My Friends and My Bully Chapter 10

My Friends and My Bully Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Whole New World

‘Anna‘

I looked at Hazel. We had plans to train tonight, so I wasn’t sure what she was going to say next. To be honest. I would have gone anywhere Hazel wanted. She had won

me over so quickly, a quiet encouragement always pushing me to be braver, bolder,

better.

“Hmm…I don’t know, we sort of need to train tonight. And I already know the only

thing you boys train for is picking up boys, so I don’t really think you can help us…”

Hazel answered, trailing her words as she twirled a finger in the ends of her blonde

hair.

“It’s not like that, and you know it.” Roman corrected her with a lopsided grin. “It’s just some of us hanging out in the backwoods. We’re gonna have a few drinks, a little music. It’s all low key. You’ll love it, I promise. And if you don’t, you can hold

me, personally, responsible.”

Hazel pressed a finger to her lips, pretending to consider. “Well, with that kind of endorsement, I’m still not so sure. Anna, what do you think?”

She turned the full force of her gaze onto me. The world must fall to their knees at Hazel’s feet. I would have given her whatever answer she wanted, and she knew it. But she didn’t use it against me. Instead, she used the way I leaned on her like a crutch in social situations to both of our advantage, bringing me out of my shell and guaranteeing she always had a friend.

“I guess we could go for a little while,” I hummed, resting a hand on my hip.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Caleb and Aaron look at each other with a look I couldn’t quite understand. Roman clenched a fist and grinned. Thank God my brother wasn’t with them this time. I wondered what my brother would think of

this. Anyway, let him stew. It was time for me to cut loose a little and try to have a good time.

“Well, hang on a second. We haven’t agreed to go yet,” Hazel interrupted, raising her perfectly arched brows.

“What’s it going to take to convince you?” Roman asked, stepping closer.

If I were Hazel. I’d be intimidated by the way he loomed over her, nearly a full head taller than her. His eyes darkened, and his tongue darted out to wet his lips.

Hazel, instead of balking, lifted her eyes to meet his, a smirk toying at the edge of her full, pink lips. Tension radiated through the scene, the magnetic pull between the two of them nearly enough to snap them together at the slightest

encouragement.

“I just don’t want to waste my Friday night at some lame ass hang out. I need to

know it’s going to be worth my time,” she challenged, face still leveled at his chest,

only her eyes upturned to see Roman’s face.

He reached down, using the crook of his finger to tip her chin up to turn her full

face to him. “It’s tradition, sweetheart. You wouldn’t want to break tradition, would

you?”

It seemed like the entire group was holding their breath, watching this exchange,

this power play. Who would win? Roman was barely a breath away from his mouth on hers, and Hazel still had that dangerous, challenging look on her face.

“I’ve never been the traditional type,” she retorted, jerking her chin free of his grasp. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned toward me, holding out her hand.

I reached for it, going to follow her.

“Please?” Roman called, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned to look over her shoulder, feet staying planted in place. “What should we

wear?”

You would have thought she’d agreed to pay them each a million dollars based on the celebration that went on between them all.

“Just…dress warm,” he suggested, eyes wide as he studied the two of us.

Hazel turned and dragged me away, leaving without uttering another word to the group.

“I guess we’re going to a party.” she murmured, a dazzling smile lighting her whole face.

It made me feel giddy too. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I was finally going to live out the high school experience I saw on TV. I was going to a real party, with boys. I had no idea what to expect from it, to be honest.

“You’re coming home with me, right? We have to pick something to wear,” she insisted, dragging me toward her car.

“Uh, sure, I guess,” I answered, getting in the passenger seat of her car.

She chuckled as she started the car and pointed it toward her house.

“How come you didn’t know about this party if it’s such a ‘tradition‘ around here?”

she asked, sounding slightly suspicious.

“I don’t have friends, Hazel. No one invites me to parties, of any kind,” I answered, forcing back the bite in my tone. She didn’t mean anything unkind with her question. She was blunt, she was forward, it was something I appreciated about her. I knew what she was thinking. I didn’t have to guess what she felt about me.

“I’m your friend,” she answers quietly. “Or did you forget about picking the silver beads out of a gaping wound in your back?” Her tone lifted at the second half of her answer, as if the mention of having to clean up one of Piper’s messes wasn’t one of

the most grim days of my life.

Except it wasn’t. Because I made a real, true friend from that. She was righe

“Yeah, yeah, don’t remind me,” I waved off, looking out the window for a second almost missed feeling numb as a surge of gratitude threatened to choke me “How did you know to look for those anyway?” I added, turning to face her once more

“My parents, they… They work for the Alpha. They’re biologists. He has them

working in chemical weapons and pharmaceuticals right now.” She clearly chose

her words carefully, gauging my response.

“Chemical warfare?” I asked incredulously.

“Don’t look at me like that. You think I don’t know? It’s why I don’t have many friends either. Lots of people want to hurt my parents because they know what they do for a living. They know they can hurt them by getting at me. And if they aren’t trying to hurt my parents, they’re so disgusted by what they do, they won’t even associate with us.” Hazel huffed a humorless laugh, gripping the steering

wheel tighter, her knuckles turning white.

“I’m sorry. I know that’s hard,” I answered, trying to sound sympathetic. I didn’t know what it was like to be exactly in her shoes, but I knew what it was like for the whole world to look at you with disdain.

“They’re just doing what they’re told,” she explained in a low voice. They have bills to pay. They really don’t even have a choice.”

That I could understand. Having to face reality as it was without having a choice was something I was very familiar with.