Page 55 of Love Hate

“Mr. Tafta,” O’Shea said. “You wouldn’t happen to know what happened to Mr. Simpson, do you?”

“Looks like someone gave him what he had coming,” Mark answered, shrugging.

“You mother—”

“Trevor,” Andy said softly, shaking his head when I looked back at him. “Sir, as I told you, this was an off-campus matter.”

“Well it spilled onto my football field,” Tine said. “Tafta, did you attack Mr. Simpson?”

“Ask him,” Mark snapped.

“Mr. Simpson?” Tine said, looking over at Andy again.

“I have nothing more to say about this,” Andy said.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I hissed. “Yeah, Mark beat the shit out of Andy. Not that Andy would tell me. So I was standing up for my—” I cut myself off before I spat out the word boyfriend.

“You’re disgusting,” Mark spat at me. “Both of you.”

“What is your problem?” Andy yelled. “I never did anything to you.”

“Never did…” Mark laughed, a cold, cruel sound I’d never heard from him before. “You fucked my brother, you fucked my best friend, you’re a fucking whore and you’re destroying everyone I love!”

“Oh my,” Monsignor O’Shea said softly. It seemed as if he were fighting a smile, and it made me want to hit him, too. None of this was funny.

“Language,” Tine said, his face going beet red, clearly embarrassed at having gotten exactly what he’d asked for.

The truth.

“When did you fuck his brother?” I asked Andy, unable to hold back the jealousy that flared in my chest.

“I don’t even know his brother!” Andy shot back. “And watch your fucking indignation, there buddy. It’s not like you didn’t fuck half our graduating class.”

“Okay,” O’Shea said calmly, holding his hands out in front of himself. “This is supposed to be a conversation, not an extension of whatever fighting has been happening between you three.”

“You don’t know my brother?” Mark yelled, clearly ignoring the monsignor’s words. “I saw you! I watched him choke you unconscious you fucking freak.”

“You watched?” I asked, staring at Mark in shock. “And you’re calling him a freak?”

“Enough!” Tine yelled, but we all ignored him.

“You told my fucking sister!” Andy screamed, diving across me at Mark, landing a punch square in the asshole’s face. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you do that?”

I grabbed Andy around the middle, pulling him away from Mark as the monsignor rushed around his desk, as if he were going to be able to keep anyone from throwing another punch. He’d be lucky not to get tossed on his ass.

Tine inserted himself between Mark and me and Andy, a much better barrier than O’Shea was going to be.

“Because she needed to know what a disgusting piece of shit her brother is,” Mark shot back.

“That is enough!” Monsignor O’Shea bellowed. “This is unacceptable. And if any of you wish to remain in this school, then you will all sit down and shut up. Now!”

There were only two chairs and Mark dropped into one of them, so I pulled Andy to the side of the room, leaning against the wall with my shoulder pinning his, in case he decided to dive bomb Mark again.

“What interesting lives you all lead outside of school,” O’Shea said softly. “Coach Tine, would you please excuse us? I think perhaps the fewer people who are a part of this conversation, the better.”

“Hix,” Tine barked at me. “Watch your boy.”

“Hey, fuck you,” Andy snapped at him.