Page 44 of Evil Queen

I nodded. “Thanks.”

Lunch was a silent, tense affair, and all the conversations that Colette or Alistair attempted to start fell on mostly deaf ears. We’d provide a one-word answer here or there, but it was evident that the healing wound Cherri’s leaving the group had made ripped wide open again when Brayden went missing.

Eventually, everyone wandered away. Kyle, Nathan, and Colette left as a group, and after I’d assured Alistair and Avery that I’d be okay, they left together. With them all gone, I got up and went out to the courtyard. As expected, Cherri and Sicily were there. I had no interest in getting much closer to Cherri, but I was interested in helping to assure that my friends didn’t suffer any more losses. Sicily often saw what other people didn’t, and I was hopeful that he might have seen Brayden off on his own or talking to someone suspicious and could point me in the right direction. He was a tracker, through and through, and if he had even an inkling of a lead, it’d be better than the nothing we had.

With a deep breath to keep calm, I walked up to where they were sitting. I was sure to approach on Sicily’s side and made sure to only look at him, but it didn’t stop Cherri from looking up at me with a scowl and growling, “What do you want?”

My gut reaction had me locking eyes with her, but then I turned my attention to Sicily. “Hey. Can I talk to you? I need a favor.”

Cherri stood up. “You have a lot of nerve, coming over here at all.”

“I don’t want to start up with you,” I replied. “I didn’t come over here for you. You asked me to leave you alone, and I am.” Then I turned to Sicily. “A moment, please?”

Sicily stood up, preparing to come with me, but Cherri grabbed his arm and shoved him back down into his spot. “What the fuck, Cherri?” Sicily barked.

“They’ve got more than enough money and power to get whatever they need. They were perfectly fine to punk you at the beginning of the year, or don’t you remember that?” She glared at me. “See yourself off.”

It’d been a while since I’d been in a fight of any kind, and I was really trying to exercise patience with Cherri. I really was trying, but she was starting to piss me off so much my skin was buzzing. “And what if I don’t?”

“Cherri.” Sicily stood up and slid between us. “I can do what I want. Just because you have a problem with ‘em doesn’t mean I do. Just stay here. I’ll be back.” He turned around and looked at me. “Hey, c’mon. It’s not worth it. Let’s go chat.”

“Sicily, move,” Cherri hissed. “I don’t want you to get hit.”

With that, I started to laugh. “Ah, you’re cute. You think a few months of being big and bad makes me afraid of you? I’ve fought demons that would make you piss your pants.”

“Oh, sure, your fake bad-girl. You’ve lived in South Postings all your life,” Cherri said. “You always ran around with that unearned sense of toughness.” She started to crack her knuckles. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to show you that you aren’t all that bad.”

Sicily said something to us, but I couldn’t hear it. “You think you can beat me, Cherri?”

“Believe me. I’ve wanted to fuck your face up more than once. I certainly know how to do it.”

“Run along, little girl,” I replied. “You’re gonna get yourself hurt.”

No other words passed between us. Cherri shoved Sicily aside and threw a punch right at my face, and I ducked my head to the side. Her fist passed by me, and I threw my fist up into her gut. She crumpled around my arm with a heave and dropped to the ground. Staring down at her where she lay on the ground, I cracked my fists and twisted my head to loosen my neck, just in case she got up again.

I knew I should have walked away. It wouldn’t have been difficult to find a different time to talk to Sicily or even take him with me and let Cherri calm down on her own, but my anger was exploding past its limit. I tried to do the right thing. I tried to leave her alone and just talk to Sicily, but she insisted on starting something with me, and once she did, everything came flowing out all at once. Her relationship with Nathan, his possible feelings for her, the way she’d beat Colette black and blue, the grudge she was holding against The Royal Court—it all bubbled up and had me reeling my leg back and kicking my black boot hard into Cherri’s side. She fell even further back, sputtering out blood as she went.

“What’s wrong, Cherri? I thought you were tough?” I laughed. “You were gonna fuck up my face, remember?” I rubbed my hands over my skin. “Funny. It doesn’t feel fucked up. Did you forget all that stuff you just said?”

“Stop it, you two,” Sicily said, looking around. “You’re attracting a crowd.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Just walk away.” I glared first at Sicily’s hand on my shoulder and then up at him, and he pulled his hand back. “Come on. This is dumb.”

Cherri rolled over and brought herself to stand up. She balled her hands into fists, posed in my direction, and stepped forward.

“Cherri,” Sicily whined.

“Come on, your highness,” I said. “Show me all this badassery you’ve been hiding.”

Cherri started toward me with her hands up, and I didn’t even raise my fists. I believed Cherri when she said there was a dark side to her that no one had seen until now. Colette had said that somewhere between the delinquent she’d been the past few months and the prissy queen she was in The Royal Court was the real Cherri. That was a concept that I received and promoted. I hoped that Cherri figured out who she truly was and would one day feel comfortable enough to show the world that person. If she thought she’d been through enough to handle me, though, she was going to have to learn the hard way that she was wrong.

Cherri threw a fake punch with her left hand and then a real one with her right. It was a good move, and if I were someone less knowledgeable, it would have been good enough. I caught her right arm at the wrist and dragged her toward me before slamming my head against hers in a painful headbutt. It hurt me, but it sent her stumbling backward, and a stream of blood immediately slid down her forehead.

She charged at me after that, ducking and trying to get me around the waist. The jeers from the students who had gathered around us grew louder with her charge. She did, to her credit, get circled around me, but she didn’t have nearly enough strength to topple me over. I dug my feet into the concrete to maintain my stance, but then she got her first lick in. She threw her head upward, slamming into my chin, rattling my teeth.

I wedged my arm between us and shoved her back, punching her as she went. A majority of the students in the school had gathered around us by that point, and my stomach turned in frustration as I saw The Royal Court shoving their way through. Nathan was leading the pack. I didn’t want them to see me fighting Cherri after everything we’d been through, so I tried to back off and hold my hands up, but Cherri took advantage of the moment and cut a punch right across my nose.

“Fuck!” I barked.

Cherri tried to back away after socking me, but I got my hand out to take hold of her shirt in just enough time. I pulled her closer to me and used my dominant hand to punch her once, twice, three times in the face, letting her go on the last so she’d fall back and down to the ground.

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