GLORY AND GORE! ( DEFENDING JACOB )

𝐎𝐍𝐄

❝ 𝒀𝑶𝑼'𝑹𝑬 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑶𝑶 𝑫𝑬𝑬𝑷 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬, 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻? ❞

❝ 𝑰 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾, 𝑰 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾 ❞

. . .

"MORNING HONEY, THAT MUCH COFFEE? WHAT TIME DID YOU COME HOME LAST NIGHT?" MADELINE'S MOTHER ASKED WHEN THE BLONDE WALKED INTO THE KITCHEN. her brother, adrian, was already sitting at the counter eating eggs and bacon. it was a weekday, meaning everyone in the windsor household was trying to get everything they needed before going to work or school. the blonde wore a black long sleeved sweater tucked into a red pleated skirt. her hair was worn down in it's natural curly state, framing her face.

"she was at jacob's house till eleven," adrian said, earning a slap on the shoulder from madeline. "what? ow, jesus. just telling the truth, mads."

"doesn't make you less of a snitch," maddie retorted, cutting an apple up on a plate and sipping her black coffee. adrian made a face and went back to eating, luckily not saying anything else about maddie coming home at a considerably late time last night.

her mother, meredith windsor, looked at her daughter and sighed, shaking her head a tiny bit before going back to making her own lunch for the day. "eleven? you know curfew on a school night is nine, or did your father and i not make that clear enough?" madeline gave her brother a thanks a lot look, and nodded her head, "yes, you did. we just got carried away, that's all. science project. sorry mom, it won't happen again, i promise."

adrian laughed "yeah, a human anatomy project."

"do you ever shut up?"

"aw, love you too sis."

"whatever, let's go, i don't want to be late to first again because you take forever," madeline said, taking her car keys from the key rack and slinging her slightly heavy backpack onto her shoulder. they both walked to the front door and began slipping on their shoes and coats, her phone buzzed in her coat jacket. madeline finished getting ready before her brother and took the opportunity to grab her phone and see who was trying to reach her.

it was a text from jacob barber, maddie opened her phone to read the message, tapping on his contact. maddie? i think i'm in trouble. it read. the blonde stared down at her phone, her deep brown eyes reading his text over and over again. her heart began to race, thinking that there was something wrong happening. last night before she left his house she asked him if he needed a ride to school in the morning and he declined, saying he'd walk. what if something bad happened to him while he was walking, since he should be right about now if he wants to make it to school in time.

she felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts. it was adrian, who was looking at her with a questionable look on his face. while she had been looking at her phone, he had gotten everything together and opened the door for the two of them, waiting for her to unlock the car. "is something wrong?"

madeline looked at him shockingly before shaking her head, saying, "oh, no. just some stupid twitter post that's going around my class." what? look, i'll see you at school. talk to me then. she texted back, putting her phone in her coat pocket and walking out the door.

once they reached the school parking lot and parked, quickly grabbing her stuff from the backseat and leaving her brother to walk in by himself. they were a year apart in school, maddie older than him. and he had baseball practice after school, meaning they probably wouldn't see each other until dinner tonight. madeline went to her locker and grabbed her binder for the school day, reaching deeper into her locker to get a pen that had fallen back there the other day. she wondered where jacob was, what he was in trouble for, or if he has even gotten to school yet. right as she grabbed the black pen, she felt arms wrap around her waist. madeline yelped, jumping out of her locker and dropping her binder to the floor.

"what the hell, jacob!" the blonde yelled, not even looking at the person as she reached down to grab the things she had dropped.

"jacob? since when does he greet you like that. unless . . . you two finally, ya know," a female voice said from beside her. maddie glanced at the shoes beside her as she crouched down and saw that it wasn't jacob's shoes. they were white high top converse. natalia.

natalia grey was probably the only female friend madeline really had. she was part of the popular crowd, and for some unknown reason, she would willingly get off the top of the totem poll and talk to maddie. the two had been friends since second grade, there's nothing that they wouldn't do for each other.

maddie rolled her eyes, shaking her head and closing her locker, holding her binders to her chest. "no, i actually don't know. and no, he doesn't greet me like that, he just texted me this morning and i told him I'd talk to him in person here," she said, starting to walk to her first period. natalia kept up with her pace, waving to people as they walked by them in the hallways.

"you're telling me you weren't hooking up with him when you were over there at eleven last night?" natalia said, poking her fingers into maddie's shoulder in an excited way.

"nat!" maddie exclaimed, realizing people were eyeing her strangle at her sudden outburst. she bit her lip and turned to look at her best friend, "don't say that stuff out loud. you know how everyone is. and no, we're just friends, you of all people should know this." she began walking again, until they were at her first period. maddie stopped to look at her friend, giving her a questionable look, "wait, how did you know that i was over there at eleven? i didn't tell anyone that but adrian when he caught me sneaking inside the house."

"life three sixty, duh. remember when we jokingly made a group together during that sleepover? it said that you didn't arrive to your house until twelve thirty. where were you for that extra hour? i didn't have a notification for it," natalia asked dully, playing with a strand of her hair.

maddie's eyes widened, a pit in her stomach beginning to tighten up. quickly brushing away her thoughts, she shook her head and said, "i dunno, must've glitched out or something. i was back home by eleven, a little after actually. but please, nat, stop stalking me. i don't stalk you." and with that, the blonde rushed into her classroom, waiting for natalia to shrug her shoulders and walk away. she let out a sigh, the tension that had built up in her shoulders was now gone thankfully.

right as she thought all that tension had been lifted, she came face to face with her friend jacob barber. his expression was low, his green eyes piercing into her's. although each of their expression's softened at the mere closeness of each other, there was an unknown tension between the two. and it kept building with every second.

"i need to talk to you, now," jacob said in a low voice to her. "ask to go to the bathroom in ten minutes, we can talk in the stairwell."