I did make it to school in time for lunch but didn’t get there until after I visited the nurse. The pain was still there. All the drama from last night and this morning made it easy to ignore, but the drive over reminded me that I was still hurting.
As I picked my way around the mobs in the courtyard, I tried to breathe through that pain, begging the painkiller to kick in. Paxon, Toby, Bryan, and Justin were all already camping at my tree, munching on food.
“Cadence!” Paxon called out. He was on his feet in moments. I paused at the suddenness of his movements and the intense look he was giving me. He stalked toward me and stopped only inches away, his eyes roaming over my body.
I blinked up at him, trying to figure out what it was he was waiting for.
The other boys stood behind him, all looking me over, and I realized they knew.
Seth must have filled them in on everything.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I’m fine.”
“The hell you’re fine!” Paxon snapped, and I stiffened. His shoulders slumped, and his expression morphed into one of relief. He went to pull me into a hug, but I threw up my hand.
“Gentle,” I warned.
Paxon’s expression closed down, but he listened as he carefully pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me without squeezing. His body shook against me, revealing his fear and worry for me. He wanted to squeeze me hard, I could tell. I was tempted to let him if it’d help him settle down.
Slowly, I lifted my arms around his back. My insides warmed from his gentle care. Mama bear. Paxon was being a mama bear right now. I’d never expected him to react like that when it came to me. Calvin, yes, but not me.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, knowing he needed that reassurance.
“A stranger was in your house. You had to jump from your garage roof and rely on bushes to break your fall.” He squeezed me briefly but quickly stopped before he hurt me. “You’re not fine. You’re just pretending to be. Like you always do.”
I shuddered at the truth of his words. Needing breathing room, I pulled back. I looked up at Mama Bear Paxon and smiled. “Only scratches, Paxon. Nothing else. He never touched me.”
“Because you’re too fucking smart for some asshole to get his dirty hands on you,” Toby said. He pulled me into a gentle hug too, before backing off. He looked me over and nodded to himself.
Bryan and Justin stayed back, but I knew they were just as concerned. Justin was focused on me. I could tell he was watching me carefully, searching for any signs of pain. Bryan’s face was etched into a scary looking frown. Something about him was off, like I was seeing a deeper layer to him that I hadn’t seen before.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Bryan asked. “If I were you, I wouldn’t want to go back to that house alone.”
“Fuck, Bryan,” Toby snapped. “Shut the fuck up! I thought I was supposed to be the dense one here, not you.”
“So you do acknowledge that you’re dense,” Bryan said.
I moved so I was between the two of them, not in the mood for any kind of arguing today. “I’m fine. I stayed at Seth’s last night, and he said I can stay there until I feel safe enough to go back home.”
“Then we’ll use that opportunity to upgrade your security system,” Bryan said. “What kind do you have now?”
“Uh.” I glanced away as I slowly settled on the ground. The pain reliever was finally kicking in, so it made it easier to sit.
“Cadence,” Bryan said in a scary voice. “You better have an answer. What kind do you have now?”
“Pepper spray?” I asked.
His eyes widened as his nostrils flared. “You only have pepper spray? No floodlights? No alarms? Motion sensors? Shutters? Nothing at all? No wonder a creep was able to walk right into your house.”
I sensed there was about to be an explosion from him.
“Security system wasn’t something I’ve been able to get around to yet,” I said as if that was enough of an excuse. It sounded lame even to my ears. Frankly, a security alarm had slipped my mind. My thoughts had been flooded with everything else I needed to do. I felt like an idiot.
“Enough,” Justin said. “I’m sure she has had a lot to deal with since moving into her home.”
“Fuck this shit. I’m getting the loudest fucking security system. Shit like this happens, and the whole neighborhood is going to know that a bastard is trying to break in.” Bryan ripped his glasses off and cleaned them furiously, taking his frustrations out on his lens. Then he shoved them back on his face and pulled out his phone.
“I’ll have something set up in the next few days. You can stay at Seth’s until then.”
Bryan kept mumbling to himself as he clicked around his phone. I watched him for a moment, remembering what Seth said.
This was Bryan caring. He was angry and frustrated and scared, and he was lashing out because of it. I didn’t think I’d see this side of him. We’d clashed so much since meeting.
“Why are you smiling?” Toby asked.
I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant.
“You’re smiling weirdly.”
I laughed. “I hope I didn’t creep you out too much with it.”
Toby frowned, looking down for a moment before focusing his hazel eyes back on me. “It’s a nice smile.”
“Uh, thanks?” I asked, heat congregating in my cheeks.
Toby grinned and winked at me while Paxon chuckled, Justin did his tiny smile, and Bryan became confused.
What was left of the lunch period was spent with them giving me notes and homework assignments from the morning classes. I thought about Seth’s words from this morning.
Maybe it was time I really did pay attention to them and considered what they meant to me.
When the bell rang, Justin reached down to me and waited for me to reach out to him, to meet him halfway. I did, and he lifted me smoothly to my feet as gently as possible. Toby grabbed my bag, and we headed to our free period. Toby took position on my left and Justin on my right, keeping others away.
I never noticed that before. How when they walked me to my class, they made sure to create a kind of protective barrier that kept people from bumping into me.
We settled down at a table and pulled out textbooks, getting started on the homework. About halfway through the period, I felt a leg bump into mine. I shifted to give whoever it was more space. Not even a moment later, they bumped into me again. I peeked under the table and sent Toby a questioning look.
“I’m pretty sure your legs aren’t that long,” I said.
He laughed and bumped his leg against mine again.
I kicked out at him playfully.
Next thing I knew, we’d spent five minutes trying to kick each other. He had me giggling, trying to hold it in so the teacher monitoring us didn’t get angry.
Eventually, we calmed down, and I could focus again on the calculus homework. Toby always knew how to distract me and lighten the mood. The stress from the break-in was slowly slipping away.
The rest of the day went by quickly and quietly, the boys’ silent support during classes making the break-in a distant memory. When the day was finally over, Paxon and Justin were going to go to Seth’s after they were done with practice. They wanted to skip out, but Paxon couldn’t afford it if he wanted to play in the next game, and apparently, Justin’s coach was on pool duty today and expected to see him there.
Toby decided to accompany me to Seth’s with Bryan following behind in his own car. The drive was filled with singing, and by the time we pulled into his driveway, I was grinning ear to ear, my stomach hurting from laughing so much.
Seth came out, smiling as he watched us get out of my car.
“What has you laughing so hard?” he asked me.
I snickered as I pointed at Toby. “Have you seen his Papa Roach impression?” I asked.
Toby smirked and did another, and since we were standing outside, he was more dramatic. Even falling to his knees. He looked like he was begging me as he sang. His voice was good, but he added a funny accent to it that I thought was supposed to make his voice sound like Jacoby Shaddix’s but failed miserably as he sang Getting Away with Murder.
“Stop!” I said, laughing again, using Seth as support so I didn’t fall down. “Please stop, Toby.”
He did, laughing now as he came to my side as Bryan pulled into the driveway.
“What did you do to her?” Bryan asked curiously as he got out of the car.
“Jacoby Shaddix impressions,” Toby said with a grin, looking proud of his achievement.
I shook my head at him. I hadn’t laughed this hard in so long. I’d even forgotten that laughing too hard made my sides hurt.
Toby walked over and hooked his arm around Bryan’s shoulder. “How about we go figure out what we’re gonna make Seth cook for us?” he said, tugging him inside.
I smiled as they disappeared into the house. Seth smiled at me all too knowingly.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. Just glad you’re happy.”
My smile softened. “They make me happy.” I looked at Seth and then at the area. “Where’s Bebe?”
“Inside still. He’ll probably tackle you as soon as you step through the door though. He’s been anxious to see you since you left this morning.”
Seth grabbed my hand and tugged me toward his front door.
“Seth?”
“Hmm.”
“Um...” I trailed off, not sure how to say what I wanted to say.
He paused and turned to me, tilting his head to the side. “What’s wrong?”
I looked up at him, taking in the dark scruff along his jaw, the way his honey-brown eyes stared at me patiently.
“I paid attention today.” My hand shook in Seth’s, and he just tightened his grip to show his support. It was hard to voice my thoughts, my fear trying so hard to hold me back. But if I had given into my fear a long time ago, I would be incapable of stepping foot on a stage or facing my mother. I wouldn’t be me. “I want to be friends with everyone. All of you make me happy. You guys make me feel normal. The idea of losing that scares me. I thought I was fine with how things were, but all of you made me realize there’s more than work and school. I wouldn’t be able to go back to that even if I wanted to. You guys are stuck with me now.”
Seth’s eyes darkened to a stronger brown as he pulled me close. He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I shivered against his touch. It all felt right.
“Thank you, Cadence. For trusting us. I promise we won’t break that trust.”
He cupped my cheek and brushed his lips against mine, as if sealing his promise, and then he pulled away. My cheeks blazed with shyness as Seth took my hand and led me inside. Bebe did in fact tackle me in desperate need for some loving, making me laugh while I doted on the big guy.
We went to where the other two waited for me. It felt like I was walking into my home. A real home.