The Trouble-Makers

"Please," I repeated myself, refusing to let go of Alex's hand. He watched contently, as if processing something before he looked over at Jack. I swear, the Trouble-Makers had some sort of telepathy power.

Alex's eyes flicked back to me before he murmured, "fine."

I released a sigh I didn't realize I was holding and a smile spread across my face. Alex's face didn't change, he just looked down at my hand holding onto his and I blushed. I quickly released his hand brushed my hair out of my face. "S-sorry." I stammered, but Alex still didn't say anything.

Rian coughed and both of our eyes looked over at him. "Do you think they're still looking for us?" he asked.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. We might want to all stay together tonight." My eyes must have widened because he added, "Not you, Stella. You can stay at your house, they're not looking for you."

"I vote Jack's house," Rian said, opening one of the back door's of the car.

"Same," Alex mumbled, walking away and climbing into the passenger seat.

I sighed, looking towards Jack. "I'll give you directions to my house."

***

The Trouble-Makers were strange. At school they were the biggest douche bags around, but last night...I don't know. It makes me question them, because I'm not completely sure if they're as bad as they're made out to be. True, it is kind of their fault for being pricks in the first place, but maybe it was just a front? I spent most of my morning getting ready and thinking of them and last night. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to face Kellin today, knowing what he said. But, if I was with Zack, I'd be able to get over it. Speaking of which, I hadn't heard from Zack all night last night after I disappeared. I wasn't even sure if he was picking me up this morning.

"Stella girl, how are ya?" My dad asked from the dining table as I grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it. Jay was following quietly at my feet, gazing up at me.

"Tired," I mumbled between a bite. "You work today?"

My dad placed his newspaper down and I could see his deep-set darkened eyes underneath his glasses. "Yeah, I'm not sure how late though." My dad's job was weird; I'm not even sure if there's really a name for it. He worked for a business called OTKA, which I don't know what it stands for really. But my dad gets a call from his boss with a job, and he goes to do it. He doesn't elaborate much about what he has to do and I don't question him about it because he doesn't like talking about it.

I nodded my head, just as I opened my mouth to ask him another question, I heard a car horn honk from the drive way.

"That must be Zack," I said, throwing the rest of my apple into the garbage. I reached down to ruffle Jay's fur and gave my dad a kiss on his head. "I'll see you later," I called as I ran to the front door.

I closed the door tight behind me and walked over to Zack's car, but his face didn't light up with his usual smile. "Hey," I said, settling down in my seat.

"Hey, uh, Stella, I'm really sorry about last night." He looked me in the eyes. "I got super drunk and I shouldn't have and I almost didn't go to school today but then I remembered I came to the party with you and I-" He rubbed his forehead. "I totally forgot. I'm sorry. And then I heard the Trouble-Makers came around and I freaked out but I'm just glad to see you're okay."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Of course I'm fine, but thanks for worrying. And it's fine, it was my fault for even going when I didn't want to."

"No, I seriously am sorry. I won't make you come to anymore parties."

"It's okay, Zack, I'm serious too. You just wanted to have fun." I smiled, putting my seat-belt on.

"Okay, cool." A smile spread across Zack's face as he put his car in reverse and backed out of my drive-way.

***

I sat quietly at my lunch table. Of course there was a bunch of chattering coming from all the people there, but I sat there saying nothing. Zack had his arm around my shoulders, which I admit felt extremely uncomfortable. I wasn't sure what it was with Zack, but I didn't feel completely comfortable around him now that I knew what his friends were really like. And I never felt a spark when I was around him like I felt like I should.

"Hey guys," Kellin said, walking over. His face had a huge black eye on it and his eye was blood-shot. I never expected him to come to school today but it was true what Jack said...he really did punch Kellin hard in the face.

"Holy crap, bro, what happened to your eye?" Zack asked, obviously he wasn't paying attention much last night. He must have been passed out when it happened.

"You didn't see?" Kellin asked.

"No, dude, I hardly remember last night."

"Those idiot Trouble-Makers showed up and that Jack kid punched me in the face," Kellin almost spat Jack's name, his eyes narrowing.

"What happened next?"

"Kellin passed out," I said, a smile hinting at my face.

He locked eyes with me from across the table, and I found it hard to not look away with his creepy red eye. "I don't remember you being there when it went down."

"Yeah, you disappeared," Nicki commented, suddenly interested in our conversation.

"I didn't have to be there, I heard people talking about it. I heard you got punched once and then you went out like a baby." I shrugged my shoulders and I could see Zack looking at me from the corner of my eye.

Kellin's eyes narrowed, but Nicki intervened. "In fact, you disappeared after the Trouble-Makers left. I mean, you weren't outside anymore at least. And I did see you talking to one of them." Nicki tilted her head to the side.

"Your point is?" I asked, venom slowly weaving into my voice. Whatever I did was none of Nicki's business.

"Nothing," she said innocently. "I'm just saying you need to watch your back."

Zack squeezed my shoulders reassuringly, but did nothing to defend me. He never did well with defended me against his friends, which pretty much explained why Nicki always got away with picking at me. With that, a new conversation started about this year's first football game, but I found myself drifting out of the conversation. I could feel someone watching me, and at first I thought it might be Nicki, I knew it wasn't.

I looked behind me and my eyes instantly locked on with a table that was nearly across the entire cafeteria. It was the Trouble-Makers themselves. And Alex was staring directly at me.

Notes