It was rare when she saw Devin after he cleaned up her puke. At times, she caught a glimpse of him on a different-colored dirt bike zooming down the street. Where did he get the assortment of dirt bikes? She wondered. Stolen, perhaps? He went as far as to skip the classes he had with her, which could've been written off as her overactive imagination, but she followed him stealthily for two days, only to see that it was only the classes they had together that he had missed.

Trechial and Maylee headed to gym class, they were both late and in no rush. They took a shortcut, maneuvering through buildings, and rounded a corner where they came face to face with Devin and Gary's squad.

Devin leaned against the wall in his baggy jeans and a baggy white polo. Shades covered his eyes, and his lip was split. Trechial passed him and could see he had a black eye. Gary handed him a joint, and Devin pulled out a lighter and lit the butt. He took a deep puff from the stick, then put his arm around Candice, who wore her own designer shades. Since when did he start hanging with that loser? He hated Gary, last time Trechial checked.

Maylee nudged her. "Are you seeing this?" she whispered.

She nodded. Every sight she caught of him sparked a flame in her. As the scene unfolded, Devin had to notice her there, but he wouldn't acknowledge her and add fuel to the flame. Trechial willed her soul to not take offense to his actions, but her body didn't get the message. She marched over to Devin and slapped the joint out his hand.

"What the hell, bitch!" Gary whined, making a dive for the joint. "Get your hoe, Devin."

Devin's jaw flinched, but he didn't say a word.

Maylee glared at Gary. "Call her another name and see what happens," she said. Gary stuck his middle finger up and Maylee returned the gesture.

Trechial ignored Gary and looked only at Devin.

"Ew, go away," Candice said. "You're an eyesore."

"About as much as your momma is," Maylee added.

Candice flipped Maylee off, and Maylee raised her other middle finger to Candice.

Trechial snatched Devin's shades off and gasped, covering her mouth and stepping back.

"Daaayyuummm," Maylee shouted.

One of Devin's eyes was black and blue and swollen shut.

Trechial could only stand there, staring. Speechless. Her best friend hurt. Harmed.

"What happened?" It came out as a whisper.

"Man, I'm about to blow this joint. It's a little too crowded for me." Devin pushed off the wall with Candice's small frame nuzzled under his arm. She sported his starter jacket, though it was in the high seventies outside, and the sun shined high above their heads.

Devin and Candice were a few feet away when Trechial turned and ran toward Devin, shoving him with all her might. He flew forward with Candice.

He whipped around to Trechial. "Stop running from me, Tae, and face me like a man."

Candice rushed in and stood in front of Devin, "Leave him a—"

Maylee rushed over and grabbed Candice by the back of her neck, bending her forward. "This doesn't have anything to do with you, so get over here." She marched Candice over to the side. "Now shut the hell up." Maylee shoved her forward again. Candice eyed Maylee but cowered in her corner.

"What do you want from me Trechial?"

"Let's start with what happened to your eye?"

Devin breathed out in exasperation and leaned into her ear. "Why don't you ask your precious stepdad what happened to my eye?"

She almost stopped breathing. "Ch––Charlie did this to you?"

"And you know why," Gary sneered, wiggling his brows with a snort, then lighting his joint. Devin's jaw flinched once more, but he remained quiet.

"Piss off, Trechial. I don't want to end up on Charlie's hitlist for something I'm not even hitt'n." His stomach twisted in knots at the cruelty of his own words. They soured his tongue on the way out. But he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take being around people that he loved. Not after what he was going to do tonight.

Trechial tossed the sunglasses at his feet, but he just stood there in undeniable defeat.

"If your goal was to hurt me then mission accomplished."

Audible stress riddled his voice. "Then stay away from me."

"Not a problem.

"Bye, Mini."

Trechial sucked her tears back in and swallowed. She felt the beginning of a sob building in her chest, so she told Maylee she wanted to go.

She then looked at Candice. Tears slipped down her cheeks, "You can have that piece of crap. I'm finished with him."

And that was exactly how he felt. She knew him even down to his deepest feelings.

As Maylee walked past Devin, she glanced at him." I was rooting for you," she said. Then they left.

Devin watched the only girl he ever had some sort of passion about walk away. Passion—whether it was anger, hate, happiness...love––it overwhelmed him. Devin balled up his fist, feeling that passion again, and Gary and his goons watched snickering like little school girls. Candice hurried to her boyfriend's side; her touch made his skin crawl. He jerked out of her grip her, face construed into a pout. Devin ignored her and focused his attention on Gary, who was on his way to him.

"What do you know about Charlie?" Devin asked Gary.

He shrugged. "You mean besides the fact that he wants to bang his stepdaughter?"

"Who told you that?"

"Everybody knows that."

Somehow Devin didn't believe that everybody knew because then teachers would have gotten involved. Someone told him, and he knew exactly who it was. He shifted his gaze to Candice.

"Forget about her, Devin," Candice whined. He jerked away from her grasp once more.

"Yeah, man," Gary added. "Don't waste your time on that cup of dirt when you got that fine glass of milk to drink from."

He chuckled to himself, followed by an outburst of laughter from his friends. Devin hated every last one of them, but that's what made it easy to be around them; there was no commitment, so he could bail at any time. If it were Trey, even Leandro, they would try and talk him out of drinking and smoking and even getting back with Candice to fill the void. And they for sure would have sent him to apologize to Trechial, about which he would have no questions asked.

"What?" Devin started toward Gary. There wasn't much left in his world now that he had broken the bonds of friendship with Trechial.

"That nigger doesn't deserve the crumbs you drop on the ground, dude." Gary and his goons continued to snicker. Devin blew a hot puff of air through his nose. He took his shades off, and the sunlight stung his eye. He threw the shades as far as he could out into the field. "Fetch." He looked at Candice.

She glowered at him. "I'm not a dog."

"Get them or I'll break up with you."

She pouted. "You're a dick, Devin."

"So it shouldn't be that hard to swallow. Go get them or else."

She did her usual stomp, then went to search for the glasses.

Devin remembered how Gary had called Trechial a hoe. He let the word enrich the already simmering rage boiling in his soul. And, though his body still ached all over from the damage Charlie did to him four days ago, he was still about to do what he was about to do. It wasn't just to defend Trechial's honor; Charlie had the right to be near that girl. Gary knew everything. And he set up Devin by planting a stolen pack of cigarettes on him four days ago. Then they got pulled over in Gary's dad's Mustang by Charlie and his sidekick. Gary's dad had reported the car stolen. Funny how Gary came out unscathed and Devin got the snot beat out of him until he blacked out. He darted his tongue across his split lip that only just began to heal.

He raised his fist, blindsiding Gary and knocking the joint out his mouth, then he charged at him.

Devin threw punches at Gary until his knuckles went numb and Gary's friends pulled him off. Gary stole a punch at Devin's side. Devin winced, but he broke free and charged at Gary again. Two male teachers appeared out of nowhere and haled him back. "If you ever call her that again, I will knock your damn teeth out of your mouth."

He struggled against the teacher's strength, trying to whip around them but to no avail.

"She's a stupid nigger, and you're a stupid chink. And Charlie's going to hog-tie her ass and—"

"That's enough, you filthy snot!" The teacher shouted through gritted teeth, slinging Gary by his collar.

"I'm going to kill him!" Devin snarled.