Learning to Live

Chapter 5

Weaving my way out of school, I spotted a dark head bobbing above the crowd. I caught up to Jamison- Hunter- and jabbed him in the side with my elbow. Hunter blinked at me, wordless. I didn't let that deter me. He'd told me to call him by his first name. I took that as a good sign that our friendship was blooming. And my friends got elbow jabs every once in a while.

"Hey, Hunter," I said. "How was the prank?"

His lips twitched up. He looked ahead of him and almost smiled. "Very... educative."

"What was it?" I asked. We got out of the school and headed towards the back of the parking lot. The crowd thinned out the farther we got.

"A porn video."

"A what?!" I stopped, the person walking behind me bumped into me. She jogged past me and looked over her shoulder with a sheepish smile. "Sorry!"

I waved, already turning to Hunter. I could not believe my brothers!

He nodded. "Mr. Granger usually gets us to watch a documentary in the first thirty minutes of class. Someone switched it up with a porn video."

Oh my God. "Did he suspected them?"

Hunter shrugged. I looked around the parking lot. Where had we parked this morning- oh! There it was. I spotted my brothers near our car, Jason and Lia next to them. Gripping Hunter's wrist, I dragged him behind me.

"Scott, Stef, do you guys want to be expelled?!" I asked, letting go of Hunter upon reaching them and punching Scott in his side.

He winced and wrapped his meaty arm around my neck in a chokehold. "Stop using your fists on us, damn it."

I tried getting loose, but he was too strong. Reaching back with my hand, I pulled at his hair until he let go.

He rubbed his head. "Damn it, you're a feral."

Adjusting my clothes and the backpack strap that slid off my shoulder, I grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks."

Hunter watched the interaction with his intense dark eyes.

"So, does he know it's you?" Lia asked.

"He will if you speak any louder," Stefan told her.

Lia opened her mouth. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and interrupted them. "Anyway," I said. "You guys should stop now. One prank is enough."

"I don't know. I'm kind of enjoying this," Scott said. Jason fist bumped him.

"Do you want Sam to hear about this?" I asked. Our big brother wouldn't be thrilled to know about the prank.

Scott glared at me. "Hey!"

"Enough," I said. "You got your revenge. Move on."

"Spoilsport."

"Lia!"

We all looked to the side, where Tom was jogging up to us. Lia moved to go to him, but I held her in place, wrapping my arm tightly around her.

"Hey, babe," Tom said, looking between me and his girlfriend. "Want to head home?"

Lia opened her mouth.

"She can't," I blurted out.

Tom's jaw ticked. "And why is that?"

"We have... plans," I said. "Yeah, plans."

"Sapphire?" Lia whispered. I didn't take my eyes off of Tom. He looked properly pissed off.

"You-" Tom gritted out. He glanced behind Lia and I, no doubt at the four boys at my back. What he didn't know was that I could punch his cheating ass to a nosebleed. But having my brothers and my friends as a deterrent worked as well, and I didn't have to bust out any noses. At least, not yet.