Page 25 of Evil Queen

Nathan

“Oh!”

Nikita and I rushed out to the courtyard just in time to see Cherri take a hard punch to the face. Nikita immediately started to advance as if she was going to jump in, but she stopped short when she noticed Cherri duck another swing and then throw her own punch. Watching the ability in her movements and the power behind her flying fist as it socked Stacey across the cheek, I found myself frozen from shock. Cherri looked right at home in the tussle.

Stacey was no slouch, though, and kept her fists up. She made several attempts to catch Cherri’s hair in her fist, which Cherri eventually noticed, and Cherri turned the tables. Stacey ducked under, trying to get a hold, so Cherri weaved backward and caught Stacey’s black hair in her hand instead. She whipped Stacey downward, bringing her face to smash against the concrete. The crowd surrounding them cheered as Cherri stepped up and started to stomp down on Stacey’s back.

“Cee!” Sicily shouted, stepping out from the crowd and attempting to grab Cherri under her arms to pull her back. “That’s enough. She’s down.”

Cherri ripped from his grip and reached down to flip Stacey onto her back. Cherri stood over her and threw a fist down, slashing it across her jaw. It seemed like Cherri had gotten the upper hand, but then Stacey swept a leg under Cherri, bringing her down to the ground. Sicily backed away, so I excused my way through the crowd. Nikita followed right behind me as I went over to where he was standing.

I set my hand on his shoulder. “Sicily.”

He turned around and looked at me, then groaned. “Aw, man. Hey.”

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

Sicily’s expression darkened. “Stacey saw Cherri with that porcelain horse you got for her and started clowning her about it. Cherri told her to fuck off, so Stacey smacked it out of Cherri’s hand, and it shattered.”

It was bittersweet, knowing that Cherri liked the gift I got her enough to come to blows over it while knowing I’d caused more issues for her. The crowd rumbled again, and we all looked back over in time to see Cherri slam Stacey’s head against the ground below.

“I had no idea that Cherri had that in her,” Nikita said. She flicked her wrist, and one of her held blades came sliding out. “Should I stop it?”

“Yikes,” Sicily yelped. “That seems like it’ll just make things worse.” We didn’t get the chance to decide. The sea of students parted as the eleventh-grade math teacher, Mr. Pochetti, came running through. “Fuck,” Sicily hissed.

Mr. Pochetti grabbed Cherri and pulled her off of Stacey, and the students who were still standing around started to disperse. Stacey’s friends collected her off the floor and dragged her away as Sicily ran over to take hold of Cherri.

“That’s it!” Mr. Pochetti growled. “You’ve caused enough trouble. I’m reporting you directly to Principal Hix, and you’ll be out of here!” Fortunately for all of us, Mr. Pochetti was one of the teachers who I had directly under my umbrella. Nikita slipped her blade back into its sheath as I walked over and stood in front of Cherri and Sicily. “N-Nathan.”

“Don’t you dare,” Cherri hissed behind me. “I don’t need your fucking help!”

I ignored her entirely. “Christopher. Long time, no see.”

He crossed his arms. “Save your breath, Loche. I know your dad is MIA. You don’t have any power over me anymore.”

It’d been a while since I’d used my malicious arrogance, but luckily, it came back like riding a bike. “Who do you think is running LCE while he’s gone? Your daughter works there, right?”

He scoffed. “You’re barely eighteen. Nice bluff, though.”

With that, I pulled out my phone and quickly called the head of the board at my dad’s company, putting it on speaker. Arden picked up after a single ring. “Good afternoon, Mr. Loche.”

“Hello, Arden,” I replied. “Tell me, does Brittany Pochetti still work for us?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “She’s up for a promotion to Senior Marketing Manager this month.”

“Really?” I replied, holding eye contact with Mr. Pochetti. “Who makes the final call on that?”

“Well, per your instructions, sir, because it involves a raise, a final approval would be required by you.”

Mr. Pochetti held up his hands in surrender. “Okay,” he whispered. “I’ll look the other way.”

I smiled. “Okay. Keep me posted on that. I want to ensure she gets the package she deserves.”

“Of course, sir,” Arden replied. “Anything else?”

“Nope. Thank you, Arden.”

“Yes, sir. See you at the board meeting,” he said, and then the line went dead.

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