CHAPTER TWENTY
“It seems like the chaos of this world is accelerating, but so is
the beauty in the consciousness of more and more people.”
-Anthony Kiedis
GIANNA
Caleb slept in my bed with me last night, waking me up every hour just in case I had a concussion. He slipped out of my room before dawn and went back to his own so my mom wouldn’t catch us. In the morning, he drove me to school again. He insisted on driving me everywhere nowadays, but I didn’t mind. But would I ever drive my Jeep again? Maybe I should’ve demanded we take my car sometimes.
Caleb told Kara and the misfits, as he’d so fondly nicknamed them, about Josh attacking me twice at school. It was kind of embarrassing. He left out the first incident before I broke up with Josh when he tried to force himself on me.
They agreed to help keep an eye on me at school which made me feel like a helpless wimp. As if knowing about my ex-boyfriend drama weren’t bad enough. Even if it was pathetic, it’d make me feel safer to always have someone with me.
Josh scared the crap out of me yesterday, acting like a psychopath. Caleb was so sweet through it all, taking care of me at his mom’s place, feeding me and trying to get my mind off what happened. Maybe he was capable of being a good boyfriend after all.
Caleb drove us home after school but made no move to get out of the car. “I’m going back to the school to meet Dante, Taye and Jared. We’re going to wait until Josh is out of football practice then confront him.”
“Do you think this is such a good idea Caleb? I mean, what if he gets crazier after this? Maybe we should just call the police on him.”
“We could do that, but they’d want to speak with your mom and Josh. Josh knows we’re together and it may get back to your mom. Are you ready for her to find out about us yet?”
Some choice. “I’m not looking forward to that confrontation,” I grumbled. “Fine, do it your way.”
“Good, we’ll take care of it ourselves.” He sounded so confident that roughing Josh up would work. I wasn’t so sure. If I had any more problems with Josh after this, I’d go straight to the cops and risk my mom finding out about me and Caleb.
Kissing him goodbye, I said, “Be careful.” Necessary or not, I didn’t like the idea of Caleb fighting. Even after everything he’d done, I didn’t want Josh beaten up either. But I’d like to be able to walk down the hallways at school without worrying about him attacking me.
I was going to be a nervous wreck until Caleb came home. My feelings for him were getting stronger every day, which scared me, because he now had the power to really do me damage.
CALEB
I only had to wait thirty minutes for the rest of the guys to show up in the school parking lot.
Dante strolled up to me wearing a shit-eating grin. “So, you have a girlfriend?”
I should’ve seen this coming. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve already heard it from everyone else I know. I’m a player. I’ll only hurt her, blah, blah, blah.”
Dante held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, man! I was just saying. You aren’t exactly the boyfriend type.”
“I agree,” Jared butt in. “You should just stop wasting your time and let me have her now.”
“Gianna isn’t a possession. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I couldn’t just hand her over to you. Besides, she chose me, so stop wasting your time.”
“I never said she was a possession. And don’t act like you know her better than me, Caleb. Gigi and I go way back,” Jared reminded me.
I mimicked him in a girly voice, “Gigi and I go way back!” His face twisted in annoyance at my mocking. “Well, Gianna and I go forward together from here on out.”
Taye stepped between us with a hand on each of our chests. “Hey, we’re here to beat up the guy who’s been messing with her, not fight amongst ourselves.”
“You don’t want her too, do you?” I asked Taye. Jared was making me suspicious of all Gianna’s guy friends.
He laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, Gigi is beautiful, I just like a different flavor. I’m only here to hurt the guy who’s been hurting my friend.”
Dante pounded me on the back. “I’m just here to back up my boy, Caleb. Plus, maybe Gianna will put in a good word for me with that hot friend of hers, Cece.”
“Ugh, man! That’s my sister!” Jared exclaimed in disgust.
Dante grinned, nodding his chin at Jared. “You want to put in a good word for me with your sister?”
“Are you sure, Dante?” I teased him. “That girl talks up a storm.”
“Again, I say, that’s my sister! Just stop all conversation having to do with her!” We ignored him.
“She’s a good kisser,” Taye put in.
“When the fuck did you kiss my sister, Taye? Never mind, just don’t do it again. And shut the fuck up about her, all of you!” Jared yelled. This was too much fun, irritating Jared.
The fun stopped when over Jared’s shoulder I recognized some of the guys on the football team coming out to the parking lot. Josh wasn’t amongst them. “Hey guys, football practice is over. Josh should be coming out soon. Let’s go wait by his truck.”
They followed me to the truck and a few minutes later Josh showed up with Seth. Seth looked confused, but by the expression on Josh’s face, he knew exactly what was up.
Seth spoke first, asking, “What’s going on, Caleb?”
“You can take off, Seth. We just need to speak with Josh,” I told him.
“You had to bring backup, Caleb?” Josh taunted me.
“I’ve already kicked your punk-ass twice, Josh, all on my own. I think it’s been established backup isn’t required,” I belittled him. “Obviously you aren’t getting the message, so I brought a few friends of Gianna’s and mine to help get it through your brain to leave her alone.”
Seth tried to play mediator. “Okay, I think Josh gets the point.”
I turned my attention to Seth, wanting him to just go away. “That’s the problem. He’s not getting the point. He attacked Gianna again yesterday.” By this time a few more guys from the team had gathered around.
Seth spun on Josh in disbelief. “You attacked her again?”
Josh narrowed his eyes at Seth. “What do you mean again? How’d you hear about any first time? Not that there was a first time,” he quickly and unconvincingly added.
“Uh, I didn’t,” Seth evaded. If Seth wanted to be a wimp and hide the fact he took his friend’s ex-girlfriend out on a date, then fine. I could’ve cared less.
“Yeah, the first time he tried to force himself on her. The second time, he decided to slam her against a wall. And the third time, which was yesterday during second period, he managed to knock her unconscious in the process.” My voice was loud enough for all the guys from his team to hear. Any decent guy would have a problem with violence committed on women and I figured most of them would be appalled by Josh’s actions.
“Enough talk,” Jared said. “You already got a piece of him, Caleb, now it’s my turn.” Jared stepped towards Josh, who turned on his heel and started running.
Dante busted out laughing. “What a bitch! He’s running away!” We took off after him. What seemed like half the football team followed us but I didn’t know if they planned on helping him out. After all, they did just hear how terribly he treated females. Maybe, like most teenage boys, they just liked to watch a good ass-kicking.
We respected Jared’s call on getting a shot at him first, so when we caught up to Josh we let Jared do his thing. Jared first grabbed him from behind in a headlock and grunted at Josh, “You’d be smart to stay far away from Gianna. We aren’t the only guys that look out for her. There are lots more where we came from and next time you fuck with her, they’re all invited.”
By the time Jared was finished, Josh was pretty messed up, not that Josh didn’t get a few jabs in. Josh was in good shape, but Jared had a street edge when he fought, like me, that these suburban boys just didn’t possess. Some things, you had
to go out into the real world to learn.
Josh went unconscious for less than a minute when Dante hollered in his face, “You got knocked the fuck out, man!” Guess what Dante’s favorite movie was? He quoted that line at every available opportunity. To him the joke never got old.
Before we left, Taye punched Josh and Dante kicked him in the stomach while he was down. I figured they came all this way so they deserved at least one or two good hits each. I pulled back my arm like I was going to punch Josh, then I turned it into a bitch slap at the last minute.
After smacking him, I told Josh, “I suggest you listen this time.”
Driving away, I could see in my rearview mirror some of the guys from the football team helping Josh up and into his truck. I respected them for not interfering. They understood that Josh needed the violent lesson.
When I pulled up in front of the house, Gianna was sitting on the front porch. She hopped up and met me as I opened my door. Her tight hug was unexpected. “Were you worried?” I teased her.
“Of course I was! What if you got hurt?” Her arms were still tight around my waist.
“You had no reason to be worried. But I’ll take the hug and anything else you want to give me.”
“In front of the whole neighborhood? Come inside before one of the neighbors tells my mom we were making out in the front yard,” she said, dragging me up the walkway.
“You shouldn’t have to worry about Josh again. He’d have to be suicidal to try anything now.”
Her face went pale. “What if this only makes him worse?”
“Then we call the cops, no matter the consequences.” If things got any worse, I didn’t give a damn whether or not her mom found out. “And oh yeah, do you think you could put a good word in for Dante the next time you talk to Cece?”
Her smile was full of feminine delight. “Dante likes Cece?”
“Yep.”
Her smile grew wider. “If they get together, then we could double date!”
I thought to myself, crap.