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evangeline blackwood

Morgan and Adonis are stood screaming in the corridors. I know that because all the teachers have attempted to sneak away from there, avoiding the conflict at all costs.

It's almost pathetic, in a way, that they try to stay away from it all for the sole fact that they didn't want to make an enemy of anyone's parents.

About 3 people smash shoulders with me as one cheers loudly before jumping on his friends shoulders with pure elation. Literally everyone has their phones out, ready, in case this obvious confrontation turned physical.

"Not again." Ashanti mutters, pushing everyone out the way with me.

We stand on the very front sidelines, watching how Julian and his mates try to square up to Adonis and Morgan.

It's almost comical.

Despite both the boys being clearly outnumbered, any person with a half-functioning brain would see that Morgan and Adonis have the clear advantage. They're physically larger, have a lot more confidence and don't need anybody else to fight their battles for them.

But I knew from the look on Adonis' face that this wasn't his battle that he was fighting.

"Stay away from her." Adonis demands, his voice low. I know he's doing it on purpose, so no one else hears, but I'm close enough to lip read.

"She isn't yours." Julian laughs dryly, smirking. His little squad laugh in unison with him.

"She ain't yours either, mate. So back off." Morgan butts in, his face leaving no room for argument.

That's one of the reasons why I love Morgs so much. He's so soft and kind but he can switch within a second. Everyone knows that he's the hardest person in the damned school. He's fearless.

Everyone sees it as something to be celebrated but I know that it makes him a target. And he knows it too. That's why he's smart, careful even, avoiding those who need to be avoided.

Adonis is saying something to Morgan. I can't hear it but I know that it's a sly comment of sorts.

But Julian's fist draws back.

"Adonis!" I shout, diving in front of him and pushing Julian back before I even had a second to reconsider.

"Aw, you need your bitch to save you befo-"

"Hold on, who do you think you're speaking to?" I kissed my teeth, narrowing my eyes and taking a step forward. "You better watch your fucking mouth when speaking about me."

Adonis pushes me out the way, but I move right back as Julian swings forward.

Strike 3.

My face explodes as his fist meets my lip, I wince but keep myself upright. His eyes widen in shock but he falls back as I clenched my fist and rammed it into his face.

The sound of a bone cracking echoes throughout the halls. JP looks up at me in confusion, holding his bloody nose.

"Next time you put a hand on me, I'll break it." I warn, licking the now-forming blood off my lip. We've been here before, he knows that. And this isn't the first time I've hit him back, but it was never in front of people, never in front of an audience that could ruin his reputation forever.

Morgan pushes my shoulder back, "C'mon, E."

I don't look at him or Adonis as we walk to the boys locker room. I'm guided to sit on the bench and Adonis kneels in front of me, shaking his head.

"You didn't need to do that."

"He punched me." I snap, wiping the blood off my chin. I wince as my finger brushes against the open cut.

"I meant go in front of me, I would've ruined him if he touched me."

"I didn't know he was going to hit me, Adonis." I snark, rolling my eyes. To be fair, I would've dived in front of him regardless. There's a lot worse things than a punch.

"Why do you call me that?" He asks, squinting his eyes in confusion.

"It's your name, isn't it?" I deadpan. Obviously the brain isn't up to the appearance standards.

He shrugs.

"Why were you even arguing with him?"

"He said something that I didn't like" I know what he means instantly. And he knows I do. His next words are a lot softer than those previous,  "Doesn't it bother you? How all those people see you how he does?"

"I don't care how I'm viewed," I inform him nonchalantly, quite frankly lying through my teeth. "I know me. And those whose opinions I give a shit about know me too. I already know what he said: Fat bitch, slag, attention seeker. Am I right?"

There's a hint of pity in his gaze, "Fair enough."

He gets a piece of tissue off Morgan, who's sitting silently in the corner, and moves closer to me.

"You know what people are saying right?" I raise an eyebrow, wincing as he wipes the blood from my lip.

"I have my suspicions. Care to enlighten me??" I can't tell how he's feeling from his voice, which is weird because I usually can

"Apparently you lot only moved down here because you got out of a young offenders." I resist the urge to lick the blood off my lip as Morgan hands him another.

"And you want to know if it's true, right?" He sounds bored and slightly defeated. As if this isn't anything new to him.

"Nah." I shake my head, "Just thought you deserved to know what people are saying about you."

"People say things about you too."

"I already know that." I send him a wry smile, yet it faltered once the stinging sensation became prominent. I repeat his words, "Care to enlighten me?"

His expression deflates, he seems almost hesitant to answer. "Some of the guys said you and Julian don't get on because obviously you were with him...and you got rid of his kid."

"You mean I had an abortion, right?" I scoff, "Please educate them on using the correct terminology." I continue once I see his puzzled expression, "Those rumours have been going around since I was 15, I'm used to it."

"Oh." He swallows visibly, "Are they..Are the-"

"Donnie-" There's a warning embedded within Morgan's tone but it doesn't bother me.

"True?" I exhale deeply, our eyes locking. "Yeah they are. And what?"

I don't see any change in his eyes, I don't see any judgement.

"Nothing." He shrugs yet I could tell that he didn't expect me to answer with that.

I explain, despite knowing that under no circumstances am I required to or have to explain myself to anyone, not even Adonis flipping Walker. "I was 15, didn't use protection and got pregnant. It was a stupid mistake and I didn't want nor was I ready for a kid. That's it."

"Nah, it's your business innit." His gaze doesn't falter, "Fuck what anyone else has to say about it."

"Exactly."

He moves to my swollen knuckles next, standing up and grabbing an ice pack from the locker room fridge and holding it to them.

"I wasn't in Young Offenders." He starts off, quietly. Adonis doesn't look up at me. "It was a while ago, like a year or two before we moved. I got arrested and shit but I didn't get sent down."

"Alright." I don't ask questions, ensuring my voice has the calm, non-judgemental tone that Jonah used to have. It always comforted me, which is probably why I told him so much about myself.

Loads of siblings hate each other. Don't get me wrong, we had our fair share of play fights. But he was more of a best friend than a brother. 

"It's human nature to be curious, Evan. Don't worry about it." He shrugs, seeming like he isn't bothered, but he still doesn't raise his eyes to meet mine.

"You're right, it is human nature." I agree, "But prying into someone else's business is just being nosy. If you wanted to tell me something then you would. I didn't have to tell you that just then but I did, on my terms. It was your choice whether you believed what Julian said or not."

"I think, regardless of the truth, he chats shit."

"I think, upon that analogy, that you are 100% correct." I chuckle, "What'd he say this time then?"

Adonis moves his stare to Morgan.

At both their hesitant expressions, I continue. "I deserve to know."

"He said that you open your legs to anything with a heartbeat, just like you did when you were with him. JP was saying to his mates that he's glad that you cheated...with me..so he knows just how much of a slag you are, calling you disgusting and shit." Morgan answers with gritted teeth, his fists are clenched and his eyes dangerously wrathful.

"Dickhead's just bitter on why we ended it." I dismiss, biting my inner lip so they couldn't see my mental turmoil.

"Nah, he's jealous." Morgan suggests in an oddly-confident manner.

"He has no reason to be jealous, I've not had a boyfriend since him."

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively so I furrow mine in return. Adonis blushes slightly which makes me even more baffled.

"You're special and not in a good way." I shake my head.

"Innit, he's a weird kid." Adonis agrees almost instantly, pulling himself off the ground and sitting next to me.

My lips tug up as I realise something. "You actually proper remind me of my brother, Morgs. He was smarter than anyone I ever met and a fucking annoyance like you, I swear down."

"We both know that I was the favourite."

"Yeah definitely. Wait, where'd Ashanti go?" I suddenly realise her lack of presence.

Morgan rolls his eyes at my concern, "She's with Apollo and Rory. Logan's there too, I believe."

"Good." I relax, "Can't be dealing with having to drag her away from a fight. Girl's always getting herself into trouble."

"You missed so much last year, man." Morgan recounted, leaning his head against the wood and staring at the ceiling. "Had to stop her from fighting every fucker pretty much everyday."

"Sounds like Ashanti."

"Did you miss the last year of college or something?" Adonis asks.

I frown, "Yeah, kinda. Family shit, you get me?"

"Yeah, man."

"Yeah. I resat Maths, I fucking hated it in High school, and so did Ashanti. I was homeschooled last year and just came in for my AS. Logan tried an apprenticeship and then started last year with 'Shanti and Morgs." I explain simply.

Adonis snorts, "Yeah, I did that. Tried working for my Dad's company and after a year, I was fucked and just wanted back in school."

"It's just one of them things. Like, I absolutely love what I'm doing now but my GCSE's were a mess. English was the only subject I did really good in."

"Do you want to do that at Uni?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah, going to do a Master's in English Lit and then hopefully get into writing. What about you?"

"No idea." He answers bluntly, "Just like going with it, at the moment. My Dad thinks I'd be good in the army so that's an option."

"I mean, that's your choice. Just wouldn't recommend it if you've got a family because it's dead hard on them." I try to say nonchalantly but a slight sense of longing bleeds into my tone.

It's times like these when I really miss my Dad.

He gets deployed for so long and it's just shit. He promised after Jonah died that he'd leave to spend more time with me and Atlas but he never did.

I just want to speak to him about everything: Julian, Jonah, Adonis. He always knew what to do. He always knew how to make it all better.

Confession: Fuck Julian Parks.