Chapter 14 Fox in the Branches
Fuck. Ezra had me pinned against the wall. His body on top of mine in a lover's embrace. Shit, what did he say? Green eyes. I didn’t put in my brown contacts. Damn it. Hopefully, I did a good enough job hiding the rest of my face with the scarf. I just had to break from his hold. And get back to the apartment without him noticing. I pushed the heel of my foot on his. He staggers back a step. Just enough for me to bed down and elbow him. He backed up even more with a grunt. It was just enough for me to break free and run down the alley. I couldn’t go up the fire escape yet. So I ran down past a couple of buildings and jumped into a neighbor's yard. I quickly climbed their tree.
After a few moments, my breaths evened out. I could hear foot’s stop approaching, and I willed the darkness of the shadows in the tree to hide me. I held my breath as I saw Ezra approaching. Walking ever so casually down the street. He was saying something over and over, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Soon, he was in earshot, passing by me in the tree I was hiding in. When I finally heard him, my blood ran cold.
“Come here foxy fox. Come here, foxy fox. I wanna play some more.”
Did my green eyes really give me away as the Fox, or was it a coincidence, because he seemed to like to give nicknames to the people he harassed? I sat in that tree for what seemed like forever. Besides my heartbeat, I heard nothing and saw nothing of Ezra.
I decided to risk it and jump down, then head back home to get some rest. I proceeded with caution. Making double sure no one followed me. Once I was positive, I made it back to the apartment building. The black car was gone. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. I quickly and quietly made my way up the fire escape. Slipping back inside. I heard no sounds from anyone in the building as I made it to my door. I unlocked it and slid inside, once the door behind me was closed and locked again. I let out a long breath I was holding. I slipped down the door and sat on my but as the adrenaline left my body and exhaustion took over. I struggled to get back up, but I did, and made it to my room. I made sure my clock was set to go off in 5 hours for school. Just in case I didn’t wake up on my own. If today was any indication of how out of touch I became with my training. I was more than rusty. Normally Ezra would never been able to get that close to me, let alone be able to pin me like that. That was too close. If I didn’t cover my face with the scarf, he would have known it was me. It was bad enough I didn’t have my colored contacts. Or maybe it was a blessing? I wasn’t sure. The only thing I was sure of was that I needed to train and keep up with my work.
Wait, why did that matter? I wanted to be normal. Ugh. I was too exhausted to try to figure out why my mind was wanting me to go back to my old ways. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
I woke up with a start at the sound of my alarm. Crap. I gotta get a move on. I pop my waffles in the toaster. Then run in the bathroom to do my hair and put in my contacts. Once I’m dressed and my backpack is on. I head out the door with the waffle hanging from my mouth. I’m about to break into a jog so I can make it on time when a voice calls out to me.
“Hey, cool your jets, I’ll give you a ride,” Bartise called out.
“What? Hey! I would love a ride.” I tell him with a smile. “Thank you, I was probably going to be late.”
“No worries! I figured you might want a ride when you mentioned you walk to school.” He explained as he helped me in his truck again.
“You know I am perfectly capable of getting in myself??” I said as I looked over at him with a challenging look, and he broke out laughing.
“I know, but if anyone in my family found out I didn’t open a car door for a lady. They will flay my ass until next week.” Bartise said with a smirk. I couldn't help laughing.
“I doubt that, but accept that answer. Family dynamics are something I understand,” I said with a smile.
“Thank you, oh! And here I got you a caramel latte.” Bartise said, handing me an ice cold drink.
“What? Really! Thank you.” I was so excited and have been dying for a latte lately.
We made it to school just in time. I didn’t fight Bartise on opening the door for me. I wrapped my arms around him in a hug.
“Once again, thank you.” I have never had someone besides Elizabeth care about me. I don’t think he will ever understand what he and Cindy have given me. It seemed really silly.
“Anytime.” He said, returning my hug, and to my surprise, a kiss on top of my head. I pulled away and looked at him with wide eyes.
“Did you just kiss me on my head!” I practically yelled it in my shock. He just looked at me with a devastating smile, and I felt my whole body go red with embarrassment.
“I would be embarrassed too if he kissed me,” A cool and menacing voice whispered in my ear from behind. I saw and felt how tense Bartise got when Ezra appeared so close to me. Before anything else could happen, the bell rang.
“Come on, let’s get to the homeroom before we are late.” I practically pulled Bartise along before we turned the corner. I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder at Ezra, giving me a look like he wanted to eat me. Something about it sent shivers down my back.
I made it into the homeroom moments before Mr Griffin, and he gave me a look that told me that it was too close. I sat next to Cindy.
“If that were anyone else, you would have had detention.” She whispered to me.
“I don’t know why, but he acts and talks as if he hates me. So why do things out of character?” I asked, but then the picture of this “Sarah” came to mind. Did he know her? Did he think I knew her? And that was why he’s acting funny when it comes to me? I was half listening to the morning announcements.
“He’s not the only one giving you special attention,” Cindy said with a mischievous grin.
I held back a groan as much as I could, “yeah I don’t know why Bartise kissed me.” I mumbled out, not thinking.
“What??!” Cindy screamed, and I quickly tried covering her mouth.
“What is going on over there?” Mr Griffin asked.
“Sorry, I could've sworn I saw a spider,” Cindy explained.
“Right.” Mr. Griffen eyed us suspiciously. I gave Cindy a look that said Seriously? She just looked apologetic and mouthed, sorry. Once the attention was off us, I explained what happened.
“You got flustered over that?” She asked, surprised. Eyebrows raised as high as possible.
“Well, yeah… I have never kissed another person before. Nor has anyone ever kissed me. Parents included.”
“Wow.” Was all Cindy could manage to say. “But back to my earlier comment, I was referring to Ezra giving you special attention.”
“What?” I looked at her, confused, and couldn’t help but to look over at him sitting in the back corner. His eyes were fixed on me. I quickly looked away and back at Cindy.
“Yeah, girls and guys throw themselves at him all the time. He ignores most people, unless there is trouble, and he usually defuses the situation. When I first came out. He stopped a lot of people from beating me up for being me.” She shrugged. It made my heart hurt to know people wanted to hurt her just for being different.
“I’m sorry” was all I could think of saying. It didn’t feel like it was enough, though. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her while I was around; that was a fact.
“Thank you, since you came around, he seems to be interested in you. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing. He has interacted with you more than anyone else since he moved here two years ago.” Cindy couldn’t say anything else as the bell rang, signaling we had to head to the first period.
“Let’s try to get you that phone again after school,” Cindy said with a smile. Before I could reply, Mr. Griffen called out to me.
“Miss Hawks, can you stay back a moment?”