My Brother Says I'm Dangerous

(32)

"Are you ready?" Hunter asks me. I nod, taking a deep breath before opening the car door.

The weekend past too quickly. I didn't leave the ranch. Word gets around fast in this small town, soon everybody knew who I am. I'm sure they know all the details. All it takes a google search.

Although I'm grateful for how the Samuels family dealt with it. They treated me as normal. Nobody treaded carefully, nobody treated me differently. Nick found out, and we spent a long time talking about it. I admitted that I've been out of control. But he gets it. He convinced me that maybe going back to a councillor isn't a bad idea. I'm not saying it will help. But it will make him feel better.

But now it's time to face reality. Or in other words-school. I move forward, head down, but Hunter stops me.

"Hey." He says gently. "Head held high." I adjust my posture. They can't get to me. They don't have control. I do.

As soon as we step away from the safety of Hunter's truck, the buzzing begins. It's all to familiar. It's exactly the same as when I returned back to school after my incident- no. Kidnapping.

Hunter must hear the gossip too, as he places a friendly, comforting arm around my shoulders. He's been like this all weekend. Protective. His movement only makes the buzzing louder, however it has changed it's tune, and I can cope with it.

We enter the school, and calmly make our ways to our lockers. He takes his arm away, as his locker is quite a bit further down than mine, however I can feel almost like a protective circle around me, as friends are littered around the hallway. Isaac, David, Alison, Chloe, Seb, Jamie. Almost as if they've planned it.

"Hi." Alison smiles at me, leaning against the lockers as I sought through mine. I laugh silently at her.

"Hi." I say. "I know what you guys are doing." She rolls her eyes.

"Just let it happen." She shrugs. "It's more for the boys, they will go insane today if something happens again to you. They just want an excuse to punch Noah's face in, after he left so quickly that night after it happened. Coward."

"Alright." I agree. I would never admit it, but if feels good to be protected like this. 

I close my locker, and we start down the hallway. My breathing halts slightly when I notice Noah and his friends hanging by the water fountains, but I don't let it show. I walk past him, practically flanked by Hunter and Isaac, and I can practically hear the smirks on their faces.

"Hey Eva." Noah calls out. "How's my little bird doing?" 

Before I can even react, Hunter twists around, punching him square in the face, sending him straight to the ground. The hallway goes silent, and Hunter faces us, wringing his hand with a smirk.

"That felt good."

<><><><>

Nobody bothers me today. After witnessing what happened to Noah, I don't think anyone will. The buzzing has changed to a respectful silence. 

"So is Keith actually going through with this campaign?" Jamie asks. "Mom is so happy."

"Apparently." Isaac shrugs, finishing his third sloppy joe. "He's making up posters, we all have to go into town today after school to put them up."

"Well he has her vote." Jamie grins. "And a lot of the people with the small businesses. And the farms. Practically anyone who has had Dennings buy it off them."

"So everyone?" I snort.

"Well." Chloe shrugs. "Lots of people travel to work outside of town. Those are usually big supporters of him. The typical type-big time business men, wife stays at home, country club."

"And they are actually the minority." Jamie adds. "Now that Gregory isn't running unopposed, we might actually have a chance. Keith is well liked."

"If Keith wins, how does that stop him from bullying everyone?" I ask. "He still owns everyone's businesses."

"It would stop the intimidation." Hunter grunts. "People see him as a higher power, they get scared. Dad will squash him, and eventually he will have no choice but to give them back."

I turn my attention to his hand, which is a decent colour of purple, covering his knuckles, scrapes surrounding it. I pick up the ice pack which he keeps stubbornly abandoning, and place it on his hand, gripping it tight. He looks at me, smiling gratefully.

"They only moved here ten years ago to build a new branch of Dennings tourist spots." He smiles gratefully. "Everybody knows he runs off twenty percent support and eighty percent fear. Once he has neither, he will have no choice but to move on."

I nod, and lean back letting the others talk, well aware that we are still technically holding each others hands.

"Isaac I found you a date for the prom." Alison grins. 

"Who?" His face lights up.

"Chloe." She says.

"I thought she was going to with Seb?" Isaac asks confused, looking at Seb across the table. 

"Ew." Seb groans. "Chloe's like my sister, we grew up together. And she never shuts up about you. Anyway, I'm going with Georgia Foster." He gets grunts of approval from the boys, and Alison and I laugh at their maturity.

"I would have asked her if I knew she was free." Isaac says thoughtfully, staring at Chloe who is sitting across the cafeteria studying with some friends. "Yeah. What about Hunter?" I swear I see Alison glance quickly at me, but just as quickly she looks away.

"I'm still thinking." She smirks.

The bell rings, and we all leave to go to our separate classes. Seb and I head off to music, meeting Chloe in the hallway. Before we even get into the classroom, we can hear Dave's singing.

"IT'S RAINING MEN!" He shouts. "HALLELUJAH!" Seb laughs, before swinging the door open, to find Dave on top of his desk, dancing to a Geri Halliwell album. 

"Why so happy?" Seb asks, as everybody trails in, dumping themselves into the beanbags.

"I won at poker, the lunch lady gave me a sandwich, and Keith is going to kick ass at the elections next week." He says happily, jumping off the table and raising his can of Pepsi in a toast. "And amen to all that."

Amen.