Deviation (Book #2 of the Taylor Series)

Casablanca

I walk down the hallway, passing the slow-walkers, shoving my way through the couples who don't know the difference between school and the backseat of their car, ignoring the Mormons who like to whisper homophobic things as I pass by them-- all so I can end up in front of my clearly quick-tempered brother.

"What the hell are you doing, Adam? Don't you know that continuing to mess with this kid is probably going to end in his parents pressing charges?" I ask, and he rolls his eyes. Amelia stands in the middle of us as she leans up against her locker with a frown.

"I've already told him that fighting him again is pointless. He already broke his arm." She mumbles with a groan.

I look to Adam's left arm that used to be adorned in a blue cast. Until yesterday- when he had it taken off. If it were me who broke my arm after getting into a fight with an East Asian boy, I wouldn't be getting into a fight with him again. That'd be like giving him an invitation to break the shit out of my other arm.

"Maybe so, but don't you get how bad he's messed up my reputation? Cortez and I were beating him up and I'm the one who ended up getting a bone broken. All he ended up with was a mild concussion." He scowls at the memory, "I'm going to win this time."

Amelia tries to talk some sense into him, meanwhile I'm looking around for the girl I promised to make up with. I try to spot her iconic teal hair, considering I wouldn't be able to see her five-foot frame otherwise. I feel someone poke me on both sides of my rib cage and when I turn around I see her.

She looks different. Now very obviously pregnant, adorned in sweatpants and a Varsity Basketball sweatshirt, but she's also traded in her blueish green hair for a bright, hot pink instead.

"Whoa. You look different." I mutter, she smiles and shakes her head.

"Nope. Pretty sure I look the exact same. Is there something you're noticing that I'm not?" She asks, sarcastically batting her eyelashes.

I roll my eyes, but nod anyway. "Yeah. For once, your hair doesn't look like absolute shit." Her mouth falls open before she laughs it off. She shoves me lightly in the shoulder.

I think for a second that we can look past everything and forget what happened before. However, when her once cool and collected face falls to a frown, I know that it can't and won't happen. She sighs before she crosses her arms to her chest in a comforting motion.

"I'm sorry... About everything. I know this situation is getting to be more and more complicated, but we're just getting settled. Everything will work itself out in the end." She smiles a small smile.

Before I can respond with an 'okay' or a 'politely fuck you', honestly, I'm glad because I have no idea which route I would've went; Adam shoves past us with a sneer and bright red cheeks.

"What's going on? Where's he going?" I ask Amelia who's biting her bottom lip. When her teeth let it go, I see blood seeping along the fold of her lips.

"He's going to go find Brady. He's being stubborn, Julie. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't budge." She explains. She glances between both Brielle and I, as be both stare down a glare at her.

"What? Wher-oh my god. What the hell? He's going to get kicked off the soccer team or worse-"

Brielle cuts me off with a glimmer of a smirk, "Expelled." I turn back to her with an 'are you kidding me right now?' look. She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head. I have to bite the inside of my cheeks to prevent myself from smiling at her in adoration. This is not the time. Nor the place.

"Shut up. We have to go stop my brother." I sigh before I turn back to the hallway.

It's quite easy to push past the crowd of students when there's a pregnant girl behind you. Not to mention, it makes it easier to find my brother. He's only a few yards away from a boy too short to even reach the top shelf of his locker. I'm guessing he's Brady.