Ch. 13 Ain't Afraid to Use His Fist!
(MAYA)
Clare and Adam joined us in line at the arena just before we went in, Adam didn't look mad and Clare was smiling so I assume the talk went well.
"I got us a couple of muffins and an orange, not the greatest breakfast but we can get coffee or juice at the refreshment stand." I tell Clare.
"Thanks Maya I'm starving," Clare says.
"And Owen and Luke got mad at Dallas for bugging you," I inform Clare.
"Why am I not surprised?" Clare says rolling her eyes a bit. "When did you change shirts?" She questions after looking at me a minute.
"After Cam spilled orange juice on the shirt I was wearing." I tell her.
"You know I used to think Cam was nice but ever since he's become Dallas' little creep in training protégé he's sort of lost his sweet side." Clare remarks and we get a couple looks from the others.
"Yeah me too," I nod.
We're finally let into the arena and Clare and I go to the refreshment stand while Adam and the others grab us some seats. Poor Clare tries to eat and take notes until Adam takes the notepad from her and starts taking notes so she can eat. After the second period Adam and Zig go to get us all water while Fiona, Imogen and Nicole go the washroom.
"So what did Adam say to you?" I ask her.
"He just wanted to make sure it was my decision and Owen didn't pressure me into it I assured him it was. Then he said to be careful and he wasn't going to say anything to his mom or Eli or anyone else." Clare tells me.
The others return just before the third period starts, Luke and I use our secret signals to each other. The Ice Hounds lose by two points but it's a tournament for charity so it has no bearing on their actual ranking and they only have one more game this afternoon.
"We have to go set up we play in twenty minutes," Adam says as we're leaving the arena.
"Yeah and I have three junior pro and two NHL teams I have yet to interview so I better go try and arrange that I'll catch up with you guys later." Clare says.
Clare runs off and the rest of us go to the Whisper Hug stage Mo and Marisol are already there.
"I'm going to the washroom," I tell Adam after things are set up.
Adam nods and I start walking to the washroom, the nearest washroom to our stage is tucked to the side of one of the arenas at which a hockey game is currently being played so there aren't many people outside of the washroom. I use the washroom and come out to find Cam leaning on the wall and sort of blocking the exit.
"Excuse me," I say but Cam doesn't move.
"Be my girlfriend," Cam states.
"Cam I don't want to go out with you," I respond curtly but I'm getting nervous with the way he's looking at me.
"Be my girlfriend or I'll send these to everyone," Cam says holding up his phone and I see a picture of me changing in the room earlier.
He flips through a couple more and I'm just shocked, too shocked to speak or move. Zig comes out of the men's washroom and starts to walk past us then stops and comes back.
"Why the hell do you have pictures of Maya getting undressed on your phone?" Zig demands.
Cam looks at Zig and doesn't seem to have a response as he takes off running, Zig runs after him and I run after the two of them. Cam doesn't get very far though as he bumps straight into Owen, Cam stumbles back and Owen catches him by his Ice Hounds jacket as Zig catches up to them.
"He has pictures of Maya changing on his phone," Zig informs Owen.
For the second time today Owen's face gets very malicious and angry, he grabs Cam by both sides of his jacket, picks him up and shoves him into the nearest wall hard enough that Cam makes a painful grunt.
"Zig get the phone and delete the pictures," Owen commands Zig in a calm voice but while he's glaring at Cam.
I approach them but stand back, I'm not about to keep Owen from killing Cam as I'm hoping it will maybe pound some sense into his head. Zig gets the phone and quickly deletes the pictures.
"Deleted," Zig says.
"How the hell did you get pictures of Maya changing on your phone you little pervert?!" Owen demands shoving Cam into the wall again.
"Dallas gave me a key to your room, he said your room would be adjoining with Maya's and I should get pictures of Maya changing and could use them to make her my girlfriend." Cam says in a pleading sort of tone.
"God you're dumb, no girl is going to be blackmailed into being your girlfriend especially not one like Maya. Stay away from Maya you understand me?" Owen questions and Cam nods. "Good," Owen says dropping Cam to the ground, punching him in the gut then the jaw and then the gut again. "Maya, Zig let's go you two have to play." Owen says dropping Cam to the ground.
He puts his arm lightly around my shoulders and we start walking back to the stage. Zig and I get on stage and get ready to play, Imogen counts us off as Owen joins Luke. As we begin playing I see Owen whispering to Luke probably telling him what Cam did and that Owen's already threatened and hurt him. He may also be telling him that Dallas needs to be knocked around again for telling Cam he could blackmail me into going out with him. Luke's face gets hard, angry and he looks right at me with a look of protectiveness in his eyes. Owen hits his stomach lightly and Luke looks away from me and relaxes a little. When we start the second song Owen starts looking around, for Clare I assume but of course he can't find her because she's somewhere else in the complex interviewing any number of people. Nicole seems to tell Owen this as he stops looking around but he doesn't look any happier. After playing for half an hour we take a break and I go down with Zig to stand with Nicole, Owen, Luke, Marisol and Fiona. Zig and Owen move around to put me next to Luke but without making it obvious.
"Maybe you should call Clare see if she can join us now," Luke suggests to Owen as he brushes his hand against mine and hooks our pinkies together for just a minute.
Owen tries calling Clare but she doesn't pick up and he looks almost despondent.
"She's probably in the middle of an interview I'm sure she'll call you when she's done." I assure him.
Owen grumbles a little, I laugh while Adam shakes his head.
"You took her virginity last night you can be away from her for a little while," Adam comments.
"No I can't I need my Clare or I need to find Dallas and punch some fucking sense into him." Owen remarks.
"Uh oh what he'd do now?" Adam asks.
"He got a key to our room and gave it to Cam, told him to take pictures of Maya changing then told Cam to use the pictures to blackmail her into going out with him." Owen says and they all look at me now.
"Owen and Zig stopped him and deleted the pictures." I assure them.
"We gotta get back on stage but I'll find Mom after and tell her what Dallas did, come on guys." Adam says pulling us back on stage.
The band and I go back on stage to finish the set and by the time we're done even though I'm enjoying the applause I'm starving and it's time for lunch. Adam leaves to go find his mom so he can tell her what Dallas and Cam did. Fiona, Imogen, Mo, Marisol, Zig and Nicole go off to have lunch; that is each couple goes off on their own to have lunch.
"Come on I'm starving let's go have lunch," I tell the boys as I take them by the arms and start walking.
Truthfully I'd like to have lunch with Luke alone because it feels like we haven't had all that much time alone together but it is fairly risky there's no telling who could be roaming around that we might know. I also don't want Owen to feel like a third wheel so I get out my phone and call Clare.
"Hey what's up?" She says when she answers and I hear a ton of background noise.
"We're gonna get lunch where are you it's really loud?" I question.
"In the press room which I really should have found on Friday night but oh well. Lunch sounds good there's a restaurant downstairs I'll meet you guys there in twenty minutes." She says.
"Uh sure umm downstairs from where?" I ask her because I have no idea where the press room is.
"Oh sorry the Arc hotel," she clarifies.
"Great so we'll figure out where that is and meet you there in twenty minutes." I tell her and hang up then look at Owen. "So you're girlfriend either sounds super busy or super stressed but she will meet us for lunch in twenty minutes at the restaurant at the Arc hotel where apparently the press room is."
Owen and Luke both get the same look on their face, either they're wondering what the press room is for or why Clare is in there I can't be sure. After asking around a little we figure out where the Arc hotel is and catch a shuttle there because it's on the opposite side of the complex from where we are. We go into the restaurant and see Clare already sitting at a table so we join her.
"Hey how'd your set go?" She asks me after she greets Owen with a kiss.
"Great people loved it but Cam tried to blackmail me into going out with him." I tell Clare and both boys growl at the reminder.
"Cam did what?!" Clare exclaims.
"Dallas somehow got a key to the guys room and gave it to Cam, then told Cam to take pictures of me changing out of the shirt he spilled orange juice on. Cam cornered me and told me to be his girlfriend or he would send the pictures to everyone. I was too shocked to do anything but Zig saw the pictures and got mad, Cam took off running and ran into Owen…" I'm telling her when Owen cuts me off.
"And I had Zig delete the pictures while I told Cam to stay the hell away from her and stop listening to Dallas and then kicked his ass." Owen informs her with a smug smile on his face.
"I wish Dallas had never gotten his hooks into Cam, he used to be such a sweet kid." Clare says as the waiter comes over.
After we order I give Clare a full recap of our set, then Clare tells us she's interviewed three players from the Canucks and four from the Ottawa Senators. The guys want to know everything although I think Owen is a little jealous that she's been with pro hockey players all morning. Then she tells us that after lunch she has to track down the Wolves and the Otters.
"Geez you're busier than the teams on this trip are you going to rest?" I ask her.
"Yeah on Monday," she nods.
"Well when do I get you then we go home tonight?" Owen whines.
"The ride home and Monday, and I'll watch your last game today." She tells us as her phone beeps and she pulls it from her purse. "I gotta go I was just granted an interview with the Prime Minister himself, see you guys later." Clare says standing up.
"Wait what about lunch?" Owen asks her grabbing her hand.
"I'll have to grab something after the interview," she says kissing Owen, she waves to Luke and me and then she walks away vanishing into the crowd.
"I have to use the washroom if the waiter brings our food will you order me another soda?" I request of Luke.
"Of course beautiful," Luke smiles.
I look around to make sure no one we know is in the place and then kiss Luke quickly before walking off to the washroom.
(LUKE)
"Didn't we come on this trip to have all kinds of time alone with our girlfriends?" I comment to Owen as we start packing to go home.
"Yeah and we barely got any time alone with them aside from in the rooms at night, although as time alone goes that was very good time alone." Owen remarks with a blissful smile.
I get one of my own as we both think about our sexy time with our girlfriends last night. After lunch we'd managed to find Clare interviewing the captain of the Wolves, one of our rival teams and Owen wasn't too happy with the way the guy smiled at her. Actually I think it was really just more that the guy from our rival team was getting one on one time with his girl and Owen wasn't. Either way Owen went over put his arm around Clare and walked away with her. Clare gave him a pretty dirty look but didn't say anything or try and go back to her interview. The three of us watched Whisper Hug play again before Owen and I had to get ready to play. Maya and I had used our secret signals to each other during this game too, we lost but only by one point and Dallas had been benched for his behavior. He'd given us flak in the locker room for telling on him and Owen had shoved him into the lockers.
"Let's go see how the girls are doing," I say when we're done packing up.
Owen and I go through the adjoining door to see Maya putting stuff into her suitcase on her bed but Clare is not in sight.
"Where's Clare?" Owen questions.
"Oh she jumped in the shower, she said something about getting the stench of all those guys off of her and she wanted a shower." Maya tells us.
Owen tenses up and I put my hand on his shoulder to get him to calm down.
"I think she meant from all the interviews she did in close quarters with everyone." I assure him.
"Yeah that better be what she means," Owen gripes.
"Owen she wouldn't do anything with anyone else, she told me the press room was filled with people and it was stuffy." Maya tells him.
"Why don't you go down and get a luggage cart, Maya you go down and tell Mrs. Torres that we'll be down in a few minutes and I'll help Clare get the rest of her stuff packed up." I instruct.
"Okay," Owen and Maya say in synchronicity and Maya laughs.
They leave together, I find some of Clare's stuff on her bed and start putting it in the suitcase for her. A minute later she comes out of the washroom, dressed and brushing her wet hair. I tell her that Owen went to get a luggage cart and Maya went down to tell Mrs. Torres that we'd be right down.
"Thanks but I can get the rest of my stuff," she says putting her hair brush in her suitcase.
"Maybe but it'll go faster with the two of us, why don't you go get anything you have in the washroom and I'll put in the rest of your clothes. Are they all here on the bed?" I ask her.
"Yep all but the more intimate stuff which I'll pack up." She replies.
"Yeah good idea," I smile. Clare goes into the washroom and I hear her start packing things up.
She comes out a minute later and puts her toiletries bag into her suitcase. I leave her to pack the rest and grab Maya's suitcase putting it in the hall before I return to our room, closing the adjoining doors behind me. I grab our suitcases and put them out in the hall as Clare comes out of their room with her suitcase and Dallas comes out of his room with his suitcase.
"You're boyfriend needs to learn to stay out of my face," Dallas says to Clare.
"Maybe you need to learn to keep your fucking mouth shut and not try and turn Cam into a jerk like you." I bark back at him.
"Luke's right Owen only hurt you because you were rude to me and to Maya vicariously through Cam today." Clare snaps at him putting her hands on her hips.
"Yeah well he's going to be sorry he ever touched me," Dallas grins at Clare.
"Don't you dare try and hurt Owen!" Clare snarls at him.
"Who said anything about hurting Owen, the best way to hurt him is to hurt you." Dallas threatens and I lose it.
Grabbing Dallas by the shirt I shove him into the wall pinning him there with my forearm across his chest.
"YOU TOUCH HER OR MAYA OR ANYONE ELSE AND I WILL KILL YOU!" I yell at him.
The elevator doors open and we look over to see Owen come out with the luggage cart.
"What did he do now?" Owen inquires; I open my mouth to tell him but Clare talks first.
"Just being a general ass," Clare says.
I give her a look but don't dispute her as I toss Dallas to the ground; Clare turns around to put her bag on the luggage cart and misses the taunting but malicious look that Dallas gives her. Dallas gets up pulling his bag to the elevator and stepping in, the doors close as Owen and I start loading the bags onto the cart. Clare walks ahead of us and pushes the button for the elevator but of course we have to wait a couple of minutes for the elevator to return. When we finally get the cart down to the Torres minivan I let Owen start loading in the bags and I pull Clare aside and out of ear shot.
"Why didn't you tell Owen what Dallas said?" I ask her in a low voice.
"It's just Dallas being a jerk it wasn't important," she replies trying to sound nonchalant but I can see that his threat got to her.
"He threatened to hurt you to get to Owen," I remind her.
"He was just talking trying to scare me so that I'll tell Owen so Owen will fight with him again. No more fighting and that includes you, don't tell Owen or anyone else. I'm never alone with Dallas so he's not going to hurt me." She insists and walks quickly to the van.
I follow her to the van and get in the back where Maya is sitting in the middle next to Zig. Clare gets in one of the middle seats as Owen is in the other and Adam of course is up front. Owen takes Clare's hand and as Zig knows about us I take Maya's hand. The drive back seems to last forever, probably a combination of the long weekend, the fact that we were going home and the fact that we were all so tired. We drop Zig off first, then Maya and then we reach my house. I say goodbye to Owen, Adam and Clare and thank Mrs. Torres for driving before getting out my bag from the back and going into the house. It's almost eleven so my parents are asleep but Becky's awake watching TV but she turns it off when I get in.
"Hi I missed you how was the tournament?" Becky questions as she hugs me tightly.
"I missed you too Becks, the tournament was great we won four games and lost two." I tell her.
"Well tell me all about it I want every detail," Becky requests.
"Tomorrow okay Becks I'm beat this weekend was very long, I just want to shower and go to bed." I insist kissing her forehead and going upstairs.
After a very nice but fairly quick shower I fall into bed and fall asleep thinking about Maya. I wake up to my alarm the next morning and groan at the thought of getting up but when Mom knocks on my door a few minutes later I have to get up. I get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast, over breakfast I regale my family with stories from the tournament. Leaving out anything of course that would hint to the fact that I'm dating Maya. I drive myself and Becky to school and she leaves me as soon as she sees Jenna near the garden. I go up to the stairs where I see Zig leaning against the banister with Nicole in his arms. They're gazing at each other all lost in love, smiling and giggling it's really kinda cute and Zig looks much happier than he ever did while dating Tori although given how high maintenance she seems I can understand. Speaking of Tori the she devil is glaring at them with a deep jealousy of their young love from the picnic table.
"You two seem awfully happy to be back at school," I comment as I lean on the banister near them.
"I'm happy to be with Zig," Nicole smiles.
"If you're making out with this skank to make me jealous it isn't working," Tori snaps at him as she storms up the stairs with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.
"Really because you look pretty jealous to me," Owen says as he walks up with Tris.
"I am not jealous I make out with tons of guys just watch me," she retorts and then does the stupidest thing ever by grabbing Tristan of all people.
She puts her arms around his neck and crushes her lips to his, kissing him hard and from my angle I see that she manages to shove her tongue into his mouth. Tristan scrunches up his face in disgust and tries to push her off of him but she's holding onto him too tightly. Owen grabs her by the back of the neck with one hand while getting her arms from his brother's neck with the other.
"Stop molesting my brother," he tells her picking her up by her wrists and setting her far away from Tris.
Tristan wipes his mouth and spits on the ground a couple of times and then licks his sleeve before glaring at Tori. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I'm gay Tor, you were the first one I told and you decide to try and make out with me because you don't like watching Zig happy?! YOU BROKE UP WITH HIM! You're insane Tori and a vindictive bitch and we're not friends anymore! Now if you'll excuse me I have to go wash my mouth out!" Tristan says and walks inside quickly.
"Stay the hell away from my brother and my friends and that includes Zig!" Owen warns her as we walk inside.
Nicole shoots Tori a satisfied look as Zig puts his arm around Nicole and we walk through the doors. We find Maya inside on a bench but she comes over when she sees us, standing near me but we're not touching as we're at school.
"You missed it Maya, Tori was so jealous of us she lost her mind and tried to make out with Tris." Zig informs her.
"Oh god I knew she was crazy, where's Tris?" Maya asks.
"He went to the washroom to wash out his mouth and I told Tori to stay the hell away from all of us." Owen enlightens her.''
Maya laughs and shakes her head as we start walking again. We're headed probably not coincidentally in the direction of Clare's locker. Tris joins us as we turn the corner to the bank of lockers where Clare's is situated.
"You okay?" Owen asks Tris as he puts a hand on his brothers back.
"Yeah I finally got the taste of Tori's awful lip gloss off of me. If she ever touches me again I might vomit." Tris says.
"Yeah well Owen told her to stay away from you and the rest of us," I tell him.
"Yeah so if she gets near you again you tell me," Owen insists.
Hearing Owen's voice Clare closes her locker and comes over to our group. Owen puts his arm around her and they greet each other with a kiss. We fill her in on what happened out front and Clare shakes her head before giving Tris a hug.
"If she kisses you again Maya, Nicole and I can slap her silly," Clare offers and Tris smiles.
"So we don't have practice today because we worked so hard at the tournament you want to go out after school?" Owen asks Clare and I look at Maya to silently ask her the same thing.
"Sorry but I have to stay after school to make up some gym classes I missed." She replies.
"Why are you missing gym classes?" Owen questions.
"Not all of us like gym bro," Tris says in defense of Clare and she kisses his cheek.
"Yeah and I have to go with Katie to take Mom to her doctor's appointment," I groan as I hate going to these appointments.
"I'm hanging out with Nicole after school," Zig speaks up.
"And I have to stay after school to retake my math test; Armstrong is letting me retake the last one that I failed." I inform the group.
"Luke if you need help in math I can tutor you," Clare offers.
"Thanks Clare, I hate math," I reply.
"I was going to hang out with Tori after school but now I can't even look at her." Tris says.
"There you go you can hang out with Tris after school," Maya comments.
"Perfect time for brotherly bonding you can teach him how to play football and he can teach you how to shop for yourself." Clare remarks in a snarky tone as the bell rings and she kisses Owen.
"Hey I know how to shop for myself," he says defensively as Clare leaves us to walk to her class and the rest of us start laughing.
I walk into science sitting at the table with Becky. Classes go by pretty quickly this morning and before I know it the bell rings for morning break. I stash some books in my locker and then find Owen and Zig leaning against a wall watching something so I lean against the wall to see what they're looking at. The thing that seems to have them captivated is Tori leaning on some lockers making out with some grade 10.
"She's been doing this all morning, randomly kissing guys to try and make me jealous. She's been in three girl fights with the guys girlfriends already and some of the guys are pushing her away, not one of them has made me jealous and none of them will. I tried to tell her that but she won't stop she just keeps randomly kissing guys. I think she might have snapped." Zig explains.
"Dude I've known Tori for like three years now and she's always been just a few loose screws from the looney bin. Don't worry about it okay it's not your fault she can't stand to see you happy because in Tori's head life begins and ends with her. Come on let's go find our girls and spend break with them." Owen insists.
Nicole finds us and we find Maya and Clare together, the six of us spend morning break in the memorial garden. With the door closed we tell Nicole that Maya and I are dating and she promises to keep our secret. When the bell rings we drop Maya, Zig and Nicole at English class, then drop Clare at her class and Owen and I split up to go to our classes. I sit down in MI and Dallas sits next to me, which is where he usually sits but given his recent behavior I just want to punch him.
"You know Clare's looking particularly tense today I think she needs to get laid again maybe this time I'll fuck her, show her what a real man can do for her." Dallas says in a low voice.
"Dude you better fucking watch your mouth when talking about one of my friends and if you go near Clare I will kill you and then Owen will kill you." I warn him.
"Oh I doubt that," Dallas grins wickedly as class starts.
MI class drags on and so does social studies but I do tell Adam about Dallas' threats, I don't care what Clare said I think Dallas is dumb enough to carry them out or at least try. At lunch Maya and I sneak away to our spot under the soccer bleachers.
"Stay far away from Dallas, he's losing it and he's been threatening to get back at Owen by hurting Clare." I tell Maya after we've eaten and she's cradled in my lap.
"Do you think he will?" She asks looking up at me.
"Not if I can help it," I assure her.
"Does Owen know he's been threatening Clare?" Maya asks.
"No she didn't want me to tell him," I inform her.
"I don't care, come on Clare is eating with Adam and Eli because Eli found out she lost her purity ring at the tournament so Owen's probably sulking at the hockey table in the caf." Maya says standing up and pulling me up by the hand. "I'll go in the back way and pass his locker first in case he's there. I'll meet you in the caf if I don't find Owen at his locker." Maya tells me as we near the school.
I go through the front and straight to the caf but don't see Owen there, so I leave and start walking toward his locker but only see Maya walking toward me. I do however see Tris eating with Zig so I call to them and they look over.
"Where's Owen?" I question.
"Eating on the bleachers at the football field," Tris tells me.
"Why?" Zig asks.
"Dallas has been threatening Clare," Maya says.
The four of us now practically run out to the football bleachers an Owen is eating on them with Bianca.
"Hey she didn't want me to tell you but Dallas has been threatening to get to you by hurting Clare." I tell him.
Owen's face turns hard and malicious; he drops his lunch gets up from the bleachers and storms toward the school. Bianca joins our group as we all follow Owen to find Dallas, the team is no longer in the caf so we head for Dallas' locker and find him there talking to Bo and Ingvar. Owen grabs Dallas by the shoulder turns him around and cold cocks him.
"You go anywhere near Clare and I will break every bone in your body! You want to fight me then fight me but you stay the fuck away from my girlfriend!" Owen barks at him.
Dallas doesn't say anything but he lunges at Owen to hit him; I catch Dallas' fist and shove him into the lockers.
"Stay away from all of us Dallas," I warn him.
I look at Owen and we both punch Dallas in the gut, he doubles over and then sinks to the floor. Bo and Ingvar help him up while the rest of us walk away.
"Geez that must have been some tournament you guys went to, Clare lost her virginity to Owen, Zig is dating the cheerleader and former puck bunny, Dallas has gone nuts, Cam is mysteriously absent today and Zig's new relationship drove Tori so mad she's been slutting her lips around all morning and even tried making out with young Tristan," Bianca says putting an arm around Tristan's shoulders, "next time there's a tournament Drew and I are coming. They sound like a blast!"
Update soon picking up from round about here with some Dallas pov and some Clare pov possibly. Some more fighting and some changes on the Ice hounds and possibly some other finding out about our favorite secret couple.