I follow Marcus out of the room as we follow the crowd towards the lunchroom.
"Hey, Marcus, is everything okay? You seem… off," I hedge, not sure if I am overstepping.
As if he can read my thoughts, he turns his head to give me a hesitant smile. "It's nothing, I'll be fine. Thanks for asking, though."
I give him a skeptical look, but nod anyway, letting the subject drop.
"I had a guy, but I couldn't find proof," Saya frets, clearly angry with herself for failing – I don't think she's used to that. I don't bother trying to console her, not in front of people.
"I hobbled a jaywalker. Was best I could find!"
"Burning a package for my old man." Chico makes an excuse, causing me to smile. I don't like that dude, I'm glad he failed.
He notices me smirking and glares, to which I just give him a little finger wave.
"My fault, baby. I should have done—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Chico says dismissively, clearly pissed about it.
Wow. Cute couple.
Suddenly, gates close off the exits and we are all trapped in the hallway, people scrambling to bang and rattle the blockade in an effort to escape.
"I'm alive without breath and as cold as death," poison gas starts to pour from the vents. "I'm never thirsty but always drinking. What am I?" Fuck, I am so bad at riddles. "To pass this quiz and survive the poison gas, you need to make it to the botanical classroom and answer that riddle in five minutes."
"Okay, small breaths. Control your heart rate, and take it slow," Saya says to both Marcus and I, her hand on his shoulder. I don't need the advice – I may be shit at poisons, but I am thoroughly trained in anatomy and first aid – but I appreciate the thought behind it. That and I think it was mostly for Marcus and she wanted to make him feel better by including me in on it like he wasn't the only one.
Who knows.
The Russian jaywalker vigilante tries, like an idiot, to lift the locked gates. I shake my head but offer no help when Marcus walks over.
"Hey, I-I think I can help."
"I think you can screw off. What is this loser rat doing in AP class," shouts some hillbilly trash, causing me to glare at her.
Marcus just ignores her and yanks something out of her hair. I openly laugh while she squawks indignantly and jab my elbow directly into her ribs to push her aside so I can follow him while he picks the lock.
Damn, that's hot.
The look on my face must telegraph my thoughts loud and clear based on the smug look on Marcus' face. A rosy blush blossoms over the apples of my cheeks, I go to tease him when that same blonde bitch shoves him out of the way, calling him a rat again and goes through the open gate first, followed by the first idiot.
"Your table awaits, jockos." Says Marcus.
Shaking my head, I shove my way behind Saya as she passes and grab Marcus to drag him with me. These kids are assholes and would probably leave him behind to die. Not on my watch.
Everyone is coughing at this point, blood starting to trickle out of noses and spray from lungs. The group quietly treks down the stairs and through yet another hallway. This damn place is a maze.
We are making decent progress when Marcus unknowingly sets off a trap. Doors start closing again, slower this time, and two monks come out carrying staffs. Back-to-back, we all press together in the middle to assess the threat before engaging. Then, one-by-one, our classmates start attacking until we all start joining in.
Marcus kicks a monk before they retaliate and hit him in the face with their staff, knocking him on his back. Saya gives me a small shove towards the two while she moves to face off against the other monk. I take her silent command and go to save my friend.
Running over, I deliver a hard kick to the monk's chest before grabbing the staff. He spins around and dislodges me, shoving me into the wall and knocking the wind out of me momentarily. While I recover, Marcus comes up and attempts to get the attention off me until I am up again. He moves out of the way and I use the small distraction to knock the monk down onto his back where I grapple around with him until he is trapped beneath me. I deliver a swift punch to the face, knocking him out before hopping up onto my feet.
Marcus and I rush off as Saya yells out for us to hurry. We slide under the closing door just in time – some real Indiana Jones shit – leaving two classmates behind.
The last of us burst into the botanical classroom now covered in blood and stumbling into each other. We each scramble around, trying to figure out which plant will be the one to save us. One-by-one we start to fall to the floor, Saya and I falling next to each other at the same time.
Marcus recites the riddle to himself quietly as he scans over the pendants on the plants. I watch him reach for one from my place on the floor when suddenly his hand is smacked away and he is pushed down by Chico. The asshole doesn't even get a chance to save himself before he is falling to the floor and foaming at the mouth.
His girlfriend is able to get up and grab the right plant. My vision starts to go blurry, and I can feel the blood rushing out of my nose. Holy shit, I've never been poisoned before, this fucking sucks. I'm terrified of blood filling my lungs at this point and drowning in it.
Just as I am passing out, I feel a leaf being shoved into my mouth and I chew as quickly as my aching body will allow and swallow. Now that I am able to, I take some deep breaths, watching as Maria hesitates to save her boyfriend. I don't really know what their deal is other than he's abusive and she tried to get Marcus to kill him for her.
Come on. Now's your chance, it's the perfect opportunity since you don't want to get your hands dirty.
But in the end, she saves him by administering the leaf. I shake my head at her and close my eyes while I get myself together.
I feel a hand touch my cheek and sense someone leaning over me. When I open my eyes, I see a pair of beautiful brown eyes staring down at me with concern etched in them.
"Andy, are you okay?"
"I'm fine now, killer. I've survived worse than this," I say, though my throat is raw, my voice coming out raspier than its usual smoky pitch.
He doesn't seem to know how to take that for a moment before he settles on laughing. His fingers sweep through my hair, pushing it away from my face.
"Come on, I think we earned some lunch."
The bloody herd of us bust through the doors of the lunchroom while some kid advocates his class presidency.
"Come on, everybody. Vote Shabnam for class president. I'll win with or without your help, but I'd much rather have your support. We need more nurses in the infirmary. We need stalls separating the group showers. If you put me in charge there'll be—" Before he can finish, the meathead dumps a trashcan over his head, then to add insult to injury, Chico spits on him on his way by.
Being the good guy that he is, Marcus helps the boy up and takes the can off. I shake my head and give him a pat on his back on my way over to the lunch line.
Is that chicken feet?
I stare at the selection with trepidation. This isn't exactly my scene. I ask for the most edible things I can find before I walk off to find my friends. It doesn't take me long to spot them and I make my way over when I'm stopped just a couple feet short.
"Wick, huh? John killed a cousin of mine." I turn to look at the Russian fucker from earlier.
"Tvoy kuzen, navernoye, eto zasluzhil."
He laughs loudly and nods. "Da, he did. Never liked him. Now let us talk about you."
MARCUS
"I'm telling you, man, she's going to get snatched up like that," Billy says, snapping his fingers. "I give it a week tops. A girl like that? Hot and a Wick? Yeah, she's going to get recruited in no time. Wanna take bets on who it'll be?"
I feel some irritation build up in my chest. "You don't know her, she's different; she doesn't care about that kind of bullshit. I'm sure they will try, but she won't take the bait, you'll see." I'm sure I sound shitty, but for some reason it bothered me the way he was talking about her.
I can't help but stop listening to Billy before he can retort to eavesdrop on Andy's conversation with Victor. I don't catch what he says before he places his hand on her hip.
"Don't touch me," she says calmly, her body eerily still. This can't be good.
"It is great offer that you should consider if you want to make it through school year. Strength in numbers." I can see from here when his knuckles turn white with his increased grip.
Without warning, Andy swings her tray at his head, smacking him full on in the face before dropping it while Victor falls to his knees with a pained shout and reaches back to grab the pen off the top of my notebook. With considerable force, she stabs Victor in the shoulder until the pen is buried halfway before yanking it back out. Some blood spurts out and onto her – still calm – face. I stare at the two with wide eyes, somehow both shocked and not at the same time.
Holy shit…
Andy keeps her hold on my pen as she uses the other hand to grab my shoulder and lifts herself onto the seat then up onto the table. I take a few deep breaths through my nose when I feel my face start to heat up, not wanting to embarrass myself by blushing.
Once in the middle of the table, she doesn't need to get anyone's attention when Victor is still yelling about his shoulder.
"As you all have heard by now, I'm Andy Wick – yes, that Wick. Now, I'm only going to say this once, so listen up: I don't want to be a part of any of your little groups because they are all equally lame." She doesn't say anything else, just holds out the pen – which is still dripping blood – and just drops it on the table before using me once again to climb back down.
"Sorry about that, killer, I owe you a new pen," she says while flicking a lock of hair off her face with her clean hand nonchalantly, like she didn't just put a guy twice her size in his place. She grabs a napkin off her tray and starts cleaning her hand, evidently not bothering with her face.
I grin at her and laugh. "That's okay, it was totally worth it," I tease, bumping her with my shoulder.
My attention shifts briefly to Billy and I give him a smug look. I knew it. From the beginning, I knew Andy was different and this just proves it again – not only that, but she looks badass doing it.
ANDY
I look calm on the outside, but inside I am buzzing with excitement. It's always a rush to put people in their place, especially when they underestimate me. I can feel the itch under my skin to start another fight, a bigger one. Despite the blood bath earlier this week, I am ready for another chance to stretch my wings and test my limits. This school is supposed to be filling in the gaps in my knowledge. What will I look like two years from now?
When I finally zone in, Marcus is waving at that kid from earlier. I wrinkle my nose slightly and look over at Marcus who just smiles sheepishly, shrugging.
"New pal?" Lex looks thrilled by the prospect.
"I'm not really into the hierarchy, don't normally shit on the physically unattractive, but that dude and his crew are highly annoying," Petra complains, making me laugh.
"Crew," Marcus asks, sounding skeptical.
"The goop patrol. Banker kids, mafia accountants, NASA—"
"NASA?" I chime in, eyebrow raised. Surely I heard him wrong.
"Oh, there's a lot they're not telling you."
"Whatever, I'm not going to watch some kid get bullied," Marcus defends himself, looking around for anyone who will agree with him. I offer him a smile and nod.
"I obviously agree. I did my good deed and stepped in when you were getting your ass kicked yesterday." He rolls his eyes at me but smiles anyway.
"These kids see kindness as a weakness. Safer to be a dick."
"Everyone loves a dick," Billy jokes, grinning at Petra.
"Well, some more than others," Lex adds unhelpfully while making a crude gesture with his hand and tongue.
That kid from earlier comes out of nowhere and sits down at the table, boldly starting a conversation. "Any of you guys seen the, uh new Spuds MacKenzie commercial?"
"You've brought a plague on our house." Petra looks seriously put off by this, which only makes me laugh again.
"You know, I hear they don't really give that dog beer. PETA or some left-wing baby would complain," he makes a face like this is funny.
"Maybe because it's cruel? Let's feed you poison and see how you like it," I grumble, glaring at him. I can see him suck in a sharp breath and gulp before Lex jumps in.
"Do you know what goes great with people who love beer commercials? A bullet in the box."
"Anyway, Marcus, my parental units are gonna be out of town, so me and the crew were thinking of firing up the Commodore 64, a little Castle Wolfenstein, a charcuterie plate." Lex starts pantomiming stabbing himself in the gut to which I silently snicker before pretending to shoot myself in the head. "My dad prob left some amaretto too, if we wanna get a little crazy."
Marcus perks up as soon as Shabnam brings up alcohol. "We're in."
"Come again?" Billy seems surprised, as we all are.
"School is dry. You know, something's better than nothing." Ah, the logic of a teen addicted to any substance he can get his hands on. How quaint.
"M-my dad was clear, just a few friends," stammers Shabnam.
"You can't win an election with just a few friends," Billy adds like the devil on Shabnam's shoulder.
"You need to connect with a proletariat." I'm surprised Lex knows such a big word…
"It'll be a small gathering. We promise," says Marcus mischievously.
AN: Another long one! Not sure they will always be this long or what. If it works, I will keep it up, but I typically like to keep it shorter.
Anyone catch the Good Place reference in there?
As always, let me know what you think!
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