The reassuring warmth of his girlfriend's soft body pressed into his side as he kept a tight, protective arm wrapped around her and led her to her locker calmed Jackson's rattled nerves. He had no way of knowing what Taylor had planned as revenge for his little outburst about what exactly she could do with her attitude - although specifics hadn't been given as to exactly where she could stick said attitude, he figured she got the idea. It hadn't been at all reassuring when Jory had told him once school was out for the day that Taylor was pouting with her posse and they were murmuring about something. He knew she was up to something and with Melissa not yet able to walk without assistance, school was going to be hell.
"Jackson, calmati, baby. Non vuole provare tutto qui." Melissa murmured, rubbing his shoulders with her hand, trying to calm him down. "Se lo fa, sarà quando uno di noi è solo." (Jackson, calm down, baby. She won't try anything here. If she does, it'll be when one of us is alone.)
"Lo so. Sono solo preoccupato per quello che proverò se lei riesce a prendere uno di noi da solo." Jackson mumbled into her ear, his Italian speeding up with every word until it was rolling off of his tongue. (I know. I'm just worried about what she'll try if she does manage to catch one of us alone.)
Without warning, Melissa found herself being pressed up against the lockers, out of sight of Taylor, who was click-clacking in their direction in high-heels and a flouncy mini-skirt that left almost nothing to the imagination. On instinct, Melissa fisted the back of Jackson's shirt and kept him pressed against her. With her posse behind her, Taylor looked more ridiculous than intimidating and Melissa fought the urge to snicker into Jackson's shoulder blade.
"Jackson."
With a flick of her wrist, a wiry strand of white-blonde hair was tossed over her shoulder and eyelashes, clumped with too many layers of mascara, batted flirtatiously. Her sparkly pink glossed lips smacked together with a loud pop as she blew him a kiss and continued on down the hall. Jackson visibly relaxed and turned around so that he could hold his girlfriend again. His head dropped and his forehead rested against her collarbone as she stroked his dark hair.
"Calm down, babe. Nothing's going to happen." Her soft voice flitted into his ear, her hot breath tickling the outer shell. He was surprised to feel the plump curve of her lip pressing on that sensitive area just behind his earlobe. His fingers tightened around her hips and he moaned into her collarbone. She pressed a little harder and opened her mouth slightly, to allow her tongue access to the warm skin of his neck.
"Jackson."
"Melissa." He pushed her further into the lockers and raised his head to look into her soft chocolate eyes. "Melissa. I don't want her to hurt you."
"Hmph!" Melissa guffawed in disbelief as she nudged him with her sore ankle. "A little late for that don't you think."
"That's not what I mean." Jackson rocked his hips against hers slightly, pushing against her so that she was pressed against his body tighter. "I mean, I don't want her to find out about your parents and try to use it to hurt you. Which, if I know Taylor, is exactly what she'll do."
"Is she still upset about prom?"
"I think it's more than prom. I think she's upset because of us in general, not just what happened at prom." Jackson told her softly. "Since I've come here, my friends include the class president, the resident surfer and his best friend and the quarterback of the football team. Taylor's own boyfriend is the class-clown. Babe, we've taken over what she considers her school. That's pissed her off. She's pissed that a former foster kid has more friends than she does and his best friend and girlfriend is the school sweetheart while she's forever the Ice Queen."
"You think she's childish enough to be pissed off about something like that?" Melissa looked up at Jackson skeptically.
"I think she's absolutely childish enough to be pissed off about something that petty and childish." Jackson told her, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "She's Taylor Hagan. She tripped you at prom because you won a crown that she thought should have been hers."
"Damn. She is that childish." Melissa growled slightly. "I can't believe that collosal bi-"
"Mel." Jackson shook his head, tilting his head toward the group of giggling ditzes standing near them. "That's Taylor's gossip crew. They report what they hear back to her."
"Seriously?" Melissa raised a thin ebony eyebrow.
"Watched 'em do it." Jackson nodded his head as he backed away from her and pulled her from the lockers as Ian idled up beside her and ruffled her hair.
"Hey Lil' Sis."
"Are you gangster now, Ian?"
"Little girl," Ian wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her head down, rubbing the knuckles of his free head on her scalp vigorously, messing up her hair and making her giggle. "I am not gangster."
"Could've fooled me," Melissa pursed her lips innocently and stood up, reaching up to smooth her hair down with her free hand while she braced her other hand on Jackson's shoulder. Jackson wrapped his arm around her waist and hoisted her up slightly so that her weight shift and he could pull her into him. "Jackson?"
"If you see Taylor today, you avoid contact with her. Don't even look at her." Jackson mumbled, kissing her forehead. "You stay with Ian until we have our next class together. Ian's the only thing keeping her from getting to you and even that's not a guarantee."
"Okay."
"And Melissa?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't doubt for a second that she won't try something worse than prom. Physical, mental, emotional...she'll use whatever tactic she can to hurt both of us." Jackson warned her as he shifted her over to Ian. "Bella, don't you dare let your guard down around her. Her bite really is worse than her bark."
xxx
The cafeteria was an over-abundance of eleventh and twelfth graders with the same lunchtime. Spilled beverages, various condiments and mysterious substances that the school tried to pass of as food littered the tables. Endless chattered echoed in the large cafeteria and if it hadn't of been for Melissa, Jackson might have seriously considered skipping lunch altogether, if only to avoid the noise. School cafeterias should have been considered unsanitary. Lunch from the cafeteria was made up of questionable substance, that noone was sure qualified as food. Students dropped food and never bothered to pick it up.
"This cafeteria should be considered unsanitary." Ian mumbled prodding at his food with a degree of uncertainty. "This food should be considered a biohazard."
"It isn't." Melissa sighed, munching on a Cheeto. "Why do you think I bring my own lunch?"
"You have no need for an emergency stomach pump? You have no reason for an instant vomit inducer? You don't want to stay home with food poisoning?" Ian listed off the many reasons he could think of to bring his own lunch but yet, he hadn't learned. "You don't want clogged arteries, no need for a heart-attack..."
"I don't feel the need for whatever comes out of my body as a result of eating that to be considered toxic waste and risk killing the whole of man-kind." Melissa retorted dryly, pointing one orange-powder covered pinkie at the mystery meat hanging limply from Ian's fork. "Although I wouldn't mind giving that to a certain blonde, if only for my own personal amusement."
"You are aware she can hear you right, she's sitting right behind you?" Jory asked her, munching on her own salty pretzel.
"Oh who cares." Melissa waved it off, dipping into her bag of Cheetos again. "Let the collosal queen of mean hear me."
Jackson couldn't help but snicker at the nickname. He buried his face in the top of Melissa's head in a failed attempt to hide the amused laughter. Lingering mirth danced in his eyes as Ian, Jory and Melissa soon joined in and were laughing right along with him. Melissa laughed as she stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked the orange powder off of her skin. She repeated the process until her fingers were free of the cheesy powder.
"Collosal queen of mean, I'll have to remember that one, Mel!"
Sitting at the table behind them, a wiry-haired blonde scowled at the mention of her Ice Queen status. Her seafoam eyes darkened as she turned to her friends. Thick, clumped eyelashes and overly-glossed lips made every single blonde ditz at the table look exactly the same except for Melody Kyle, the only brunette of the bunch. She still bore the same thick, clumped eyelashes and overly-glossed lips but her dark hair made her stand out from the crowd.
"They're going to destroy us." Taylor informed them.
"They can't - "
"But that - "
"No - "
"They can and they will." Taylor cut them off. "Unless we destroy them first."
"There's no way we can destroy them." Melody shook her head. "Ian is friends with Chris. The blonde one and the Asian are both friends with the class president and the other one is friends with all of them. They have connections in this school. Combine that with Melissa's sweetheart status and you get the tightest-knit group in this school."
"That doesn't matter. Being the school sweetheart doesn't matter to me. I can take that from her." Taylor's smug grin made them all a little eerie. "If I can just get that loser Cody Jackson away from her."
"Cody Jackson?" Melody asked her friend; when Taylor nodded, Melody continued. "There is no way that'll happen. If he's away from her, Ian is with her. He's extremely protective of her. He won't let you near her. He's like her bodyguard. You'll never get her alone. Even if you do, she stands up for herself. She won't let you bully her."
"I don't bully. I simply give orders and refuse to take no for an answer." Taylor shook her head at her friend's stupidity.
"But that's - "
"Not important."
"Taylor -"
"How do we destroy them?"
Chapter Thirty-six is complete. We're getting closer and closer to forty chapters - my longest running story to date. Of course if you're reading this than I've ended my status as a hermit, but at one time my twitter was in hibernation as was my time away from this site. Contemplating extending my status as a hermit further than just posting an update and calling it over. Thinking about just disappearing for a while. Taking a break from twitter, fanfiction and maybe even Facebook (yeah right, my Dad would be calling me nightly wondering what the hell was going on.) Leave me some love Dolls.
Love ya.
RobertDowneyJrLove