Dark Wolfe

9- I'M A THIEF! I'M A THIEF!

(Song of the chapter: 'Monopoly' - Victoria Monet & Ariana Grande)

They stared at me, stunned.

"If you are," I continued, "you might want to avoid hitting me in my middle area. Don't know if you noticed, but I just ate thirteen tiny pancakes."

Checkmate, motherfuckers, I thought as I sat back, feeling smug.

That is until Rhys popped off on me.

"Have you been absent from this entire conversation?" He looked really, really pissed.

"Why would we hit you?"

"I dunno. Everybody else just seems to think it's the way to go," I replied honestly.

His eyes flashed in anger. "Everyone else has clearly lost their mind. What part of what happened was any of your fault?"

"Look, there's the gaps for one," I tried to explain. "He might've told me something really important and I just... forgot. Also, he and Jacques were very tight when we were young. That's the main reason he's turned everyone against me."

I sighed. "I should have followed him. Made sure he got home safe."

Rhys rolled his eyes. "You were nine. A hysterical ten-year-old boy was not your responsibility," he said bluntly.

"Besides, if you'd ended up following him they might have just taken the both of you. How exactly was that supposed to be a better solution?"

I stared at him. "You know, you're the only one that has ever pointed out that last bit," I said, amazed.

"We've already established that you've been surrounded by fools your entire life. Now, can we move on?"

Jasper and Brandon had been bobbing their heads back and forth between us like they were watching a tennis match. Now Brandon's brows furrowed.

"Why not fight back?" He asked, sounding like he was trying to crack Portuguese.

"If you fought back, people would realize you aren't to be messed with and they'd leave you alone."

I sighed in double-standards.

"Like I said, the bullying first started when I was really young," I started, strumming my fingers on my chin. "Afterwards, I'd just sit there and, like, cry." A wry smile twisted my lips to the side.

"Thankfully, I got older and realized that crying was really stupid and wasteful, so I stopped doing it. But instead of respecting my growth, they decided they missed the old Avalon and have tried to bring me back down to that crying child ever since," I took a sip of my drink.

"Plus, I'm a girl. If I start lashing out at the way they're treating me, I'm not dangerous - I'm hysterical. It's just a matter of putting me back in my place, or 'disciplining me' as Hitler so thoughtfully put it.

"So, in a sense, I have been fighting back for a while now. It makes no difference, or just makes them angrier, so there's nothing to be done."

I finished my drink in the silence.

"Anyways, Bimbo out there is probably running her mouth to everyone on her contacts list about whatever she thinks this is," I waved a hand around the table.

"You can explain away punching Jacques at school pretty easily. It might even boost your reputation. But I need one of you to give me a shiner or something so nobody gets the wrong idea about whatever this was."

I twirled my cup around my finger. "You sure you don't want to hit me? Not even a little bit?"

"Oh my God." Rhys's eyes flashed.