Chapter 24: Chapter Twenty-Three

It was a week later when Josh waited for me outside the cafeteria and literally blocked the door so I couldn’t walk away from him. “Can we talk?”

“I don’t think we have anything to say to each other,” I said honestly, wondering why he would want to talk to me in the first place. We didn’t move in the same circles even though we were both athletes. I had nothing to say to him and I wasn’t convinced that he did either.

“Just you and me,” he said and glanced at Sloan, who stood slightly behind me.

“Why?” Sloan looked from Josh to me, and he shook his head, signaling that I shouldn’t go alone.

“Dude, come on, please,” he said.

I sighed and handed my backpack to Sloan. “Fine.”

“Kage,” Sloan said.

“It’s fine, I’ll be right back,” I said.

I followed Josh out of the hallway to the front steps of the school and into the parking lot. He stopped and turned towards me. His hands were in his jean’s pockets, and he looked somewhat embarrassed. We had already had one physical fight and one altercation in the cafeteria, and I wasn’t afraid that he’d get one over me.

“What do you want?” I asked him. I would literally rather cut the school’s grass with a pair of scissors than talk to him and he was wasting my time.

“I’m sorry, okay,” he said looking around.

“You’re sorry?” I couldn’t believe my ears. The asshole was finally apologizing but I knew it had more to do with Madison than him wanting to apologize.

“I love Maddie, okay, this is her ultimatum, I apologize to you, or she breaks it off,” he said.

“Which means you’re not really sorry,” I said.

“You’re a Blue Jay just like me, we shouldn’t fight, and it was stupid of me,” he said.

“Yeah, fine,” I said.

“I’m serious, Kage, I don’t want to fight with you, we’re all seniors and I’m sure if we tried, we could get along,” he said.

“Okay,” I said.

“We’re having a party tonight, it’s more of a kickoff to the sports seasons starting, you and your brothers should join us,” he said.

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling a little uncertain.

“Your team will be there too, I’ll ask Maddie to send you the address, you should really come,” he said and started to walk away.

I stood there for a few minutes before making my way back to the cafeteria. I sat down at the table and Sloan slid a tray in front of me and they all looked quizzically at me. I told them what Josh had said and Miles had glanced at their table.

“It’s a trap,” Sloan said.

“Could be,” I agreed.

“Or he might really be sorry and trying to make amends,” Endri said.

“Maybe ask James if they are going,” Castiel suggested.

“Do you guys even want to go?” I asked.

“It’s a party, Kage, why wouldn’t we want to go?” Miles asked.

The bell rang and we grabbed our bags and headed out of the cafeteria. I kept thinking about that party for the rest of the day. From what I heard the whole senior class would be there. I knew I could take Josh in a fight, I already had, so I wasn’t worried about it being a trap.

“Are you going to the party tonight?” Madison asked me as she followed us out into the parking lot.

“Not sure,” I said.

“Why not?” she asked me.

“Why did you ask Josh to apologize to me?” I asked her.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “So, you guys will come tonight?”

“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Castiel said with a smile.

“Great, see you guys tonight!” Madison said excitedly.

We drove home and parked our bikes in the garage and headed inside. Alexander was in his study, and I could hear him talking on his phone. I didn’t knock and went down the stairs to my room and sat down at my desk to complete the weekend homework Mr. Walsh had given me.

“Kage?” Alexander said as he opened my door after knocking.

“Yeah?” I looked up from my work and leaned back against my chair and swiveled around to look at Alexander.

“What are you up to?” He asked me.

“Finishing my SAT worksheets,” I said.

“Castiel says you guys are going to a school party tonight,” he said.

“We were invited,” I said.

“You don’t seem excited to go,” he said.

“Josh invited us, he apologized for the fight,” I said.

“Okay.”

“It could just be a ploy,” I said and smiled.

“For another fight?”

“Maybe, I mean he’s not the nicest guy in school,” I said.

“If you don’t go, you’ll never know,” he said.

“Do you think we should go?” I asked him.

“It’s your choice, take the car though and whoever’s driving shouldn’t drink,” he said.

“I won’t be drinking,” I said as he nodded and left my bedroom.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke up to my brothers all jumping on me on my bed. It ended in a wrestling session where we all ended up on the floor and Miles had a bloody nose from someone’s elbow.

It took me ten minutes to get rid of them so I could shower and by the time I walked out of my dressing room, they were back in my room again and I shook my head. Sloan was on my bed, the only color in his otherwise black ensemble was a red slash across the black long-sleeve shirt.

“Are you wearing that?” Miles asked me.

I looked down at myself. I was wearing jeans, boots, a T-shirt, and a jacket. I thought I looked fine. I wasn’t one for dressing up and I looked at Endri and Castiel wearing button down shirts and I just shook my head as I headed out of my bedroom.

“It’s a party not a mixer,” I said as they followed me out of my room.