Chapter 7: Milo

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OLIVIA

"Olivia, you want pancakes? I'm making pancakes. And hurry and tell me because I've got a pancake on the stove and it's going to burn."

Who was that?

The warm covers were wrenched from her face. "Olivia, hurry!" the voice called even more urgently.

He sounded so panicked that she sat straight up, except Blake didn't expect it, and he didn't back up fast enough. They smashed foreheads together.

Blake swore and Olivia groaned. "What was that for?" she grumbled.

"What was that for? You're the one that hit me! Now tell me if you want pancakes!"

Olivia struggled to peel her eyes open. Blake was half dressed, with a spatula in his hand, leaning over her bed and staring impatiently at her. "Pancakes. Yes. No? Maybe so?"

She struggled to catch up with his quick words. "What time is it?"

"Your bus is going to come in exactly-" He checked his bare wrist. "Thirteen minutes and forty-two seconds."

"Did you just make that up?"

"It's around seven ten. You want pancakes or not?"

"Just one."

"I'm making two. And your bus is coming in ten minutes!" he hollered from down the hall.

The terror of having to be dropped off at school by Elijah if she missed the bus propelled her to be in the kitchen within five minutes. Blake was just topping off her small stack of two pancakes with Nutella and whip cream.

"Hang on, hang on," he protested as she made to walk out the door.

"Blake, I have to get to the bus stop."

"Here." He rolled the pancakes into a paper towel and handed her a heavy brown bag. "Breakfast. Lunch. Better not come back home with either of them unfinished. Got that?"

"Where's Elijah?"

"In the shower. He wanted to say goodbye to you. You sure you can't wait for him to drop you off? You can eat breakfast in peace too."

He wanted to say goodbye to you.

She wanted to say goodbye to him. She wanted to eat breakfast with Blake. She wanted so badly to do all the normal things she ought to do.

But she couldn't.

Blake had watched that horror movie with her and hadn't even woken her up to move her off his bed, instead opting to sleep on the floor with a spare blanket. Elijah had sat with her so long the day before that her tears had dried before he took her hand and told her it was going to be okay.

They were trying so hard.

And that meant she had to try her best to keep them safe too.

"I can't," she told Blake, and left without glancing back.

*****

After English class, Melanie caught Olivia by the arm. "Olivia. When do you have lunch? Do you have lunch this period? Because if you have it this period, come sit with me and my friends. I mean, unless you already know other people to sit with. You know, if you want to-"

"I don't have lunch now," Olivia cut in. Melanie's face fell. Olivia felt a pang of disappointment.

What? No. It's better this way.

"I have history now. I have lunch the period afterwards."

"Aw, man, that kind of sucks. I swear I was thinking about this all class period! I was even rehearsing how to introduce you - this is Olivia, my tutee for math, even though she doesn't need the help because she can take one look at the book and figure out what the answer is - but I guess..." She sighed. "Alright, I'll see you after school for tutoring, yeah?"

Olivia couldn't decide whether she was happy or sad that she didn't have lunch with Melanie. "Yeah, I'll see you," she said, and Melanie grinned and waved goodbye.

Just as class was starting, someone tapped Olivia on the shoulder.

She turned to find the boy sitting next to her with an urgent look on his face. "Hey, do you mind if I borrow a pencil for the quiz? I think I lost mine in math - and I can't find another one."

"The quiz isn't today, it's tomorrow," she told him.

"Oh." His face morphed into one of pure relief. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought I was going to fail another one." He stuck out his hand. "My name's Milo. What's yours?"

Olivia put her pencil in his hand and he looked at her quizzically. He put the pencil back on her desk and gestured to his stuck out hand with his other one. "It's to shake."

Olivia sighed. What was the point of all this social politeness nonsense?

"Or not." Milo drew his hand back before she had to decide. "What's your name?"

None of your business.

"Olivia."

"Are you new here? I saw you sitting here on Friday, but I kind of chickened out talking to you."

Chickened out? Talking to her?

Olivia pulled a face. "You?"

"Yeah." Milo laughed. "You looked like you were in the zone of concentration on the worksheet. I was a little scared of ruining the zone."

What on earth was he saying? That was just her normal face.

"Anyways, did you come from another district?"

"Yes." Could he please leave her alone?

"Which one?"

All Olivia knew was that this high school was in district 57. "I came from 55."

"Oh, cool. I used to live near there. Great neighborhood, right?"

He was going to find out she was lying if she said the wrong thing. "I didn't notice," she said, and the teacher came in and started class, and Milo didn't ask any more questions.

"Alright, everyone, take these sheets," said Mrs. Peterson after she finished her PowerPoint. She took a stack of papers from her desk and began handing them out down the aisles. "We're going to do a pop quiz. You're allowed to work only with the person next to you, but no notes."

Milo turned to Olivia as chatter ensued in the classroom. "You said no quiz," he groaned.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "How was I supposed to know? It's called a pop quiz for a reason."

"Well." Milo took one paper from the pile being handed down the rows and passed the rest to Olivia. "Does this mean I can borrow that pencil?"

Olivia sighed and put the pencil he had just returned to her desk back on his. "I'm assuming you've got no idea what this is about," she said.

"Hm." Milo looked at the paper in front of him. "I think..." He scratched his right ear. Then his left.

"Any idea at all?" Olivia muttered. Why was she stuck with this idiot?

Milo let out a huge, dramatic sigh and began to speak, without any hesitation or gap in between words. "Number one, Shay's Rebellion. Number two, the Whiskey Rebellion. Number three, unlawful taxes. Number four, Alexander Hamilton. Number five, the nineteenth amendment."

He grinned at her. "Did I miss any?"

Olivia looked down at the paper, scanning the questions. "Yes, you did."

Milo's eyes popped out of his head. "I did? Which one?" He leaned over his desk onto hers so close to Olivia she could smell his shampoo.

It smelled good.

She had to stop breathing this in.

She flipped the paper over and pressed it flat on the table. "Extra credit. On the back."

Milo laughed. "Good catch. Sneaky of Mrs. Peterson."

"August 3, 1776," she answered the question, not to be outdone by his performance.

Milo grinned at her. "Nice! We did pretty good there, partner, didn't we?"

"Not too bad," Olivia conceded. She took back the pencil Milo handed her.

"Not bad? That's all you got? We did every single one of them!"

"You did every single one of them so loud that everyone around us also knows the answers now," she said flatly.

Milo looked around them. He pulled a face, then grinned a goofy smile. "You're right. Well, good grades all around, folks!"

"Mr. Cortez," Mrs. Peterson called from the back of the classroom, where she was watching everyone from. "Is there a reason why you're talking during the quiz?"

Milo's smile faltered. "It - it's a group quiz..."

"Your partner. Only."

"Yessir."

Milo turned back to Olivia. "Anyways," he drawled. "You have lunch next period, right? I mean, duh, you do, if you don't have it this period."

Despite his performance, Olivia was not ready to sit next to this stranger at lunch.

"Hey," someone hissed at them, saving Olivia from having to answer. "Hey, you."

Olivia turned around to see a boy with dark hair and dark eyes pointing at her with the pencil.

"Turn around," Milo muttered without checking to see who it was. "Don't talk to him."

"Why?"

"Hey, new girl. You know the answer to the extra credit question?"

"Don't tell him, Olivia," Milo said under his breath.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"Cody!" Mrs. Peterson stood up from her spot in the back of the classroom. "What did I tell you about hearing you talking during a quiz again?"

The boy who had tried to get Olivia's attention turned around to face her. "I don't remember," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Mrs. Peterson marched up to his desk. "Let me remind you then, Mr. Hall. Detention!"

She marched back to the front of the room. "Quizzes!" she barked. "Pass them up!"

"But it hasn't been-"

"Now!"

While everyone morosely shuffled papers forward to the front row of desks, Olivia felt Cody lean in so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. "Stupid bitch, I'll teach you for that."

Olivia scooted her chair as close to her desk as she could and ignored him.

Cody, as it turned out, had other plans.

"New girl!" he yelled as she was leaving class. "Wait up!"

Olivia walked faster, but there was a massive amount of students coming out from the classroom next to theirs. She felt someone grab her arm and instinctively elbowed - right in Cody's gut.

"What the fuck-"

He grabbed her hard by the elbow. She tried yanking away, but he held even tighter, his face warped into a nasty grin.

"I don't know what your name is, but nobody messes with me," he snarled.

A hand grabbed Cody by the wrist and pried him off Olivia. "Stop it, Cody," Milo growled. "She doesn't want to mess with you."

"She already did." He tried to grab Olivia again, but Olivia stepped on his foot. When he tried to yank away, he fell back on his butt.

"Oh, no," Milo muttered. He grabbed Olivia by the arm and pulled her down the hall, dodging students pushing to get to class on time. He didn't let up until they turned an empty corner and stood flat against the wall, panting.

Olivia yanked her hand away from him and held it to her side, trying to calm her breathing. When she could speak, she demanded, "What was that for? We could've just ended it there."

Milo shook his head. "Cody doesn't end things. He only starts them. He keeps feeding every fight he can. And his friends don't stop him."

"I meant that you didn't have to step in. I can do it myself!"

"Olivia-"

"Forget it, Milo," she dismissed irritably. "Let's go to lunch."

Olivia had no intention of sitting with Milo at lunch, but somehow, he ended up next to her at a table with three of his other friends.

Olivia set down her brown bag on the lunch table and scanned the cafeteria. She couldn't see Blake. It wasn't too surprising, seeing as how he was a senior and probably had off campus lunch or just didn't have the same lunch as her, but she was still a little disappointed.

No. This is how it should be. No one at school can know we're siblings.

"Hey!" Milo yelled too close to her ear, except he wasn't yelling at her. She whipped her head around just slow enough to miss seeing Cody grab her lunch and upend everything Blake had so carefully packed in there into the trash.

Olivia stood up. "What was that for?" she growled.

Cody set the now empty paper bag on the lunch table in front of her. It took everything in her not to slap him across the face.

Don't hit him. Don't make a scene. You're going to make a scene and then someone's going to find out who you are and it'll all be over.

It took every nerve in her body to force all of her limbs to fold themselves back down in her seat, but she did it. She made her eyes look down at the table and not glare at Cody.

"What the hell, Cody?" Milo shouted, but Olivia yanked him back down by the sleeve.

"Stop it, Milo. I told you not to help me."

"But-"

"Just leave it," she hissed at him so harshly he stopped struggling.

Cody laughed. "What's wrong? Afraid?"

"Go away, Cody!" one of Milo's friends, Emily, said. "Stop it, you've done enough."

Cody went silent. Olivia looked up. The teacher supervising lunch was looking at them.

"Don't get too comfortable," Cody whispered, and stalked off.

Olivia realized Milo was right. Cody was just getting started.

I have an exam tomorrow, and I couldn't bring myself to study for it, so here's the next chapter.

For next time: more about those pretty boys...

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