All day on Sunday Thorne had tried to avoid thinking about Cress. He knew that she had every intention of breaking up with Julian; even Cinder had said so, but he couldn't keep that nagging feeling away from the pit of his stomach. What if she had changed her mind? What if she never got to it because Julian had kissed her and they ended up in a hardcore make out session instead? Or worse yet, what if she tried to break up with him and he didn't take it well? Julian didn't seem the type of guy who was good at handling rejection.
No, Cress was able to handle herself. What did Kai say? She did this all the time. She was a heart-breaker of men. Thorne's own heart clenched at the thought.
Thorne slumped onto his bed. All of these thoughts were driving him crazy. He needed to get out of the house, take his mind off of things. He decided that he would go to the lake with the schooner. After all, The Rampion still had not had a proper maiden voyage.
Thorne drove to the park with the windows down, letting the crisp autumn air tussle his hair and he felt increasingly better. By the time he pulled into the parking lot, however, the same queasy feeling he had felt in his stomach all morning returned tenfold. The last time he was at the lake with The Rampion, he had only sailed it for five minutes while drinking a bottle of cider alone and feeling sorry for himself.
Leaving his jeep parked in the lot, he made his way across the street towards the main square. He decided he would feel better if he just got some fresh air into his system. There were surprisingly few people in the town square even for an early Sunday evening, but Thorne preferred it that way. He walked along the shop-lined streets and meandered down the sidewalk. He was starting to feel much better when a window display caught his eye.
The setting sun lit the window of the bookshop. Inside, there were countless strips of ribbon coming down from the ceiling, their ends twisted together and swept towards a large tower of books. Upon further inspection, Thorne realized that the books displayed were stacked on top of each other, narrow at the bottom and flaring up at the top. It looked like a hot air balloon as the different colored book spines made up the vertical stripes of the balloon. Below the hot air balloon was a mosaic field of blue book covers with clusters of white books sitting on top. Thorne smirked to himself.
He pushed his way through the door of the shop, a bell sounded as he entered.
"Just one minute!" A disembodied voice called from the back.
Thorne stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he inspected the window display, not wanting to accidentally touch anything and send the whole scene toppling down.
"It's a hot air balloon." A voice spoke up from behind Thorne. This voice was the same that had called out from the back earlier, but it startled him now that it was so close.
Thorne turned around to see a pretty girl with dark brown hair and warm, brown eyes. She looked familiar and judging by her age, he realized she must go to East Commons High School.
The girl smiled at him and held up a woven basket with a spool of ribbon acting as a bangle on her wrist. "If you don't mind …" she said, gesturing to the display with her hands full.
"Of course." Thorne stepped back to let her pass. He watched as she placed the basket below the ballooning tower of books, positioning it just right. "Uh—do you need a hand with that?"
The girl looked over her shoulder at Thorne and smiled. "Sure." She handed Thorne the spool of ribbon. "Here, hold this."
Thorne took the spool and held it out to her as she snipped lengths of ribbon with a pair of scissors she pulled from her back pocket.
"I'm Thorne, by the way," Thorne said, introducing himself.
The girl looked up from her task and her eyes flashed, a grin spreading across her face. "Yeah, I know. We have English together."
Thorne rubbed the back of his neck nervously with his free hand, feeling the heat rise up on his skin. "Sorry. I don't usually—I mean, I—"
The girl patted his hand reassuringly. "It's okay. I'm Kate."
"Hi Kate."
Kate smiled, but kept her attention on her task. When she had cut enough lengths of ribbon, she began tying them to the display; one end to the basket, the other to a wire rig at the bottom of the book tower that Thorne could see now that he was closer.
"This is a really impressive set up you have."
Kate's eyes twinkled when she looked up at him. "Thanks! I made it myself. You really like it?"
Thorne nodded, but realized she couldn't see him while she was busy with the ribbon. "Definitely. I came inside just to get a better look."
Kate let out an audible laugh. "Then my work here is done." She finished tying the last of the ribbon and hopped off the ledge of the display, pocketing the scissors and sliding the spool of ribbon back onto her arm. "So now that you're here, can I interest you in a bit of light reading? Or heavy reading? Or if you don't like reading, we have a great selection of picture books."
Thorne was taken aback by Kate's enthusiasm. He rubbed the back of his neck again and decided to tell her he should be leaving when a thought occurred. "Do you have any Keats?"
Kate eyed him for what felt like a full minute before nodding and led him to the poetry section of the shop. She pointed to the K's and leaned against one of the shelves as Thorne read the spines, looking for Keats.
"Are you a poetry reader?" She asked him.
"No, but I thought maybe I would start."
"With Keats?"
Thorne finally looked at Kate. "What's wrong with Keats?"
She shrugged. "Nothing. He's just a bit flowery for my liking. But hey, maybe you like flowers."
Thorne immediately thought about Cress and how she smelled of roses. He tried to hide his smile. "You don't?"
Kate shrugged. "I prefer things that are precise and concrete. Like, architecture."
Thorne nodded as he pulled a copy of the Complete Poems of John Keats—the same one sitting on Cress's lap the day he showed her The Rampion—off the shelf and thumbed through it.
"Is that the winner?" Kate asked.
Thorne nodded again and followed Kate to the front counter to pay for the book. As she slipped the book into a brown paper bag, Thorne looked back towards the window display. It really was impressive. Kate handed him the book and he finally had the courage to speak up.
"You know, it looks like maybe you like flowers too," he said, pointing to all the ribbon hanging from the ceiling.
Kate laughed and waved him off. "See you around Thorne."
He waved goodbye and made his way back to his car.
Monday morning, Thorne stood at his locker, stuffing books into his backpack. He was just finishing up when someone came up and leaned against the lockers next to his, their face obscured by Thorne's door.
"I hope you're satisfied," came the voice.
Thorne closed the door of his locker and found Julian's steely grey eyes boring into him.
"W—what?" Thorne asked, surprised. He looked around to make sure Julian was talking to him, but knew he must have been because of the cold stare he was giving Thorne now.
"I hope you're happy—" Julian's voice was strained and Thorne could almost hear the guy gritting his teeth "—now that Cress and I are no longer dating."
Thorne took a step back. Julian's proximity to him was unnerving. "I don't know what you're talking about. Cress and I are just … friends." He wasn't sure he could even call her that.
Julian scoffed, scowling at a spot on the floor.
As much as it pained Thorne to say, he knew the words coming out of his mouth were true. "Nothing is going on between us."
Julian looked up, but instead of meeting Thorne's eyes, his gaze fell past him down the corridor. Thorne looked back to see Cress walking down the hallway with her friends.
Julian turned his eyes to Thorne and shrugged. "Whatever you say. She's not even that good in the sack. I was just looking for a hot piece of a—"
A hot surge of anger shot up Thorne's spine and he dropped his backpack before lunging at Julian. Putting all of his weight into the movement, he managed to connect his fist with Julian's jaw. He heard a crack as pain shot through his hand and vibrated up his arm. He knew instantly that he had broken something.
Julian managed to put some distance between them while Thorne stumbled back, clutching his hand to his own chest. Before Thorne could even catch his breath, Julian lurched forward and his fist landed a blow against the side of Thorne's face. His head snapped back and his body ached more from the strain on his neck than the impact of Julian's fist against his eye. Thorne leaned against the stone wall of the corridor for relief, but was surprised when Julian attacked him again, this time aiming his blows against Thorne's midsection.
Someone yelled and footsteps came running, but it all sounded too far away to be of any help to Thorne at the moment. Thorne felt like he was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen to his lungs and the incessant pounding on his abdomen when Julian's punches halted as abruptly as it had started.
Thorne looked up to see that Wolf and Kai had Julian sandwiched between them, holding him back by the arms. Cress rushed over to Thorne who was now doubled over and gasping for air. He was secretly glad that he had skipped breakfast that morning. It was humiliating enough that Cress saw Julian using Thorne as a punching bag; he didn't want her to see him throw up as well.
Cress took Thorne's face into her hands and pulled his head up so she could inspect him. All of the pain in his body stopped momentarily when he saw the concern etched in her mesmerizing blue eyes. Then his stomach plummeted and he visibly winced when Cress's eyes flashed with anger. An apology began forming in his mouth before Cress dropped her hands from Thorne's face and spun on her heels. She marched towards Julian, who was still in the clutches of her friends.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled and stomped on his foot.
Julian howled as Cress's heel connected with his toes. Even though the pain caused him to lean forward, he was still too tall for Cress to punch in the face so she settled for landing a punch squarely in his stomach. Wolf let go of Julian and wrapped his arms around Cress's waist, pulling her away from the groaning boy.
All of the yelling had probably echoed down the halls because there was a crowd around them now and Thorne was mortified. Principal Vargas pushed through the throng of students and eyed Thorne, Julian, Kai, Wolf, and Cress all in turn.
"All of you. My office. Now."
Wolf hesitated for a brief moment before he let go of Cress and she stepped forward. "Principle Vargas, Thorne needs to go to the nurse."
The tall, stern man eyed Thorne, who was still doubled over in pain, and nodded curtly.
"I can take him," Cress volunteered.
"No, Miss Darnel. You need to come to my office."
Cinder and Scarlet, who up until then had stayed motionless, passed a look between each other before stepping forward. They each eased a shoulder under one of Thorne's armpits as support.
"We'll take him to the nurse," Cinder said as she place a hand on Thorne's chest, steadying him.
"Thank you, Miss Linh, Miss Benoit. Now, the rest of you get to class."
The crowd shuffled to their first period class as two of the most popular girls in school helped Thorne limp towards the nurse's office.
Nurse Nainsi clucked her tongue at Thorne as she examined him. He winced as she poked and prodded and yelped in pain as she took his hand into hers. She clucked some more.
"You may have two broken fingers, Carswell," she said to him as she eyed him over her spectacles.
Thorne nodded in acknowledgement.
"You're going to have to go to the hospital. You're also going to have to talk to Principal Vargas. I can call your parents to pick you up and you can come back to school to speak with him after you're done."
"I'd rather just get it over with Principal Vargas now," Thorne mumbled.
"You need x-rays and if your fingers are broken, the longer you wait the more risk of them not healing properly." Nurse Nainsi eyed him, but gave in when he gave her a pleading look. She continued to cluck her tongue, but taped up his hand and gave him two ice packs, one for his hand, the other for his eye where a bruise was already starting to bloom.
Thorne was surprised to see that the principal's office was empty when he got there. He was called into the cramped office immediately and took a seat in one of the worn leather chairs across from Vargas's desk.
"Mr. Thorne, I have heard what Mr.'s Chase, Kesley, and Prince and Miss Darnel had to say regarding this morning's events. Can you please tell me what happened?" Principal Vargas's voice was stern, but tired.
"I attacked Julian. He retaliated. Wolf and Kai stepped in to intervene," Thorne answered, voice so even it surprised himself.
"And Miss Darnel?" Vargas asked.
Thorne shrugged, not making eye contact.
"I showed up just in time to see Miss Darnel physically assault Mr. Chase."
Thorne's head shot up. "She was—he—he said unsavory things about her, sir."
"I see." Principal Vargas templed his fingers against his lips. "As you know, Mr. Thorne, as laid out in the student handbook, we have a zero tolerance policy for any violence on school grounds. You, Mr. Chase, and Miss Darnel are suspended from school for the next week."
Thorne gaped at him. He didn't know where the anger came from, maybe it was finally boiling over from the fight that morning, but it caused Thorne to have an outburst in front of the principal. "A week?! Even Julian? When he used me as a punching bag?"
Principal Vargas looked sternly at Thorne. "From what I saw of Mr. Chase, I'd say you got a punch in yourself." His eyes flickered from the ice pack that was pressed against Thorne's face to the one sitting on top of Thorne's hand. "Now please, go have that hand looked at by a doctor."
Thorne thought he saw sympathy in Vargas's eyes before the man stood up and opened the door. He wanted to argue for a longer sentence for Julian or at least a shorter one for himself and Cress, but when Principal Vargas started tapping his finger on the doorknob, he had no choice but to get up and leave. He made his way down the corridor, fuming, and kicked open the double doors to let himself out. He began to march towards the parking lot, wondering if he could just drive himself to the emergency room when he heard a soft voice behind him. He turned around to see Cress holding his backpack.
She rushed over, but stopped short of placing a hand on him. "Are you okay?" she asked, voice laced with concern as she searched his face.
Anger was still rolling off of him and he was only able to manage a nod.
Cress bit her lip. "Why were you fighting with Julian?"
"Because he's a jerk," Thorne spat.
Cress flinched and he instantly felt sorry for taking his anger out on her.
"What happened? We saw you down the hall. You punched him."
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Thorne's body was still vibrating with irritation and he was glad Cress didn't push any further.
She looked down at his hand and shook her head. "You need to see a doctor. I'll take you."
Before Thorne could decline her offer, she was already making her way towards the parking lot with his backpack still in her hands. Thorne found it easy to catch up to her and soon he was following in step. They stopped at a blue Mustang and Thorne tried to raise an eyebrow before flinching from the discomfort. Cress smiled and shrugged as she opened the passenger side door for him.
Even though Thorne was strapped in by his seatbelt, he was regretting having an injured hand for the mere fact that he wasn't able to use both hands to grasp the seat and dashboard while Cress made sharp turns well over a reasonable speed limit. She wasn't a bad driver, but she didn't always adhere to common rules of the road and she definitely had a lead foot. The thought of her stomping on Julian's foot came back to him and he let out a chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Cress asked as she pulled into the parking lot of a strip center.
"Nothing. Where are we? I thought you were taking me to the emergency room."
"Nah. I've done you one better." She cut the engine and rushed over to open the door for him. "I'm taking you to see my dad!"
AN: Thank you again to the wonderful lettered for beta'ing. And thanks so much for reading. I hope you guys like this chapter because it was so much fun to write. I look forward to hearing what you think!
