Painting Flowers (A Jack Barakat fanfic)

Chapter 14

THIS CHAPTER IS SO BAD I'M SO SORRY. I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE REALLY CUTE I HOPE BUT IT'LL PROBABLY BE REALLY CHEESY TOO BUT I PROMISE IT'S GETTING BETTER !! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK I'VE RECIEVED ON THIS STORY AS WELL AS 3K+ READS <3 IT DOESNT SEEM LIKE A LOT BUT TO ME THATS WORTH AS MUCH AS A SIGNED COPY OF DIRTY WORK ((someone pls buy me a signed copy of Dirty Work , or just the Dirty Work CD altogether ): )) 

Enjoy this really bad cheesy unrealistic chapter 

*Alex's POV* 

Kathryn, Jack, Rian, Zack and I all walk into the cafeteria together at lunch, Kathryn clinging to me in fear of seeing the girls who attacked her the previous day once more. We all sit at our table except for Jack and Zack, who are going to speak with Holly about what happened. Kat sits between Rian and I, hunched over her tray of food. She's been terrified since she stepped on the bus this morning as well as keeping her distance from Jack unwillingly, her headphones embedded deeply into her ears blaring so loudly that we could hear every syllable of the song she was listening to. It seemed to calm her quite a bit. 

Suddenly I feel a piercing pain in my hand as Kathryn digs her nails into me. "Ow!" I screech rather loudly. She doesn't flinch at the sound of my cry. I look at her and follow her gaze. She seems to have her eyes locked on a group of girls at the end of the cafeteria who seem to be leaving. I don't get a chance to catch a glimpse of their faces though. "That was them. The blonde one - it was her. I'm sure of it." She breathes softly. I immediately look around the room, my eyes scanning for Jack and Zack. I stand up and Kathryn scurries close behind me, leaving Rian at the table, obviously still quite shaken up just by seeing the girl who attacked her. 

We find Jack and Zack finally and I quickly grab Jack, pulling him away from a distraught looking Holly. "Jack!" I hiss at him, "It's not Holly. She saw the girls and it's not her." Zack walks over and catches onto the conversation, their faces falling in realization. Of course, we're unable to leave the situation before Holly's older brother, Josh arrives, eying Kat. "Is she the one they're saying you hit?" He asks. Kathryn gulps and grips my sleeve tightly as she stares up at the buff boy who towers over her. Usually everyone is taller than Kathryn, but Josh is literally taller than everyone. Holly nods and Josh takes a step towards Kathryn. And another one. And another. Kathryn continues to step back with every step he takes until she almost falls over an unoccupied table. We're all in a trance, as we listen into Josh's words to Kathryn that can be heard clearer than day. 

"Listen here, you red-headed little skank," He says, making her turn pale with fear. "Don't think just because you're some rich pommy you can come here with your painted hair and emo looks and start rumors about my little sister." By this stage, Kathryn is trembling. "Stay away from her and don't say another word about her. If I find out you did, I won't just hurt you. I'll hurt your friends too. All five of you, including the wussy that's still at your table. Understand?" Kat nods in fear, putting a hand back on the table to steady herself. She doesn't notice the full tray of food sitting on the table as her hand presses to the edge of it, catapulting the food and drink past her and into Josh. The room errupts into laughter from everyone except Josh and Kathryn and he glares at her angrily, raising his fist. He takes another slow, angry step towards Kathryn and I snap back to reality, running over to her and shoving him away from her. "Don't you dare touch her!" I shout at him, fuming with anger and aggression. Kathryn seems quite frightened and shocked at my actions. "You can hit me, that's one thing. But don't you ever lay a hand on my little cousin. You hear me?!" I feel a rush of adrenaline course throught me. The adrenaline rush is quickly replaced by pain as I feel a sharp blow to my cheek.

Kathryn gasps as she runs to my side. I sit up and rub my stinging face. Josh walks over and pulls Kathryn up, but she's pulled away from him by another figure. A tall, lanky one. Jack pulls Kathryn away from him and shoves her towards Zack. She stumbles into him, colliding with his chest. He helps her stand properly and tries to take her away from where Josh is now trying to catch Jack to give him what I got. Jack however, is running around like a child, screaming and jumping over tables and myself in the small, enclosed area that has been barred-off by just about everyone in the cafeteria. The people around us create a circle that we're stuck in. There won't be any escape until Josh gets his hands on Kathryn, which we won't let happen. 

I manage to stand up and join into Jack's game, frustrating Josh even more. Josh is just about ready to give up on us and go for Zack when an airborne sandwich meets the back of his head. The crowd parts, revealing none other than Rian Dawson, standing on a table with a tray in his hand. "Four on one isn't very smart, you big dummy!" He shouts. We all stare at Rian, shocked by his actions but unphased by his limited vocabulary when it comes to insults. Josh begins to make his way towards Rian, before Rian suddenly throws a handfull of salad into the crowd and shouts "Food fight!" in the hopes that it'll work. Bizarrely enough, it does, and soon there is food flying through the air. We lose Josh in the crowd and head towards Rian, who sits on the table now. Zack still has an arm around Kat as we all walk over. "Great job, Rian." Jack says. "Maybe you're not so stupid after all." He jokes with a grin. Rian rolls his eyes, knowing full-well that without Rian, Jack and I most likely would've ended up in hospital.

I turn to Kathryn. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" I ask in concern, grasping her hands gently an lifting them as I examine her to make sure she's okay. She nods, snatching her arms back and wriggling free of Zack's grip. "I-I'm okay, Alex... Did he hurt you guys though? Why'd you do that... for me of all people?" She stares around at us in concern. Rian grins at her warmly, throwing an arm around mine and Zack's shoulders.. "Nah, we're all fine," He responds. "Besides, you're like our little sister. We have to look out for you. Isn't that right, guys?" The rest of the guys nod in agreeance with Rian and Kat's face lights up, as she envelopes us all in a tight hug.

At that moment, the principal bursts into the cafeteria in an uncontainable rage, demanding to know the meaning of this. Then when he asks who started it, the crowd parts, leading a path to to the 5 of us. Of course, we're then escorted to his office where we're all seated. Our seating order is Jack, Kat, me, Zack and then Rian. The principal is seated at his desk, giving us a stern look, and we all know what we're in for. He stands up, placing his palms on the desk. "I'm not going to ask why and how this mess was started," he says, leaving us all a little confused. "I'm going to ask you for one good reason as to why I shouldn't suspend you five." Jack immediately opens his mouth to speak up and I instantly know we're screwed. "Well, you see sir, we only did it out of self-defence." He says, "I mean, we didn't mean to start the food-fight, that was Rian's doing." He sit's back casually as if this is just some casual meeting. Rian swings forward and stares at him. "Hey! I only did it to try and help you guys! If it weren't for me, you guys would've had your heads severed off by now!" He bursts out. Kathryn facepalms herself and at the same time, I have the urge to do so myself. 

About half an hour later, all 5 of us walk out to our lockers to pack our bags with a 2-week suspension.