Living with the Grace Boys

Chapter 17

Rae's POV

We push past people in the halls and go straight for the back of the fields. We're practically running now. As we reach the crowd of people, I see Shane and Eli throwing punches at each other. I shove some random kids away so I can step in the middle.

"ELI, SHANE! STOP IT." I do my best to pry Shane away from Eli, but he's stronger than I thought. Eli throughs a punch. It hits me square in the jaw. Luckily, I'm still hanging on to Shane. I'm assuming it was meant for him. The crowd silences. I feel Shane's arm go slack under me. My vision is blurry from the pain radiating in my jaw. I take a step and almost fall down. I feel firm hands grip my hips.

I wait for the blurriness to subside. I see everyone's face. They all have a look of horror. I mean why shouldn't they? I jut got punched in the face by a bad boy who's supposed my foster-brother. But no one knows that last part.

I turn around and see Shane's hands on my waist, holding me still. The expression he's wearing is one of utter terror.

"Rae-uh are you o-okay?" He stammers.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just a little woozy." He sighs in relief.

I stiffen up. "Why the hell are you an Eli fighting?" I shoot daggers at then both.

"Not now. Please?" Shane's whispers into my ear. I nod.

"Um- Rae? I'm so, so sorry I punched you in the face. I didn't mean to hit you." Eli looks disappointed in himself.

"Yeah, whatever." I pull Shane to the side of the group.

"What's wrong?" His eyes are full of concern. They really are gorgeous.

"Can you call Sterling? After that, I want to go home."

"Well Sterling's working, so I'll take you home. But we'll stop in the main office so that it doesn't look like you're ditching." I smile at him. He flashes a smile back.

"Yo Shane! Who's the nobody?" A shout from the crowd brings us back to reality. I glance over to where the voice came from. I see Dimitri Valdez snickering with his crackhead friends.

"Uh-it's just the girl who got punched!" He exclaims. I hear the unsteadiness in his voice.

"Then get yo ass over hear!" Shane walks over to him, leaving me alone.

I see Isaac at the edge of the crowd. I don't know when he got there or how much he saw. Going against my better judgement, I walk over to him. He spots me coming and separates himself from the others.

"Isaac."

"Rae."

"Did you see what happened?"

"Yeah. Are you alright? Eli hit you hard." He softens up a little.

"Yeah. It's just sore and hurts." I feel uncomfortable standing here.

"Sorry about what I said last night. I didn't realize it at the time."

"I know you didn't, but I can't forgive you that easily. Not when it brought back so many nightmares. I know it was unintentional, but-"

"I know and I am really sorry. Forgive me when you're ready." I shake my head up and down. I look over at Shane and try to signal to him. Thankfully, he sees me.

************

Shane unlocks the front door of the house. He ushers me inside. We head into the kitchen. He grabs me an ice pack and towel for my jaw. As the coldness of the ice touches my skin, I shiver. I sit down on one of the stools and Shane slides in next to me. It's weird to be with him sometimes. I feel like he likes me and I'm pretty sure I like him.

He strokes my hair. Is this wierd? Yep. This is definitely weird. I readjust my head to make him move his hand away.

"Sorry."

"No, it's alright. I just need to move he ice pack." Nice save, Rae.

"Sorry about earlier. I guess you should know why Eli and I were fighting."

"Uh, yeah." I scoff.

"It's about what he said in English. You know the part where-"

"I remember clearly."

"Well he was being a dick to keep up his school reputation. At lunch I told him to stop acting like a dick and we got into a fight."

"Obviously." I roll my eyes. Shane keeps his head down.

"Uh-Shane?" I say after a few minutes. "Was it true what Eli said. That you were only nice to me because you wanted to have sex with me?" He jerks his head up.

"Are you kidding me? Rae I would never try to take advantage of you like that. Gaining your trust just so I could bang you? That's awful. No one should ever do that." My turn to look down.

"Oh-right. Your grandfather did that to you." He pulls me into a hug. He starts stroking my hair again. Weird, but I kinda like it. "Sorry about that." I sniffle into his shoulder. Why am I such a weakling? I can't hold my tears in at all. I used to be able to mask my feelings so well. I've never been a very open person but, somehow, I've told these boys secrets that I haven't even told Lanie. I don't understand it.