Chapter 13

Shaw

       I had to admit, I was a bit worried about Cassidy's brother trying to find me, and it clearly wasn't for any good reasons. I'd just rather not have Holden worry about it when he already had too much on his plate.

       Well, I knew no matter what, he would worry but he'd be less likely to if I didn't show I was.

       "I still think you should tell the police," Holden said while we were in the kitchen at work. I was waiting for one of the chefs to finish a plate for my table. "You know, just to warn them."

       "Holden, I told you, we can't because we don't know what he wants," I said. "Maybe he just wants to yell at me. I doubt he would actually hurt me."

       "He's related to Cassidy," Holden said. "I wouldn't be surprised."

       "Okay, but aren't you related to Clyde?" I asked. "You can't judge someone by who their family is. And don't say that it's because you're his cousin, not his brother, because Calvin is his brother and is nowhere close to being like him."

       Holden sighed. "You're right. Sorry."

       "Don't be," I said. "I get why you're suspicious. Just... Try not to think too much about it. If he does threaten me or something, I'll tell the police but I don't think it will happen. Now you need to stop worrying and do something better with your time."

       "Like stressing over me failing a reading quiz in English?" Holden asked.

       "Wait, you what?" I asked.

       "I got two out of twenty, so that's great," Holden said. "And before you ask, yes, I did the reading. I just couldn't remember what I read even five minutes after. So I read it again before class and I still failed. I hate how quizzes and tests are normally memory based. It makes me feel worse."

       "Hey, all that matters is that you tried," I said.

       "Now I'm probably going to fail English and have to take it in summer school," Holden said. "I'm actually considering dropping out since I already have a steady job and I'm not going anywhere with school."

       "Holden, you can't give up now," I said. "You're almost done with high school. And can't you get some type of accommodation during your test because of your short term memory? Like extra time or something?"

       "I can, but it won't change the fact that if I don't know the answer, I'm just not going to remember it," Holden said. "You're right, though. I shouldn't drop out when I'm so close to finishing school. Just don't be surprised if I end up failing all courses this semester."

       "Like I said, all that matters is that you try," I said.

       Holden and I got back to working since the food for the tables were served were ready. Since Holden was a part-time worker, the owner did give him less hours during weekdays so he ended up getting off an hour before I did even though my shift started before his.

       When I finally got off of work, I headed straight home so I could rest after the long day of dealing with annoying customers. Most of the time, the customers were pleasant but from time to time, we got the annoying ones who would give us 'the customer is always right' crap when they were clearly in the wrong.

       While I was on my way home, I was walking by the cafe when I saw something that made me quite angry.

       Some man I had never seen before had Holden pressed up against the wall, the collar of Holden's jacket clenched in his fists as he was clearly threatening him. I hurried over and pushed the man off before asking, "What do you think you're playing at? Threatening a teenage boy?"

       "Well, look who it is," the man said. "You're just the person I was looking for. You know, all of that could have been avoided if he just told me where I could find you because it was obvious that he knows you. The name's Roman. And I'm here because you decided to kill my little sister."

       So he was Cassidy's brother and now I knew why Holden was worried that he was going to try hurting me. He didn't seem like he didn't want to apologize for his sister's behaviour.

       "Look, if you're going to kick off because I accidentally killed her while defending myself, save it," I said.

       "She didn't deserve to die," Roman said. "She was a mother. How do you think her daughter is going to feel when she finds out she lost her mom?"

       "You're right, she doesn't deserve to die," I said. "Nobody does, in my opinion. But she killed a lot of people. She blew up the city hall and tried to kill a lot more. You can't be mad at me for killing her, in self defense, when she herself was a murderer."

       "I don't care what she did," Roman said. "She was my sister and thanks to you, I'll never see her again."

       "Yeah? And thanks to her, I'll never see my uncle again," Holden said. "It's a two way street. You didn't see me trying to hunt Cassidy down for what she did."

       "Right, so if I were you, I'd drop this vendetta you have against me," I said.

       "Not gonna happen," Roman said. "I will get my payback. While I'm not a killer, I will find something that will completely and utterly destroy you inside."

       "That's a very smart move," I said. "Threatening me now? You do know I can easily go to the police station, right?"

       "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Roman said. "You know a downside of living in a small village? Well, downside for you. It's definitely a plus for me. All I had to do is ask around and I found out exactly how this guy here knows you. If you go to the police, I'll hurt you little boyfriend."

       "And if you hurt him, you'll see a side of me nobody wants to see," I said, taking a step closer to him. "I don't handle people threatening me very well. So, again, I suggest you drop this vendetta before things get ugly."

       Roman didn't say anything else as he walked away. He was really going to regret messing with me if he really did go through with any plan he had. Nobody threatened me or anyone I loved and got away with it.

       "He's not being serious, is he?" Holden asked.

       "We'll see," I said. "But he better hope he's not because he's going to start a game against me that he really won't want to play."

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OOF SHAW GO OFF YES PLEASE.

guys i really hate group projects. i have one due tomorrow and we just started at nine pm. we were in a group call and didn't get anything done so three of them are meeting up tomorrow (not me because i ain't about that early life lol)(they wanted to meet up at 8)(nah)

and fun story: in my creative writing class, we critique everyone's short stories but we won't have enough time to do all in one day so the class was split up in two. i was in the first group to submit theirs and that was due two weeks ago. the other half was due friday so they got an extra two weeks. AND four of them never submitted their stories yet and we're going over them tomorrow. i just don't get it. they got an extra two weeks and they're not done?????

but in other news, here's a gif where i relate to both people:

i mainly relate to shaw though. i'm always hungry. i'm hungry now but i can't eat. :( (i love them so much though omg and i'm sad they're broken up and my baby harry is in prison for a crime he didn't commit)