I Don't Like Badboys...Seriously | ✓

Chapter Twenty Seven - Taking Sides

Chapter Twenty Seven – Taking Sides

* Spastic POV Switching Until I Figure Out How to Format This Thing *

Cathy avoided looking at Hunter as he walked up to them, followed by Ace. "I'm heading home," she said, seemingly through gritted teeth, her fists balled up by her sides.

"I'll walk you," Ella offered.

"Nah. It's fine. Your house is in the complete opposite direction."

"Well, I'm leaving too," she replied, glaring at Jenny one last time before leaving.

Ace looked at Jenny, then at Cathy walking away, and against his better instinct, said, "I should make sure Alec doesn't get to her...or something." He stuck his hands into his pockets and left for the gate.

Tears were brimming in Jenny's eyes and she looked down at the ground. "You can leave and walk her home," she said to Hunter, looking away. She didn't expect any sympathy.

"Why? She's already got someone else walking her home," he mumbled, glancing over at the figures of Ace and Cathy disappearing by the school gate. Despite what had just happened, looking at Hunter still made her heart flutter slightly. "Besides, I think we need to talk," he added.

She felt a sliver of hope coming through from the darkness. Then she realised what he probably wanted to talk about. He was probably just going to leap in as Cathy's valiant defender.

"Look, I'm not going to apologise – I just can't."

"Calm down," he laughed. "I haven't even said anything yet."

His smiling face made her melt inside, even though she knew deep down that this wasn't a genuine smile; those were reserved for Cathy alone. She turned around and wiped the stray tear before agreeing to their talk. Luckily, the school was almost empty so no one had witnessed her on the verge of a breakdown.

They walked side by side down to the oval in silence and Hunter sat down underneath a tree. She remained standing, looking at him.

"Come on, sit down," he said, patting the grass beside him. "I can't talk with my neck craned the entire time you know."

Reluctantly, she sat down.

~*~

The silence was overwhelming as we walked side by side. "Don't worry about it too much," Ace said. "We broke the rules, so we got a detention. That's fair. Dragging you into it wouldn't have helped. Besides, it was our fault, making you climb the fence."

"Hah. You climbed the fence to avoid a detention, and here you are with a Saturday."

"What else have I got to do on a Saturday? I just love seeing the school."

"Don't you have work?"

"Matt will let me take the day off," he shrugged. "I wonder how long my record is."

"That's what annoys me as well. If she didn't say anything, you'd have one less mark on your record."

"We would've gotten another one anyway. What does it matter? You should only be worried if you're going to uni." He dug his hands deeper into his pockets and looked up at the sky.

"You're not going?"

He chuckled slightly and looked at the pavement, his dark eyes twinkling. "My family is broke as hell. My step dad is a severe gambler and my mum works from dawn till dark just to keep me in school. I couldn't put her through that again just to have me failing uni."

I thought back to the night I spent at his house – the phrasing of that was a little misleading, but whatever – when I watched him solve the chemistry questions. He had potential, and he was going to throw it all away because of his unfortunate circumstances.