How To Tame The Beasts -- Alex Gaskarth Fan Fic

Chapter Nine

I was dreading school the next day as I wasn't sure how my friends would react to me. I was praying they wouldn't hold a huge grudge against me like they did with Tony, but Alex said they'd never do that to me. I just hoped he was right.

"I don't know about this," I said, leaning into Alex as we walked into the school. He ended up staying the night at my place and convinced me to not avoid the Trouble-Makers today. Since Alex was one of the top dogs in the group, he told me if he said to forgive me they would but I wasn't so sure.

"Oh, relax," he told me, squeezing my hand gently. "They might be a little cold at first, but they'll get over it. Plus, they have to focus on Zack today, anyways."

"Oh," I said dumbly. I forgot today was Zack's initiation into the crew. "I don't know; Jack was always one to not like me and now he has another reason to not like me."

Alex snorted. "You kidding? He just didn't like the fact that I was turning more mild for you. He likes you. The only person I could imagine still being really pissed off about it is Jaime."

I blinked. "Jaime?" He wasn't always the nicest to me, but he did warm up to me faster than Jack did.

"Yeah. Tony used to be one of his closest friends until after Tony sent him to the hospital."

I frowned. "Poor Jaime," I muttered quietly. "Tony mentioned he beat him up, but he managed to leave out the fact that it was that bad."

"Leave it to Tony to try and make him look like the good guy," Alex said, his voice turning rough. "Come on, we're almost there," he said, referring to the courtyard where we usually all relaxed at until classes started.

"He said he wanted to make amends with you guys," I said and Alex looked at me. "Or, something along those lines."

A smirk crossed Alex's face as we walked outside and into the courtyard. We wouldn't all be able to meet out here for much longer considering it was now fall and winter was beckoning closer. "Yeah, well, he burned those bridges long ago. I can't see any of us welcoming him back ever."

"I guess," I murmured, leaning closer to Alex now that our friends came into view. It wasn't that I was scared of them, I was just nervous of what they would say or do.

"Hey guys," Alex said and the group looked towards him. Almost in unison, their eyes moved to me and I felt myself begin to shift under the gaze. This was ridiculous, why should I feel out of place just for wanting to know something no one would tell me? "How's Zack feeling?" he asked, noticing he wasn't at the table.

Rian chuckled. "He's kind of nervous."

Alex dragged me to one of the sides of the table, sitting down with me. I was right in between Jack and Alex, so I did feel the safest in this spot. Even though Jack can be a total dick, he was also protective of everyone in the group.

"I don't care if he's nervous, just as long as he does it. I'm going to laugh so freaking hard," Jack said, leaning forward in his seat. Mike and Jaime were staying quieter than usual.

"Where are we going afterwards?" I asked, finding my voice once again.

Alex shrugged. "We just kind of figure now that it'll be your house."

"I don't think that's a good idea. When I went home yesterday at lunch my dad was home and I got away with it by telling him I wasn't feeling good so I'm not sure what kind of excuse I can make for all of us," I said, looking down.

Rian shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sure we can hang out at Zack's or something. I'll go talk to him," he said as he stood up and walked back towards the school building.