Adelaide Beck dared Tristan Presley to become her best friend in the fifth grade... and he said okay.
After a summer of doing nearly everything together, Tristan suddenly becomes distant with her. Adelaide had always guessed that natural causes had...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He positioned me behind him before turning his attention to Walter, "do we have a problem here?"
"Yeah we have problem, your little posse here is somewhere they don't belong. I'm sure the rest of the uninvited are wandering around here stirring up trouble too."
"The only person I see stirring up trouble here is you." Tristan said with his eyebrows slightly risen.
"Oh yeah? Your little boy toy here was bothering Adelaide."
Tate scoffed out loud before I pitched in for him, "He wasn't bothering me Walt, we were having a conversation." I took a side step from behind Tristan so I could actually see who I was talking to.
"I told you to stay out of this." Walter replied sharply.
"Then keep my fucking name out of it." I shot back. Walter took a step towards me, planning to do who knows what.
And I never got to find out because suddenly Tristan's arms shot out in front of him, shoving Walter back a few good paces.
Bryan, the host of the party, came out of nowhere the next second.
"Noooo, no, no. You ladies wanna dance, you take it outside. There is no way I'm letting any of you break my mother's fine china."
Walter had straightened himself out before shoving past Bryan to stand face to face with Tristan, as if Bryan hadn't said a word.
Riley and some of the other boys from the team had appeared behind Walter, clearly ready to back him up if needed. Tate shuffled closer to Tristan, but they were still heavily out-numbered.
I could tell from the side of his face that Tristan was just as angry as Walter. I saw his chest rise and fall at a quicker pace than what was considered normal. His hands were balled into tight fists at his side.
I didn't even think about it before I reached out and grabbed his hand. Then when I processed what I did, I was almost embarrassed at myself, until I felt Tristan loosen his fist and allow me to lace my fingers through his own.
I observed the clench in his jaw loosen as well, and the rise and fall of his chest began to slow. All the while, he still had his hard glare glued to Walter.
"Tristan, let's just go. He's not worth your time or attention." I whispered to him so that no one else could hear. He tightly nodded once after a moment and allowed me to guide him towards the front door.
"aw come on Tristan," Walter shouted after us, "A loner boy maybe, but I didn't take you for a pussy."
The sound of a fist connecting to bare skin stopped us both in our tracks. We looked back to see Walter collapsed on the ground, gripping his jaw. Tate stood over him with a smug expression on his face.
"How about we get the real party started?" Tate shouted, and then threw another punch at the next boy that advanced towards him. Shouts and yelling were almost drowning out the music now as people egged on the fight.
