Dangerous Ties

Dangerous Confrontations

           

Chapter Three:

I felt the blood drain from my face as I stared at the screen in horror.

Oh my god.

Oh, my god.

I was going to get expelled. Or worse, kicked off of the cheer team!

Stay calm Shaw. Just breathe. In and out. In. Out. Don't let Satan's spawn see you fold under pressure.

I followed the voice in my head and breathed long enough to get the blood in my veins flowing again.

The first thing I was going to do after free period was find Jamie Davenport and kill the son of a bitch. He was supposed to wipe the security cameras clean last night, be our eyes in case someone was lurking in the corners. After all, the kid did charge Skylar and me $30 bucks each to get the job done.

Stupid freshmen.

"Where'd you get this?" I asked, making sure I kept my voice light and airy. I folded my arms over my chest.

"Doesn't matter." Axel responded, not missing a beat. He looked at me like he could see right through the cool girl façade I was trying to keep up. "What does matter is that I have it and you're going to help me. Otherwise I'll just take this cute little film and play it for Principal McCall."

He was blackmailing me?

Oh, this just gets keep getting better and better. 

"What could you possibly need from me?" I inquired, hoping I came off unfazed. But who was I kidding? I was fazed. Fazed that my high school career and everything I worked so hard for was about to go down the drain! I had to get my hands on that video.

"I need you to help me get access to Michael Pearson's files from the nurse's office. Do that and I'll delete the video." he wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.

Don't choke him Shaw. You're too pretty for prison.

Michael Pearson? What the hell could he want with Michael Pearson? As far as I was concerned, the guy was always too high to walk straight. They weren't even in the same friend group.

"Why do you need his files?" I questioned narrowing my eyes at him. 

"Why do you want to know so bad?" He tossed back smugly.

I was about to fire back another retort, but I had to stop myself.

Why did I want to know? The guy was all but giving me an easy out, so why was I questioning it?  I couldn't give you the answer to that even if I tried. Let's just call it curiosity for now. I could be a very curious, very intuitive person when I wanted to be.

Shaking my head, I decided to drop the matter. Who cared why he was doing it? As long as I didn't get caught, I couldn't care less.

"Fine. I'll help you." I said, signing my death certificate. "But if you try any funny shit, I swear I will make your life a living hell Taverns. Don't ever try to blackmail me again." I warned him in my most menacing tone.

I didn't expect him to start shaking in his boots or anything, but I would've settled for a little wariness, a little hesitation! But did that happen? No! That's because Axel was laughing his ass off like I'd just told him the funniest joke in the world.

Seriously Shaw, don't kill him. Orange is not your color.

I sat with a blank expression as I waited for the asshole to sober up. And when he did, there was a brilliant smile etched onto his face. No malice, no half-assed smirk, just a smile wide enough to make those icy blue eyes melt. Just a smidge.