Capturing Them

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen
Gabriel

She stands here in this fucking shit ass bathroom so fucking beautiful. Stunning. Long blonde hair hanging over her shoulders and down her back, trying to conceal her face with the glossy strands. Her eyes are wet from the tears that still slowly fall, making the green look brighter than ever before.

She's going to try though; try to be our friend even though she's absolutely fucking petrified, that much is obvious. Stepping towards her, I wait to see if she backs up and when she doesn't a small sigh of relief leaves me. I hold my hand out to her and her eyes drop to it. "Let's go back to the office, talk about what fucking happened in that stupid ass classroom."

She swallows, her throat moving perfectly. "I don't have to speak?" She asks softly; her voice moving over me like a soft paintbrush moving over canvas.

I shake my head, "No." She must be satisfied with my simple one word answer because her shaky hand rises from her side and moves toward mine. The moment her skin connects with mine, my heart does some crazy things in my chest. I want to jump up and down; she's touching me. Fucking touching me, Gabriel fucking Coleman, the guy that swears way too fucking much.

I wrap my fingers around her small cold hand, smiling at her as I scoop her bag onto my shoulder. "We'll do this your way Sang. Fucking baby steps, all the way. Trust me, us."

She doesn't say anything in reply but her fingers to tighten around mine. That's all I need. I lead us out of the bathroom and together we walk back to Mr B's and Doc's office. Opening the door after knocking once, the room goes silent as I come in first. "Well, it's nice to fucking see a room go silent the moment I walk my fine ass in." I laugh, ignoring the narrowed eyes and the shake of a few heads.

"Where's Sang? Is she okay?" Luke asks, worried eyes wide on mine.

"I don't know, ask her yourself." I whisper, coming the rest of the way into the room so the small blonde girl can come in to. She closes the door with her free hand and then gives the room her attention.

"Miss Sorenson," Mr Blackbourne says before anyone has a chance to speak. "We didn't mean to upset you or make you uncomfortable in any way."

Letting go of my hand, Sang starts waving her hands around. I just stare because I don't have a fucking clue what the hell she's saying. I'm not sure if that infuriates me or...well, I don't know. Why didn't I just learn the damn sign language with Kota when I had the chance? Or when Kota taught Luke? To be fair, I had never given a shit, until I met her. And now? Now, I want to know what she's speaking with her hands when she can't use her voice.

"What is she fucking saying?" I ask, looking to the few brothers in the room that understand. My shoulders relax when I realise I'm not the only one that is just as clueless right now. Fucking good. North and Silas watch her hands with wide eyes, Victor frowns as he watches her wave them about, and Nathan looks expectantly at Kota.

Kota, Luke, Doc, and Mr B watch her intently, understanding every stupid fucking wave. I'm afraid to admit that I'm jealous they understand the language she uses to speak. Like North understood Silas when he first came to Charleston; all the guy ever did was speak Greek when he wasn't taking an English as a Second Language class.

"Oy motherfuckers, answer me."

Kota answers me with a glare and a hard shake of his head, his lips pressing into a thin line. It's a warning; don't interrupt. Sighing, I look to Luke and he waves me over to where he sits in the Doc's chair. I move over to his side and crouch down next to him.

"She's telling us what she heard with this Greg guy, the one that started the commotion in Homeroom." Luke whispers. "Friday Fall; whatever that is."

The blood in my veins turn to ice. Friday Fall. This can't be good. Whatever it is, it isn't good and I know our mission for today will be to find out what's going on; what this Friday Fall is. Assholes.

"Thank you, Miss Sang." Sang nods her head and then comes over to me and Luke. Luke stands from the chair and lets her sit down. I stand back to my full height, giving Doc my attention just like my brothers. "I'm going to see what I can find out regarding Friday Fall from members of the staff, see if they're aware of whatever it is." Dr Green says.

"By the sounds of what Miss Sorenson just told us, it looks like both Mr Taylor's could be targets. I don't want either of you walking these halls alone. I don't trust anyone in this school, apart from the ones in this room," Mr Blackbourne adds. "No matter what, I want phones to be kept on everyone and in hand." His eyes shift to Sang. "Do you have your phone, Miss Sorenson?"

She nods, pulling a phone out of her pocket and waving it at him. Mr Blackbourne nods. "Mr Morgan, please load the apps onto Miss Sorenson's phone and then explain to her what each button means and please add ours numbers to her phone. I'm going to speak with Hendricks."

"You have half an hour," Doc says, handing out us all slips to be excused from class. "If anyone asks, you had a meeting with Owen, Sang, yours was with me so we could go over some work for Japanese class." We all nod our heads and a heartbeat later, Doc and Mr B are walking out the door.

"May I have your phone, princess?" Victor asks Sang. She nods and hands him the phone. He immediately loads up Doc's laptop and starts messing around on it.

Sang nervously wipes her hands on her jeans, her eyes locked onto the floor. I watch North as he crosses the room and crouches in front of her. "Okay, baby?"

She nod her head but doesn't say a word. Instead she gets up and retrieves her bag from where I put ours on the floor. Sitting back down, she pulls her camera out and starts messing around on it. We've watched her do this many times; she'll fiddle with some buttons before bringing it up to her face, looking through the peephole, and adjusting the lens before letting her finger snap a picture.

She may move the camera to look at the picture she had just taken on the screen, but it's not often. She always seems so confident with the photos she takes, like she gets them at just the right time every time.

Curious, I shift on my feet and sit down next to a crouching North. He hasn't moved, instead he watches her like we all do; curious about her, needing to know more about her, wanting to know her. It's a strange fucking feeling, that's for sure.

"May I have a look?" I ask quietly and without swearing. Yes, I'm proud of me too.

She hesitates for a moment before smiling and nodding her head, handing the camera over. She points to a button before pressing it. Looking down at the little window screen, I find a picture of the football team leaning against a truck in the parking lot; hands are tucked into trousers, all casual and confident; all assholes.

Sang presses the button again and I realise what she's been trying to tell me. "It skips to the picture," I say. She nods her head with a smile when I look at her and my heart does this crazy ass flip in my chest.

Looking back at the screen, I find more pictures of the football team. I press the button, not interested in them. More pictures pass; I assume they were taken this morning. Girls in short skirts or applying shit ass lip gloss. About fifteen photos later, I find one that makes me pause.

It's of me; I'm leaning against Victor's legs with a scowl on my face, glaring right at a group of lads that felt it was necessary to cough 'faggot' in their hands as they walked by. But it's not just the scowl I notice; it's the hurt deep in my baby blues that I see. It's not an emotion I let myself consciously feel, but it's obvious I do. I wonder if she sees it?

I look up and find her eyes; they're full of a sadness, a sadness aimed right at me. It strikes me in the chest. But I quickly realize that she sees past the colourful shirts, blonde stripes in my hair, and the earrings in my ears and the confidence I let everyone else see. She sees me in a completely different way, beyond the façade and what I try to hide.

She sees what I don't want anyone else to see and sometimes that includes my brothers. It brings tears to my eyes and when one drips down and trails down my cheek, that beautiful stunning girl is right there, raising her hand hesitatingly and wiping it away.

Then she steals my heart with just a few fucking words that come past her lips, "I see you, Gabriel."

She sees me and that is everything.