Monster

Shiori laughed as she felt Dex’s arm tightened around her waist but she ignored it as she kept listening to what Ronnie had to say. She was in the middle of a story that she wanted to share that she had recently just had with a classmate of theirs.

“He actually did that?” Shiori asked with a tint of a smile on her face.

The blonde nodded, “Had to rinse his face out for a good five minutes”

The young teen shook her head before she glanced at her boyfriend, “Is something wrong?” the green eyed boy just had the same stone expression that he had since he sat down. “Dex?” she called out softly but it didn’t catch his attention. Ronnie rolled her eyes before she tore off a piece of bread from her sandwich and chucked it at the dazed off football player.

“What the hell was that for?” he hissed as he turned his head and glared daggers at Ronnie.

“Because you didn’t answer your girlfriend, dick wad” she spat back.

“You guys…” this has been happening for quite some time now; after the encounter with Jared Ronnie has been getting a bit more irritated than ever. Dex has been zoning out a lot when he hung out with us and her best friend kept telling Shiori that he wasn’t into her anymore because of how he just stares out into nothing.

“He’s a boy. He doesn’t want to listen to girl conversations” that was her defense and she didn’t mind him zoning out because why would he want to listen to two girls talk about random things?

Then she felt it.

The thing that she has been feeling for a couple of weeks now; that burning stare at the back of her head. It was like this target that was now on her since those couple of weeks ago and when she turned around she saw that Paul was openly staring at her.

Heat rushed to her cheeks as the stare was filled with emotion but she was too far away to see what was in his eyes. Was it possible to actually feel what he was feeling at the moment? Yeah, but she pushed those thoughts behind her as she turned around listening to what Ronnie had to say.

The blond was quick though, she caught the stare that Paul gave to Shiori “You want me to handle it?”

She quickly shook her head knowing that Dex would get defensive if the name ‘Paul’ was uttered out of any of their mouths. Ronnie still wasn’t convinced but she didn’t push it as they finished their meal before the bell rang. Dex walked Shiori to her next class; he walked inside with her and sat right next to her.

It was nice to have someone to talk to other than the random people that she would give quick conversations with. Everyone was somewhat nice to her now since she started dating Dex, it wasn’t anything extreme but they did acknowledge her out in the hallway if they wanted to.

Shiori’s body tensed when she saw the huge built of Paul walking in the class and she saw from the corner of her eye that Dex had a frown on his face. It was evident that he didn’t like Paul all too much after pouring soda over his girlfriend. Licking her lips she kept her head down when she felt his stare for a brief moment.

Letting out a breath of relief, she tried to focus on the lecture that was presented to her but all she could feel was that strong presence behind her. It was like nothing like before; when Paul sat anywhere near her it was usually fear or intimidation that filled the air.

Now it was more like hatred or confusion.

Something along those lines; she closed her book as she started to pack up quickly, Dex offered to walk her to volleyball since they both went the same way. She agreed shyly not used to the special treatment that he gave her, grabbing her hand with his it felt nice having a larger and stronger hand holding her own.

“Thank you for walking me”

“Anything for my girl” Dex gave her a quick peck on the lips before he mumbled “I will see you later?”

She nodded as she watched him walk off, Shiori walked into the locker room hearing the murmurs of her teammates. “Is it just me or did Paul and Jared get buff?”

“I know right? I mean I wanted to jump their bones before but damn”

“Forget about Jared, he’s dating that Kim chick”

“I don’t care if he’s dating her”

“He cares-” Shiori just zoned out the girls. It was typical for them to talk about the two main attractions of the school since a few weeks ago. It was the same conversation every single day and it was getting a bit annoying but luckily they never noticed the stares that she has been getting from a certain Native American boy.

Shiori was in the clear for now.

“You tired of them talking about them too?” she looked up to see Mana standing there pulling up her shorts in aggravation.

Shiori glanced back before she slowly nodded, “It’s getting old but as long as they don’t bring me in the conversation then I am okay with it”

Mana didn’t share the same empathy, “Ugh, if I hear them talking about my cousin like that anymore I will bash their heads in”

That one sentence got the Chinese girl perked up as she turned looking at the older girl, “Cousin?”

The dark skinned teen put her bag in her locker, “Yeah, Paul. He’s my cousin” something inside of her just froze. Did she just hear her right? Mana looked at the girl who looked shocked; chuckling at the usual reaction she nodded “Yeah I get that a lot. Paul and I are completely different. I am a lot more awesome than he is” she joked.

Shiori let out a small laugh before her heart started to pound loud as she followed Mana outside to stretch with the rest of the girls. After practice, she wiped the excess water that dripped down her forehead from the short shower that she took after practice. Her body was begging to go to sleep as she opened her car door, and then a dark hand appeared out of nowhere making her scream.

“Damn! Ori! Why did you do that?”

Shiori looked to see the mystery man, “Jake?”

“Yep” he showed his usual pearly white smile but then it was replaced by a frown when she asked where he and Embry were at lunch. Jacob pursed his lips before leaning on the expensive car that was owned by the teenage girl.

“Embry and I aren’t friends anymore”

Shiori furrowed her brows, “Why? What happened? Maybe I can-”

She paused when she saw Jacob’s dark hand raised up as he said “Don’t worry about it. Embry thought it would be best if he started hanging around Sam and his crew” the young girl was confused why he would hang out with someone like that.

“Aren’t they part of a gang or something?”

Jacob grimly nodded, “I can’t make him stop hanging out with them. That’s all he does now, he wasn’t feeling well a few days ago and now he got back to school and he is hanging out with Paul and Jared…” the worry in his voice was clear. Shiori couldn’t help but feel horrible.

“Maybe if I talked to him…” she trailed off as she saw Jake shake his head.

“No, I rather you not go near any of them okay? Just stay around Ronnie or Dex and never let them near you. Don’t want you to be dragged into their mess” Shiori bit her lip as she thought about that day when she bumped into Jared in the woods along with Ronnie but she wasn’t going to share that with Jacob. He might throw a fit.

“Okay…why did you scare me?” she started to wonder why he was there in the first place; there had to be some reason he was here when it was about to get dark.

“Oh right!” his eyes shined in recognition “I wanted to know if you wanted to go to a bonfire later on this week?”

“Um, sure. What’s the occasion?”

“I’m bringing a friend along that I want you to meet; don’t worry she’s really nice” Jacob reassured her when he saw the worry cross her big brown eyes. Shiori nodded as her shy side started to take over as she waved at Jacob she got in the car wondering why Embry of all people would join those people. He wouldn’t do that.

Embry was a level headed kid and now after a few days of being sick he was now one of them? Was he on drugs or turned to drugs? That was the rumors around the small town that Sam and his gang were drug dealers of some sort and aroused trouble every now and again. The thing was that no one did anything; they just walked around like nothing was going on.

Shiori was getting more worried about Embry because she did see him a few times but he was by himself at the time. She was starting to worry and she was now determined to go up to Embry and talk to him and try to quit the gang if possible.