For the Love of Justice

Chapter Twenty One | I Don't Know The Monsters You Knew

School the next day was buzzing with the news of Marley's assualt, and as I walked through the halls between classes, I could hear the whispers and rumours getting gradually more and more outrageous with each period that passed.

"I heard he skitzed out and Matt was acting out in self defence." 

"Poor Matt. First he kills his sister, and then he tries to beat him up."

"I wonder how Samson's feeling about all this."

It wasn't until last period when I put my books down next to Cori in history that I had finally reached the point of exhaustion with the rumours. Marley had been near unconscious when he'd gone to the hospital, and his peers were dicussing how much of his fault this was.

It was outrageous, pathetic. 

"Hey, how are you?" Cori asked gently as I settled in to my seat beside her. "I heard what happened. Although what version should I believe?"

I sent Cori a small, grateful smile, knowing she was one of the good ones. "I'm fine, it's Marley everyone should be worried about. The rumours are pretty outrageous." 

Cori frowned, playing with the bracelet around her wrist. "It was really Matt?"

I nodded in confirmation. 

"Damn, that's really rough. How did you and Harlow find him?" Cori picked up her pen and started doodling on her notebook. 

"At that gang warehouse. It was so crazy, I've never been anywhere like that in my life. I met a guy called Riley, and he seemed alright for a gang member." I shook my head slowly, remembering the trip to the warehouse. 

Cori paused next to me, her eyes meeting mine briefly before she looked down again. "Riley Astor. His father's the leader." 

"Seriously?" I asked, intrigued. "He did look pretty intimidating. Do you know him?"

Cori nodded. "He's Kyle's older brother." 

My mind flashed back to the day in the library when we were talking about the gang, and Cori had mentioned about not all gang members were bad. I hesitated, before pushing on with my question.

"Kyle's the ex best friend, right?" 

"Yeah." She paused. "He was.'

"Do you mind if I ask what happened?" I said quietly, hoping I wasn't pressing on a nerve. Cori sighed, clasping her hands together.

"Me and Kyle had been friends for forever. My mum and dad used to like looking after him and Riley because their mother wasn't around and their dad's a sick bastard. About a year ago now, I don't know, he just got different. Started getting a lot more involved in the gang." She looked over at me. "He changed, and he didn't need me anymore." 

"I'm sorry," I murmured just as our teacher walked in and signalled the class to quieten down. 

"It's okay. Probably best we aren't friends anymore anyway." Cori shrugged, before flipping open her history book and started paying attention to what was already written on the board. 

For the rest of the period, I couldn't talk to her because she was so focused on the lesson, so I zoned out and began to think about the assualt again. 

Was I going to go visit Marley? I wanted to, and Archer had suggested I did, but would he just send me away again? When I'd talked to Archer and Jag at lunch, they said he had been discharged and was at home, so I was still making up my mind whether to go and see him or not. 

I didn't want to deal with the rejection if he said I wasn't welcome, but a part of me wanted to see how he was anyway. 

The bell brought me out of my reverie, and I quickly packed up, deciding that I was going to follow my gut on this one.