Pacific Bell High

> XXIII <

It had been a chilly Monday morning. Justin had parked his car in the school's parking lot and both Justianny and him slipped outside of the car.

"Justin, what's up?" They both overheard and Justin looked up to shake hands with Kyle. Kyle then turned to Justianny and gave her a boyish smirk. "Good morning, Justianny."

She smiled back at him, "Good morning, Kyle."

Leroy, Gerald, and Anthony — one of the tackles in the team — came onto them and they began to speak about what they were going to do for practice today. They tried to include Justianny into the conversation as much as possible, but she told them to just give up because softball was one of the only things that she really knew how to talk about.

Across from the parking lot, Martin had parked his motorcycle right next to Xavier's car.

"Oh, this baby is back?" Xavier asked as he eyed the sleek black vehicle. He leaned back onto the passenger side of his car and stuck his hand into his pockets.

Martin took off his helmet and ruffled his hair back into place. "I told you it was getting fixed. And that once it was done, I'd be back on the road with it."

"Your mom still has heart attacks when she sees you with it?" Xavier asked as he looked past Martin's shoulders.

"She still does when she sees me without it." Martin responded as he placed his keys into his pants pockets. He kicked himself off and turned to face the way that Xavier had been looking.

His eyes darkened when he saw the Taylor siblings, talking towards the others as if nothing was around them. His eyes flittered over to Justianny, who ran a hand through her hair before she held it up in a ponytail, then let it go.

He had to talk to her.

"You know," Xavier started as he bit his lower lip to refrain from smiling — this was going to get good. "I know I should have told you this immediately, but I had been tired. And the next day I went to my Aunt's house, so I was busy the entire weekend."

Martin turned to look at Xavier with a look that urged him to finish the sentence.

"I was driving back home from a party and I saw that same truck driving at the same time. Guess who was in his passenger seat?"

Martin's eyes hardened as one person came into his mind: Ciara.

Xavier nodded his head slowly, as if he could read Martin's thoughts. "They were on their way to her house, too. So, I think something happened between them, man. When she saw me, she looked like a deer caught in headlights."

Anger surged through Martin. He tossed his helmet towards Xavier and stalked his way towards Justin.

Justin, over the shoulders of Kyle, saw this and breathed out heavily. His whole demeanor changed and it was noticed.

It was too late to ask however, because Justin moved Kyle out of the way and Martin connected his fist to his face.

Only silence was heard in the millisecond before Justin staggered back, right after that, he swung at Martin and also hit his face.