Outsider (Outsider Series) (5 page)

Caeden took several deep breaths. “Come on let’s go,” he said to me.

Travis clapped his hands. “Good boy Caeden. That’s right walk away. You know you’d never win.”

Lighting fast Caeden turned around and with a loud thunk sunk his fist into Travis’ face. Caeden quickly pulled me away
from the scene
,
his chest was heaving and he seemed to be vibrating, or maybe shimmering was the better word, around the edges.
I looked around expecting a crowd to have gathered but no one seemed to have noticed. All in all the interaction hadn’t lasted long.

Once we were safe distance away, in the cover of the gym hallway, I pulled Caeden to the side.

“What the hell was that about?” I asked.

He took a couple of breaths, his nostrils flaring. “It’s a long story.”

“Is everything a long story with you?” I demanded my hands on my hips.

He sighed and looked into my eyes. He looked sad. “Haven’t you ever had a secret that you’re bound to protect?”

“No,” I scoffed.

He quirked his eyebrow.

“Maybe,” I conceded.

He leaned his head against the cement wall and closed his eyes. “I just can’t stand the guy, okay?”

I quirked my head.
“We went from secrets to you just hate the guy. I’m lost,” I said.

He smiled, barely. “Don’t worry your time to know will come. Just
be
patient.”

I groaned. “I’m so confused.
”

He grinned. “That’s the point.”

“You’re evil,” I said.

“I’m the good guy,” he whispered in my ear making me shiver.

Suddenly the bell rang making me jump. “Can you remember your way to class?”

“Yeah,” I croaked and then he disappeared.

Blinking, I started down the hallway.

I practically ran down the hallways, gym was on the complete opposite side of the school from the math hallway, and somehow
I
made it there early. Only three other people were in the room. Mrs. Harding glared at me and I ducked my head.

Bryce came in, smiled at me like an eager puppy, and took the seat next to me.

More people filed in, Travis, the guy from the parking lot, included. He took the seat behind me.

I turned to look at him. “How’s your face?” I asked. It had sounded like Caeden broke his nose but behind me all I found was smooth pale skin.

I raised my eyebrows. Travis smirked.

“Why are you asking him about his face?” asked Bryce.

I turned back to Bryce. “Because Caeden punched
him in the parking lot,” I whispered. “And it sounded like he broke his nose.”

Bryce burst out in
laughter. He eyed Travis with a smirk. “Hasn’t your dad ever told you not to mess with an
Alpha.
You will get burned. Or I guess in this case, punched.”

A ruler slapped down on Bryce’s desk making him and everyone else jump. Bryce growled. What was with all this male growling?

“Mr. Williams you should know by now that the second bell means no more talking. And you-,” she said pointing to me. “I knew you were trouble.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. I gulped.

My back was rigid the whole class. In fact, I was scared to even blink. In part because of Mrs. Harding but she wasn’t the whole reason. Every little bit Travis would tug gently on my hair or touch my back, or neck. I wanted to squish my eyes closed but I knew Mrs. Harding would accuse me of not paying attention. Bryce kept eyeing Travis like he wanted to bite him or maybe just defend my honor. I wanted to cry. His touch was creepy. It made me feel like spiders were crawling all over my body. Something inside me screamed that he wasn’t supposed to touch me. At one point a whimper escaped my lips and in the silent classroom Mrs. Harding turned to glare at me.

When the bell rang I picked up my backpack and ran. I was doing a lot of running around this place.

I slid into a chair in the very back against the wall in my next class just in case Travis was in here too. Luckily, a girl with long curly red hair took the seat next to me.

“I’m Charlotte,” she said. “A friend of Caeden’s.”

“Hi,” I said politely. On the inside however
,
I was seething. Was this his girlfriend? I had never thought to ask. Suddenly I wanted to jump out of my desk and smack the pretty red head next to me. I had the primal thought of,
he is mine
.

“Just friends,” she said as if she could read my mind. Had it shone so plainly on my
face?

I smiled and looked away ashamed. She seemed content to say no more and I was relieved. I was extremely embarrassed. Since when did I act like a crazy hormonal teenager? And it was more than that, I felt like I owned him. Like no one else could have him. Once again I had the thought,
he is mine
. It was weird. We weren’t even a couple. Heck, we weren’t even friends. We were just mere acquaintances.

Lunch was next and despite my earlier coldness Charlotte walked with me. She held her books close to her chest and her green eyes kept scanning the halls. She reminded me of a shy, small, fluttery bird.

“Hey,” Caeden called coming down the hallway. “How’s it going so far?” he asked me and then nodded his head at Charlotte like he was dismissing her. She scurried on down the hallway closer to lunch crowd. Now, she was more like a skittish rabbit than a bird.

“It’s been okay,” I said. “Charlotte seems nice.”

“She is
,
just quiet.”

I followed him
through the lunch line and then to a table where Charlotte, Bryce, and a couple others were already sitting. He motioned me to a seat and then took the empty seat next mine.

“Everyone, this is Sophie,” he said. They all nodded and smiled.
“You already know Charlotte and Bryce,” Caeden said. “That’s Bentley,” he said pointing to
a tall, muscular guy, with golden brown
eyes.
His arm and chest muscles bulged out of his t-shirt and even though he was sitting down I could tell he was tall.
Probably taller than Caeden.
“This is Christian
she’s a junior like Bryce
,” this time he pointed to a blond girl next to Charlotte
. She had an angular face
,
pale green eyes
, and a willowy figure.

The girl named Christian smiled at me and said, “Call me Chris. Either way I still sound like a boy.”

Bentley laughed. “That’s because you were supposed to be a boy.”

She narrowed her green eyes at him. “I am obviously not a boy.”

Bentley waggled his eyebrows at Chris, “Maybe I should check that out.”

Christian tossed a fry at him and everyone was laughing, myself included. I was amazed at how easily I fit in with them. It normally took me awhile to find a niche in school but somehow I fit in here. They acted like a family and embraced me like I was a part of it.

Caeden shook his head and continued the introductions. “
Lastly, we have Logan, Chris’s older brother.”

Logan and Chris certainly looked alike. They had the same angular cheek bones and pale green eyes. But where Chris was willowy, Logan was stocky.

Logan said to everyone at the table, “At least my parents got one boy. It was quite a surprise when that
one
came out,” he said rolling his eyes at his younger sister.

She stuck her tongue out at her brother. “Well, it didn’t change much did
it.
You still treated me like I was a boy and your own personal punching bag.”

“That’s only because you always wanted to follow the big boys around,” he said motioning to himself, Caeden, and Bentley.

“When are you ever going to stop undermining girls? We’ve saved your butt plenty of times,” she said including Charlotte in her tirade.

Logan quirked his head.
“I see I can’t win here,” he said.

Chris stuck out her chin. “That’s right. Never pick a fight with a girl. You’ll always lose.”

Logan sighed. I nibbled my food and added to the conversation whenever I could actually get a word in.

I noticed the significant glance that would transpire between Bentley and Chris. Bentley would study her, with a gooey expression on his face, and once caught would look away, and vice-versa. Their glances didn’t go unnoticed by Logan either and I could tell that even though Bentley was his friend he didn’t like the idea of him with his sister.

I also noticed how Charlotte, bashfully, eyed Logan but he was absolutely oblivious to the whole thing. I guessed he was
too
worried about his little sister to notice her affections and I knew that Charlotte was too shy to do anything about it. She maybe said one word through the whole lunch.

Bryce, around a mouthful of chicken nugget said to Caeden, “Oh, by the way Travis is in our math class,” he swallowed. Caeden’s fist clenched. “And he couldn’t keep his hands of off Sophie. I would’ve hit him except… well you know Mrs. Harding,” he said shrugging his shoulders.

I hadn’t told Caeden on purpose. Anyone could see the animosity brewing between him and Travis and I didn’t want to give him another reason to punch him in the face. I glared daggers at Bryce, who put his next chicken nugget down, and innocently said, “What did I do?”

“
He did what?”
Caeden hissed at his younger brother. Once again Caeden was doing that weird, shimmery, vibrating thing.

I put a hand on Caeden’s shoulder. “It was nothing. He’s just hoping to start something with you by bugging me.”

Suddenly Caeden was standing. “I’ll kill him,” he growled.

“Sit down,” said Bryce and Bentley. After a moment Caeden listened.

“You’re just doing what he wants,” said Charlotte and I
was
shocked to hear her voice.

Logan said, “Travis just wants to pick a fight with you. Don’t let him. Show him
who the Alpha male around here is
.”

I rolled my eyes at Logan’s term
alpha.
What were we animals?

The bell rang dismissing us from lunch and I was once again thankful that Caeden had taken the time to show me around because none of the others had the same study hall that I did.
I started to head in the opposite direction when suddenly Caeden jogged up beside me.

“Really, I know which way I’m go
ing. You don’t have to walk me,” I said.

He shook his head. “Maybe I want to.”

“Be my guest,” I said.

Up ahead of us I could see Travis and in the pit of my stomach I just knew he was going to be in my study hall. Sure enough Travis turned into the classroom in which I was headed. Caeden growled.

I stopped just outside the classroom to say goodbye to Caeden but he walked purposefully into the class. I quickly went in after him
,
afraid he was going after Travis again
,
but instead he strode to one of
the
two-seater table
s
, the farthest away from Travis, and sat down. I raised an eyebrow and sat down beside him.

“What are you doing?” I hissed.

“He’s not a good guy, Sophie,” Caeden whispered. “Trust me. You need to stay away from him and since
he
apparently can’t stay away from you I’ll be right here,” he said and leaned back in the chair. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

“What happened in math was nothing,” I said. “He just wanted to mess with me because he thought I’d come crying to you. I’m stronger than that. I think I know who to trust and who not to trust. And despite the fact that
you
punched
him
I can tell he’s the wrong sort.” I glanced over in Travis’ direction and he was glaring at me. Not at Caeden but at me. I shivered involuntarily. “Something about him… it’s not right.”

“You can say that again,” muttered Caeden.

Caeden somehow managed to convince the teacher that there was some kind of mix up and he was supposed to be in this study hall. Travis’ face turned redder and redder
in anger
.
I noticed his fists clenching and unclenching

Caeden and I talked and laughed. It was so easy being with him. He was like the friend that I never had. In just a few days’ time we had become friends and his friends were pretty great too. I felt accepted. Like I belonged, and with moving all over creation that wasn’t a feeling I was used to, I hoped it never went away.

Caeden and I had all three classes at the end of the day together. Luckily Travis wasn’t in any of those and the tension in Caeden’s shoulders seemed to relax a little. But there was still tomorrow. A whole new set of classes and chances were Travis would be in one.
The school wasn’t large and the senior class was small so lady luck was not on my side when it came to the avoiding Travis matter.
I was never one to have good luck but I sent up a silent prayer that I would be wrong.