“You don’t know what they’re capable of. You shouldn’t hang around them, and now you’re coming to school with them?”
I turned toward the guys who were still staring at us. Clearly they didn’t want me talking to Brian. But why?
“It happened,” I retorted, shrugging.
I didn’t intend to explain myself to him, let alone to Amelia.
“What did you want to say to me, Brian?” I asked curtly.
“If I don’t straighten up, I’ll get a bad grade that will ruin my whole report card.”
“In history, right?” I asked, remembering his bad grade.
“Yeah. But they assigned that group homework that could raise my average. You’re one of the best in class, maybe we can do it together. You can come to my place.”
James passed him with his usual sneer, but this time a jolt of rage flashed in Brian’s emerald eyes. Without warning, he grabbed James by the collar of his button-down shirt and slammed him against the lockers with a shocking amount of force. The way Brian attacked James so quickly left me speechless.
“I’ll give you another black eye, Hunter,” he snarled furiously.
“Brian, please, leave him alone.” I tried to dissuade him.
But James was simply amused. He didn’t even know what fear was.
“Come on, let’s go.” He provoked Brian with an insolent sneer. “I wanna see how the principal is still kissing your ass, Hood.”
“He failed me because of you,” spat Brian, before letting go.
“James, enough,” I reprimanded him.
“So, June, think about it,” Brain said to me.
“Listen to the chronic loser’s techniques for picking up girls,” James mocked Brian.
“Better than yours,” the other retorted.
“Yeah, yeah, mine suck so bad that we should ask A—”
I covered James’s mouth with my hands to prevent him from saying any more.
I didn’t want World War III breaking out in the hallway, and most of all, I didn’t want to be the spark that lit the dynamite.
“James, cut it out!” I yelled, before turning toward Brian. “I’ll think about it, okay? Let’s get going. We have class now.”
James motioned to Will, who hadn’t said a word the whole time.
“I’m coming, you guys go,” he said calmly.
James dragged me away, leaving William and Brian to talk in the hallway.
“What’s he saying to Will?”
“Nothing,” groaned James.
“Oh my god, so it’s true, this is how you solve things?” I freaked out and continued to turn toward them.
“What?” James asked.
“I don’t know, but Will seemed pretty threatening. What was he saying to Brian?”
