Chapter 6

Wednesday morning and Gabriel felt like shit. He struggled to get out of bed due to his ribs, but once upright, felt ok, as long as he didn't take a deep breath. He limped to his bathroom and had a shower before getting dressed in his room. Going downstairs, Gabriel found a note that told him that his mother had left early for a meeting and might not be back until late. Gabriel smiled. He had avoided seeing his mother the night before, thanks to going straight to bed as soon as Jennifer helped him home; and now again this morning. If this kept up, he might be fully healed before his mother even realised he had been in a fight. Gabriel ate some breakfast while he thought about how much his life had changed in under a month.

"In just 3 weeks, I've discovered I had a unique gift, made friends with the hottest girl in school, got beat up and then beat up those that beat me up and I am now in a relationship with the hottest girl in school. Life is sweet," Gabriel thought to himself.

He put his bowl in the sink and was about to return upstairs when there was a knock at the front door. Gabriel opened it to see Jennifer standing there.

"Hey," Gabriel choked out in surprise.

"Hey, how are you? You look like you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar," Jennifer described.

"Nah, its nothing like that. I'm just surprised that you're here. I didn't think to be seeing you before school," Gabriel said. Jennifer just smiled.

"And why wouldn't I want to walk my injured boyfriend to school?" Jennifer asked. "Boyfriend, it sounds right," she thought to herself.

"Boyfriend, she said boyfriend. Dream come true," Gabriel thought to himself as he looked back. "I don't know. You usually drive that's all. I figured you would just continue to do that," Gabriel replied.

"Well, I could have gotten a lift to school but It didn't feel right leaving you to walk alone. I would have offered you a lift but I haven't really told my mum that I have a boyfriend. So I left early and walked over here," Jennifer explained. Gabriel couldn't believe what he was hearing. She had left early, passed up a ride to come here and walk with him to school. "So you are coming?"

"Yeah, I just have to go upstairs and get my bag. You want to wait there or come in?" Gabriel asked. Yesterday she had helped him home but left as soon as he had opened the front door and he had gone inside. He didn't know where she had gone.

"I'll just wait here. Don't be long," Jennifer said with a smile. Gabriel nodded and went upstairs as fast as he could manage. He grabbed his bag, again deciding not to take his laptop, before he returned downstairs. "Got everything?"

"Yep, let's go," Gabriel announced. He walked out the door and locked it behind him. Together, they started to walk along Gabriel's usual path to school.

"He is so nervous. Is that from the fight yesterday or because of me?" Jennifer wondered silently. She sidled up closer to Gabriel and took his hand in hers. Gabriel started at the contact but slowly gripped her hand in return. Through his hand, Jennifer felt Gabriel slowly relax. "Good, he needs to relax before we get to school."

"Oh my god. Her hand is so nice," Gabriel thought. He willed himself to take some deep breaths and slowly relaxed as he and Jennifer walked along, hand in hand.

As they approached the school, Gabriel felt Jennifer slowly tense up. Feeling it was his presence, he didn't want to speak up.

"Jennifer, if you'd rather people didn't know were together, we can split up here and go into school separately," Gabriel offered. Jennifer stopped and so did Gabriel as she turned to face him.

"What, don't you want to be seen with me?" she asked bluntly. Gabriel was taken aback by this.

"Yes I do, but you're all tense and I thought it might be because of us being together so close to school," Gabriel tried to explain. "And that you didn't want to hurt my feelings by telling me you didn't want to be seen with me." Gabriel watched as Jennifer's face contorted through a variety of emotions.

"It's not that. I don't care who sees us together. Half the school probably knows already and the rest will know by the end of today. It's just," Jennifer said with a pause and despondent look.

"What?" Gabriel asked. Even though they had been going out together for only 15 hours or so, his insides burned up when he saw her like this.

"I quit the squad," Jennifer said. Her face was a picture of internal conflict. "Now I have nothing but Gabriel. I don't even know if Lisa will support me now. Sure she said go for what made me happy but this far?" she argued internally.

"Huh, when did you find the time to do that?" Gabriel asked.

"Yesterday. After I helped you home, I ran back to school and quit. Before anyone could say anything, I took off," Jennifer explained. "Melissa will be pissed, and while I don't care, I don't want to have to fight her." Gabriel's anger had risen slowly while Jennifer had explained what she had done.

"Don't worry about her. If she tries anything, I'll do much worse to her," Gabriel said with concealed anger. Or so he thought.

"You would do that?" Jennifer thought and looked at Gabriel closely. "Yes, you would." "Alright, I won't. But we should get going or we are going to be late," Jennifer said. Gabriel nodded and they joined hands again to continue their walk.

The last part of their walk finished in silence and they entered the school with a sense of foreboding. As they walked towards the science block for their Chemistry class, Gabriel noticed a collection of girls walking across the quad. He recognised one as Melissa and so angled his walk away from them, guiding Jennifer fast to Chemistry. They did not make it.

"You have practice this afternoon, Jennifer. Don't forget," Melissa said as she stepped in front of Jennifer and Gabriel. Gabriel went to step forward but Jennifer squeezed his hand,

"No, I don't. I quit the squad yesterday afternoon. You know that, you were there," Jennifer explained calmly.

"I know. I spoke to the teacher, explained how you were under a lot of pressure and sometimes did some strange things. She said you could rejoin the squad this afternoon. And you will," Melissa said. Gabriel felt Jennifer tense up as Melissa spoke but decided to let Jennifer handle it, for the moment.

"No. I quit the squad. I'm not rejoining it. I've had it with you. All you ever do is boss people around so you can get ahead. Without me, the team is without an integral part and so worse off, which makes you look bad. And you can't handle having to actually do some work for a change, instead of just being able to bat your eyes and say the word and its done," Jennifer said, the anger growing in her voice. Melissa was taken aback by Jennifer's speech. Never had anyone spoken back to her like this.

"Why you!," Melissa said and lunged at Jennifer, hands outstretched to grab her. But she never got there. Jennifer raised her hand and delivered a slap, straight across Melissa's face. Melissa stumbled back, holding her cheek as it turned red from the impact. The entire crowd was stunned, never had anyone actually hit Melissa. Jennifer went to step forward and hit her again but was held back by Gabriel.