BAD REPUTATION [SCOTT REED]

FIFTEEN

"SHE'S MINE. GOT IT!"
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Alona walked absentmindedly on the halls of Liberty High, making a hot beeline to her specials class. The second bell had already rung and she had no intention of speeding up her pace since she knew she was already late.

Why bother? Alona thought.

Bolan watched her patiently at the end of the corridor with distaste, eyeing her tattoo that was peeking out of the neckline of her V-neck and a small portion from it from the short sleeves of her white shirt. Alona cocks an eyebrow at him, slowing her pace purposely in order to spite him. "Ms. Vergara, I would very much appreciate it if walk faster and get to class on time."

"And I would very much appreciate it if you lay off and screw yourself, Mr. Bolan." Alona retorted with her red lips stretched back in a smirk. She takes her time while she walks and flipped her hair when she walked past the principal before entering the classroom to witness Ms. Paul struggle with the DVD set-up.

"... saw us shooting and now my dad is calling your dad." She overheard Tyler spoking quietly to a frowning Cyrus and she plops down next to the dark-haired boy with a sigh. The duo looked over her direction and Tyler grinned at the sight of the girl's tattoos on a show. "I see you've finally got over your fears and showed the whole world your masterpiece."

"I see you've finally took my advice." Cyrus stares at her in adoration, smiling like a soccer mom would while watching her kid kick the winning score. "I'm so proud of you."

Alona feigns a bow and nods her head at Tyler. "Anyway, what were you guys talking about? If I heard Ty correctly, it's something about your parents and gun shooting..?"

Tyler and Cyrus had a staring contest for a moment before both shrugged and had a silent agreement, having the same thought that they could trust Alona with the situation on-hand. "Well, Cyrus and I were shooting guns — well, they're not.. they're not real guns, they were BB guns and my neighbor caught us and thought they were real and then he told my parents and now they're calling Cyrus' dad."

"You better not be playing around with guns, Tyler." Alona warned with a reproachful glare and the curly-haired boy laughed uneasily, shaking his head. "Those are dangerous."

"I— I'm not. I've never touched a real gun in my life, actually. We were only using BB guns though.." Tyler explained shortly, an imaginary lightbulb flashing above his head. "Wanna join us sometimes? I promise you'll have fun. They're a good asset for releasing stress and bad vibes. Am i right, Cyrus?"

"Absolutely." Cyrus nods his head at her hands subconsciously turning her phone on and off, her eyes darting from them and down to her phone, obviously waiting for some sort of notification. "What's gotten your underpants in a twist? Your pretty boy ain't hittin' you up?"

"No, not Scott. It's Zach, he's supposed to testify today. I wanna know what's going on." Alona's knees bobbed up and down in nervousness and the two boys raised their eyebrows in surprise. It wasn't a mystery to the both of them about her no-strings-attached relationship with Zach Dempsey.