Love or War?

Chapter 6

Joanna's POV
'hey, jo?' Ashton asked through mindspeak from beside me during our unusually quiet lunch. 
'yea?'
'are you okay?'
'no. I'm not. Niall thinks it's okay to hurt my twin and then show up the next day like nothing happened?'
An idea ran through my head and every one at the table must have heard it. Four heads shot up and stared at me.
"No way, Jo!" Calum shot. "Are you crazy?"
"He deserves to pay for what he did to Lei!"
"Not like that he doesn't!" Lei countered.
"Stop defending him." Mikey countered.
"He didn't mean to." She concluded.
"I quite frankly don't care whether or not he meant to. He still hurt you."
Ashton glanced up at me and met my gaze. 'don't do anything you'll regret later.'
'oh, I promise I won't regret this.'

As we left the lunch room, Ashton kissed my cheek and we parted ways. He went to gym and I went to find Niall who was in my next class. 
I kept my distance from him and Harry as they made their way to our Physics class. I noticed Harry glancing back but I kept behind a larger boy to stay hidden.
Suddenly, they both stopped. So I did too. They didn't turn their heads or anything; they just stood there. People moved around us and they stayed still even as the bell signalling the beginning of class rang. Once the hall was silent, they turned around; but I was ready.
"What do you want, Joanna?" Niall snapped.
"You hurt her."
"I didn't mean to."
"I don't care, I'm pissed."
Harry stepped toward me. "Back down, Jo."
I stepped toward him, "No."
"Jo!" He scolded.
"Make me!"
He took three strides forward, stopping right in front of me. "I'm serious, Jo. Back off. You don't want to do this right now."
"Oh, but I do."
"How come now you're aggressive?"
The blues of our eyes bore into the other.
"Because my twin is hurting, which means I am too."
His gaze moved down toward my wrist. He took it in his hand and I winced at the sensation; it was strong and it powered it's way through my veins.
"Harry." I sighed.
"Does it hurt?" He whispered.
"It aches, just as Leila's does." I replied. I tried not show that it hurt as much as it did.
Niall walked up beside us and took my wrist from Harry. "It's purple!"
"Coincidence? I think not."
I took my other hand and jabbed his hard chest with my pointer finger. "You hurt her and then walked around here like nothing even fucking happened."
Niall didn't reply to my statement; he instead replied with a question. "Aren't you supposed to stay away from us?"
"Stop avoiding this argument!" I pulled my hand away from him.
"Answer the question, Jo." Harry countered.
"Yes, I am. But I'm pissed and I can't just let this go!"
"You're gonna have to. Niall and I are leaving."
"Don't walk away from me Styles!"
Harry turned. "Jo, stop. Calm down. You don't want to go there."
"Go where? Huh? You gonna threaten me?"
"I technically can't, but I will warn you to back down."
I huffed, "You two are lucky my head hurts. I'm skipping class." I turned on my heel and walked out the nearest door.
Seconds later, Harry was running up beside me. He grabbed onto my arm to stop me. I paused but only so he'd let go.
He did. "Joanna, I'm sorry. And in terms of Niall, he really didn't mean to hurt Leila. I had to force him to come to school today."
I looked up at him. His green eyes were calm. "Why are you here?"
"What do you mean? I go here."
"But why? Why now?"
He sighed, "The pack moved us here."
"But?" I questioned.
"I knew the last time I was here that you're my mate. I just didn't know how to say something. Besides, your dad was Alpha and I knew I wouldn't get anywhere near you without him knowing right away."
"Stop with the crap, Harry. You and I are never happening. I'm with Ashton now anyway."
"But you're not meant to be with him."
I scoffed, "I like him, Harry!"
He looked around us, so I did too. No one was outside. As I faced him again his arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me up against the building.
"What the-?"
When I looked at him again his face was right in front of mine. His previously soft green eyes were now teal and dark.
"Tell me, right here, right now, that you don't want me and I'll leave you alone."
"You promise?"
"Yes."
I met his gaze. "I-"
I was suddenly speechless. The longer his arms rested on my waist, the deeper of a hole I was getting myself into.
I pulled from his hold. "I'm with Ashton. I don't want you, Harry." I whispered.
He sighed and backed away. "Okay. Bye Jo."
As he went back into the building, Leila and Ashton ran outside.
I let out a breath as Ash put his arms around me and held me close. My hands barely touched each other around his broad chest.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "Your thoughts and communication to us suddenly stopped."
"Wh-what?"
Leila nodded, "Yeah, one second you were confused as to what Harry was doing and the next there was nothing. What happened?"
A breath caught in my throat and I coughed.
Ash rubbed his hand across my back. "Jo?"
"He grabbed my arm."
Their eyes widened. "You're kidding!" Lei exclaimed.
I shook my head, "No. I'm not. Then he took me by the waist and pulled me next to the building."
The two exchanged looks and then I suddenly heard Luke screaming at me.
'Joanna, I told you to stay away from him!'
I rolled my eyes, 'I wanted to talk to Niall, not him. But he went after me.'
'leave them alone!'
I ignored my brother and groaned pulling away from Ashton. "Are we done here? Can the two of you go back to class now?"
"You're going too, right?"
I shook my head, "I'm skipping out til next period. I'm supposed to have Physics and both of them are in there right now."
"Ok." Ash stated. "Valid, but after that you gotta be in class, Jo. Are you going to be okay for the day?"
I nodded and sighed. "Yep. Peachy."

The rest of the day was easy as I never felt Harry stare once. He was keeping his promise; he was staying away and leaving me alone.

Niall however, was persistent. At least with me.
In statistics, last period, instead of sitting in his normal seat, he sat down beside me.
"What do you want, Niall?"
"I'm sorry. Okay? I'm so fucking sorry for hurting Leila. I know you're pissed, so I've come up with a solution for you."
I turned my head and gave him a look. "For me?"
"Yes. For you."
"Okay. I'm listening."
"I'll let you fight me, and I'll let you win."
I choked on my next breath. "What?"
"Harry and I are supposed to train tonight out by the docks. I'll tell him not to come and you can meet me there; sundown."
"You'll let me fight you AND win?"
He nodded.
Just then, our teacher cleared her throat to begin class.
"I'll think about it." I whispered.
And I did, all period. I ran his proposition over and over again in my head.
'jo?'
I mentally groaned, 'not now, Ash. Please?'
'Jo, just listen to me for a minute. I really like you, and this fake dating thing doesn't have to be fake because I would love to try and make this work. But you're so caught up in trying to get even that you've barely noticed me all day. You're pushing me and every one else away.'
I was confused on why he was having this conversation with me mentally. I looked to the back of the room but he wasn't in his assigned seat next to Calum. I glared at Calum and got his attention.
'cal? Where's ash?'
He shrugged his shoulders and focused back on taking notes.
'Where are you?' I asked ash.
'outside. Waiting for you to make the right decision.'
I glanced out the window and I could see his plaid shirt from over a mile away. He sat on the end of the wall.
'ash. I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to be with you, I'm just content by myself.'
'are you, though?'
That left me thinking. As the bell rang, I grabbed Niall's arm to stop him from going anywhere.
"Yeah, Jo?"
"I'll pass on your offer. Thank you but, um, I forgive you. Just don't do it again or I will hurt you."
"Okay, if you're sure?"
I nodded, "Yeah. Thanks. I'll see you around."
I got up from my seat and headed outside. I ignored the calls from the group as I passed each of them in the hall.
I ran in and out of groups of my classmates to the far wall of the yard.
"Jo." Ashton greeted.
"Hey. Can you hop down for a sec?"
He nodded and soon his feet hit the ground. "What's up?"
"I'm sorry, okay?"
"Sorry for what?"
I leaned up and pressed my lips against his. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me in.
After a few seconds he pulled back. "Joanna? What was that?"
"That was me giving you a chance."
He smiled and leaned down, kissing me again.
As we left the school yard with the others, I felt that feeling again. I glanced behind us. Harry stood by the back door to the school staring straight at me.
I squeezed Ashton's hand as I turned and continued home.