Freak

Chapter 13

Monday lunch was here before I knew it and suddenly I was beginning to doubt our plan. Confronting Chris in the cafeteria could easily get noticed by other people especially the undesirables, a.k.a. Jason and his team. They'd never targeted us girls before but Chris? They'd find a reason to start bullying him in a heartbeat. Not drawing attention to ourselves was my biggest goal as the twins marched me over to our usual table where Chris sat alone, looking uncomfortable like he knew he shouldn't be there. The twins seemed to share none of my sympathetic thoughts and slammed their trays down on either side of him. Chris cringed and looked like he had been preparing for this verbal beat down all weekend as the twins began chastising him for his behavior towards me.
"And to think we took you in when no one else would," Kristin hissed.
"Hey I have other friends besides you guys," Chris muttered defensively, "I just like you guys more. Including y/n."
He turned to me finally and we made uncomfortable eye contact as he shook his head slightly.
"I'm really sorry. And I'm not just saying that cuz these two want me to. I shouldn't have said what I said. It was wrong and rude and I just...don't know what got into me. I'm sorry, okay?"
I took his words in and contemplated. His words had hurt me more than I cared to admit to the twins, though it was more so the fact that they came from a trusted friend than the words themselves. Still, he had basically slut-shamed me for something I wasn't even doing.
"Well I appreciate your apology, Chris, but I'm not sure I'm ready to accept it."
Chris looked crestfallen but nodded like he understood. I wasn't satisfied with the twins laying into him if I'm being honest, so I continued.
"It was pretty fucked up to say those things. You basically accused me of being a double-teaming whore. And left all three of us to get busted by old front desk patrol."
"Yeah," Chris sighed, "I know. I couldn't leave without you though so I waited in the lot. Did you see my car?"
I huffed and nodded.
"Well yeah Chris but you're the reason we were stuck there at school in the first place. And the boys literally helped you guys escape moments before you decided to be a total douche and pull the fire alarm on us."
The twins nodded in agreement, letting me have the floor to say what I needed to say.
"You've never given them a fair shot. To be honest, none of you have," I looked around at all three of my first friends here at school and made a choice right then and there.
We're all gonna get along.

"Follow me," I grabbed my tray and stood up as the others hesitantly grabbed their own to follow me. I led them straight towards the Hellfire table and heard a collective sigh behind me from all three of them. I had to hold in a laugh at how pained they all acted at the idea of a table full of nerds and proudly tapped Gareth on the shoulder. Eddie was finally here today and he had watched us approach with a look of surprise, though he must have seen my determined expression and knew not to question me: I was on a roll. Gareth turned around and his eyes lit up when he saw me, though the excitement quickly died when he noticed my trail of friends.
"Uh...hi. Hello," he hesitantly waved over my shoulder at my friends before leaning close to me.
"What's the deal with bringing them here?"
I smiled and looked at all the Hellfire boys with a newfound appreciation for how kind they all were. Everyone could sense the tension in the air but none of the boys had outright turned us away no matter how much they hated conflict.
"We're here to apologize. Right, guys?"
The twins glanced at each other before shrugging.
"Sure. We're uh...sorry we've been so tough on you guys," Tara said.
"Yeah," Kristin added, "Y'all don't seem so bad. Maybe we just got caught up in what everyone else always says about you."
Tara elbowed Chris, who was shrinking away slowly as the apologies made their way to him. All the boys, particularly Eddie and Gareth, had their eyes on him as they waited to hear what he had to say. Chris gulped and looked at my hand on Gareth's shoulder before sighing quietly and stepping forward.
"Yeah alright so...I guess I owe you guys the biggest apology. Pulling the alarm on you guys was fucked up. And leaving you to get detention. I'm sorry, and I should've been nicer to you all. And I'm sorry for saying you guys were a cult. I mean you're not a cult, right?"
Gareth and Eddie looked around at the younger Hellfire boys before cracking up. The younger members, Mike and Dustin, looked equally confused as they wondered what their leaders thought was so funny. Jeff looked skeptical as Gareth and Eddie finally stopped giggling and turned to look at me.
"Is this guy serious?"
That started up the rest of the table and soon even me and the twins were laughing. Chris looked like he wanted to disappear until Dustin patted him on the arm.
"No worries, man. You can sit with us and we can explain the game. Right Mike?"
Mike wore his usual scowl but shrugged.
"Sure. At least we know he's not gonna beat us up."
I grinned as Gareth nodded at Chris, who sat down hesitantly between Dustin and Mike. The twins needed no invitation and settled in next to Eddie and Jeff, leaving the open seat next to Gareth for me. I sat down and we started chatting, though I kept an eye out to observe the  different dynamics forming in this weird little group. I noticed the twins and Jeff cozying up to Eddie as he gave one of his long anecdotes about what it takes to be a dungeon master. I saw Dustin excitedly pulling a character sheet out of his bag to show Chris while Mike tried explaining why you couldn't use just any dice to play. I gently nudged Gareth so he'd look at the three boys too and together we listened to what they were up to fondly.
"Just to be clear: this won't effect my chances of getting into heaven or anything right? I mean if there is a god I don't wanna be caught dead filling this thing out," Chris said.
Mike rolled his eyes and glanced at Dustin, making it clear his patience with this newbie was running thin.
"Yeah man you'll be fine. I promise."
"Here, let me see if we can roll for you and make a character. You can pretty much be whatever you want as long as it fits the lore of the campaign."

Hearing Dustin excitedly begin explaining DND campaigns to Chris was enough to comfort me that this little group of misfits would get along just fine. I turned my attention back to Gareth, who was smiling to himself as he looked around the table.
"Maybe they're not that bad either," he said as he gestured towards my friends.
"Told you."