holding his hands out in the universal ‘I’m not going to hurt you’ sign.

His friend stood behind him with a mixture of emotions that I couldn’t read. My hand was against my chest, where my heart thumped painfully. My brain knew they wouldn’t hurt me, but my fears didn’t. My fears never understood that not everyone was like Lindie or the friends that she liked to bring home.

“What do you want?” I finally asked in a raspy voice.

The boys settled down around me, not even caring that they were intruding into my personal bubble. My personal space included the ten feet around me. They were too close. I kept seeing people pouncing on me, grabbing me, hurting me.

I shoved the images back. They weren’t going to hurt me. Calvin was a happy little boy. Bebe was saved by Seth. They were good people.

Holding tightly on to those two reasons, I looked at the boys as my heart slowed back down.

“What do you want?” I asked again. There was a little bite to my question as anger flooded through me. I just wanted peace. To be alone. Why couldn’t I have that?

Bryan wouldn’t look at me, Toby grinned, his white teeth flashing, and Justin remained a blank canvas, not giving anything away at the moment.

Paxon sent me a shy smile. “We want to get to know you more.”

“Why?” That one simple word practically oozed with all the suspicion I held within me. I didn’t get it. I’d pushed them away all day. Usually people understood that as a clear stay away from me statement, but they were ignoring it. Between them and the twins, today was becoming a confusing day, sending my anxiety through the roof.

Paxon’s smile turned tight. “Easy. Calvin.”

I furrowed my brows, not understanding what he was getting at. “What about him?”

He sighed and tugged on the dark gray beanie that sat on his head. It was a different one from the one he wore over the weekend. “Calvin adores you. You’re all he talks about since meeting you.”

“So?”

Someone chuckled, but I refused to look away from Paxon.

Paxon cleared his throat, growing a bit uncomfortable. “Heh, you’re really not going to make this easy for me, are you? Um, Calvin is scared of women. He doesn’t go near them, doesn’t talk to them. We even had to make sure his teachers at school were male so he could go to class.”