SuperIllegal

- Chapter 4 -

The next day was embarrassing, to say the least. The large bruise forming on Aubrey's forehead was something she tried to hide with makeup, but her foundation can only cover so much - the bump that had grown was easy to spot if someone knew where to look. 

People stared at her as she walked through the halls, word and rumours seemed to have spread that the boys were fighting for her affections, idiotic but there was no way to stop them talking. 

After a brief stop off at her locker, she and Malcolm walked up the stairs into biology, Aubrey taking a deep breath before entering, knowing she was facing a whole hour of awkward silence. She was planning on ignoring the boy once again and trying to start the experiments on her own - but that plan went away after she noticed the black eye and bruised jaw that Charlie was sporting. 

She felt extremely guilty, blaming herself because if she hadn't gone up to him in the first place Tristan wouldn't have searched and followed her around and see them talking. 

Shuffling over slowly she slid into her seat, peeking at him every few seconds. He noticed her looking at him and turned his head slightly, looking at her through his long black fringe, "Can I help you?" His stern yet reserved voice reminded her of what she had to do. 

"I'm... sorry about Tristan. He has major anger issues and it was completely unfair on you for him to beat you like that," he angled his head a little more to stare at her properly as she continued, his fringe shifting slightly allowing her easier access to see his eye throbbing painfully.

"I hope it doesn't hurt too much. Does it?" She gestured to the sore as a small smile grew on his face, but he quickly stopped, wincing instead. "Don't worry about it," his low voice reassuring her, despite the obvious pained look on his face. "How about you, that bump doesn't look particularly nice?" he questions, the dull look in his eyes flickering to concern for a slight moment. 

Aubrey smiled brightly at him in return, surprised he noticed it. "Oh, it's nothing, thanks for asking. I thought I hid it pretty well after Tristan didn't see it this morning but I guess not" 

She shrugged, not realising his eyes harden and body tense up at the mention of Tristan. "He didn't even apologise? He was the one who knocked you down in the first place!" Charlie's eyes were flaming, his jaw clenched. Aubrey had never seen someone so concerned for her before, it was a surprisingly nice feeling. 

Before Charlie got too riled up she decided to change the subject, "hey forget it, let's focus on these proteins instead okay?" gesturing to the equipment on the table in front of them.

Charlie surely realised what she was trying to do, but he still didn't bring up the fight again. 

The rest of the day was quite peaceful, Malcolm pulled her aside just after her last class of the day to apologise for not turning up sooner and her getting hurt but she brushed him aside as she did to Charlie earlier. 

She was planning on getting the bus home that day but she was waiting at the bus stop for quite a while - apparently, there was some commotion in the city centre that was blocking up the roads causing transport delays and large amounts of traffic. 

As she turned to head off home on foot a car drove up beside her and a horn honked noisily. Tristan's head stuck out the window gesturing her over, "Get in already, I've been waiting forever!"

Aubrey was confused as to why he was there but got in anyway, not wanting to make him wait any longer. "What are you doing here, I thought you had detention?" she asked cautiously. 

Tristan snickered and grinned at her proudly, "One talk with Coach Stevens and I was given a pass, he didn't want to mess up my perfect record," the smug look in his eyes made her giggle nervously.