Chapter 4 - Learn Your Place
"Adelina! Stop it!" Judging by the voice, Lucas was not happy with me. He was the one who stopped me by holding me up in the air. "Lucas, let go of me! She's been asking for a beating since middle school!" I was so mad, the wolf inside fed upon my rage. "Adelina, you've done enough! If she wanted a fight, she should have been prepared for it. Don't stoop down to her level. She's so low, my buried grandpa is closer to your level than she ever will be." He was saying this to me in a calm tone, but I know Lucas. Reading in between the lines, he was targeting Ginger and making it pretty clear. I gave up trying to break free of Lucas' hold on me, so he put me down on my feet. But, he stuck his arm out in front of me, probably to protect me from Ginger if she decided to try to attack again or to stop me from ripping her throat out.
Some of the peers watching the fight rushed to the "Queen's" side and helped her up, being very gentle with her shoulder. Her lips, neck, and wrist were bleeding quite a bit and her shoulder had gone limp and seemed to show some swelling under her designer shoulder-cut blouse. 'I really did a number on her.' I thought to myself as I tried to suppressed a smile threatening to appear.
"Just you wait, Mutt. One day, no one will be around to stop us! And let me assure you that you won't get away so easily!" She hissed at me as she was being taken away by the two guys that rushed to her side. Now that I could actually focus my non-injured eye, I recognized them as her goon followers that happened to play for the school's football team. 'Where was the teacher in all of this? He just disappeared!' The small voice chimed in out of the blue and I mentally shrugged as Lucas and I watched the three of them walked out of the classroom. Once they left our sights, Lucas whipped me around to face him.
"How did this happen?!" I cringed at his loud tone, but I understand why he's angry. He hates the fact that I got into a fight. Everyone that had watched the fight were filing out and heading towards their next class. "Her royal pain in my ass slapped me across the face, so it was self defense that I beat the snottiness out of her." I didn't want to fight with him about what just went down. Even though he was trying to keep a mad face on, his eyes were telling me that he was upset and his shaky grip on my shoulders gave away the fact that he was also afraid. 'He cares about me so much...' I realize to myself, but it was really a no brainer. 'But, will he still care about you if he learns about your little secret that you've been hiding since the beginning of your friendship?~' This goddamn voice had a point. Would he still care about me if he knew what I really was?
"You're not fine, Adelina! You're bleeding!" He gently brushed his fingers over my injured eye. I flinched and hissed at his touch. He looked at his fingers before showing them to me. On two of his fingers, I see my own blood giving a bright red, shiny reflection under the classroom lighting. "You see? You're not okay, Adelina. So don't try to act tough and give me that crap about being fine. Please." He said in a calm and soothing tone. 'Dammit Lucas...' I thought to myself, 'I don't want you to see my cry!' All my life, I've grown up believing that crying is a sign of weakness. I never let anyone outside of my family see me cry, even then my own parents rarely see me shed a tear. Since I met Lucas, I have not let a tear slip out, not even when I fell off the swings trying to jump off of them with him. But now, the tears have spilled over and ran down my cheeks. The tears were burning the wounds on my eye, but I couldn't stop them. Lucas let a few tears fall as well, but he brought me into his chest and hugged me tightly, making me feel safe. I hugged him back and I did not want to move.
The late bell rang... Ginger needs to learn her place.