Let’s pick up where we left off, shall we?

Chapter Quote:

“The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.”

~The Blind Assassin

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Chapter 3: Contempt

Shiloh 

Lunch with Axel ended up being surprisingly enjoyable.  The two of us talked for about three hours about planes, war, favorite school subjects, hobbies, and the likes.  I’d been able to avoid revealing that my parents were the reason his father was imprisoned, much to my relief.

There was a lapse in our conversation as we finished a subject and thought of a new one.  I took a bite of a pastry Axel had insisted I try when he said, “I’m surprised.”

“By what?” I asked, covering my mouth.

“You’re much more laid-back than I thought you’d be.”

His statement struck me as odd.  I gave him a wary expression and said, “What do you mean?”

“I’m not meaning to sound like a creep!” he exclaimed, holding up his hands. “Which I probably do… damn it.  Uh, what I mean is I know you’re the daughter of Blaze and Chopper, Razgriz One and Three respectively.  I didn’t know what you looked like but I knew your name and when I met you a few hours ago, it wasn’t hard to figure out that it was you.  You look just like your mom.  Maybe it’s just a Belkan thing, but if a kid from here had parents like yours, they’d be bragging about it like crazy.  It’d be the first thing out of their mouth.  With you, it’s like you don’t like talking about it.”

“I don’t like talking about it,” I retorted. “Especially to people who are the children of the people my parents put in jail.”

Axel seemed taken aback by my outburst and sudden defensiveness.  It was the truth though… and there was more…  I loved my parents and I was unbelievably proud of what they had accomplished and that I was their daughter, but whenever people knew that, they would always refer to me as ‘Blaze’s kid’ or ‘Chopper’s kid,’ not by my actual name, and it irked me.  Blaze and Chopper’s kid has a name, and her name is Shiloh.

“It’s not your fault your parents put my dad in jail, nor do I hate you or them for it.  In fact, I want to thank them for it,” Axel declared quietly, heatedly.

I met his gaze. “What?”

“I want to thank them,” he repeated before glancing down at his drink. “I was two years old when my dad left for that war, and I don’t remember much, but I remember my mom living in fear of him.  I never knew why she’d always been so afraid of my father until I asked her where I’d gotten this scar on my head from.” He pointed to a long, thin, jagged line above his eyebrow. “My father was abusive.  He hit my mom and he hit me.  I had been crying because he’d been scaring me, and he hit me to shut me up.  His ring hit above my eyebrow, hence this scar.  I had to get it stitched.  After that, he went to war and I never saw him again, thank god.  My mom filed for divorce once she found out he was going to prison.  It took five years for it to be official because he refused to sign the papers.  But during that time, she’d found a really nice man: Frederick Johansson.  They married once the divorce with my father was final, and I’ve considered Frederick my dad ever since.  I feel like I’m dumping all this on you but I want you to know why I don’t hate your parents, why I don’t hate you or your siblings, why I don’t hate your family.  I’m not a threat to you.  In fact, I’d like to consider myself an ally.  If you ever need anything, let me know.”

I was too shocked to say anything at first.  Axel had practically spilled his whole life story to me just now.  I mean, he hasn’t been the only one to do this, but this was Ashley Bernitz’s son.  He wasn’t supposed to be this… pleasant. “I’ll let my parents know, and I’m sorry about your father.  No child deserves to be treated that way.”

“Thank you for telling your parents and thank you for not running away from me when I told you all this.  I could tell I was making you uncomfortable.” Axel gave a small chuckle

“I forgot that you Belkans are really good at reading people,” I grumbled, smiling.  At that moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket.  I pulled it out and answered it: “Hello?”

“Hey Shi, it’s Percy.  Where are you?”

“I’m at this place called Fisher’s and Donaldson’s.  Why?”

“Okay, see you in a minute.” Percy hung up, and I shook my head.  So blunt, just like his father.

“Who was that?” Axel questioned, stuffing a small pastry into his mouth.

“That was my friend Percy.  He’s Jack Bartlett’s son.”

“So is it safe for me to assume that he’s a guy who likes to disregard rules and do his own thing?”

“It is safe to say that,” I laughed.

“Who’s this?” A voice queried behind me.  Turning around, none other than Percy Bartlett was standing there.  Alec was there with him.  Both guys were eyeing Axel suspiciously.

“Oh hey Percy, hey Alec.  This is Axel.  Axel, this Percy and Alec,” I introduced, careful to avoid last names.  The boys were already suspicious of my new friend.  I didn’t want them decking the guy unconscious if they found out who he was.

“Pleasure to meet you.  Shiloh has told me a lot about you two,” Axel greeted amiably, offering his hand for them to shake.

“Hopefully the good things,” Alec joked, taking up the handshake.  Percy was more hesitant but followed in suit. “Do you two know each other or…?”

“I accidentally almost spilled my drink on him when I turned around and he stopped me from doing so.  We started chatting and since neither of us had anywhere to be or anyone to meet, we decided to have lunch together.  What about y’all?”

“Your brothers and I found a joke shop and bought a few things.  I don’t know what Alec did,” Percy said.

“Henry and I went to some restaurant that had this challenge where if you ate three massive hamburgers, you’d get your picture on the wall and have free food whenever you ate there,” Alec explained. “I feel like I’m about to throw up.”

“Did you actually do it?!” I exclaimed in awe.

“Barely.  I practically waddled over here.”

“Was it Rosie’s Diner?” Axel inquired, grinning.

“You know the place?” Alec responded.

“Oh yeah.  I tried the same challenge.  Unlike you, I failed.”

“My brother failed miserably.  Has one and a half burgers left.  Listen, Percy and I came to see if you wanted to go to the movies with us and the others?  We’re going to see that new horror movie.  You’re welcome to come Axel if you don’t have anything else planned for the day.”

“I have to get back to my base, but thank you for the offer.  Shiloh, it was great to meet you.  We’ll have to do this again sometime.  My comrades and I go up there once in a while to help train the students, hold hops and whatnot.  Maybe I’ll see you around,” Axel said.

“I hope so,” I said, smiling. “I’ll see you around, Axel.”

My new friend left the scene.  Just as he was leaving the place, a guy walked in and said, “There you are Bernitz!  The guys and I have been looking all over for you.”

Percy’s face turned murderous.  If I hadn’t been standing there and hadn’t been able to grab onto him, he would’ve taken on Axel in front of everyone.

“Percy!” I hissed quietly.

He whirled on me. “Are you nuts?”

“He is not his father,” I warned.

“He’s still a Bernitz.”

“Until proven otherwise, he’s a good guy.  Leave him alone.  Let’s get going to that movie.” I dragged Percy out of the coffee shop.  I wasn’t worried about Alec starting anything.  He wouldn’t start a fight unless he’d seen something actually happen.

Lux, Lydia, and Henry were waiting outside for us.  My sister seemed to pick up on Percy’s foul mood, but one look from me kept her silent.  I appreciated how well my sister and I could communicate silently.  Sometimes.

“Let’s get going!” I urged, wanting to distract my friends and family from Percy’s obvious pissed off expression that seemed to be permanently etched onto his face at the moment.  No one needed encouraging.  The group started walking.  Percy kept me next to him in the back.

He leaned down next to my ear and whispered, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I was getting pissed off by him now.  I could be friends with who I chose.  If Axel turned out to be an assbutt like his father, I’d admit to my mistake.  But he hadn’t given me reason to hate him. “What are you so mad about?” I demanded quietly so the others wouldn’t get suspicious and eavesdrop on our conversation although I’m pretty sure my sister was trying to.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt!”

“I can take care of myself!” With that, I jerked my hand out of his and caught up with Lux.  She gave me an inquisitive glance but said nothing, although that glance also hinted to me we’d be talking later and that there was no way out of it for me.

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Later that evening… 

I’d been hanging out with Isabelle since we’d all gotten back from that horror movie.  I don’t get scared easily, but holy crap that movie was terrifying!  I’m pretty sure I watched half the thing through my fingers.  At least I didn’t accidentally throw my popcorn bucket up like Henry.

It was eight at night, and I decided I should probably head back to my imminent interrogation by Lux.  I said bye to Isabelle and left.  I passed Scott in the hallway.  He gave me a quick smile, almost a guilty one, and kept walking.  I turned around briefly to watch him leave, wondering what the hell his problem was.

My question was answered when I walked into my room.

The windows were open.

There was a trash can in the middle of the room with a small fire in it.

And Lux sat next to it, throwing in what appeared to be pictures.

“So who do I need to kill?” I inquired, quickly shutting the door before we were seriously reprimanded for having an illegal fire in the dorm.

“Scott, that lying, cheating bastard,” Lux growled.

“I’ll get on that.  But first, while I love your technique of getting rid of the memories, I really don’t want to be kicked out of the academy because of this fire.  I’ll get you a shredder and let you shred the pictures as many times as you want, okay?”

Lux nodded, grabbing the trash can and running it under the sink we had in our room.  She made sure the flames were extinguished and all the ashes had been washed down the sink to hide any evidence of the fire.

“He’s been cheating on me for the past few months,” Lux mumbled, sitting on her bed and pulling a pillow up to her chest.

“How’d you find out?” I asked, sitting next to her.

“I went to his room when we got back.  Idiot misjudged how long I was going to be gone and was, well, you can figure it out.  I kicked the girl out and demanded answers from him.  He knew unless he told me the truth, I was going to make sure he never had children again, so he blurted out everything… How could I be so stupid?!” My sister groaned.

“You’re not stupid, Lux,” I said. “He’s the stupid one, and it’s his loss, not yours.”

“I thought he was cheating on me before I actually found out though!  Why didn’t I break up with him sooner?!”

“Because you’re like dad and you tend to trust people more than you should.”

Lux snorted. “And you don’t?  Percy told me about who you were talking to earlier and why he was so pissed.”

“He’s being a worry wart,” I said, before going into the actual details of the conversation I had with Axel.  Lux seemed pretty shocked by the whole thing.

“That’s horrible!” She gasped.

“I know.  I don’t think he means me or any of us harm.  But let’s not focus on him.  We need to focus on how we’re going to get back at Scott.”

“Well I think this calls for an entire group project,” my sister said deviously.

“It’s time to unleash the twins.”

“I shall go unleash the twins.” Laughing, I pulled out my phone to text my brothers.

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So what do you think of Axel’s story?  Do you trust him or no?  Is Percy justified in his beliefs?  Is Shiloh off her rocker?  Let me know!  Review! :)