the price of being ace

Chapter 6

Digs^
I get to practice on this beautiful Wednesday morning and find that I'm one of the first ones into the locker room along with Cassie,Lilly,sophomore Emily not senior Emily who everyone calls by her last name and digs
"Hey juvie hows it going? You look tired" Emily asks and I think Cassie's rubbed off on her a bit
"Not bad and Yeah didn't sleep well but I'll survive" I say changing my shirt
"Dude you got cut abs" digs says and I smile
"Yeah" I say ruffling a hand through my hair
"Careful juvie emmie here's a lesbian you don't want her catching feels for a straight girl" Lilly says and Emily blushes awkwardly and i feel even more awkward because I'm not out to anyone besides jo
"Really?" I ask and smile at her
"They don't mean to but sometimes their jokes are a little homophobic,I just ignore it" Emily whispers pushing past me into the bathroom
"What's up demons,its ya girl" n.c says loudly as she walks into the locker room with Taylor

I can't believe Tristan only got a couple day suspension for exposing my history with the legal system
"Wanna talk about it?" Jo asks and I shake my head
"It's just not fair" I say as Paige comes marching up to us
"He's suspended so I hope you're happy" he says and I furrow my brow at her like what the heck he's the one who exposed me to the entire school publicly
"No I'm not he should've gotten worse and here's the essay he stole so you can get your A tomorrow" I say then realize how much I sound like jo in that moment and laugh
"What's so funny" she asks fuming at what I said
"Maybe I am turning into jo but dude you're always angry chill a bit" I say feeling confident and she opens her mouth to retort but closes it again and just walks away
"That was hilarious you totally beat her there" jo say laughing with me
"Yeah it's Monday I'm too tired for this" I say and she offers me a sip of her coffee but I decline since she likes hers really strong
"Suit yourself" she says but I was already planning on going to seven eleven at lunch so I'll buy a monster there

second period wasn't much but it made me tired so After getting a monster punch from seven eleven I join jo and some others who are at the table she's sitting at
"Hey" she says as I sit down next to her
"Ham and cheese again" I say and she laughs
"I have to go shopping after school ok" she says and one of the others laughs
"You're one to talk ace,caffeine is not a real lunch" he says and I shrug
"Don't be like that Sam" I say and jo laughs
"Look it's the weirdo table and their queen the ace of juvie" I hear a boy say behind me
"See this is why I'm not interested in football boys" i say to jo after glancing behind me and seeing Declan and George
"Hey what was that" Declan says and I shrug
"Does it make you feel macho or something to pick on people" jo says before I can say anything to diffuse the situation
"Are you going to let mommy and daddy issues over here hog all the attention juvie" Declan says
"Maybe she went to juvie for stealing kittens or something" George says and now I'm mad

I hate talking about what I did because In the moment I didn't think about the consequences I just wanted my parents attention because they were always so busy with their billion dollar corporation that they didn't even notice when I stole cars so I had to go bigger
"If you must know I murdered two doofuses who bullied me at my last school" I say and I watch their faces go from smug to shock then back again
"Ha Ha Very funny" Declan says sarcastically clueing in that Im joking
"Can you just leave us alone" jo says and I notice we've caught the attention of everyone in the cafeteria
"Whatever later losers" he says and walks away with George in tow probably to avoid everyone watching

I'm in the bathroom when I hear someone crying in the stall and see what I recognize as Emily's shoes
"Hey Emily is that you?" I ask and the crying stops momentarily
"Ace?" She asks recognizing my voice
"Yeah it's me and I know you don't know me well but if you wanna talk in here and I also know that sounds really weird considering we're in the bathroom right now" I say and she unlocks the door and comes out
"Sure but not here" she says so I follow her totally forgetting about calling aunt Kate

Sure meeting Emily in the bathroom was kinda weird but we're teammates now and to me that means we take care of each other so if one of us has a problem we stick by that person and help them through it
"So what's bothering you?" I ask as we finally stop just behind the furthest bookshelf in a hidden corner of the library
"I know people don't necessarily mean it but all this kinda homophobic jokes and comments hurt" she says and I get where she's coming from
"There are a lot of assholes at this school trust me I know and as much as I would like to say that I ignore them it's hard for me to but at the end of the day I have my friends to help me" i say and she smiles weakly at me
"Were there bullies in juvie?" She asks and it kinda catches me off guard a bit
"Yeah and in all honesty I hate talking about it but I wasn't ready for the consequences that sent me there I mean all I wanted was attention and I got beat up a lot because of that" I say and she gives me this confused look
"So are you really cool with me being gay?" She asks and I laugh
"Let me tell you something,you're a lot braver than I am and I'm sure you'll make it because I don't think I even have the courage to formally come out like you did" I say and she smiles
"You're gay?" She says sounding surprised
"Bi But yeah doesn't your gaydar work I mean look at me" I say and she laughs