Braxten High

Chapter 17

Ayden's POV:

Azriel and I sat down on our table at lunch, not bothering to make small talk. We'd gotten a text from Zara saying that they had to tell us something and that they'd tell us in the cafeteria at lunch hour. And if their faces were any assurance, our guess of the topic being serious was right.

"Here you go," I said while passing Scarlett the donut I got her from my favorite bakery. She smiled and kissed my cheek before taking a bite.

I smiled back and draped my arm around her waist, pulling her close. Azriel rolled his eyes at me and mouthed 'whipped'. What a hypocrite, I thought as I watched him 'casually' put his arm around Zara.

"So you guys wanted to talk about something?" Azriel asked mainly Zara, raising an eyebrow.

"On our way back home yesterday, we were attacked by three masked men," she said, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"w-WHAT?" Azriel basically leaped out of his chair and I almost choked on my soda and turned to Scarlett. "Are you alright?" I asked, concerned. She nodded and pointed at the way Azriel had jumped, barely holding in her laughter.

Scarlett looked amusedly as Zara pulled Azriel back into his chair with a weird look. Azriel returned her weirded out expression with his own. "Why would you say that like it's some Tabloid gossip?"

"How else did you expect me to say it?" Zara asked. Azriel just raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay fine. It was a pretty big deal but we're fine so," she shrugged.

"Exactly. No one can defeat these big guns," Scarlett said, pointing at her arms. I gave her a weird look and then chuckled at her. "Sure. Now tell us what exactly happened," I enquired.

Scarlett cleared her throat. "So there we were, walking home for old times' sake, enjoying our banter when these three huge males with masks and baseball bats circle us. And they were, like, full-grown men."

"And then?" Azriel questioned, subconsciously moving closer to Zara almost protectively, visibly getting angry. Zara put a hand on his shoulder in attempts to get his temper in check and continued.

"So they grabbed us and made an attempt at choking us with their baseball bats. But fortunately, Scarlett had her pepper spray which she sprayed into his eyes right in time and I threw my froyo on his face, smearing it into his eyes. It bought us enough time and we managed to escape," Zara finished, leaving me astounded.

"All this happened and you didn't bother giving me a call?" I questioned, extremely bothered to say the least.

"Oh, and I had the immense pleasure to kick one in his balls too. Zara the badass hit them on their beer bellies with one of the bats, but she's too humble," she added, and then turned to me. "I'm fine, I got the guns, remember?" she smiled, trying to joke and placed a hand on my cheek. "Relax."

"I'm glad you're fine but this was huge. Just give me a call if god forbid anything ever happens again," I said calmly and pulled her into a side hug.

Azriel was angry. "Why the fuck are you guys joking around about this?" he barked, glaring at Scarlett and checking Zara's neck for bruising or any signs of abuse.

"If I don't get a call the next time anything serious happens within the same fucking minute, I'm not going to be happy," He growled, but the worry was quite evident.

"Azriel, I'm fine," she said quietly. Seeing as Azriel still wasn't convinced, Zara pulled him into a hug and ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm him down. Azriel seemed to calm down, and kissed her. Scarlett clicked a picture and then pretended to gag. "Get a room you guys."

Azriel pulled away, rolling his eyes. "Just be safe, both of you."

"And carry that pepper spray of yours all the time," I said while chuckling and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She smiled and kissed me back. I pulled away and asked, "Wanna come to my soccer practice tomorrow?"

She pretended to think. "Uh, I gotta check my schedule..." she watched me for a second and laughed. "I'm kidding, both Zara and I will come to cheer you guys on," she smiled.

"Okay," I replied, making a face to myself that she caught on to and laughed, hugging me after.

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Azriel's POV:

I ran a hand through my hair and leaned over the desk. "You really should take a break. Don't worry, I will cover your shift and no one will know," I said, as flirtatiously as possible. I even winked at the end, and I suppose it was enough for Margaret to give in to my coaxing.

She was blushing too, actually. I bit back a scoff and just gave her a smile. "Get some rest honey, you deserve it."

She made quick work of handing over the office keys. "Office hours end 3 hours after school. Maybe we can even go for coffee after?" Margaret said, nervous.

"Maybe," I responded as I grabbed the keys and shooed her out, shooting a grin and a thumbs-up to Zara who was hiding behind the door to a classroom nearby.

"Did she just ask you out?" Zara asked incredulously, walking out once the coast was clear.

I laughed. "She did. The lamest thing I've seen all my life, to be honest. Now, hurry up and grab copies of the yearbooks or whatever; I have a soccer game to practice for and you have a hot boyfriend to watch play."

-zoie and dawn