Bad Luck Hannah

Josh POV
"What the hell was that about, man?" Ryan demanded the second I sat down at the table, staring me down. Chris was sitting beside me, his expression brooding, and Kylie sat on his other side across from Devin, Ricky between him and Ryan today instead of in front of me.
Jessica must have detached her tentacles for the day.
"What?" I asked, pretending I had no idea what he was talking about while I poked dubiously at the lunch on my tray.
"That fucking showdown in the hallway with that jock!" Ricky burst, looking between me and Chris. "You two looked like you were going to beat him into a pretzel!"
"We were," Chris grunted, rubbing his face and smearing some of his eyebrows.
"Why would you?" Kylie looked at him worriedly. Her and Chris were close, which I found odd since she was dating Devin and not him. So far I think they really were just friends, no sex or anything, which I found kind of impossible to believe.
I'd never just been friends with a girl.
It wasn't possible.
"Because he's abusive to his sister," Chris sighed, and I winced, wishing he hadn't said that. Hannah was so adamant about no one knowing what it was like for her at home, and if anyone said anything to her she would blame me for it, thinking I said something when I didn't.
"What do you mean?" Devin stared at him.
"He's mean to her," Chris shook his head, and I could see it really bothered him. "He's... He hits her and all sorts of bullshit. Have you not seen her face?"
Well, fuck.
All the guys just looked at him stupidly.
Well.
Chris had major issues with family abuse like that, having come from it himself. His parents were divorced, his dad practically lived across the country. His mom had remarried some jackass who'd been an alcoholic and beat the shit out of him and his younger sister; his mom had been completely oblivious until Chris had retaliated and beat his stepdad so bad he'd been hospitalized. If it wasn't for his sister spilling the beans, he would've gone to jail himself.
She moved to live with their dad, and their mom divorced their stepdad when he went to prison for child abuse. And obviously Chris had moved in with us at the first possible chance, so it wasn't like his home life with his mom had been great either.
I dont think they even talked, but I knew his dad was paying for his car and sent him an allowance, so he was pretty much taken care of it.
"I didn’t know it was anything like that," Devin stared between the two of us. "How long has that been going on? Why hasn’t she said anything?"
"She doesn’t want anyone to know, so none of you fucking say shit, got it?" I warned the entire table. "She's... just don’t say anything to her."
"Dude, you know we wouldn’t," Ryan shook his head immediately. "it's none of our business."
"Yeah, though, poor Hannah. I didn’t realize her home life was that bad. Do her parents not know?"
"She won't tell them," I sighed, shaking my head. "She's difficult."
I let my chin drop into my hand. "She is terrified of him, I don’t understand why she won't say something. She doesn’t deserve that shit."
"You talk like you actually like her or something," Ryan eyed me carefully as he took a sip out of his Mountain Dew. "Do you?"
I could feel my neck reddening. "Do I what?"
"Like her like that."
"Of course not," I scoffed instantly, shaking my head. "I feel bad for her."
"What does it matter if you like her or not?" Kylie frowned at me from around Chris, who was glaring at me. "I mean, she needs someone there for her, doesn’t she? I think it's nice of you, being there for her regardless."
"He's not doing it out of the kindness of his heart, Kylie," Chris muttered, shaking his head, and I gritted my teeth, glaring back at him.
"Shut the fuck up, Chris."
"What are you talking about? What's going on?" Kylie demanded, narrowing her eyes at all of us, and she speared Devin accusingly. "Devin?"
"Er," he stared at her, and then over at the rest of us, apologetically. He had no guts when it came to standing up to her, and it was really fucking annoying.
"Remember the girl we were talking about, how Ryan and Josh made a bet Josh could sleep with her before the end of the semester?" He shifted uncomfortably. "Banana?"
"It was her?" Kylie gasped, looking horrified. "How could all of you make a bet like that? That girl is so quiet! I doubt she's ever even had her first kiss!"
Well, I smirked a little, that wasn’t true.
"You've kissed her already?" Ryan practically hissed at me, choking on his drink as he saw the slight smirk on my face. "When the fuck did that happen? Did she let you?"
"Er," I hesitated, honestly not wanting to tell them about It.
I dont know why it felt so private.
"Josh, why the hell didn’t you tell us that?" Ricky rolled his eyes at me. "You’re making more progress then we would have figured."
"You guys are so shitty," Kylie scoffed at us, shaking her head, and she was really starting to make me feel guilty. "How could you be so cruel?"
"It's not cruel," Ryan informed her, rolling his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with what we're doing, it's not harming anyone."
"Isn't It?" She snapped back. "You're going to sleep with Hannah, and then you're just going to drop her right after that like she doesn’t mean a thing to you? After all that she has to deal with already, it seems like? That seems like an awful thing to do, Joshua!"
Sweet god, I hated it when people said my name like that.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"I'm not going to drop her like that, Kylie, stop ---."
"And why aren’t you?" Ryan frowned at me, and I glanced at him, starting to become aggravated. "That's what we've always done. You sleep with them, then you drop them. They don’t have any use after that."
"Ex-fucking-cuse you," Kylie hissed, and Devin and Ricky didn’t look impressed either.
"hey, It's how we've always done it," Ryan defended himself instantly. "You don’t have to deal with the female drama then, huh? Or worry about your girl cheating on you," he added, and I tried not to look at Ricky when he said that; I actually did feel really bad about sleeping with Jessica last week.
"I would never cheat on Devin!" Kylie gasped indignantly, balling her fists. "Why are you being such an ass?"
"I'm just explaining to you why we always do it like we do!" He snapped at her, and Devin started to bristle.
"Guys, come on, let's just drop it," I sighed, waving my hand. "There's no point in all of us fighting about it."
"It's just not right," Kylie fuzzed at me, reminding me of an upset cat, her lunch completely untouched in front of her. "And you know it! It's cruel and uncalled for, and Hannah doesn’t deserve that for one fucking second! And someone should tell her how awful you!"
"You're not gonna fucking say shit to her, you hear me?" I hissed immediately, the words coming out of my mouth before I could even stop myself. "I swear to god if you fucking go near her ---."
"Don’t threaten my girlfriend, Josh," Devin snapped at me, rising to his feet angrily. "What the hell, man?"
Even Kylie looked surprised.
I glared at all of them, feeling threatened now. I didnt want them saying anything to Hannah that would hurt her feelings or make her feel bad or hate me. I didnt really care much if I won or lost the bet right now, though I wasn’t about to admit that to any one of them,
I actually did like her, I could admit that to myself, but I wasn’t about to take it anywhere further then what I was doing. I liked kissing her, I liked touching her, but I didn’t want to date her, I didn’t want to make it official or any of that bullshit.
I didnt do girlfriends, I found the entire concept really stupid.
So I just shook my head and stood, no longer hungry.
"I'll see you guys later," I muttered, stepping away from the table, aware a lot of people and teachers were staring at us. Our loud voices and the fact Devin had stood up like he was ready to fight me hadn't exactly been inconspicuous.
And fuck them, it wasn’t any of their business anyway.
"Hey, Josh, wait ---," Ryan called, but I ignored him, quickly leaving the bustling cafeteria behind.
I wasnt in the mood anymore.