Bruised Knuckles

9. cat and mouse

I sat in the cafeteria with Devian across from me. He gave me half of the sandwich that he bribed from a short, chubby, red-headed girl named Candace. This particular girl, at only five foot two, was the only person I would consider a friend. She talks to me and asks me about my day (sometimes) which is more than anybody else does. We have two classes together, probably because she is a junior. I'm sure she feels gratified that her sandwich is feeding two poor, hungry boys.

Aspen sat with a group of rather quiet kids, most from band or color guard. They were kind of weird, but if they kept my sister company and made her feel good about herself, they weren't too weird anymore. I spent a few moments watching her laugh and talk to them, carefully staring from across the cafeteria. I could hear Devian chewing across from me, the sound annoying enough to turn my attention away.

"Close your damn mouth," I said through my gritted teeth, making it sound harsher than I intended. Devian smacked his lips together and started chewing quieter, only to begin talking again before swallowing, "Why are you staring at her?"

I sighed and let my head rest in my right hand, the cafeteria table starting to hurt my elbow because of how hard the surface was. "I like how happy she is," I responded through the sigh. I picked up my half of the sandwich and took a generous bite, chewing slowly to savor every last bit.

"You look sad," I heard someone speak. I knew it wasn't Devian because he was finally chewing with this mouth closed. Axel stood next to me, in back of the empty seat, like he wanted to sit down with me but needed my approval first. Damn right he did.

"You don't even know me," I said quickly, turning around to look up at Axel who was blankly holding his cafeteria tray. "May I sit here?" He asked quietly, eyeing Devian while he began to nod. I shot Devian a look with my eyes, one that disapproved of his somewhat kind gesture.

"No, you can't sit here," I said while leaning away from Axel, somewhat annoyed. I saw Axel's lips begin to trickle up into a smile, the cut on his lip almost completely faded. He chuckled quietly at me, and soon Devian was doing the same thing.

"What the fuck," my lips pushed the words out, switching glances between the two boys. Did they have some sort of secret alliance?

"What's going on?" I tried to break their little laugh fest, and it worked to an extent. Axel extended his arm across the table, diagonally towards Devian. "Hey man, I'm Axel," he said with confidence, waiting for Devian to shake his hand. My brother clasped his hand and they shook for a few seconds. "Devian, and that's my brother Orion," he said plainly with his smile faded. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, leaning back against my chair as I watched them formally introduce themselves in the middle of Brookland High.

I didn't want Axel sitting with us, for many unknown reasons. The first reason, though, was the fact that he was able to prod his way into my mind and cause the worst cases of amnesia I've ever experienced. He had a way of switching my brain off, the reigns of my mind being handed over to him. I found it quite funny that he had this effect on me, you would never think someone like him would cause me such emotional frustration. I liked being in control, and I didn't like being challenged. Of course, only if the challenging was taking place on a baseball field.

"I have everything planned out for when we study Saturday at the library," Axel said with a composed and confident tone, his face piercing into mine.

I could feel the heat flushing into my cheeks as I peered at him from the corner of my eyes. "That's good," I said in response, my back still leaning against the chair, my arms still tightly crossed at my chest.

Devian payed no attention to us as he finished the crust on his sandwich. In one sly movement, Axel nudged his arm across the back of my chair, his forearm touching the back of my shirt with just enough force for me to notice. I didn't lean forward just yet, instead I stayed completely still because I knew what he was doing.

Axel seemed to enjoy getting a reaction from me, and I noticed him slip his arm around my chair when Devian wasn't watching. I finally leaned forward slightly, causing Devian to look up from his crust. "I'm going to head to class early, it was nice sitting here," I said specifically to Devian.

"You can't do that," Axel suddenly said out of nowhere. I turned my head to fully look at him, for the first time since he sat down here. My fingers grabbed a french fry from his tray and accordingly shoved that fry into my mouth. It wasn't that good, too soggy and cold. Axel crinkled his eyebrows.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do," I said while standing up, making sure my chair was pushed in before leaving. Common courtesy.
I walked out of the cafeteria and felt my stomach flutter up in what felt like annoyance and anticipation. Anticipation for what?

I spent the next several minutes hanging out inside of the boy's bathroom located on the second floor across from the janitor's closet. Nobody used this bathroom because the toilets always overflowed. I looked in the mirror, which was more foggy than reflective, tousling my short hair around with my fingers. I shrugged when it didn't look as good as Nikali Haleson's hair, the quarterback who every girl dreamed of waking up next to. I dreamed about it, too.

I heard the bell ring, more like buzz, sending anticipation into the pit of my stomach, which in turn, annoyed me some more. I walked out of the bathroom as quickly as I could so nobody would see me.

I felt like I was playing cat and mouse because I knew one thing: I didn't want Axel to find me again today.