Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Two

John chuckled as a few of the nerds gathered around him to give Chance treats and pets. He knew that even though neither one of them particularly cared for the attention, that it would inevitably help them both with learning to trust people. He handed a short brunette girl one of Chance's meat sticks, letting her divide it between the group of freshmen to give to the pit bull.

"Did you really tell Mrs. Hernandez off?" Asked one of the boys, his too-big glasses slipping down on his nose.

John nodded, patting Chance on the shoulder-blades as she started to get excited. "I don't deal with bitches who judge a book by its cover." He smirked as Claire walked over to him, taking her delicate hand in his. "After all, the best stories are held in the most worn out books."

Claire shook her head, looking to the group of freshmen as she began to lead him and Chance toward the school psychiatrist's office. "Excuse us for a moment." She stopped outside of his office, taking Chance's leash from John. "Mr. Taylor asked me to find you. You were supposed to have your IQ test an hour ago."

John groaned, noticing a few other students waiting outside of the office for their own IQ tests. "Sweets, I don't want a fucking IQ test. It's a number on a paper. It means jack shit."

Claire wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing his collarbone. "It'll mean something to me if you'll just take the test." She smiled, feeling his body relax against her. "Just give it a shot."

He huffed a breath, pushing his fingers into her hair before he agreed. "Fine, but only because you're my Sweets." He looked into her eyes, able to see her joy in those pools. "Keep Chancie out of trouble."

She giggled, patting the black beast on her head. "Don't worry about it."

John stretched as Mr. Taylor finished up the test, starting back for the door and taking Chance's leash from Claire.

"How'd it go?" She asked, noticing that he was starting to tire out from the day.

He shrugged, opening his locker and pulling a bowl from the shelf before he filled it with water. "Went fine." His head snapped up as Jessica's cousin walked passed him, anger flaring in his chest as he saw that she was hanging off of Dominic's arm. "What the fuck man?" He snapped, feeling Chance move toward him and lean against his leg.

Dominic shot his cousin a look, pushing Jade behind him as he recognized the effect of John's emotions on his dog. "John. Settle down. She's just a friend."

"She's the psychopath's minion!" He snapped, his tone making Chance's behavior change enough that even Claire wouldn't be allowed near him.

"John." Dominic spoke in a firm voice, knowing that he could very well get nipped at if he wasn't careful. "Call Chance back." He looked into his cousin's eyes, trying to ground him like he'd done when they were children.

John's eyes narrowed, the irises going pure black as he stared his cousin down. "Chance. Hold." He growled.

Dominic nodded, able to see that the pet was still on edge. "Jade's alright. She doesn't agree with anything Medusa says and I think we can trust her."

John scoffed, thinking back to when they were children. "We can't trust every pretty face we see Dom."

"You trust Claire." He stated.

"Because she saved me from bleeding out!"

Claire's head snapped toward her boyfriend, hurt flashing behind her eyes. Did he really only trust her because of that one reason? Was there nothing else she'd done to earn his trust? All the nights spent holding him as he shook in fear from his nightmares, the countless hours she'd spent worrying about his fragile life hanging in the balance, the months she'd watched over him and taken the time to make sure he was okay… did all of that mean nothing to him? She huffed a breath, storming away from him and toward the library to burry herself in a book.