Death Weeps Part 3

"Ya know, so you can just hose down the place when it needs a scrub."

Jade had burst into tears and Tiff had asked, "What?"

I just shook my head. The grief of losing her family, being displaced, moving into a depressing s.h.i.+thole without light and brightness just did Jade in on some level. I'd seen it taking daily chunks out of her, getting worse week by week.

I watched Jade come across the front porch of the flat roofed dump, the porch had a swayback, like it'd never been straight and level. How these losers didn't get nailed as a c.r.a.p Placement for fostering was beyond him. Well, it was government-driven, right? I loved the government... stand-up Dudes, them.

Jade had really grown up, she was nice and curvy, she'd lost that extra thin edge she'd had last year and was all hour gla.s.s gorgeous. The extra weight was in all the right places. Made her soft and curved just where a girl should be. But she was all-woman now. She wore short heels, very spiky in hot pink leather and the bag I'd given her last year was over her shoulder, her hair loose and straight like I liked it with ginormous, skinny silver hoops swinging as she walked. Sophie had been a bad influence on her and she wore a hot pink cheetah top with one shoulder exposed.

It totally made me want to kiss the cafe-au-lait skin that peeked through the gap in the material. I took her into my arms for a hug and looked over her shoulder and into the eyes of Howie.

Foster brother d.i.c.khead Extraordinaire.

He smirked. There was no love lost, as Gramps would have said. I knew where he should be. Right in the middle of Carson's group. Yeah, he'd fit right in, round peg in a round hole.

Jade tilted her head back, staring into my eyes. "What?" she breathed out and I caught a whiff of her minty breath, mixing with her vanilla body spray in a tantalizing mix.

I jerked my chin behind her.

"Howie?" she asked, sure, our flesh touching, taking the guesswork out of the whole universe.

I nodded. "Yeah, that'd be him."

She squeezed my forearm, our bare skin connecting and I relaxed a little. "He hasn't done anything."

"Today," I responded.

She ducked her head, giggling.

So wasn't funny. "Yeah, true."

"Let's go," I said, wanting to get her out of sight of Howie.

"K," she answered softly as I opened the door and held it for her. I slammed it shut and headed around to my side. I peeked in at Jade and she was pulsing someone, her dark hair a curtain on either side of her face, the pink metallic pulse peeking out of her hands, the nail tips bright pink too. I smiled, very girly.

I like.

I looked up as I opened my door and Howie shot me the bird.

I gave him the salute right back. I was thinkin' sometime he and I were gonna go, my hands unconsciously flexing into fists.

Uh-huh.

His a.s.s was on the back burner at the moment though. I had bigger fish to fry.

I pulsed my engine on and we roared off toward school, leaving the neighborhood and its evil memories behind us.

For the moment.

I kissed Jade as she walked into Empath cla.s.s. I wanted to add tongue but it wouldn't have been spontaneous, it would've been all for Tulle.

Not that it wouldn't have been enjoyable as h.e.l.l.

As it was she glared at us as I released Jade from my embrace. All p.i.s.sed about the PDA. Well, she was one of the Consistent Adults. Yeah. There were some of those around.

"Miss LeClerc," Tulle said dryly, shutting the door with the softest click.

In my face.

Huh.

I turned and almost ran into Jonesy. His face broke into a grin. "Hey Hart, how's it hanging?"

Ah... great. "Okay, what about you?" Jonesy went on about his female exploits and I rolled my eyes. "What Hart? Ya gay? You don't want to hear about The Chick Battalion?"

Not really. I opened my mouth to reply when Archer came up, hearing that last part and said, "s.e.xual orientation has zero to do with interest, Mark."

"Can it, Archer, it was an expression, don't get your n.u.t.s.a.c.k in a twist."

Lewis' face actually clenched. That'd been my reaction. Sounded like a painful situation.

"G.o.d, you guys! Is it Monday or what?" Jonesy asked, sensing our mood.

"Maybe Caleb isn't enthusiastic about you regaling us with tales of your dalliances, Mark?" Archer stated slyly.

"You're killin' me with the verbiage, Archer," Jonesy said, fake strangling his own neck.

Alex and Randi walked up. He'd taken to walking her to cla.s.ses now. I guess she wasn't too put off with his obvious perv vibe.

"Hey," she said by way of greeting.

We said hey back and then Tiff, Sophie and John joined the group. "Hey guys," snap-crackle-pop with the gum. "Where's Jade?"

"Cla.s.s," I said.

"Already?" Tiff said around her wad of gum. I couldn't take my eyes off the neon green of her hoodie, it hurt to look at it.

"Yeah, Tulle's a d.a.m.n battleax..." Jonesy said.

Just then, coincidence of all, Griswold came by, her PE whistle bouncing against her rotundness. "Language!" she barked and Jonesy jumped a foot.

He threw a hand over his heart. "Man, almost p.i.s.sed my pants, she scared the c.r.a.p outta me!"

Excrement-much. I got the crooked mouth on the spot.

"She's got a way with that," Sophie said, smiling.

On her tail was Carson and friends. As he walked past he nodded at the girls, thinking maybe they'd be soft to his attention or some deluded bulls.h.i.+t like that.

Nope.

"Keep walking d.i.c.kless," Tiff muttered under her breath.

Carson stopped in his tracks and then turned. He glared at Tiff, Diego walking up beside him.

"Effing fantastic," Jonesy said in a low voice, giving Tiff a sideways glare.

She did have a way of starting c.r.a.p. I sighed. At least I didn't have to watch Brett salivating over Jade. There was that.

Carson glared down at Tiff and she blew a big bubble, snapping it so loud it echoed in the emptying hallway. Well, it had been getting empty but there was just something about a fight.

It drew a crowd.

This was no different, kids began to congregate around the group and this was a singular time I thought Tiff could have not said anything. It was the first week of school for s.h.i.+t's sake!

"You're a slow learner, Tiff," Carson stated.

"That's what they tell me," she said, unfazed. John slapped his forehead.

Carson looked at the rest of us, his eyes settling on Archer. Then he smiled.

"Ya know, I'll let this little b.i.t.c.h think whatever she wants. I know what I got," he grabbed his crotch inelegantly to emphasize his point and Sophie said eewww in the background and his eyes slipped to hers.

"Nah..." Tiff began.

Don't say it, I thought dismally, knowing the handwriting was on the GD wall anyway.

"I think you're searching for it, myself," she said, smiling.

Oh s.h.i.+t. Carson's eyes snapped back to Tiff.

Diego came forward until he was towering over her. G.o.d love her she didn't move a muscle. "Ya know, you take chances with that mouth of yours. I could think of things you could do with your pie hole that have nothing to do with talking."

He and Diego closed in around Tiff and us guys behind her.

"Try it and lose it, Diego," Tiff said as a promise.

Tiff should have been a guy, I swear.

Diego grabbed the back of her head and I swear my heart stopped beating in my chest.

Was this clown gonna try something with Tiff in the middle of G.o.d and country?

He should've been paying attention because she jabbed him in the throat in a move so efficient and quick I barely tracked it.

"Holy s.h.i.+t!" Jonesy chortled. "That was righteous!"

The group of kids that had congregated parted like the Red Sea when the click of heels sounded in the hallway like machine gun fire.

s.h.i.+t, Chen.

Kids scattered like thrown birdseed.

Randi paled and Diego was clutching his throat, his breath hissing in great swooping gulps. He couldn't get enough air in his lungs.

Not that his brain needed a lot of oxygen.

Tiff hadn't broken a sweat, grinning from ear to ear.

Chen pushed kids aside like meat hanging on hooks. "What's going on here?"

Randi paled. Her normally dusky skin took on an undertone of ashen gray.

"Merranda?" Chen said, her eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. She was Chinese so that was really saying something. I could hear the ghost of Mom's voice berating the racial profiling.

Randi, usually a prolific talker, was stumbling along.

It wasn't every day that your mom, the acting princ.i.p.al, comes upon you and a known group of troublemakers in which you're center-stage. No indeedy. She opened and closed her mouth several times and Tiff stepped into the rescue. Diego gasped like a fish in the background.

"What's wrong with Diego?" Chen asked suspiciously, her eyes trained on Diego.

"Asthma," Tiff responded without missing a beat.

Chen's brows furrowed as she looked at Diego, Tiff winked at Randi and she took a shaky breath of relief.

"He doesn't have an inhaler? Does he need to visit the nurse?"

Diego shook his head. It would be miserable for a dude to expose his dressing down by a girl... to anybody.

Chen looked back at Tiff, who returned the intense glare with impunity, she didn't even blink.

Wow, that Tiff.

Chen looked at Diego. "Are you... can you breathe?"

He nodded briskly, his eyes on Tiff. He slowly took his hands away from his throat.

A glaring red mark stood there like a nasty comma.

Chen's eyes narrowed again and they flicked to Diego's. "What's that on your throat?"

He shrugged, his breathing starting to return to normal. I was thinking Tiff had delivered a nice jab. She probably couldn't get away with that again. They were on to her now, the element of surprise, a chick's best weapon, was gone.