REALLY ✓

14: The Runaway Baby

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      TAYA's POV:

"I hate high school!" Hallee whined as she threw herself on the bleachers, causing Judah to look up.

"Tell me about it, I can't be bothered to do anything," I added, taking the seat next to Hallee.

"Getting the case of senioritis are we?" Gabe followed suit.

Judah looked at the three of us in confusion.

A few minutes ago, Judah was just lounging casually by himself at the bleachers, having his usual smoke. He looked tired and bored. Hallee, Gabe, and I saw him on our way to the cafeteria and we decided to keep him company—whether he liked it or not.

"Uh, these seats are taken," he spoke coldly, but we ignored him completely.

"Have you done your college essay yet?" Hallee said to me as she took out her lunch bag and started rummaging it.

"No! I still got nothing to write. I'm so dead aren't I?" I groaned, also taking out my lunch bag and juice bottle.

"Y'all better get outta here," Judah said with a threatening tone, but none of us paid any mind to it.

"You need to get your shit together Blondie, those colleges aren't gonna be waiting around forever," Hallee snapped her fingers at me.

"Hey!" Judah and I shouted in unison.

"Don't call me that!" I hissed.

"Only I get to call her that," he added.

Hallee and Gabe cackled and laughed. I narrowed my eyes at Judah and he just smirked. As I got a better look at his face, I noticed how Judah's eyes were red, with bags underneath them. I wondered if maybe he didn't get enough sleep last night.

"So, did you get into a lot of trouble for what happened with Cameron?" Gabe said to Judah.

"Nah, Blondie and her brother sorted it out,"

This morning I made Kai report yesterday's incident to Principal Finn, before any other false rumors started to spread. Principal Finn wasn't too happy to hear that Judah's been in a fight, but we begged him to give Judah another chance.

"Principal Finn's gonna keep a close watch on you. You can't get yourself into anymore trouble," I pointed my finger at him.

"What's that?" Ignoring me, Judah gestured to the food on my lap.

"Onigiri... they're rice balls. It's got salmon in them—" before I could even finish explaining, he had snatched my lunch and stuffed it down his throat.

"Hey!" I yelled. "That was my lunch!"

"Not anymore, apparently," Hallee commented as Judah struggled to swallow the whole thing all at once.

"Ugh, this is like kindergarten all over again," I rolled my eyes at my dumb luck.

Seriously, what was it with bullies taking my lunch from me?

"I hope you choked to death," I muttered and he glared at me, still struggling to swallow. Gabe ended up giving him some water and his life was spared.

"That was a choking hazard," he commented. "But it was hella good, can you bring more tomorrow?"

He was grinning happily and I just let out a long, dramatic sigh.

Aside from the part where Judah stole my rice ball, lunch went pretty great. Hallee and Gabe talked about the music for the play, then Hallee started poking fun at Gabe for his hopeless crush on Maddie, and Judah followed suit. We couldn't stop laughing as Hallee shared stories after stories revolving around Gabe and his helpless-romantic antics.