Muse - Fighting Fate #1 (18 page)

Chapter 31

Mia

“What the fuck is this shit I hear about you and
Melissa fighting in the bathroom?”

I sighed
as I watched Aiden stride up to me in the parking lot after school. To make things worse, Jace, Matt, and Dean weren’t far behind him. “It wasn’t really a fight, Aiden.”

“Then what was it?”

I frowned. I was never going to live this down. “She cornered me in the bathroom, telling me stay away from Jace, so I called her on her bullshit. That’s it.”

Jace groaned and rubbed his hands through his hair. “I knew I should’ve told everyone those girls were full of shit when the rumors started.”

“You can’t help that the girl’s delusional, Jace,” I said pointedly.

Dean chuckled behind Jace, flashing me a smile.

Aiden smirked. “Did you really call her on her bullshit?”

My cheeks heated. “She was trying to tell me her and Jace had a thing going,” I defended.

Aiden wrapped his arm around me. “Awww, my little sister’s finally turned into a bitch. I’m so proud.”

I shrugged him off. “I am not a bitch. Well, not to anyone other than you anyway…”

He chuckled.

Jace was still tense though.
“Aiden, you know what Melissa’s like. I can’t see her letting this drop so easily. The whole school just about knows what’s happened. She’s going to want payback.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “
People like Melissa don’t frighten me.”

Jace smirked. “Okay little wild cat.”

“Shut up,” I grouched, but a grin slipped out anyway.

Aiden unlocked the car and opened the door. “Okay, let’s get you home before you turn feral.”

“HA HA.” He was a smart ass.

He jumped in behind the wheel as the guys all called out their goodbyes, leaving me and Jace just standing there.

“Can I call you later?” he asked.

I smiled. I was beginning to like not having to hide. “Sure.”

* * *

It took until the next morning for the full effect of what was happening in my life to kick in. The second Aiden pulled into the parking lot, I felt the stares. I wasn’t sure if it was because of Jace’s interest in me, or the altercation with Melissa in the bathroom, but I thought maybe it was both.

Funnily enough, the attention didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
Melissa deserved to be put in her place. Bullying was the one thing I wouldn’t stand to put up with.

Kaeli jumped on me th
e second I was out of the car, her exuberance bubbling over. I raised my eyebrows at her. “Er…good morning? Did you accidently swap your morning juice for red bull or something?”

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away. “Very funny. I thought you’d be interested in knowing what
was going down in Facebook land.”

I groaned. That was the last thing I
wanted. I seriously needed to ban her from that place. “Do I have to know?” I whined.

“Oh come on, it’s not bad.
Melissa was trying her best to down play it, but everyone now knows Meaghan and Claire were there, so they’re all trying to get it first hand from them.”

Unease crept into my stomach. This whole situation could turn bad for me so easily. “Do you know what Claire and Meaghan are saying? Are they telling people I was mean to
Melissa?”

Kaeli’s eyes widened. “God no! The
y’re definitely on your side, Mia.”

I exhaled with relief. “Okay.”

We walked into the locker hall and I was instantly met with people I didn’t know, smiling and saying hello to me.

Kaeli cleared her throat beside me. “Well, this is new…”

“I’ll say,” I muttered under my breath. I didn’t actually know if I was going to be able to see the day out at this rate, and the day had only just started. At least I had Jace with me second period. That had to count for something.

Getting through first period was a lot tougher than I anticipated
though. It seemed Kacey and Violet were on a mission to see who could give me the most venomous glare, not to mention the occasional snide remarks muttered under their breaths. At first I thought they were glaring at me because they were ‘Team Melissa’, but then I remembered Kacey and Melissa didn’t get along, so that left only one other explanation. They were pissed about Jace.

Second period was definitely
a step up in the better day department. Walking into the classroom to see Jace saving a seat for me almost made me forget about the bitch squad altogether. I almost kissed him for it.

Having
had people see us getting closer over the last week definitely had its benefits. I was surprised to find that no one really made a big deal out of us sitting together like I thought they would. And it was the same for when we walked back to the locker hall after class. Oh, people definitely looked, but it wasn’t the whole jaw dropping reaction I was envisioning.

I noticed Jace touched me a little bit more too. Just fleeting little touches that didn’t seem too obvious, but if seen, spoke a thousand words.

As we made our way out to the green, I cringed when I saw all the girls hanging around the guys’ usual table. Of course Aiden was already there with Matt, lapping it all up. I slowed my steps, looking around for Kaeli.

“What’s up?” Jace said, stopping and turning to face me.

I caught sight of her standing by a group of girls that were sitting in the sun, then looking closer, realized it was Amber and the other girls who’d come to Aspen with us. I knew they usually sat with the guys, so I was a little confused to why they were sitting somewhere else.

“I’m going to go say hi to Amber
and the girls, okay?”

Jace looked over at the group and frowned. I could tell he didn’t want to give up his time with me, but he nodded anyway. “Okay. I’ll catch you a bit later
then.”

The girls all looked up at me and smiled when I walked up.

Amber laughed. “And here’s the girl of the hour. Can I shake your hand? I’ve been waiting for someone to take Melissa down since our freshman year.”

I smiled shyly and folded myself down on the grass beside Kaeli.
“I didn’t really say much. I just called her on her bullshit.”

Amy shook her head. “Yeah, Kaeli was just saying how she and Kacey just made it all up about being with Jace.”

“And Violet…”

Jessica laughed. “Poor Jace.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Yeah because Jace is bound to be upset some girls made up stories about how great he is in bed.”

“I wouldn’t say upset, but he was annoyed,” I said quietly.

Kaeli nodded as she swallowed her bite of food. “Yeah, but that was only because he was worried you’d be upset.”

The three girls stared at me. “So you and Jace are really together?” Jess asked.

Shit. I hadn’t thought about what I’d say if someone asked me point blank. “Uh…can you ask me again on Monday?”

They continued to stare at me for a few more seconds, grins spreading across their faces. I plucked a blade of grass out of the ground and stared at it. “So why aren’t you sitting over there with the guys?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

Amber groaned. “I couldn’t stand one more second with the skanky squad. It’s hard to eat your lunch when you constantly have a little bit of vomit in your mouth.”

I glanced over at the table and saw some brunette chick reach up and touch Jace’s hair. Even from where I was sitting I could see the scowl on his face. He swatted her hand away, but she just laughed and leant closer to him, showing off her cleavage. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”

A few squeals broke out and a couple of girls climbed up on the table. I didn’t know what they were doing, but Aiden was in fits of laughter. It actually made me smile.

“Speaking of skanky…” Amber said, looking over Jess’ shoulder.

We all turned to see what she was talking about and saw Melissa strutting out onto the green with her clones.

I looked away because I didn’t want to stir up trouble by making her think we were all talking about her.

“By the looks of things, she’s moved on to her next victim. Poor Brendon,” Amy said, although she sounded far from sympathetic.

I glanced back to see
Melissa all over one of the football jocks. Poor Brendon indeed. Unfortunately, Melissa chose that moment to look up and when she saw me watching her, her eyes narrowed into slits and her mouth formed a rude word.

“Jesus,” Jess said. “Did you see that? What a bitch.”

I raised one eyebrow in a ‘what are you going to do?’ type gesture and sipped on my drink. I refused to get into it.

“You’re so much better than her. In every way,” Amber said, obviously pissed on my behalf. “She’s so full of self-importance.”

A hollering from the guys table, followed by raucous laughing drew our attention again. The guys were high fiving each other happily while a couple of the girls walked away, throwing glares back at them.

“Is anyone going tonight?” Amy said, still watching the guys.

I drifted off in my own thoughts while the girls started talking about all their plans for that weekend. Jace and I hadn’t actually talked about trying to catch up after their gig. I wondered if he would want to. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to the idea.

T
urning my attention back to Jace, I spent the rest of the lunch break more or less watching him laughing with Aiden. It was refreshing to see the both of them so relaxed for a change.

The bell rang not long after that and, o
ther than a quick hi-goodbye, I didn’t really get a chance to see Jace again before Kaeli and I had to rush off to gym class.

Kaeli was telling me about her latest design assignment as we rounded the corner towards the gym, when something slammed into my shoulder. I gasped, more from surprise than pain, and spun to see what had hit me. My eyes connected with Melissa’s cold ones
as she walked away from me.

“You better watch yourself, bitch,” Kaeli said quietly.

Melissa simply smirked before turning and continuing on her way.

“That girl is seriously pissing me off,” Kaeli mumbled. “Are you alright?”

I nodded. I was a little taken aback actually. I hadn’t really anticipated Melissa going at me quite so blatantly. I guess I needed to be a little more aware.

We made it to the gym and
I managed to get through the class without too much of an incident seeing as my head was all over the place. After that I had biology, and considering we had an assessment to complete in class, I forced my head to focus enough so I didn’t completely stuff it up.

As the final bell rang for the day, I packed up, ready to run out the door, but Mr. Carrington decided to recruit me to sort out the test tube samples for him. I knew he only did it because he knew it’d get done properly, but still.

By the time I got out, most of the halls were relatively empty. There were still a few students wandering around, but the mass of the student body seemed to be missing. I frowned with confusion. I hadn’t been that freaking long. Where the hell was everybody?

I got my answer when the gym doors suddenly crashed open behind me and the halls instantly became filled with hundreds of yelling and cheering football fans.

I’d forgotten about the pep rally.

Fuck.

The sudden noise and crowds of people hit me like the full force of a steam train and there was no way of stopping the anxiety that sprang up into a full blown panic attack. It was too much like
that
day.

I pressed myself back against the lockers,
my breath rushing in and out. Too fast. The crowd hollered and cheered, banging on the lockers as they filed past. I couldn’t seem to get enough air into my lungs. I gasped for it, but it wouldn’t come. The pressure of it on my chest was brutal and relentless.

Oh
, god. Air. I needed air. Please. Someone. Help me!

The thunderous noise continued. I squeezed my eyes shut, just wanting it to be over.
This was it. I was going to die. Right here. And they wouldn’t care. Wouldn’t notice. They’d just walk right over the top of me like they did with my dad.

The banging got louder
, making me flinch with each jarring sound. I whimpered, tears stinging my eyes. My vision blurred. Everything in my peripheral sight started fading, quickly turning black, my field of vision growing smaller and small until there were only pinpoints of light before me. My face started tingling with pins and needles, spreading down my neck and arms until it reached my fingers.

Air. I needed more air…

Somewhere in the fogginess of my brain I thought I heard my name, as though being called by a ghost. Please, god, no.

Then, out of nowhere, I felt myself being wrapped in familiar arms, enveloped by a familiar smell, my face pressing into a familiar warmth. Jace. I wanted to cry because he found me, because he was trying to protect me.