Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Lyric’s P.O.V

“I’m not getting on your bike.” Lydia did that brow crinkling thing she did when she was frustrated.

I smirked. “Why? Are you afraid that the girls in school will die of jealousy because you came to school riding on my bike?”

“No. I’m afraid I’ll die of a heart attack or a cracked skull thanks to your driving skills.” She crossed her arms across her chest stubbornly. “I’ll run my bicycle, thank you very much.”

I sighed in defeat. Lydia McKenzie was not the kind of woman you could easily mess around with and I was learning that the hard way.

“I’ll wait for you at school.” I told her as I pulled down the glass shield of my helmet and took off before I could hear her protest.

George waved at me when I reached school and parked my bike at the usual spot. I waved back and told the guy next to me to park elsewhere so I could keep the space free for Lydia’s bicycle.

“How’s Avery?” I asked George as I took off my helmet.

“Not so good.” George gave a toothy smile. “She’s grounded for a month for sneaking out to a college party and her cell phone has been confiscated.”

“Ouch.” I smirked. “How much did you tell your parents?”

“I left the part out where she almost slept with a college guy. I think Avery is traumatized enough about it and has probably learned her lesson.” George looked rightfully upset as any brother would be after the incidents of last night. “I don’t need our parent’s overprotectiveness to ruin her school years.”

“Keep an eye on her.” I reminded George.

Avery was the exact opposite of her older brother. While George was awkward and shy and an introvert, Avery was outgoing and curious and adventurous. She also made friends easily. I remember meeting her during my freshman year in college when she had just started middle school. George had helped me get some information about a student who was causing trouble and I had given him a twenty dollar bill as a reward. Avery had seen the entire exchange and demanded a hundred to keep her mouth shut. I had been thoroughly impressed by her bargaining skills. Since then, she just treats me like her older brother.

“Good morning, Miss Lydia!” George’s excitement snapped me out of my thoughts.

I looked behind me to see Lydia getting off her bicycle, so I waved at her and pointed to the empty space next to me. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at me but parked next to me nonetheless.

“Good morning, George.” Lydia nodded at George as she grabbed her backpack. I hopped off my bike and the three of us fell in step as we started walking towards the entrance.

“How is Avery doing?” Lydia asked George.

“She was a bit upset last night but she’s fine now.” George reassured her. “She’s become a big fan of you though and hasn’t stopped talking about you since last night. Would you please meet her once? It would mean a great deal for her.”

“Of course.” Lydia said immediately. “But please do keep an eye on her. Sometimes, the trauma stays buried inside without us even noticing it.”

“Do you think she would need counseling?” George looked a little worried and I frowned as well. If this had come from anyone else then I would’ve dismissed the thought instantly, but Lydia knew what she was talking about.

“Depends on how she’s been affected by the incident.” Lydia told him. “Keep talking to her but don’t be too upright. Let her know that you’ve got her back and that if she needs to talk to someone, you’re there for her.”

“Thanks! That sounds-”

The sound of obnoxious laughter interrupted us as we all turned to look towards the basketball court where a group of boys were sitting in a circle, laughing their asses off as some ridiculous joke someone had made.

I decided to ignore the group and step inside when the word ‘minor’ rang in my ears. Suddenly, all my attention was turned to them and I noticed then, what I had failed to notice before, that the group of boys consisted of Connor, the one who had thrown the party last night and his three best friends, Cameron Smith, Ricardo David and Seth Crimson.

George and Lydia must have caught on to the tension as well because they both stood still beside me and observed the group in silence. Seth had a bandage around his hand and was explaining to his buddies how he had fucked a minor at the party and how much she had liked it. I felt George tense beside me and I think we had all noticed how Seth looked in our direction before he went on to explain to his friends all the gory details that had never taken place.

“But how did you get hurt?” Ricardo, the only sane person in the group, asked Seth as he looked at him up and down, unimpressed.

“Damn! The bitch fled in the end!” Seth laughed his obnoxious laugh. “After I was done fucking the shit out off that whore, she just turned tail and ran. So I chased after her and met the new chick in school. You know, the emotionless one-”

I was done listening to his shit.

Without giving anyone any warning, I strode over to the group and threw a punch at Seth’s jaw.

Ricardo moved out of the way right on time as Seth fell to the ground. Connor and Cameron too scrambled out of the way as I jumped on top of Seth and kept on throwing punches at his face left and right.

Several people gathered around me as screams went out from everywhere, but I wasn’t listening. My mind was only on the fact that I had to take care of this shitfucker before he went on spreading vicious rumors about a thirteen year old girl who had wanted nothing more than to witness a college party.

“Stop! Lyric! Stop!”

My hand stopped only an inch above Seth’s face as Lydia’s voice rang in my ears.

It was only then that I noticed there was blood on my hands and Seth’s face was pretty messed up as well.

Two smaller hands wrapped around mine and started to pull me up. Cameron and Connor immediately began pulling an unconscious Seth away from me and Cameron threw in a warning that this time, it was my funeral since Seth’s father was the town sheriff.

It was the least of my problems, however, because when I stood up and looked into Lydia’s eyes, there was nothing but disappointment in them.

“Lydia…” I began but she shook her head and started walking back towards the main building.

“Wait!” I ran to catch up to Lydia. “Wait, damn it!”

“What?”Lydia snapped when I caught up with her.

“What’s the deal with you?” I frowned, getting agitated by her behavior. “Why were you suddenly disappointed over that lowlife who hurt Avery? Who hurt you?”

“Oh, shut up already!” Lydia snapped again, surprising me. “Don’t make this about me or Avery! Your anger issues are your own and they will get you into deep shit one day or another.”

“Anger issues?” I blinked in surprise. “I don’t have anger issues.”

“So you don’t even know you have anger issues?” She raised her eyebrows the tiniest bit. “The constant fights, the arguments you keep getting into? And not to mention the fact that you just kept on hitting that guy even after he was bloody and unconscious! How long would you have kept on hitting him if I hadn’t stopped you? Would you have been satisfied if he ended up dead?”

“Lydi-”

“You know what?” Lydia cut me off. “I’m getting late to class. I don’t have time for this right now. So how about you cool off and figure out what exactly your problem is before you talk to me.”

With that, she turned and left in the opposite direction, leaving me frustrated and pissed and with a lot of unanswered questions.