Freak

Chapter 5

Friday

I sat down with Chris, Tara, and Kristin once we had our lunch trays and immediately started discussing whether or not we should re-visit the Hellfire Club again.
Tara was 100% into the idea of investigating further.
Kristin wanted to investigate AND confront Eddie about putting his hands on me.
Chris hated the whole thing and wanted to stop discussing it in public the moment he heard Eddie's name mentioned.
"Lower your voices. If any of those freaks hear you talking about their leader who knows what'll happen. They may attack."
"Yeah? What kind of attacks do you think those dudes are capable of besides imaginary ones," I laughed.
Chris glared at me and pointed at my neck.
"Clearly not all of them are above physical violence so don't act like I'm being completely paranoid."
I shrugged and the girls looked at each other.
"Exactly y/n! That's why I think we should burst in there tonight and tell him off in front of all his freaky friends. They deserve to know what kind of guy they've elected as their leader," Kristin hissed.
"How do we know they don't already know about Eddie's violent streak? Maybe they're protecting him," Chris said.
I shook my head and rested my head on my hand.
"I don't think they do. And maybe it wasn't cool or rational or whatever for him to do that to me but I don't know guys. I mean is it possible I said something I shouldn't have? I mean I don't remember everything I said,"
Lie.
"But maybe I crossed a line. Maybe he just felt pushed to the limit or something."
The three of them raised their eyebrows and stared judgmentally at me.
Funny that they all know the sexual subtext and are choosing to ignore it.

"Uhhh yeah no we're definitely confronting them," Kristin finally said.
She stood up abruptly and marched over to the Hellfire table without another word and all three of us jumped up to grab her before anything sketchy happened AND before anyone saw her. I reached for her sleeve but she dodged me and started jogging over to them determined to speak up.
"Kristin," I hissed as she neared the table with us right behind her, "I love that you're a ride or die but this is not the fucking time."
She slowed only a little to look over her shoulder at me.
"Y/n we can't keep acting like this didn't happen. Plus his freak squad deserves to hear what he did. If they know about it and accept it than we can drag them all to hell with him."
She turned back around and bolted to the table, sidling up next to Gareth and slapping her hands on the table. I got there just as her hands made contact with the table and put a hand on her shoulder to try and stop her. The others sidled up next to her and Chris took my hand off her shoulder as he gave me a look that said "too late."
"Excuse me nerds," Kristin said impatiently.
The boys all looked shocked to see a pretty girl glaring at them at their own table and looked even more surprised at the small posse she had behind her. Gareth turned and stared at the group before his eyes landed on me.
"Y/n."
Chris's eyes widened when Gareth said my name and Kristin looked back at me before turning to Gareth with determination.
"Right now I'm talking to you. Don't look at her."
Tara went around to the other side of the table and leaned over the boys I'd met earlier at Hellfire, Dustin and Mike.
"Yeah. We've got a bone to pick with your freaky little leader. Where is he?"
Dustin looked up at her with wide eyes.
"Eddie? No idea. He hasn't been here since last week."
"Yeah," Mike said, "Asshole didn't even tell us he'd be gone. Don't tell him I called him that," he added, looking at the rest of the table.
They nodded and I wondered if they were afraid of upsetting him because he really did have a mean streak. Kristin must have noticed the same thing because her next words were,
"Does Eddie ever get physical with you guys? Like when he's pissed about something does he grab you or smack you around or anything?"
Dustin and Mike looked at each other before looking at Gareth.
"Absolutely not. I don't even think I've ever seen him get genuinely angry other than the last Hellfire meeting," Dustin shook his head.
Gareth had a dark look on his face and stood up to face Kristin.
"What kind of question is that? And who even are you people?"
He surveyed our group and his eyes settled on me again.
"These your friends, y/n?"
"Yeah," I said.
Kristin looked back at me like she was mad I engaged with him but what else was I supposed to do? If I stayed quiet this could escalate and then we'd have the attention of the entire lunch room.
"Huh. You attract very,"
He glanced at Tara and Kristin with disinterest,
"...charming people I see."
I shrugged and Chris put a hand on my back as he stepped forward towards Gareth.
"Careful. We just wanna talk with you all...before Eddie comes back."
Gareth turned to Jeff, Dustin, Mike, and Reggie before turning back to our group. He made eye contact with me and nodded.
"Let's talk alone then. Leave these guys out of it before other people start getting ideas of fucking with us just cuz you people are."
Kristin scoffed but took her hands off the table and Tara patted Dustin and Mike's shoulders.
"This was fun," she grinned sarcastically and walked over to stand next to me. Gareth separated himself from the group and led us out of the lunchroom towards the back of the school.