Criminal Pursuit [by Kimari]

belief, and just as suddenly, the knife cut her neck deeper as he pressed it hard against her throat. Back and forth, in a fraction of a second, as a war raged within him. ”Say it again. ” He said a few micro-eternities later. He still couldn accept it, she deduced, but she needed him to.

”Jasper. I met him. ” She murmured with a grin. His eyes widened, and she added, ”at night. ”

He paused. Just paused, holding them both there, frozen as he stared off deep in thought. His grip on her hair eventually loosened, and he lowered the knife, then flicked it closed. Thank God, she thought, as her eyes slid closed once more. Gently, he laid her head back against the wall, her body draped over her backpack for stability. And then, just as she heard him walking away, the darkness engulfed her once more.

* * * * *

Piper stopped leaning against the rooms paneling the moment she saw Felix turn and start walking towards the front of the class. There were still slivers of window that weren blocked by shades, if you knew where to look. She wasn worried. She just needed to keep him safe; that was her job. No one was going to convince her otherwise, because they could never understand their entire history. Her job was more important than their petty gossip, she assured herself. Let them gossip then, if they want to. It meant nothing to her.

Moments later, she heard the front bolt sliding open, and she started towards the back door expectantly. Felix slipped out and shut the door quietly behind him, acknowledged her with a glace, and they began to walk. He had left the blinds down as a precaution, she noted. From what little she had seen of the girl, it was a wise move. ”What should we do with her? ” She asked, fully back to business as usual.

”Find Luke. Tell him where to find her and to take her to the nurses office. Best we not be anywhere near here when they see her being carried. ”

Piper was familiar with the drill, as well as the protocols that would soon follow, but there was something about the whole thing that didn sit well with her. The girl had gotten off far too easy for the defiance she had displayed this morning. Shed made a spectacle of him for the entire class to see. Normally, they would be calling in favors to block off a section of the school by now, and shed be found in a ditch sometime well after the fact.

Why doesn he make a proper example out of her? A few bandages and she would look right as rain. Nothing more than a simply sports injury, by the looks of it. What kind of message would that send? That anyone could get away with disrespecting him, she thought. Which was a very dangerous message to be sending. If the student body wasn afraid of him, they would turn on him in a snap. And that was something she couldn stand idly by and let happen.

Sensing her distaste, Felix looked back at her suddenly and frowned. They had always had a sense about one another like that, ever since grade school. Then, just as she was preparing for a well deserved chew out, he took his hat off and scratched his head in frustration. Such a small gesture it would seem to anyone else, but she knew him far too well, and he never did that. Something was way more off with him than she had previously suspected. But she was already in hot water from this morning, and he was in no mood to be questioned. She resigned herself to following orders, and left his side when they reached the food court.

Students were already beginning to empty their trays and mill around, waiting for the bell. Luckily, she spotted Luke quite quickly. The burly jock stood a head taller than most students, and was easy to find in a crowd. Piper stopped a short walk away from the bench he and his friends were hanging around, and waited to catch his attention. The moment he met her gaze, she held it briefly and then began walking away again. He excused himself from his less perceptive friends and jogged to catch up with her around the corner. From the shade of the science departments canopied garden, she gave him his instructions and sent him on his way, ignoring the shadow lingering over his eyes.

Her task now finished, Piper grabbed a light snack from the vending machines and looked around the courtyard, taking inventory. She estimated that about a fourth of the student body took orders from them directly as needed, with around three-fourths at least being too scared to get on their bad side. Both her name and Felixs were synonymous with danger, and that gave them power over their immediate surroundings. And then there was the faculty.

The nurse had been facing foreclosure when they first set foot on this campus three years ago. Now, she had a roof over her head and paid no mortgage to keep it that way- nor would she ever, so long as she stayed in line. She would patch up anybody they sent her way, then bury the paper trail so that no one could ever put two and two together. They had done this song and dance enough times to pick and choose the faculty they would need first, and from there, all it took was finding a few weak spots. Still, she noted to herself, not everyone was in their pocket- there were always those that couldn be bought, or threatened. If they offed too much of the faculty their cover would be blown all the same, so there would always be some people they needed to keep in the dark. It made the mission more fun for her, in a way.

A series of gasps chain-reacted across the courtyard as a large shadow moved down the farthest walkway, signaling that it was showtime. Piper hopped off of the concrete block encasing her favorite tree plot, and sipped her water bottle as she walked through the middle of the crowd. Several members of her class stopped to look her over, uncertain what to make of her presence so far from the incident they knew must be connected to her, but that was of course, the whole point. A little subterfuge never hurt anyone.

The bell for class rang, and she set about resuming her typical class schedule. The girl was still in no condition to open her mouth right away. They had enough time to silence her later.