The Trouble-Makers

"I guess Kellin didn't show up to school," Jack said, chuckling under his breath. He leaned against Alex's locker and I dug around in my own. English class had finished and both Jaime and Jack followed me to my locker to wait for Alex with me.

"Serves the kid right," Jaime growled. Even though they all agreed to tone down the fighting, that didn't stop them from talking big. If anything, they started talking even more violently since they had to suppress it physically. "I bet he won't even bat an eye towards us."

"He probably can't even see anything after the number Jack did on him," I added, pulling my bag out.

Jack smirked, as if he were proud of it; which he probably was. "Best be, he really went too far this time." After the talk Jaime had with him last night, Jack had calmed down. Even agreed he'd try to stay calmer, but he made it a point to say only for Alex's sake and not for me since he didn't want to piss him off.

"Yeah, that's what I said until I was out numbered," Alex said, suddenly appearing by Jaime's side. "You guys got out early," he remarked, Jack moving out of the way so he could reach his locker.

"We convinced Stella to skip," Jaime snickered.

Alex let out a teasing gasp. "Stella? Skipping? Oh dear, we must inform your father at once!"
The boys and I laughed at that, but their faces turned stony as they focused in on someone behind me. I bit down on my lip, my stomach churning, already picturing who it could be that would wipe their smiles so completely off their faces like that.

"Stella?" Someone asked behind me, and I turned to see Zack. Bingo.

Alex instantly stepped closer to me, pulling me into him. "What do you want?" He didn't skip a beat with turning the situation harsh.

Zack shifting from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable with being in the presence of three - scratch that, four Trouble-Makers at one time. If he decided to pick a fight now, he would be severely outgunned. "Can I talk to you?"

I shook my head, not liking the outcome of our last few discussions. "No, whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of my friends."

Jack walked over, slapping a hand to Zack's back. "So, Merrick, what brings you around?" he asked, gripping his shoulder a little too tight.

"It doesn't involve you guys, it only involves Stella," he said quickly, trying to wiggle Jack's hand off of his shoulder.

"If it involves my girlfriend, it involves me," Alex said now, and Zack's eyes widened at that. I guess he wasn't expecting that.

"Actually," Jaime corrected, "if it involves a Trouble-Maker, it involves all of us."

Zack's brow furrowed, obviously getting more and more frustrated with the situation. "Fine, you guys want to hear it, be my guest," he muttered. "Did you hear what they did to Kellin Friday night at the party?" he asked.

Jack chuckled. "Are you kidding me? She was there with us."

Zack's expression changed from solemn to shock in a matter of seconds. "W-what?"

I bit down on my lip. "They kind of took it too far, but Kellin kind of deserved it for what they did to Alex."

"What do you mean 'what he did to Alex'?" Zack asked now, shaking his head. "They showed up at the party just to cause trouble...that's what Nicki told me."

At that all the boys started laughing, and I couldn't help but fight a smile; what can I say? Their laughter was contagious. Zack just continued to look at them shocked.

"Oh, man, that's good," Jaime said, still cracking up.

"Newsflash, Merrick! Nicki is a lying whore," Jack said through a chuckle. "And I don't think Kellin is any better because he's the one who beat up Alex in the first place."

Zack shook his head quickly, as if trying to avoid the inevitable truth. "No, you guys are lying." He looked to me, as if waiting for me to confirm his words.

I shook my head. "Alex never showed up at my place, so I got worried. Then I got a text from Nicki about him and we all raced to Kellin's house figuring he was there," I bit down on my bottom lip.

"And you should've seen Stella," Jack went on, still finding this situation funny. "Oh god, when she found out it had to do with Kellin, she took a beer bottle and hit Kellin across the face with it!"

"What?" Alex and Zack said at the same time. Apparently we left that part out to Alex, and he was now cracking up at it.

"Wow, my girl's a fighter!"

"I had to get him to talk," I said shrugging, a blush forming on my cheeks.

"You guys are all treating it like this is some kind of joke," Zack said, still not wanting to believe us.

I shook my head. "After I...hit Kellin with the bottle, he told me Alex was in the back room and that's where I found him. He was passed out."

Zack cursed, running a hand through his hair. "But..why?"

"I think that's something you should ask your little, prissy friends," Jaime mocked, pouting his lower lip at him.

"Come on, guys," I said quietly, shaking my head at them. I know Zack could be a dick and his friends definitely weren't any better, but at least he wasn't a part of all the things that happened. In fact, I wondered why he wasn't at the party in the first place...

Alex pulled me closer to him now, I guess not liking my little defense to Zack. "Yeah, we have to go anyways," Alex said, and the two boys straightened up at his voice. Jack was the apparently the leader of the Trouble-Makers, but sometimes they reacted quicker to Alex's voice rather than Jack's.

I nodded my head slowly, Alex intertwining his fingers with mine and pulling me away. I watched Zack for a moment longer, whom was looking at me with sad eyes. But Jack soon walked up behind me, blocking our vision; of course I knew Jack did that on purpose. Even though I was Alex's girlfriend, all the Trouble-Makers acted possessively over me. In fact, they did that with all of each other. If you messed with one of us, you messed with all of us. I guess it never really clicked in my head before, but their group was more of a gang than anything. Wouldn't my father be proud.

Notes

Sorry this was a short chapter /.\