Shattered - By Sophia Sharp Page 0,6

stock into the rumors she heard. At the same time, she had been unable to force herself to ask him about it herself. It felt like she would be invading his personal life if she pried like that, and she didn’t feel comfortable doing that yet.

One time during math class, Laura snuck a peek back at Logan. As expected, he sat with his head down. But just at that moment, an image flashed in her head of a powerful lion – a king – who’d been disgraced. It felt like all the power was still there, just…restrained. Like it was forcibly being thrust down. Just as quickly as it came, the image disappeared. And she found Logan looking back at her, meeting her gaze strongly.

She spun around quickly. He had seen her looking. She hoped he didn’t get the wrong impression. She also hoped Mrs. Millburn wouldn’t notice.

Thankfully, their teacher was busy writing on the board. Relieved, Laura returned to her notes. But she could feel Logan’s gaze on her back.

Logan was also always the first to leave at the bell, brushing by people to get to the door. Laura knew he had heard the rumors swirling about him by now, and hoped they weren’t getting to him. She couldn’t imagine the instability his life held. But she knew things would get better for him, if only he started speaking up more.

Which is what she decided to tell him at their next detention session together on Friday. Today’s session – Thursday’s – was cancelled by Mrs. Millburn on account of her grandson’s birthday.

So, it was on a rainy Thursday afternoon, in the break before the last class of the day, when Laura found herself in a hallway struggling with the mechanism on her locker. The second bell had already rung, marking anybody coming to class late, so the hallway around her was completely empty. But no matter how many times she tried the combination, her locker wouldn’t open. She banged her fist against the cold metal in frustration, producing a clang that ran all the way down the hall.

“Do you need a hand?” a strong voice asked her. It seemed familiar, in some way…

Laura looked towards it, and felt her heart freeze in her chest. Brady Shell was standing beside her, with that easy smile gracing his face. Brady Shell! And he looked handsome as ever.

She couldn’t believe it. All this year, she hadn’t seen him pass by her locker once, and now, with almost everybody else already in class, he was standing here, beside her, offering to help. What were the odds?

“Uh… yea,” she muttered, stumbling over the words. “I think the lock is busted.” Idiot! That was the best you could come up with?

“Oh, well that’s OK,” he said, turning his attention to her locker. She stepped aside, letting him examine it. Which was when she felt a strong hand grab her ass.

“Hey!” She whipped around, and came face to face with some guy she’d never seen before. He was grinning widely. He was wide, too, and built like a football player. “You can’t do that!”

“Oh really?” he asked, still smiling. “Can’t do what? This?” And he reached around with one hand to grab her again. She shoved his hand away, and stepped back, trying to get some space, but felt herself bump into another body. She looked behind her. Brady was standing there, grinning as widely as the other guy.

“Didn’t we know each other, before?” he mused at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw another two guys approaching them. “I think we did. You’re… Laura, right? From back in ninth grade? My, but how much you’ve grown since then…”

“And developed very nicely,” the wide-guy added brusquely.

“Yes, she has, hasn’t she?” Brady said. He grabbed her by the waist, and started moving his hand up her back.

“Get off me!” she exclaimed, pushing him away. But those other two guys she saw approaching had already surrounded her, blocking any escape route she had.

She looked in terror from one guy to the next. All three looked like big, mean football players. And then there was Brady, who didn’t look like he matched them at all, yet he was smiling as wickedly as the rest.

“Ooh, she’s a feisty little vixen, isn’t she?” one of the two new guys crooned. Somebody pushed her – hard – and she went flying right into the guy. He caught her easily and spun her around, then wrapped his arms around her