I smiled slightly. “You, too.”
I knew what was about to happen. Everyone, except maybe Xavier, did. Jake had a thing for hitting girls. He liked it. A lot. Especially hitting me. He was gearing up to rush me. I could see his body tensing, getting ready to push off and launch himself at me. I also knew he’d never make it. I could feel Chay’s body grow taut, ready beside me. He’d block me before Jake could ever lay a finger on even one hair on my head. I had no doubt of that.
Jake’s eyes flicked to my middle just as his back foot pushed off the ground. Chay dove in front of me. They hit each other and fell to the pavement with a grunt. That started it.
Shayla and Lily rushed Muriel and me. And I caught a glimpse of another guy. He and Drew were exchanging punches.
“Who’s that?” I yelled to Muriel just as Shayla threw her first jab in my direction. I blocked it easily.
“Dunno,” she answered, landing a roundhouse kick to Lily’s side.
Shayla and I circled each other. She smiled. “I’ve missed this,” she said sweetly.
“Mm-hmm, brings back memories,” I answered, my eyes trained on her, watching for her tell—the slightest motion or gesture a person made just before they threw a punch or a kick. I was also tapping into my ability to sense others’ emotions, feel what they were feeling—that was why my visions felt so real to me—or sense what they were going to do just before they do it.
“Have you met Rod, yet?”
I smiled wryly. “Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.”
“He just transferred.” She tried to side kick me. I saw it an instant before she acted it out. I blocked it easily.
“Nice that you two have a new friend to play with,” I said, unaffected by her attempt to distract me. She mentioned the new guy so I’d glance in his direction—it was usually an involuntary response, one she would’ve exploited to her advantage. I didn’t take my eyes off her for a second. “Are you afraid, Shayla?” I taunted.
“Of you? Hardly.”
“Then grow a pair and stop circling me. The police are gonna be here any minute. I’d like to get a few hits in first.”
She hesitated. Just for a millisecond, her concentration waned. It was all I needed. I landed a roundhouse kick to her side and a side snap to her middle. She stumbled backward, a look of shock on her face. I swept my foot under hers, and she fell to the ground.
I could hear sirens in the distance and knew the fight was coming to an end. I crouched next to Shayla and looked her square in the eye. “Don’t screw with me. You’ll only get hurt.” She spit in my face. I wiped it off with my arm, blowing a lock of hair out of my face. “Is that all you’ve got?”
She screamed and jumped from the ground. Lily put her hand in front of her before she could advance on me. “We need to go, Shayla. Now.”
I wiggled my fingers at her. “See you in gym class. Toodles.”
I watched the group run down the drive and into the street, scattering before the police caught them.
We filed into my house. Drew grabbed Xavier by the sleeve and pulled him along with us. I went through the usual drill—turned the porch light off, turned the living room lights off, and closed the drapes. Then we went into the kitchen and compared our wounds.
“Hey, I made out okay tonight,” I said, grabbing a coke from the fridge. “Just a welt where I blocked a decent roundhouse. Otherwise, I’m good.”
“Lucky you,” Muriel grumbled, holding an icepack to the side of her face. Lily loved to hit in the face.
I walked to where Chay sat and kissed his forehead. “You need to ice that lip. We have an assortment of styles and colors to pick from. What’ll it be? A red or blue ice pack? Or you could use my favorite… pink and purple polka dot.”
When we were battling Azazel’s team before I turned eighteen, my mother stocked up on first aid supplies. She bought the pink and purple icepack as a joke. Little did she know how much it would actually get used.
“Surprise me,” Chay grumbled. He pulled away the damp paper towel he held against his lip and scowled at the blood soaking it.
I grabbed an icepack and filled it with crushed ice from the icemaker. “Here you go. I gotcha the red. Filled it with your favorite—crushed ice.”
“Thanks. The cubes hurt.” He took the ice pack, letting his fingers graze over mine in a soft caress.
I shivered from his touch. “Hurry and get the ice on before it swells too much. I don’t want it interfering with our kissing time.” I winked.
“It’ll take more than a fat lip to interfere with that.” Snaking his arm around my waist, he pulled me to stand in front of him. He rested his forehead on my stomach, just under my breasts. I ran my fingers through his hair and down over his shoulders, massaging them.
I looked around the room. Muriel had a nice welt forming on the side of her face just below her eye. Drew had a cut above his right eye. Blood was smeared across his face from wiping it. Chay had a bruised and bloodied lip. For the most part, we’d done okay.