Chase your fate

chapter 8

Chase tensed his muscles preparing for the fight, balled up his fists and turned around quickly ready to swing for the fences.  A startled Kiira yelped as she jumped back against Ethan, almost knocking him to the ground.  "Holy crap Chase!  What the... hey!  What the hell happened to your face?".  Chase calmed himself a bit, letting his fists and muscles relax and his breathing slow back to normal.  Natalie joined the group, taking in the sight of a flustered Kiira, and Ethan gathering up the book that she had knocked from his hands.  "So, it's true.... isn't it Chase?".  Natalie looked at him in what he thought was disgust.  "Depends..." he said, trying to stay his anger "tell me what you heard, and I'll tell you if it's true."

Natalie huffed a little then continued "well... the guys in my Civics class said that you jumped Alex for no reason... You were just pissed about what he did to Lenora weren't you?  God chase, you don't always have to try to go defending people when it isn't wanted."  "T...That's what their saying happened?"  "Oh, don't act so innocent Chase... we all know that you hate him.. You would use any excuse to fight him."  Kiira glared at Natalie "hey.. that's not true and you know it." "Do I?  Really?  10 minutes after Lenora told him what happened, they're fighting in the hallway.  Chris and Luke said that Chase just came out from nowhere and attacked him, sounds legit to me?".  Chase shook his head, turned and kicked the locker. "Believe what you want Nat... I really don't care." "Chase?" Kiira almost whispered "Chase... what happened?".

He turned back to face the 3 of them, pleading in his eyes "You all really think that's who I am don't you?".  With that, Natalie looked at him "well, it had the opposite effect...  Lenora went to find him after class.. She's with him now apologizing for the trouble."  "SHE WHAT?" "You heard me Chase." "God.. ugh.. You've got to be kidding me right now." he said exasperated.  "You wanna know what really happened?  Fine." he said, his already soft voice beginning to get higher.  "I left the lunch room, just to get away, so i wouldn't cause trouble.  And when I came out of the bathroom... I saw... I saw.." he tried to calm down, not quite able to get the words out, till they finally came out in an almost whisper "I saw him and Devyn...  He was grabbing her... She was trying to get away from him... She.... she was ... afraid.". 

They all looked at him in different ways.  Ethan looked back and forth from Chase and Kiira in understanding.  He would have done the same thing.  Natalie looked at him with a shade of disbelief, knowing he wouldn't lie to them, but already having the story from the others to set her in motion.  But Kiira's eyes were on fire, in anger and frustration.  Anger, because she knew Chase better than anyone else, and she was the only one that really knew how much he was trying to talk to Devyn, and frustration, because she knew how hard he had been trying to stay away from fighting again.

Kiira pursed her lips together, almost hissing through her teeth "He did what?" she asked.  "I don't know.." he admitted "I just.. I came out.. and he was holding her wrists.. she was yelling for him to let go.. she looked scared.. I... I just snapped."  Ethan, always to one to try to lighten the serious moments, chimed it "His neck?".  Chase laughed a little, relaxing a bit "that was my intention.. but.. no."  The warning bell rang, bringing them back to reality.  "We better get going." Chase said, grateful for the excuse to leave.

The rest of the day had gone by uneventful until the final class of the day.  Chase had been dreading this since it all had went south.  The one class that he almost decided to skip.  Algebra.  Not just because he hated the imaginary numbers, the graphing, solving for x and such, but because the whole mess was in this final class.  He walked in, taking his seat in the back, like all of his classes, wishing once more that he could just disappear.  One by one they all made their way through the door.  Devyn came in first, taking her seat a few desks away, then Kiira and Ethan followed with Natalie close behind, all taking their seats around Chase.  Chris, Walt and Luke entered together like a band of merry men, snickering and laughing as they took their seats.  Others came in as time for class started, then, just before the bell, Alex came through the door with Lenora following in tow like a lost puppy holding her finger through his belt loop.

'You've got to be kidding me' Chase thought as he saw them come in.  Alex and Natalie both glaring at Chase.  Natalie with anger, Alex with a smirk of satisfaction that he knew the sight was enough to make Chase's blood boil.  They took their seats as the class began.  A pop quiz took his mind from one problem to the next, long enough to get through the class.  This time, when the final bell of the day rang, releasing them, Chase stayed in his seat until everyone else had filed out instead of making the mad dash to the jeep. 

Once the room was emptied, he gathered his things and left, making his way out to the parking lot.  He kept trying to go over the day in his mind.  What could he have done differently?  He thought that there was supposed to be some magical, life altering thing going on.  He had woken up alive!  That was supposed to mean something!  'It's worth the fight.' he kept reminding himself as he made his way to the jeep.  He opened the passenger door, tossing in his bag, then closing it.  His heart stopped as he turned to walk to the driver's side, only to find that Devyn was standing there, looking at him, her purse and backpack over her arm.

"H...hey."  he said in a shameful whisper.  She took a step closer, looking him over as if it was the first time she'd ever seen him.  He couldn't tell what was going on behind those soft brown eyes hidden behind her glasses.  Was she angry? Scared? Disgusted?  He looked at her as she stood observing him, till she finally spoke.  "Are... are you ... ok?" she asked, holding her arms against her chest.  "Are you?" he replied.  She shook her head, not quite giggling, but more of a nervous laugh.  "I'm not the one that went all WWE in the hallway.".  He looked down at his feet, then back to her. "I... I'm sorry about that.. I didn't... I mean.. I wasn't looking... I.. I mean.. I'm sorry Devyn.".  This time she did laugh.  "You really.. should stop apologizing to me today.  First you almost knock me on my butt... then you save it... and now.. you're acting like you're the one that was trying to grope me."  at that, his anger for Alex began to grow again.

He tried to grin through the light blush, trying to think up something to say that he wouldn't stutter through.  "I just.. It looked like you could use a hand is all.".  With that, she stepped closer blushing lightly herself, beginning to reach out to touch his arm, then remembering the way that he had pulled away the last time, just stopped, letting her hand pull back to her chest.  "Thank you..." she whispered, then turned away, making her way to her bus.  He stood there at his jeep, whispering as she drove away.  "You're welcome Devyn".  He got into the jeep, firing it up, pulling out of the parking lot, making his way home, all the way, hoping against hope, whispering to himself as he pulled in front of the house "It's worth the fight.... It's worth it."