In Lakewood, a small town with a reputation of crime, gangs, outcasts and violence, Lana Takumi is an orphan and a gang member disguised in ripped jeans of her late mother and old flannels of her late father. She feels stuck in an endless cycle of b...
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L A N A
The next day, I was heading early to the student council room extra early to sum up the Open day with the rest of the members. However, I stopped short behind a wall when I heard Everett and Kevin's voices only a few feet away in the empty hallway around the corner.
"This is so stupid," Kevin muttered.
"It's not. It's the truth. Every time Lana does something different than the rest of us, you always have to talk down on her like she's worth less than the rest of us. Let me make it clear. She's not. Even if she's late to the meeting sometimes or has opinions that you don't agree with, she's our equal. So I'm telling you to stop dragging her down. The way you talk to her and the way look at her needs to change. Just respect her."
"Seriously? You're standing up for her and not me? You're taking her side?" Kevin's voice was laced with frustration.
However, Everett didn't back off just like that. "This is isn't about taking sides. The Sirens were cornering you and I stopped it. Now, you're being rude to Lana and I'm stopping you. So no, I'm not picking sides here. I'm going what's right and fair."
"You-" Kevin cut himself off when I approached him and Everett.
After throwing a dirty look at me, he threw his hands up of exasperation. "Great. Now she's here too. I can't believe you're supporting someone who's friends with Jada. That freak is fucked in the head. She treats people like shit when she's the biggest fuck up-"
Before I realized it, my fist had collided with Kevin's jaw. Then I grabbed the collar of his grey hoodie and shoved him up against the lockers behind him as terror pooled in his blue eyes. People could be as shitty as they wanted to be towards me, but not to my friends. Not to Jada.
"Lana, stop!" Suddenly a pair of hands were grabbing my arms, attempting to pull me off him but the anger seeping through me kept Kevin molded against the lockers and my jaw remained clenched as my vision slightly blurred on the edges.
However, it was when Everett's hands rapidly moved to forcefully grab my hands, my skin ignited. When his big hands gripped my hands so tightly that my skin started turning red, the crucial memories started to flash by so rapidly and loudly that I wasn't able to tamp them down. Suddenly, my whole body was frozen and Kevin scrambled away from my crumbling posture.
"Everett!" I heard Carmen scream. Before Everett could release my hands, he was shoved aside and Carmen put her arm around my shoulders. I flinched at first but then let her embrace soothe me as my whole body started shaking.
"What did you do?!" She yelled at him.
Everett stumbled on his words. "I-I was trying to stop her. She-she jumped on Kevin and-"
