The Changes (On Hold)

Chapter 5

I quickly grab Eric's hand and walk away. Holy Shit! I scream to myself.

"Kenz, slow down you're just about ripping my arm out of its socket."

"Sorry." I say loosening my grip and slowing down.

"Who was that? And why'd you get so freaked out?"

"That," I start. My breath catches. He'd be so pissed if he knew, but I can't keep this from him. "That was Ryan." It comes out breathlessly.

"Ryan?" He says worry, anger, and jealousy all creeping into his voice all at once. "As in Ryan that you cheated on me with?" He says now just growing angry. He clenched his fists and almost turned around but I grabbed his arm and pulled him to face me again.

"Eric I got over him. He means nothing to me now. I promise." I say. Meaning every word that I said. My eyes plead with him to not start trouble, my grip on his arm tightening.

"If he means nothing to you, why can't I go sock him in the face?" Obviously he doesn't seem to understand logic anymore.

"Eric I wouldn't care if you 'socked him in the face' if we weren't at school. But we are and I don't want you getting yourself into trouble." I put my hands on my hips and plant myself in front of him, showing him my authority.

"Look at you trying to stop me." He says with a smirk. He shoves past me and despite my efforts, I fail to stop him.

"Eric!" I shriek, running after him. I bump into a ton of people as I follow after him, muttering apologies. I catch up with Eric and jump onto his back.

"What the..?!" He says trying to turn around and gets a face full of my waist length hair. "Kenzie?! What are you doing?!"

"Stopping you from getting into trouble and getting a piggy back ride. So.. Killing two birds with one stone." I wrap my legs around his waist and squeeze. "You won't get me off your back you know."

"Oh really?" He asks looking at me from the corner of his eye. Oh god. I think to myself. This should be fun.

All of a sudden I'm being raced around the school, legs dangling off his hips, ignoring the teachers screaming at us. I shriek with laughter and squeeze tighter.

Then suddenly he stops.

"Why'd you stop?" I say leaning my head over his shoulder.

Eric just stares straight ahead, so I follow his gaze. Really?! I had his mind completely off Ryan and yet here he comes, strutting down the hall.

Eric drops me and is practically growling as he makes his way to Ryan.

"Anderson!" He shouts causing Ryan to look up, making his longish brown hair flop into one of his bright green eyes.

"Do I know you?" He says looking curiously.

"No. Although I do believe you know my girlfriend over there." He jabs his head towards me.

"Kenzie?!" He says astonished. "You helped me earlier."

"Yeah I did. Why'd you move here?" I say glaring at him.

"Well I remembered from when we talked," That received a low growl from Andrew. "Can you stop growling? You aren't a dog." Ryan making that smart-ass, well dumb-ass comment, it wasn't a very smart decision to make.

That pushed Eric over the edge. He punched Ryan square in the jaw, causing Ryan to stagger back, holding his jaw and blinking quickly.

"Eric!" I yell, running over and putting myself in the gap between the two.

"Kenz, move. Now." Eric growls. "Stop protecting him."

"I'm not protecting him, I'm protecting you."

"I honestly don't care." He says glaring at me.

"So you want to end up like before? Not being able to play sports? Being depressed?"

"No," He says looking down, as remembrance washes over his face, giving him a pained expression.

"Then make the right decision."

Eric unclenches his fists and closes his eyes. He takes deep breaths.

"Faggot." Ryan mumbles, still holding his jaw.

"And you," I say turning around to face him. "You need to explain how and why you're here. I don't need another fucking problem in my life."

"Another?" He asks, eyes questioning.

"Yes. Another. Now explain."

"Well like I was saying," He leaves out the part about Eric punching him. Smart choice. "When we talked, I remembered you said you lived about an hour from me and that the name of your school was Allen County Day. So, when my parents announced we were moving I convinced them to move here. Simple."

"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want you here?" My eyes narrowed into slits.

"Not from the way you used to talk to me." I glare at him. Oh he did not just say that. Now I'm lunging toward Ryan, pushing him up against a wall like Katniss did to Pee-

"Well, it seems as if we made our way into the Hunger Games." Ryan's laugh is humorless. "Everyone knows how that en-" He doesn't get to finish before I back off and punch him in the gut.

"Little girls gotten strong." He laughs humorlessly again.

"Yeah, I have. And if you keep smarting off to me I'm going to slit your throat, drink your blood, cut off your head, and send it to your mother on her birthday."

"Okay okay, that's enough graphicness." Eric says pulling me away from Ryan, who sits there shocked.

"What? The little baby got mad when I talked about his mommy?" I taunted.

"My 'mommy' is dead." He says. I immediately regretted everything I had said to him.

My face must have said it all, because he walked away and headed into his classroom.

"I feel like a horrible person."

"Sometimes.. You are."