"Fine," he responded to my 'don't expect hopeful looks' statement. "But you're gonna do as I say."

  "Why?" I questioned.

  "You're on thin ice with what you've already pulled." His grip slid down to my throat as he remembered how I screwed things up for him.

  My mind went blank for a split second.

  When it came back it was in defense mode.

  I suddenly didn't care his hand — the hand of the man who's meant to be the love of my life — was gripping my throat.

  It's useful having a switch that can do stuff like that.

  "Don't wear it any thinner," he brought me closer and held my neck tighter.

  But I'm also realizing, even though he just tightened it, his grip's not enough to do any real damage.

  He's not trying to hurt me.

  The urge to smirk came back.

  Softy.

  "You are going to walk back in there with me and pretend you didn't know what you were talking about. You were just babbling on a hunch."

  I snorted, "Yeah, that may be a little hard, considering I identified what it was he was trading and all that fun stuff. Also, I'm not the type to 'babble on a hunch', and people know that."

  "Well, you are now." He looked me in the eye, saying — without even really saying — there's no argument to be had. This is it.

  And I decided to throw him the bone and keep my mouth shut. This time.

  His stormy eyes calmed down a bit. He's back to iron man with the silver eyes.

  I can't decide which are more attractive.

  Or maybe my favorites can be the ones that light up with the boyish grin. Or the ones that freeze what they're doing to look at me with sparkles in them.

  The thought of any of them makes me melt.

  And it's freaking terrifying, but it's okay, they're still REALLY pretty, and they're all attached to his really pretty face.

  "Next, you do not speak unless you are spoken to. And when you do, keep it short."

  He took my silence and bored look as a sign to continue.

  "Don't step out of line." He bored his gaze into me.

  After a moment of that, I rolled my eyes. "Y'know, I may test my limits like a toddler, but I'm not actually one. You don't have to speak to me like it," I raised my eyebrow at him.

  His eyebrow rose, hand still gripping my throat ever so careful not to harm me, but tight enough to cause discomfort, "Well, the last time I assumed something and instructed you normally, you screwed it up, so now I've learned from my mistakes and am making adjustments."

  We had a blank face stare off to see who could be more unamused by the other.

  Then I got bored and smiled a clearly strained and bitter sweet smile. "Deal."

  He gave a swift nod, placed his hand on its usual place on the back of my neck, then yanked me out of the car after him.

  When did he have time to open the door?

"What is your deal with dragging me around places?" I glared at him.

"Hush! Just fix yourself," he let go and waved his arm in a gesture towards me.

I groaned with an eye roll and turned to look in the car window's reflection to see my hair all frizzy and out of place. I must have been leaning on my braids the whole time. That would explain all the fly always and random pieces falling everywhere.

I scrunched up my nose at the sight. I don't know how to fix it. But on the bright side, that's really the only thing in need of fixing.

My makeup is still caked on. Haven't had time to slip away to take some off. But it's still in place. Nothing smudged, almost nothing wiped away(unfortunately), and nothing fallen off(d@mn lashes).

I redirected my attention to my hair. I tilted my head to the right, tilted it to the left, forward, backward, then sighed.

I'm gonna have to take it out.

But it actually looks cute this way!

I let out another discouraged huff. I'm gonna need whoever did this to teach me.

Or I can just look it up when I get my phone back. Either one.

I brought my hand up to the hair tie that's holding one of the braids in place and started undoing it. "Goodbye old friend," I kissed the braid farewell as I undid the whole thing. "Until next time," I whispered, moving on to the other one.

When I was done, I ran my hands through my hair and took another look at the reflection.

Now my hair's all lose and wavy, not the same, but still pretty, I guess.

  I turned back around to meet Wolfie.

  He shook his head. "You are such a weird girl."

  I nodded. "You haven't seen anything yet."

  After saying that, I grabbed Wolfie's arm and dragged him inside. Haha.

  When we entered everyone had already gone to the dining hall for dinner, so we headed there as well.

  "Hey! Red!"

  I turned to see who called me by my nickname and grinned. "Hey boys, Candy, Grace. How's it going?"

  Jett, a friend who's a warrior from House Twilight like the rest of them, was the first to respond. "Great, how 'bout you?"

  "Yeah, how you been holding up sense you lost your title of best junior fighter to yours truly?" Braxton smirked cockily while ruffling my hair. The group laughed.

  They obviously haven't heard the news.

  I rolled my eyes, but the grin didn't leave. "Shut up Braxton, that doesn't count. I had to forfeit to actually get something important done. Not that I expect you to understand that. You've never actually done it. . ." I trailed off.

  "Ohhhh!" Is all you heard from the group.

  "And you're still gonna get a rematch," I jabbed my finger at him.

  He looked up in mock contemplation. "Hmmm. . . No I think I'll keep my title," he nodded.

  "What?! no!"

  We all laughed.

  "You can't do that! Can he do that?" I chuckled, 'outraged'.

  "I'm the champion, I can do whatever I want," he grinned.

  More laughter.

  "Don't worry Red, we'll find a way to get you your title back. You were a much better champ than him," Grace jabbed her thumb Brandon's way with a smirk.

  "Hey!" Braxton whined.

  Dylan, another one of the guys, chuckled, "Yeah," he bumped my shoulder, "we got your back."

  "Totally," Candy chuckled along.

  I grinned. "Thanks guys."

  I eyed Braxton. "I'm comin' for you," I pointed at him playfully.

  "Oh, I'm so scared."

  Mate.

  I felt him wrap his arm around my waist and tug.

  "I've gotta go. See you guys later," I waved, getting the message.

  There was a chorus of "later Red"s and "see ya"s.

  I mean, I hope I didn't just lie to all of them and they actually will see me later. You never know in these sorts of situations.

 
  . . . Actually, I'm pretty sure I do, and they will, but best not to get your expectations too high, I guess.

  Wolfie and I started heading towards one of the three long and beautifully decorated dining tables.

  "What did I tell you?" Wolfie growled in my ear.

  "Don't speak unless I'm spoken to, which I did," I pointed out.

  He was silent.

  "I also told you to keep it short," he tried to save it.

  "I did. I kept my responses short. It's not my fault they wanted to keep talking," I shrugged.

  Silence.

  "Just shut up."

Ha.

~~~~~~~~~
(A/N)

  Hello:), this chapter is especially unedited so plz bare with meXD. I'll fix any mistakes or cringyness later.

  I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!!

~The Awkward peanut