Sick Little Games (Zack Merrick)

• Give Me Truth •

 { t h i r t y }

    "What a cute date." 

I looked up, swallowing the pasta in my mouth harshly, feeling my throat close up. "What?" I asked dumbly as soon as the food had been swallowed. My nose scrunched up as I registered her words. 

"Ew." I heard Jack mumbled from across the table. 

Mariah smirked at me, sitting herself down next to Jack and I just watched, wondering what the hell she was doing. She just stared at me. 

I looked over to her table, seeing all of the group watching in confusion as she sat with us and then I looked back at her. With a shrug I decided to just let it happen, whatever it was, and began to eat my pasta again. 

People were beginning to come out of class now, so it was no surprise when one of Jack's friends, Kellin- who I guess was also my friend now too, walked over and came to a halt when seeing Mariah sitting next to Jack. 

He looked at me, Jack and then Mariah in turn before slowly putting his food down and sitting next to me. 

"This is the most uncomfortable thing ever." Kellin stated in a whisper. "Did you attract her over here or something?" He whispered to me. A smile broke out onto my face at that and I desperately tried to keep it at bay. 

"Maybe she's got a thing for Jack." I replied in the same whisper. Kellin snorted and began to eat. 

We all ate in silence for a few minutes, Mariah calmly watching us- mostly me, with a small smile on her face and a calm aura around her. The tension grew with each mouthful of food. 

Tay, a girl I remember Mariah beating up, walked up to the table with her food, stopping as soon as she caught sight of Mariah. She turned to me, raising on eyebrow before stepping forward slowly. She eyed Mariah again before shaking her head and walking past the table completely. Good choice, I guess. 

"Why didn't I do that?" I heard Kellin whisper and I couldn't help the smile that came onto my face. 

"Just go, Kell." I told him quietly. "Go sit with Tay." I gestured to her sitting alone at a table closer to the back of the room and he hastily stood up, hugging me to his side quickly. 

"Good luck." He whispered into my hair but I heard him chuckle as he walked over to Tay. When he turned to look at me I scowled at him. 

"Now that he's gone," Mariah started. I watched in slow motion as he grabbed Jacks plate of food, pouring it over his head. It was just some potato thing though, so he moved his head and it fell off easily. Jack looked at her in disbelief. "I-"

"Justice, give me your food." Jack cut her off. He didn't wait for any reply as he grabbed my pasta and the fork. Instead of pouring it over her like I thought he would, he just stood up and walked over to the table where Kellin and Tay sat. I could hear him mumbling as he walked away. 

"What is your problem?" I asked Mariah when I looked back at her. "I was enjoying that pasta." 

"You know, I thought you were cool. I thought you'd fit in with our group and we'd be good friends, but then you ruined it all-" I shot her a look of disbelief and she laughed. "What? You want to hang out with losers? Go ahead, but you could've been part of our group." 

"Losers?" I asked her, glancing at Jack, Tay and Kellin. They were all laughing together, jack flicking a piece of pasta and making it bounce off Tay's nose. I stood up from the table, Mariah doing the same and my calm exterior snapped. "If I'm such a loser, why are you following me?" She kept firm eye contact with me, raising one perfectly drawn eyebrow. 

"I want to see why you like protecting losers so much. They're the scum of the earth, J. People like that," Mariah glanced at the table, more specifically at Jack. "They get nowhere in life. Can't we just forget about all of this?"

I started to walk away, my arm brushing past Alex just as Mariah grabbed it and made me turn to look at her. I yanked it out of her grip, trying to walk again. 

"Just sit with us, J." Mariah asked me and I paused in my step, turning to look at her. She really doesn't know how insulted I feel right now. I decided, in a split second, that I needed to tell her the truth. I didn't understand why Jack didn't want them to know we were related anyway. 

"Sit with you?" I echoed disbelievingly. Mariah frowned at me. "How do you not see how much of a bully you are?" She gasped as if I'd just revealed a huge secret about her. Her eyes hardened. "Leave me alone, and leave Jack alone too. Stay away from my family." Her perfect eyebrows scrunched, a few lines creasing into her forehead. 

"I didn't do anything to your family!" 

I held up my hand in front me, "You assaulted my brother in front of me," I held one finger up, "You pathetically wasted his food," I held up another, "-and then you called him a loser and told me people like him were the scum of the earth." I held up another two, wiggling the four fingers before dropping my hand. Her gaping mouth didn't stop me from my angered rampage. 

"So," I made sure to enunciate each of my words slowly just to get the point across. "Stay away from me, and stay away from Jack-" I caught her eye. "My brother."