How to cope with the OPD

Chapter 7

My uncle Jack was hardly ever home. He worked away a lot, which was good for Matt and I. I didn’t mind it just being us two, we worked well together. I tried my hardest to throw the wildest parties, but Mark was the sensible one, and often toned them down to just awesome.

But when Axel came home, there were no parties. At all. In fact, we didn’t even utter the word. Which was why I was so surprised when he let me go to that one last night. And man, how much did that backfire?

“Jody, are you even listening to me?” Axel asked, and I blinked.

“Sorry,” I say, smiling sheepishly, “I kinda zoned out,”

“Your friends are here to see you. But I’m not too sure about the boys coming in your room...”

I scowled at him, “Axel, they’re my friends. I trust them, you should too,”

He sighed, and nodded. A moment after he went out, five people flooded in. Ace, Blaize, Tracey, Allen and Ian piled in my room.

“Oh my god, what happened to your hair?” Allen asked. I chuckled. Trust Allen to think of hair.

“Never mind that,” Ace said, “What happened to you last night?”

“Uh...” I say, looking at Tracey for help.

"Someone tried to rape her," she says, and Blaize's eyes grew dark.

"I hope you kicked them in the nuts," Ace said. I blush, which is incredibly out of character.

"Don't worry about it," Ian told me, "They'll take care of it,"

I knew who he meant by 'they'. We all did. I knew most of the guys in this room were scared of the OPD. Perhaps with the exception of Blaize. He seemed to know how to handle them.

"Did you know an elephant is the only animal which can't jump?" Allen said randomly, and I knew it was his way of changing the subject. Remind me to thank him later.

Blaize excused himself, and I watched worriedly as he left the room. There was something just not right about him at the moment.

"Is he alright?" Tracey asked me, and I shook my head. He’d get over it, I hoped, and I tried to focus on the current conversation. I was barely aware of them turning the TV on, and putting in a DVD.

I climbed carefully out of bed, and left the room. I kept my eyes peeled for Blaize, but I couldn’t find him up here, so I went down the stairs. I smiled to myself when I heard his voice.

“…supposed to keep her safe?” his voice said. He sounded really angry, and I made my way over to the kitchen, where it was coming from.

“We do keep her safe,” Axel’s voice said, sounding offended, “This was no-one but that pricks’ fault,”

“Really Axel? I though I was to distance myself from her so she’d break up with me and we’d remain just friends. I thought that was for her safety. But then you let her go to Rocky’s party? The wildest party of the year?”

What. The. Fuck?

“Is that true Axel?” I demanded, barging into the kitchen. Five sets of eyes landed on me, “Did you really tell him to do that?”

There was silence, and I knew the answer was yes.

“I’m sick of this! It is my life. When are you four idiots going to get that? I’m a person, not a valuable object. I can, and will, make my own decisions!” By the end I was shouting, and I heard my four friends coming down the stairs.