Broken (8 page)

It wasn't until we got closer that I realized
there was something wrong with the circle of kids surrounding the
combatants. Normally everyone pressed in tight for the best
possible view.

The spectators in this fight seemed divided
into two groups, with a fairly significant space between them. The
rest of the students seemed to be reluctant to fill that gap in. It
wasn't until Britney pulled me closer that I understood why.

Brandon stood surrounded by his friends on
one side of the circle, with Alec and a smaller group standing
opposite them. The tension in the room was like the air before a
lightning strike, charged and unpredictable, a living organism on
the point of materializing out of thin air and attacking anything
surrounding it.

Taking in the two groups, I was amazed at the
disparity before my eyes. The kids behind Brandon were half again
as many as the gathering behind Alec, and they were eager for the
confrontation, watching with excited eyes, and large smiles.

Alec's company on the other hand awaited the
coming fight with calm exteriors and a sense they were bowing
before the inevitable conflict without conceding anything to their
opponents. They were fewer in number, but the men were larger than
anyone other than Alec or Brandon, and I somehow knew even the
girls were dangerous.

With a sudden start I realized the
confrontation wasn't between Brandon and Alec as I'd originally
thought. Instead the stuck up blond I'd first met in the office,
was squared off against a brunette less than three quarters her
size. As Britney pulled us even closer, almost into the dead zone
between the two factions, I finally realized the smaller girl was
Rachel.

"You're going to get what's coming to you,
you little slut."

The blond's voice sounded exactly like I'd
imagined, arrogant, vindictive and only barely controlled. Rachel
on the other hand sounded calm, speaking in tones I shouldn't have
been able to hear, except the spectators were unnaturally
quiet.

"I haven't done anything to you Cassie and
you know it. This is all just an excuse."

I looked around for teachers, but they were
still conspicuously absent. There wasn't time. Even if they arrived
right now, someone was probably going to get hurt.

Cassie tossed her blond hair and smiled, a
plastic expression that bordered on a smirk. "Shut your lying
mouth. I'm really going to enjoy this."

Britney had positioned herself so she could
see Brandon, as a consequence, I could see Alec's entire group, and
I was amazed by their reaction to Cassie's belligerence. Jasmin's
pretty lips drew back in something that looked almost like a snarl,
and she'd tensed up so tightly she was almost shaking.

For a heartbeat I thought Jasmin would launch
herself at the other girl, but Alec reached over without looking,
and grabbed her arm. A stocky, middle-eastern looking boy to Alec's
right looked like he wanted to act as well, but he was looking at
Alec, and an almost imperceptible head shake stopped him.

I'd been so busy watching the byplay behind
Rachel that I'd missed the last two exchanges between her and
Cassie. Whatever had been said must have been bad though. Rachel
was shaking, and the blond looked like someone about to pull the
wings off a butterfly.

I could feel my heartbeat climbing, slamming
away at my ribs with all the energy of a full blown panic attack,
but I wasn't dizzy, just scared.

The cafeteria workers had all turned around
so their backs were facing us, a sight which kindled the first
spark of anger, an emotion that burned brighter because of the fear
still coursing through me.

There was a gasp as Cassie shoved Rachel, a
misleadingly-casual motion that sent the smaller girl stumbling
back into Alec's chest hard enough to leave bruises.

The typical catcalls were still absent, it
was as if nobody viewed this as a normal fight, like there was
somehow more at stake.

I'd been waiting for someone to intervene on
Rachel's behalf. It was obvious she knew nothing about fighting.
Cassie wasn't the kind of girl to fight just to prove a point and
then forget about the incident afterwards. Just looking at her, I
knew she'd remember any slight for as long as she lived, and she
had enough influence in the school to make just about anyone's life
miserable. She probably got away with things just because nobody
was willing to cross her. Rachel was going to get hurt.

I was still thinking about
all the ways 
I
 could get hurt when I stepped through the no-man's land
and into the circle. The parts of me that weren't emotionally dead,
that were still behaving rationally despite the accident, were
screaming in terror. There probably wasn't anyone in the school
that knew less about fighting than me. I knew I should turn around
and run away before Cassie realized I was serious, but somehow I
didn't care.

Cassie's arsenal of nasty tricks wouldn't be
so effective against someone who'd already been kicked out of their
house and moved to another state. All I really needed to do was
survive the next few minutes. I'd be out of the state before she
really got busy making my life miserable.

A dozen different things I could say blew
through my mind, but they were all competing, and none of them
seemed to fit the situation. In typical fashion, I found myself
without anything clever to say. Instead I just stood there and
stared at Cassie.

I'd thought things were tense already, but
where everyone had been quiet before, now they were motionless
too.

Cassie spun around and glared at me. "Take
off."

I shook my head and clenched my fists a
little tighter. "Leave her alone."

For a second I thought Cassie would go
through with it. Her knuckles went white, and her breathing sped
up. I knew if she sprang at me, I was going to get really hurt.

When Brandon's hand appeared on Cassie's
shoulder to restrain her, I thought for a second my knees would
buckle. A few seconds later, it was as if nothing had ever
happened. The ring of spectators dissolved as kids quickly returned
to their tables. Brandon and his friends left through one set of
cafeteria doors, while Alec and his departed through the other.

Britney looked like she was trying to decide
whether to be mad or impressed, but I felt too sick to stick around
and try to nudge her in either direction. I mumbled something I
hoped sounded intelligible and headed towards the bathroom. I
passed Mr. Simms and another teacher on my way out, but apparently
I looked as awful as I felt. They just shot me stern looks rather
than stopping me to ask what had happened.

It wasn't until I'd finished dry heaving and
was trying to clean myself back up, that I wondered where they'd
been. The school building wasn't that big. If they'd really been
trying to break up the fight, they should have arrived minutes
earlier.

I thought about hiding in the bathroom for a
while, but that was exactly the kind of place a girl like Cassie
would want to catch me. Instead I took a deep breath and walked
outside.

Britney was waiting for me. By her expression
she'd decided on being mad. "Do you realize what you just did?"

I was still fresh out of witty comments. I
just shrugged instead.

Britney had been mad before, now she looked
furious. "You just picked sides, and you picked the wrong one."

Maybe I still wasn't recovered from my ordeal
on Friday; I felt like I was missing something obvious. Britney
apparently agreed, and she wasted no time in letting me know what
it was.

"There are two in crowds here; Brandon's
group, which consists of all of the athletes and cheerleaders, and
Alec's group, which is about half the size, and outside of his
immediate friends, is made up of a few geeks and misfits. You were
on the border of getting in with Brandon, but just threw all of
that away to save Alec's little sister when he's too much of a
coward to do it himself."

I wanted to protest, to explain why everyone
should be able to get along, or point out that despite Brandon's
obvious appeal, it was his friend that was wrong, but Britney had
already turned and stalked off. I probably would've spent the next
few minutes refining my arguments for the next time we talked, but
the last thing Britney had said finally sunk in.

His sister. Rachel was Alec's sister, and he
hadn't made a move to save her. He hadn't even been willing to let
his friends step in and stop the fight.

I drifted off to History thinking that I
would've done almost anything to save my sister. It would take a
real heartless individual to abandon their own family. My anger
buffered me just enough to think about Cindi without the usual
consequences, but I still wasn't really in top form. I was halfway
through my class before I realized Mr. Simms had been shooting me
dark looks for the last twenty minutes. They weren't the obvious
nasty looks that kids shoot each other of course. They were subtle
and infrequent but there was something about the set of his mouth
that made it clear he wasn't pleased I was in his class.

I shrugged it all off and gutted my way
through class, eagerly planning what I'd say to Alec when I saw him
in physics, only when I finally stalked into Mrs. Alexander's class
Alec wasn't sitting in his corner desk.

I pulled out my notes and started reviewing
what I'd managed to learn about our project, stalling until he
arrived so I could give him a piece of my mind. Only he never
walked through the door.

I still had my anger, but it wasn't
cushioning me as well for some reason. It felt like another attack
was on the way. My pulse was skyrocketing and the room seemed to
waver as my vision dimmed. It didn't make sense to be having a
panic attack right now, but images of Cindi swam into view,
alternating with pictures of Alec and Rachel.

It was like Alec's cruelty to his sister
somehow meant I was failing Cindi. I concentrated all of my energy
on thinking about Alec, about how much I hated him, about what I
was going to say to him next time I saw him.

Beyond all expectations, it worked. My heart
rate slowed down to something approaching normal, and the room
stopped moving around. By the time Mrs. Alexander finished taking
the roll, and returned her pencil to its customary place behind her
ear, I'd stabilized enough that I could read my notes again.

The group project was due tomorrow, and since
Alec hadn't bothered to make an appearance in class since my first
day in Sanctuary, it was looking like I'd have to do the whole
thing by myself if I wanted to pass. Yet another reason to hate
him.

So far I'd had zero luck figuring out why
rain puddles in the parking lot sometimes had colors on them, sort
of like little earthbound rainbows. I turned around and picked a
reference book at random. It was a weighty thing that might or
might not have the answer, but at the very least promised to keep
me occupied for the duration of the class.

I finally found something promising about
fifteen seconds before the bell rang. I probably would've stayed
there trying to cram information into my head, but Mrs. Alexander
walked by with a smile on her face as the last of the other
students filed out of the room.

"If you're really that enthralled by a
college physics book, you're more than welcome to take it home with
you tonight. Just promise to bring it back in the same condition.
Remember, I'm less concerned with your answer, and more interested
in the process you take to try and solve the problem. Of course the
right answer never hurts."

I smiled and hurried out of class with a
'thank you'.

I shouldn't have bothered rushing. I slipped
into Spanish exactly three seconds before the late bell sounded,
but Mrs. Tiggs wasn't even there. When she finally did show up, we
had a surprise quiz on our vocabulary. Once we finished she turned
on the television and told us to listen for conjugation.

I almost wished I shared the class with
Britney, her dad seemed like the type to get six kinds of riled up
over something like that. He'd probably go straight to the school
board and demand a new Spanish teacher altogether.

It was a real relief when I was finally able
to leave the drab little classroom. I stopped off at my locker
before heading to the tutor room, but Britney was nowhere to be
seen. Probably still mad. I mentally shrugged as I swapped out
books, and set off.

Rachel was already seated in her usual spot
in no-man's land. I debated where to sit for a second. I'd done the
right thing in standing up to Cassie, but I didn't want to further
alienate Brandon, or put myself anymore firmly in the group of
idiots who looked to Alec as their master and liege. Before I could
finish weighing the pros and cons, Rachel looked up and caught my
eye.

The smile that appeared on her face was
tentative but genuine, and completely resolved my doubts. I
returned her shy greeting with a smile of my own, and sat down at
the table closest to her.

Britney entered the tutor lab a few minutes
later, and frowned at me before going over and sitting at the end
of the room containing the jocks and cheerleaders. Apparently I was
supposed to have waited?

I sighed and flipped open my book. As I
finished up my second assignment for the day, I realized I was
parched. My trusty water bottle was empty when I reached for it, so
I quietly stood and left the room. I thought I remembered where the
closest drinking fountain was. Even so, I planned on getting a
little lost before I found it. I didn't however plan on nearly
colliding with Alec as he slowly rounded the corner in front of
me.

The tension of the near fight earlier had
distracted me from just how incredible looking he was. There was no
such refuge now. For a moment I couldn't think of anything other
than how the dark blue of his shirt brought out his tan
complexion.