Page 45 of Fire Fight

We have nowhere else to go.

A sob chokes me as I spin on my heel, snapping the lighter closed, shoving it deep into my pocket. My anger snuffs just as quickly, leaving my limbs shaking.

There’s no batting cage, no tie knotted around my wrists, but two things haven’t changed.

Drake’s still torturing me.

I’m still powerless.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CADENCE

“Am I missing something?”Hudson says at lunchtime, placing his tray on the table beside mine. He scans the room as he takes a seat. “Yesterday you were Miss Popular and today…”

“Today, I have a plague circle around me.” I give him a weary smile, conjuring up a wink from my flagging energy. “I hope you’re fully vaccinated because otherwise, don’t come close.”

It’s a joke but I tense, waiting to see if he leaves.

Students who had been friendly now won’t meet my eye. Rox gave me the finger in the corridor for absolutely no reason. Even Viliami looked uncomfortable when I took a seat three away from his in our third period Maori language class.

Whatever Drake confided to Gretchen this morning—false or otherwise—has spread across the school.

“All the better for me,” he says, bumping his shoulder against mine. “Here I was, trying to figure out how to monopolise you, and the school bully arranged it for me.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Drake’s the school bully?”

He takes a second and I’m about to correct the name when he shakes his head, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Gretchen is the school bully. Those scores of people who hang around her are just trying to remain on her good side, including me.”

It’s what Drake told me the weekend I met her. Perhaps he was genuinely looking out for me, and it just came out wrong. I don’t even know if he had anything to do with her change of heart this morning. She might have cornered him, asking questions until she struck gold.

With Hudson standing firm in our friendship, I drag my eyes off the floor. Glancing around, I catch half a dozen boys quickly jerk their eyes away.

Only Drake holds my gaze, smirking while Gretchen clutches onto his arm, even more smitten than she appeared last week.

My eyes rest on my food for a second, needing to scull half my soda to get rid of the lump in my throat.

Stupid brain. I don’t care that he’s hanging around with her. I should be pleased the two most toxic people in my life are busy entertaining each other instead of bothering me.

So of course, I immediately check on them again, but they’re too wrapped in each other to notice.

I force my gaze farther along, returning an eyebrow wave from Salesi.

Hudson puts a hand on my leg, leaning into me under the guise of reaching for a flier left on the table. When he leans back, his thigh remains firmly pressed against mine and I smile to myself, then he gives me a shoulder bump.

“Do you want to come around to mine tonight? Mum ordered me to invite you to dinner but be warned”—once again he leans closer, whispering into my ear—“any questions she asks are solely to feed the local gossip factory.”

“Our family really aren’t that interesting.”

“You don’t need to be. If she finds nothing scandalous, she’s perfectly capable of inventing her own.”

He nudges me again to let me know he’s joking, but I’m not entirely convinced. “Not tonight but let me check. I’m sure Mum and Arnold won’t mind if I give them warning.”

His smile broadens. “I’ll let her know. If she gets curious enough, she might even walk around the corner to ask your mother directly.”

“Oh, the horror.”

“You’ll lose that sarcasm once you’re trying to evict her from your house. She’s a stayer.”

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