“Seriously? What is wrong with you?” She all but stomps her foot, and I hear Roman chuckle at her abrupt outburst.
“Ah, don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll take awful good care of you.” His tone has just enough innuendo for my spine to straighten.
In my peripheral, I watch him wrap an arm around my sister’s shoulder. My eye quickly catches his. With a slow, burning grin and a sly wink, he turns her away from me and walks straight toward the group of football players in the back. Glancing around, people are standing up at their tables trying to catch a small glimpse of what was going on. I have a feeling I just committed social suicide.
“Jonah.” Anna says my name again, but at this very moment, I can’t pay her any mind.
Mary is with him. The one that shakes me to my core. I don’t know him, but I don’t need to at this point. He’s dangerous.
“Jonah!”
“What?” I almost growl, my head jerking up to make eye contact with Anna. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly when I see the hurt wash over face. “I’m sorry.”
“You need to get your sister away from him. He’s bad news,” Anna states uneasily as she leans over the table, voice so low even I can barely hear her.
“Who is he?” I ask nervously as I lean closer to her, to not be overheard by mindful ears.
“That’s Roman King. He’s the quarterback for the school, and the best one we’ve had in about twen’y years. He does whatever he wants ‘round here. He isn’t just a ‘king’ because of his last name.” Her eyes are telling me a much deeper story, a darker one, but I’m in no position to push her on it. “Look, you seem like a nice guy, so I’m gonna assume your sister is a nice girl too. Roman King gets what he wants and walks away. Ya know what I mean?”
My gut cramps with dread. I know exactly what she means, and Mary is so desperate to be accepted that she would probably let him have his way.
“I had a run-in with him this morning. I bumped into him, and he threw me into the lockers.”
“That don’t surprise me at’ll. Though I am surprised you don’t got a black eye.”
“Really? He’s violent?”
“I’ve ne’er heard of him hitting a girl, but getting into fights? Oh, yeah. He normally starts them, then the entire offensive line steps in and handles the rest of it for ‘im. He can’t risk getting hurt bad enough to not play.”
This is not making any sense. What kind of place have we moved to?
“What?”
Anna chuckles at my confusion. “Honey, you live in the South now. Everyone ‘round here cares about two things: football and God. The local high school teams are just as important as the professional players in the NFL. Damn near the entire town shuts down when there’s a game on Friday nights.”
I can’t wrap my head around this. It’s like moving to an entirely different country. The entire town shuts down for high school football?
“Is that even legal?”
“Come to the game next Friday and ask the Sheriff for yourself.” She smiles at me.
Chapter Three
Jonah
The last bell has rung, and everyone is heading out as quickly as they can. I stop by my locker, drop off the books I’ve picked up in my last classes, and head to the entrance, expecting Mary to be waiting for me. When I get to the front doors, I look around, and she’s nowhere in sight.
Anna passes me with a wave on her way to the bus and I give her a smile. No one else acknowledges that I’m standing there.
Where is she? The rush of students leaving has ended and only a few stragglers are left. My jaw clenches when I see Roman leaning over Mary against the lockers, still inside the building. They look to be a lot friendlier than when he had me pushed against the damn lockers.
“Mary,” I call, and both Roman and Mary turn to look at me.
Roman lifts an eyebrow and smirks. Keeping his eyes locked on me, he leans down to say something in her ear and kisses her cheek before standing up straight. He takes a step back, catching my eye, and quickly blows me an arrogant kiss. Mary’s cheeks turn pink and she says goodbye to Roman before walking toward me with a scowl on her face.
I risk a quick glance behind me. Roman rests against Mary’s locker. He turns his body toward me; using a hand, he pretends to jerk off. With a snide laugh and tilt of his head, he walks away.
“Fucking fairy,” he laughs, rounding the corner.
I struggle to catch up to her once I’m down the stairs. She doesn’t slow her stride.
“Mary!” I holler as I slowly advance on her.
She makes her way down the sidewalk toward our new house.
“Wait up.”
She says nothing; she just keeps walking with her back straight and determination in her steps.
“Why are you mad at me?”
If anyone deserves to be mad, it’s me. He threw me into the damn lockers.
“Are you serious?” She turns on me, forcing me to take a step back. “I introduced you to my new friend and you wouldn’t even say hi! You were so rude!”
“He threw me into the lockers this morning! He’s not a good guy!” I roar back at her. “I have a bruise on my back from the lock!”
With her hands on her hips, she watches me. “Why would he do that?”
“Are you really taking his side over mine? You’ve known him for, what, ten minutes? I’m your brother! You’ve known me your entire life!”
We stand there on the sidewalk, facing off.
“What do you know about him? I’ve been told he’s not a likeable guy.”
Mary rolls her eyes and turns to walk away, waving her arm in the air. “I’m sure it was from jealous girls that can’t get his attention. He’s actually really nice.”
“Nice? Are you kidding? One look at him tells me he’s a jerk!”
A jerk I’m sure will ruin me, given the chance, but it might just be worth the fall.
“Wow. Judgmental much?”
“He threw me into the lockers hard enough to leave a bruise. He cursed at me and called me a faggot. Does that sound like a nice guy?”
“What prompted all that? What did you do?”
“Really?! You think I did something to warrant that? Me?” I grit my teeth until they ache and let out a deep breath. “You know what? If you want to believe he’s a nice guy, there’s nothing I can do to change that. Just remember that I warned you.”
She stops and watches me walk past her, but I don’t stop.
“Guys like Roman King only want one thing from girls like you, and once they get it, they’re gone.”
No more words are spoken for the rest of the walk home.
I hate him. Roman King. Even his name makes him sound like a jerk. If jerk is even a strong enough word to describe this guy. Too bad it makes my blood pound in my veins at the mention of it. I hate him, but I have a feeling before the end of the year, I’m going to fall in love with him. I’m not sure why. He’s given me no reason to think otherwise, but there’s something about him that calls to me.
I hate him for that too.