Day Thirteen

Zak's voice echoed throughout the building, only to be drowned out by the chaos of hollering boys rushing into the room.  Dozens of hands grabbed ahold of the giant, pulling his arms and yanking him away from me. 

"What the hell?" Damon growled, stumbling to his feet as the boys tugged him backward, Zak's elbow hooked around his neck, Mike twisting his sausage arms behind his back, Isaac pushing against his torso, and Hunter leading the skyscraper over toward the back of the building.  "The fuck is going on?"

A pair of sparkly heels clicked across the floor, where Gwyn knelt down beside me.  "Hey, girlie.  You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."  I nodded, my eyes glued to the huddle of boys.

Damon writhed and fought against their force, struggling to free his arms.  Mike had both pinned firmly behind his back, and each time Damon tried to slip away, he twisted harder, causing the giant to wince. 

"Call off your dogs." Damon spat, shooting daggers my way.  "I didn't do nothing."

"Just shut up, bro."  Hunter shoved Damon, forcing him further into the back of the room.  "You know you had this coming."

"Let go." Damon hissed through gritted teeth.  He turned and elbowed Mike in the stomach, making the small brunette grunt in pain and release his other arm. 

My breath hitched in my throat once Damon's hands clutched around Zak's arm, trying to pull out of the hold around his neck.  Zak's jaw pulsed and tightened as he fought against Damon's whitening knuckles.

"Oh, my God."  I whispered, meeting Gwyn's mossy eyes.  "We have to do something."

"Come on, man."  Zak prodded, his face twisted into a scowl.  "That all you got?"

I didn't want to see what else Damon 'got'.  I had to jump in to give Zak the upper hand before things got out of control.

I sprung to my feet, running over to my slumped backpack in the corner.  Hoisting the bag up over my head, I took a lucky swing at Damon's face and hit him square in the jaw.

The boys stumbled back, Zak regaining his grip on Damon's throat and Mike pinning his arms again, Isaac and Hunter taking turns shoving Damon over to the giant metal cart. 

"Damn, Zoe."  Zak cracked a smile, tightening his grip around Damon's neck.  "That was badass."

I repressed the swarm of butterflies in my stomach and shouldered my bag, giving him a confident smile.  "Thanks."

"Yay!"  Gwyn clapped, jumping with excitement.  "Girl power."

"What the actual fuck, Zoe?"  The giant snarled, desperately trying to break away from the boys' grasp. 

Hunter rolled his eyes, "Didn't I tell you to stop talking?"  His chocolate eyes flickered over to me and he nodded at my bag.  "Can I see that?"  I slung it off my shoulder and he smiled, "Thanks," and stuffed the backpack into Damon's face, forcing him to stumble back.

"Guys, the lift."  Zak yelled over the rowdiness.  The boys pulled the giant over to the huge, all of their hands pushing and tugging Damon's massive weight onto the cart as he struggled against them, spitting and swearing.

Hunter grabbed hold of the controls, switching on the power in order to begin raising the platform.

Mike kept his grip on Damon's arms until he was too far off the ground and hopped down, followed by Isaac.  The cart kept rising three, five, seven feet off the ground, but it was just Zak and Damon left in the small space.

Zak fumbled with the lock on the gate as Damon leaned over the edge, his eyes squinted as if judging the distance as they continued to rise.  The lock clicked in place and Zak swung over the edge, using the metal bars on the gate to lower himself closer to the ground. 

The boys huddled around him and Zak dropped what seemed like no less than ten feet, the brunt of his fall caught by the other boys huddled around the base of the lift. 

"You good?"  Mike clapped a hand on Zak's shoulder.

Sighing, Zak nodded.  "Yeah."

A tidal wave of relief washed over my body.  My fist unclenched, shoulders relaxed, and I released a deep breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding. 

It worked.

The boys hooped and hollered, high-fiving each other and running over to throw their arms around me.  Gwyn looped her arm through mine, her red lips cracked into a proud grin.  Zak and I shared a smile before looking up at Damon, who now was a literal giant, standing a good 25 feet higher than the rest of us.

Pure horror was stained on Damon's face as he peeked over the edge, dark eyes slowly trailing from the ground up to meet mine, where they narrowed into slits.

"Get me down from here."  his deep voice bounced off of the theater's high walls and arched ceiling, reverberating through the entire building.  "Now."

"Hmm, let me consult with my co-captain.  Captain Riley, should we release the captive?"  I smirked over at Zak, whose lips wormed into a cheeky smile.

He shook his head, arms crossed.  "Good question, Captain Scott.  Intel says..." he cupped his ear, "No, no we should not."

We laughed and looked up at Damon, whose face was covered in a baseball mitt sized hand.  "I hate you guys."

Was it petty?  Yes, but did he deserve it?  Also yes.

And it was fun.  By trapping Damon up there, we were showing him how it felt to be humiliated, to be literally and figuratively trapped with no way out, solely at the mercy of his peers. 

"You should have known better than to mess with us."  Hunter shouted up at him.  "Get comfy.  You're gonna be up there a while."

"Yeah, how does it feel, Dante?"  Gwyn smirked up at him.  "That's definitely not right, but I don't even care what your name is, anymore."

"For fuck's sake,"  Damon huffed, throwing his head back.  "What do you want?"

Several pairs of eyes fell onto me and I swallowed, my mind racing with exhilaration.  "We have some questions for you, big guy."

His furry eyebrows condensed to form one large, black caterpillar.  "You serious? Some questions?  That's all?"

"Um, yes."  I cleared my throat, looking over at Zak, who nodded.  "We need answers, Damon." 

"Couldn't have asked me from the ground?"  he shouted, shaking the railing with clenched hands.  "That's it.  Lemme out.  Get me down from here."

"No can do, bro."  Hunter shook his head.  "Answers first, and then, we'll consider letting you go."

"Just to be clear, we will let you go--"  Zak smirked at Hunter.  "--Eventually.  But you gotta be honest with us, and you gotta come clean first."

"Y'all are dense.  I already told you, I didn't do nothing."  Damon sighed in exasperation.  "Whatever, ask your damn questions."

"Alright then,"  Zak said, nudging my shoulder.  "Fire away."

"Why did you do it?"  I squinted up at him, arms crossed.  "Why did you release the video at the assembly, in front of everyone?  Like, what did you have to gain from that?"

"Slip of the wrist."  Damon shrugged.  "The files were next to each other, and I opened the wrong one."

"That's bull."  Mike scoffed.

"Yeah, man.  Just tell us the truth."  Hunter rested his hands on his hips.  "You outed me and Gwyn to the whole damn school.  That doesn't just happen by accident."

"Yeah, D-bag." Gwyn huffed.

"What do you want, an apology?"  Damon rolled his eyes.  "Look, dude, it sucks you got caught.  Maybe you shouldn't have been messing around with that skank in the first place."

Hunter's chocolate eyes widened as he glanced between her and the giant.  "Is he for real?  Are you for real?" 

"Just be straight up."  Zak yelled.  "It's not like you have anywhere to go, or anything to lose.  Might as well be honest."

"Yeah, but I don't owe you an explanation."  Damon said in a low tone, only audible due to its echo.  "None of you."

"I don't get it, Damon."  I shook my head.  "I've been nothing but kind to you--we've--been nothing but kind to you."  I gestured toward the group.   "I've put up with you following me everywhere around campus, showing up in my classes, recording my every move for the past two weeks.  Zak and I invited you on our date with us as a peace offering.  We didn't have to do that, but we wanted to try.  All of us tried. Hunter even invited you to his family's barbeque."  My eyes softened over at the curly-haired boy, who licked his teeth and nodded. 

"I agreed to work with you, to honor our deal. I wanted to do the right thing by Mark, which is the only reason why I put all of us in jeopardy.  I trusted you."  I said, taking in a deep breath.  "So, just tell me.  Why did you do it?"

Damon fell silent.  He turned toward the wall, clutching the railing, head dipping between his shoulders.  All eyes were locked on him, waiting in the eerie silence of the theater to finally hear the truth.

"You really do think it's all about you, Zoe Scott,"  he muttered, pushing away from the railing.  His cold eyes met mine, and even from thirty feet away, gave me chills down the length of my spine. 

I swallowed.  "What do you mean?"

"It ain't about you."  Damon scoffed, shaking his head.  "It ain't about Zak, it ain't about Hunter, or Gwyn, or...whoever these two are."  He motioned toward Mike and Isaac.

"Yeah, great to meet you, too."  Mike murmured.

"I know,"  I said.  "It's about the chemistry test."

"No, it's not!"  Damon yelled, his voice booming through the room, reverberating through the linoleum floor.  "Forget the damn chemistry test.  See, that's the problem, you don't get it."

I looked over at Zak, who seemed just as bewildered as me.  Clearing my throat, I asked, "So, what's it about, then?"

"Fucking hell."  Damon ran his hands through his close-cropped hair, muttering under his breath. "Listen, it wasn't part of the deal at first.  It was my idea to film you.  I bought the cameras myself, and everything.  It was my idea to show up in your classes and follow you around school. Gorveau didn't give two shits, but I did." 

Under his breath, Zak muttered, "What the--?"

"I knew you and Zak would get close,"  Damon continued.   "It was just a matter of time.  And all the while, I watched you slowly pull away, disengage, and start falling for that manipulative bastard," he spat, shooting daggers at Zak.  "Even though I warned you multiple times."

Zak's eyes sparkled as they flickered over to mine, like he was reading my expression to find out whether or not it was true.  I licked my lips and craned my neck up at Damon, who was now pacing, his heavy footsteps causing the cart to teeter back and forth.

"Time and time again, you let it slip from your mind.  You let yourself feel something for him.  Something more than superficial.  Something real."  he laughed sardonically, crossing his arms.  "You stopped paying attention the more you got to know each other, and that's when you surrendered.  But I knew what was going on, and I had to make your blind eyes see it for yourself."

I shifted my weight between my feet, my heart pounding with adrenaline.  He was exposing me.  Calling me out.  But I had no other choice than to listen if I wanted to discover the truth.

The whole truth.

"When I saw that Gwyn wasn't wearing her bracelet, it was the perfect opportunity.  I wanted you to see them together, to realize the damage done because of your stupid little chemistry test.  And I wanted you, all of you, to witness, to feel for yourselves just how much pain you'd caused--"  Damon's gaze fell to his feet, leaving the room quiet once more.

I glanced around the room, meeting Hunter's chocolate eyes, Zak's twinkling blue, and Gwyn's mossy gaze.  Two weeks ago, I would have never imagined the five of us in this situation.  We really had caused a lot of chaos in such a short amount of time. 

I looked back up at Damon, whose brow was pinched beneath his fingers, his voice barely above a whisper when he spoke.

"--How much pain you'd caused Mark."