Chapter 20: Chapter Nineteen

Part Nineteen - Posted

“You can wait in the living room while I shower quickly and then we can talk,” I said to her.

“Okay,” she said, her eyes staring at the place where my tattoo was. She made me feel awkward in my own house and I wondered if there would be another fight when Josh found out that she’d been here.

We trailed behind the others up to the house in silence. I didn’t know what to say and she had me at a disadvantage. Why did she want to talk and how did she know where we lived? How was I going to explain her presence to the others later? They were already giving me enough shit as it was, and I didn’t need her being here to add to it.

“Alexander, this is Madison,” I introduced them.

“Hello, Madison, you can wait for Kage in the living room with me,” Alexander said with a smile on his face.

“Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne,” she said and followed him to the living room.

It was probably the quickest shower of my life as I scrubbed the sweat and dirt off, my muscles still aching from Alexander’s punishment. I got dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and brushed my teeth before heading back downstairs.

“Madison has agreed to join us for breakfast, Castiel will call you when it’s ready,” Alexander said and left the living room.

“Okay,” I said and watched him leave. I shook my head, and I knew the smile had been because of the conversation we’d had that day after school. I almost chuckled as I realized that Alexander might think that I liked her.

“Sorry for just barging in here,” she said.

“How did you know where I lived?” I asked her.

Madison smiled then and looked down briefly. “Everybody knows where you live.”

I cleared my throat, and she looked up at me again. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Your eye looks bad,” she commented and absentmindedly I touched the lower swollen part.

“It’ll heal,” I said.

She looked as awkward as I felt, and her arms hugged her waist. “I wanted to apologize; I don’t know why Josh pushed you for that fight.”

“Why are you here, Madison? Josh is your boyfriend, and we’re hardly friends,” I said to her.

“We could be friends,” she said.

“I don’t really think that would work,” I said.

“Look, I clearly misjudged you on your first day and I’m sorry for that. I’m trying to apologize here and you’re not exactly making it easy,” she said.

“So, you just show up at my house and invite yourself to breakfast? To what end Madison? What do you hope to achieve by doing this?” I asked her.

“It’s not like I have your phone number, otherwise I would’ve sent a text to ask if you were okay,” she said.

“What does Josh think about you being here?” I asked her.

“Josh isn’t the boss of me and we’re not talking right now,” she said so adamantly that I had no choice but to believe her.

“Breakfast’s ready mongrels!” Castiel yelled and Madison smiled.

“And for your information, your father invited me,” she said and stood up from the couch.

We walked to the dining room and Madison sat down in the chair next to mine as I remained standing. She looked at us all standing behind our chairs and she was about to get up when Alexander walked in, and we all sat down.

“Thank you, Castiel, it looks good,” Alexander said.

He had made scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and toast. The guys kept giving us looks as it was mainly Alexander and Madison talking to each other and I just shook my head as Miles and Sloan made kissing faces at me which Madison saw.

I glared at them but they both started laughing and I shook my head. They were such idiots and now I’d have to hear all about Madison sitting next to me and Madison this and Madison that. I was already over it, and they hadn’t even started giving me shit.

“Is this like a one-off thing or are you actually going to talk to us at school?” Endri asked Madison.

“What do you mean?” Madison asked him.

“Are we all friends now or what?” he asked her.

“Yes, we’re friends, although Kage doesn’t really know the meaning of the word,” she said. I chose to ignore her comment because at this point, friends were overrated, and I didn’t need any more complications in my life.

“What about your popularity status at school?” Sloan asked her.

“Popularity is overrated,” she replied.

“Great, are you staying for movie day?” Castiel asked her.

“Guys,” I said, and Madison looked at me.

“Yes, I’m staying,” she said as they smiled at her.

“I’m sure you have better things to do,” I said.

“Not really,” she said.

“Great, Sloan can make the popcorn while we clean the kitchen,” Miles said.

“We just had breakfast,” Madison said.

“You can’t watch movies without popcorn,” Miles said.

“I’ll help to clean up,” she said as Miles started stacking plates on top of each other.

“I never say no to help,” he smiled at her.

Madison and Miles were laughing in the kitchen as we cleaned up the dining room and I wondered why she suddenly wanted to be friends with us. It wasn’t like we had anything in common. She was a cheerleader, the most popular girl in school, blonde and preppy, the complete opposite of all of us.

I was busy setting things up in the living room while my brothers were all in the kitchen with Madison. They were talking and laughing, and I was surprised at that. Sloan rarely laughed even though he smiled all the time and Castiel didn’t like new people. Miles and Endri were the most welcoming of all of us. Their lives had been slightly better in foster care.

“Have we decided what to watch?” I asked when bowls of popcorn appeared on the table and the guys all settled down, leaving one couch for me and Madison.