#broken logic

But it's okay, i end up admitting that i am wrong

So im right about being wrong

‘So, in conclusion,’ Thalia Ford said, brushing her dyed black hair over her shoulder, ‘I think the practicality of studying women’s rights is flawed. I mean, we’re equal now, aren’t we? Thank you.’

     A smattering of sarcastic and polite applause circled the room. Mina’s mouth twisted in disgust.

     ‘Well done, Miss Ford,’ Dr. Kransky said as the pathetic applause dwindled. ‘You raised some very good points. We are equal’ –

     ‘You’re wrong, Tahlia,’ Mina muttered as she doodled on her notebook.

     ‘Pardon,’ Dr. Kransky muttered through her teeth, her shoulders tensing as her eyes found Mina’s, ‘Miss’ –

     ‘She’s wrong,’ Mina said, louder her head lifting from her book. ‘We are not equal.’

     ‘Miss von Abendroth,’ Dr. Kransky rounded on Mina, her pixie face screwed up in annoyance, ‘did you read the material?’

     ‘Yes, I did,’ she replied bitingly. ‘It’s wrong.’

     ‘Then perhaps you could write a better’ –

     ‘I could write a better paper in my sleep,’ Mina retorted, her eyes finding Thalia who was fuming silently. Mina’s blood was boiling in her veins. Where did Thalia get off spouting that patriarchal bullshit?!

     ‘Miss von Abendroth, if you interrupt my class again I will be forced to ask you to leave.’

     ‘What do you mean forced?’ she spat back, getting to her feet. ‘You’ve asked me to leave every class. It’s not my fault you’re’ –

     ‘That’s it, Miss von Abendroth,’ Dr. Kransky shouted, pointing at the exit sign above the auditorium doors, ‘please leave the auditorium.’

     ‘Yes, Doctor, with pleasure,’ she muttered picking her satchel up and storming out of the room.

     She slammed the auditorium doors just in time to hear someone shout, ‘That’s bullshit, Dr. Kransky!’

     ‘At least we’re not all brainless,’ Mina muttered, lounging on one of the interactive art instalments. She did that a lot, unless a security guard reminded her that they were not in fact interactive artworks.

     ‘Then why do these swans make such comfortable chairs?’ she would reply sarcastically before being escorted off the grounds. She could find ways around it, but those security guards could outrun her over short distances, though she killed them in endurance.

     It was with a jolt that Mina realised she wasn’t the only person who had been thrown out. The guy who had called “bullshit” was now walking across the lawn. Mina got up off the sculpture and chased him down. He was having a smoke when Mina found him.

     ‘Hey, sorry for getting you kicked out,’ she muttered as acrid smoke billowed around her, making her wrinkle her nose slightly. She wasn’t a fan of smoking. Smoking had killed her grandfather.

     The guy reclined on the lawn, the cigarette dangling from his hand. His sandy hair was pushed back of his face, not that it helped to see his face as he wore a pair of sunglasses. A thin strip of pale skin was visible where his black long sleeved Abercrombie t-shirt had ridden up.

     ‘Not your fault Dr. Kransky is socially blind,’ he replied calmly taking another long drag. ‘And if I’m completely honest I wanted an excuse to leave class other than “I need another cigarette”.’

     ‘Oh.’

     ‘Mmm,’ he glanced up at her over his sunglasses, ‘I’m Dash, by the way.’

     ‘I’m Wil.’

     ‘Wil?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.

     ‘Yeah, Wil.’

     ‘Just Wil?’                                                                      

     ‘To you, yes,’ she replied shortly, smirking. ‘Wil.’

     ‘Wil,’ he spread the nickname out until it was two syllables long, ‘cool.’

     Mina shrugged as Dash tossed his cigarette butt away and helped himself up. ‘What class do you have next?’

     ‘I only had the one,’ she replied as he stretched like a cat, arching his back exposing his stomach again.

     ‘Most excellent,’ he muttered flicking his sunglasses up so she could see his eyes. They were green. ‘I have Art 2.’

     ‘That’s on my way to the library.’

     ‘Then I shall escort the young lady in that direction,’ Dash said with a half-smile.

     Mina fell into step beside him, her satchel smacking against her hip. It was a surprisingly comfortable silence as Dash thrust his hand in his pocket, removed a slim case, opened it, pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

     ‘Want one?’ he asked offering her the slim silver wallet.

     ‘Uh, no thanks,’ she said with a polite smile.

     ‘I take it you don’t smoke,’ he mumbled replacing his lighter in the pocket of his jeans.

     ‘No. My grandfather was a pack a day smoker. The emphysema killed him before the cancer could,’ she smiled sadly. ‘He died before I was born.’

     ‘Shitty luck,’ Dash said around his cigarette. By the end of his first drag more than half of the cigarette had disappeared.

     ‘Why do you smoke?’

     ‘Maybe I want the emphysema to get me first,’ he said with a twisted smile.

     Mina shrugged. ‘Whatever floats your boat.’

     ‘Now if my parents had the same blasé attitude life would be perfect.’

     ‘I doubt many parents like to see their children slowly poison themselves,’ she said pointedly.

     ‘Yes, but I’m pretty sure we’re all being slowly poisoned right now,’ he took another pointed drag, ‘I’m just cutting out the middle man.’

     ‘Now I see why you get kicked out of class,’ Mina muttered, shaking her head slightly.

     ‘Hey, that is a hypocritical statement, grasshopper.’

     ‘Oh please, you don’t- oof!’

     Someone had walked into her, the sudden force sent Mina’s body backwards. She would have fallen if Dash hadn’t grabbed her.

     ‘Dude, watch it!’ Dash shouted.

     ‘Sorry!’ Mina instinctively said as Dash helped her regain her balance. She pulled away from him, adjusting her mahogany wig again.

     ‘Jeez, no one at this shithole school looks where they’re going,’ Dash muttered glancing over his shoulder.

     ‘Do you know who that was?’ Mina asked, still looking over her shoulder, but the guy was long gone.

     ‘No idea, but let’s face it before you got kicked out of Kransky’s lecture I hadn’t known you existed so the chances of me knowing some blind dick are slim.’

     ‘Point taken,’ Mina muttered as the art block came into view.

     ‘Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Wil,’ Dash said offering his hand. It was decked in silver rings, dragons, snakes and most surprisingly a tree of life that sat on his middle finger. She took his and shook it.

     ‘You, too, Dash,’ she replied with a smile. ‘I’ll see you around.’

     ‘If Kransky ever lets us back in her class, you mean. Personally I’m not holding my breath.’

     ‘Yes, I’d say you need that for smoking.’

     ‘Touché.’

***

Mina glanced at the clock on her computer. 3:55pm. She flicked her mahogany hair over one shoulder as she nonchalantly looked around the library before she chastised herself. He wouldn’t be five minutes early –

     ‘I’m sorry I’m late.’

     Mina almost jumped out of her chair as Cade fell into the seat across from her, his dark hair covering most of his face as he leant over, rifling for something in his bag.

     ‘Actually, you’re early,’ Mina said, trying for nonchalance as she closed her laptop and removed her glasses.

     ‘Am I?’ he looked up at the wall clock. ‘So I am.’

     Mina began packing up her belongings, her eyes focused away from Cade. ‘Do you mind if we stop by my apartment before we go out? I have to drop off my stuff.’

     ‘No, of course not!’ he said quickly. ‘Do you want me to carry it for you?’

     Mina shook her head, shouldering her satchel as she got to her feet. ‘No, I’m fine. Thank you though.’

     ‘Do you always wear the wigs?’

     Mina paused, her eyes scanning the floor as they walked out of the library. ‘When I’m not at the hotel.’

     ‘Why?’

     ‘I don’t think that’s a first date question,’ she said with a laugh.

     ‘Sorry,’ Cade said quickly as a pair of undergraduates passed them chattering away, pausing in their conversation to glance at Cade before giggling and continuing down the path. ‘I was just curious.’

     Mina looked at him then and reeled at what she saw. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. His bottom lip was split and his clothes were dirty and torn. What the hell?

     ‘What happened to you?’ she asked, her voice more of a terrified yelp than the calm she was hoping for.

     ‘I don’t think that’s a first date question,’ he replied, looking at her wig.

     Mina glared up at him. ‘I don’t care if you’re part of the Russian mafia or an undercover spy, Cade, I just care that you’re honest with me.’

     ‘Okay, I’m an international super spy hiding from the European Union,’ he grinned at her.

     She glared mercilessly, her patience lost. ‘Don’t bullshit me.’

     ‘Okay, okay. I’ll tell you the truth if you tell me why you wear the wigs.’

     Mina sighed heavily. ‘Fine.’

     ‘Okay. I got roughed up by some guys,’ he said screwing up his face. ‘It’s no big deal.’

     Mina stared at him, deadpan until he continued to talk, flustered by her lack of response.

     ‘Honestly,’ he said gesturing helplessly with his hands. ‘Just some guys I pissed off. I doubt if they’ll bother me again.’

     The silence stretched on for a while as the continued walking towards Mina’s apartment. She sighed heavily and turned to look at him. He looked back at her, his clear eyes completely serious.

     ‘What kind of shit am I getting myself into?’ she asked her face still empty of emotion. She thanked her father for all those cold meetings. If they had taught her anything it was how to hide her feelings.

     ‘The sort of shit people get out through when they stand for something positive in this world,’ he replied calmly.

     ‘Great, so the same shit I’m already in.’

     ‘So the only difference is that it's happening to someone else as well, really.’ He smiled as he pointed to the abrasions on his face.

     ‘I wish they hadn’t touched your face,’ she muttered, lifting her hand to brush some black hair off his cheek. He flinched slightly, hissing as her short cut nails touched one of the cuts. ‘You have such a pretty face.’

     ‘I-guh-well-I,’ he blushed, pulling away from her hand. ‘Heheh, well, actually they didn't, really. They just kinda... tackled me, and the concrete touched my face.’

     Mina smiled sadly, revelling in her power. ‘Pity.’

     ‘But hey!’ he said, stopping in the middle of the street. He turned to her showing her the full damage. ‘I don't scar easily and I heal at an alarming rate. I'll be fine in a day or two.’

     ‘Maybe you’ll let me touch you without blushing then,’ she said as her apartment came into view.

     The blush that had flooded Cade’s face became a brilliant scarlet as he bit his bottom lip and glanced at Mina out of the corner of his eye. ‘Of course.’ He cleared his throat. ‘So, the wigs?’

     Mina smirked. ‘If you asked my dad he would say I do it because I’m ashamed of my family name.’

     ‘Are you?’

     ‘God no,’ she said with a laugh. ‘I’m very proud of the von Abendroth legacy.’

     ‘So?’

     She shrugged. ‘I don’t like being Wilhelmina von Abendroth every day. Sometimes I want to be Wil… or Mina. I’m not ashamed of my family or who I am I just don’t like having to live up to unreasonable expectations.’

     ‘That’s very human of you.’

     ‘What a compliment,’ she said shaking her head as she stepped up to the apartment door.

     ‘Well I’d be hard pressed to say it to anyone else I know.’

     She stopped, her key suspended in mid-air as she let those words crash around her. She glanced at him over her shoulder. ‘You need to find better people to spend your time with.’

     ‘I know,’ he said as he turned around on the spot. ‘Oh look, here’s one!’

     She laughed despite herself, unlocking the door. ‘Do you want to wait here? I’ll only be a second.’

     ‘Sure, no problem.’

     She smiled as turned to go up the stairs.

     ‘Mina?’

     She paused, turning to look at him. ‘Yes?’

     ‘Will you take your wig off, for me?’

     A flood of emotions crossed Mina’s face in an instant. She looked like she was going to say no as her hand gripped the banister so hard her knuckles were turning white.

     ‘Okay,’ she whispered before turning and rushing up the stairs. ‘Okay.’

     She burst into the apartment, startling Charlotte who was making herself a drink in the kitchen.

     ‘What are you’ –

     ‘No time – got to change – explain later!’ Mina shouted running past her.

     ‘I worry about you,’ she muttered as Mina slammed her bedroom door shut.

     Mina put her satchel on her desk while kicking her jeans and pulling her sweater off over her head. She pulled her Red Label Vivienne Westwood dress off it hook, sliding it over her ridiculously purple underwear. She grabbed a pair of three inch Louboutin’s out of her closet, swearing when she caught the spikes on her black stockings. She ran into the bathroom and quickly touched up her mascara and lip-gloss. She wasn’t much on makeup, mostly because her skin was so stupidly sensitive.

     She paused in her hurry to look at herself properly in the mirror. She ran her fingers through the mahogany wig’s natural fibres, touching the pale skin of her cheek as she did. The wig was shoulder length, a conservative version of her sister Elsa’s haircut, but even with Elsa’s haircut she didn’t look like very much her mother or her little sister. She tore the wig off her head, throwing it on top of the others at the back of her closet. She pulled the pins out of her natural hair, undoing her braids as she went, letting her long blonde tresses fall down her back like a champagne waterfall. It was getting awfully long.

     Mina stared at her reflection for a moment, unhappy with almost everything about herself. She was dressed beautifully, she looked clean and nice, but she didn’t feel beautiful. She snorted at her reflection as she let her fingers fall through her hair.

  Mina was waist deep in text books on Thursday night when she decided she had worked enough. The library was mostly deserted. One of the assistant librarians was making rounds shutting down computers, looking restricted sections up, and sending Mina inquisitive looks. It wasn’t like she was the last person there. She knew several law and medical students were downstairs leafing through papers and typing frantically on their precious MacBook’s. She could hear the sound of their fevered fingers flying with clicks and ticks.

     She closed her linguistics paper and opened a tab on her laptop. She spent ten minutes looking up pop punk songs from the early 2000’s while throwing looks around the empty room to make sure no one was watching her. She had gotten in trouble before for using the Uni wifi for listening to cheesy music. The librarians somehow always knew it was her, probably traced her IP address.

     ‘Mina?’

     Mina audibly squeaked slamming her laptop shut as Jack’s Mannequin began the second chorus of Dark Blue, tearing her headphones out and trying to stop the blush that was spreading over her cheeks. She chastised herself as she glanced up and saw Cade hovering over her shoulder.

     ‘I’m sorry, did I scare you?’ he asked no condescension in his tone. He was actually worried that he had frightened her.

     ‘No, not at all,’ she said quickly opening her laptop. He walked to the opposite side of the table, spreading several text books out in front of himself. Complex Physics. She noticed while she closed her tabs and opened her paper. She was technically finished on the paper, but it didn’t hurt to be thorough with her work.

     ‘Do you mind if I join you?’

     Mina pursed her lips to stop a smile. ‘Well, you’ve already set yourself up over there.’

     ‘Oh God! Sorry! I should have asked’ –

     ‘Calm down, Admiral Anxiety,’ she said quickly, rolling her eyes. ‘You’re fine to join me. In fact you’ll keep me on task, I was slacking.’

     He smiled over his book. ‘We all slack from time to time.’

     Mina glared at him. ‘Whatever.’

     She spent ten minutes typing ridiculous notes that she wouldn’t use in her paper. He made her nervous. She eventually lowered her laptop, watching him as he wrote notes and skim read books.

     ‘What do you want?’ she found herself asking with more vitriol than she meant.

     Cade put his book down, watching her with a careful expression. ‘Calm. The right kind of mental.’

     ‘Yeah, sure,’ she replied her brow furrowed. ‘What do you want with me?’

     ‘I want to know you,’ he said with a small smile. ‘I see you over and over, just passing by. I just want us to collide properly sometime. I mean, metaphorically, not like in Club Blood. You have me fascinated.’

     Mina narrowed her eyes, pushing her glasses up to her forehead. ‘Okay, who paid you? My dad? My brother? Whatever, I can double it if you tell me everything they asked about me.’

     ‘Please,’ he laughed, pushing his hair off his forehead. ‘I'm no Patrick Verona. Seriously, I literally have no idea who you are beyond the name "Mina". What's your full name, by the way?’

     ‘Mina is good enough, isn’t it?’

     He raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly.

     ‘Okay, fine, my name is Wilhelmina von Abendroth,’ she braced herself for laughter, or some kind of revulsion.

     He seemed surprised. ‘Wow. That's quite German. My full name is Caduceus Razarac.’

     ‘I guessed,’ she said too quiet for him to hear.

     ‘“Wilhelmina”? I wouldn't've guessed. Well, duh, of course not. Sorry. Nice name, though.’

     ‘Thanks,’ she muttered. ‘You don’t know who I am?’

     ‘Correct. I just said so, actually. Why? Should…I?’

     Mina didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ‘You seriously – I guess not.’

‘Yeah,’ he frowned. ‘Seriously though, should I? At least, what for?’

     ‘My family are well known international business people. My family owns one of the most expensive hotel chains in the world. You seriously don’t know who I am?’

     ‘Nope. I…’ he paused and shook his head. ‘No offence or anything, but I don't really notice or pay attention to much of that. I have no idea who you are, beyond linguistics.’

     ‘Whatever, I still don’t believe you, but whatever.’

     ‘Really now? Then tell me, what do you know of the Morgenstein family?’

     ‘I know they clean up my family’s messes.’

     ‘Do you know they have an adopted son?’ he asked his expression expectant.

     ‘I do now,’ she replied with a smirk.

     ‘Good. So our respective families can both be hated in the background. As far as I know, you're someone who has seen me before my family. You see me as me. I want to see you as you. Sound good?’

     Mina narrowed her eyes. ‘Sounds good.’

     ‘Good,’ he smiled and picked up his book again.

     ‘You do realise the library closes in ten minutes, right?’ Mina asked with a laugh.

     ‘Yep!’ he said, smiling brightly. ‘Got anything planned.’

     ‘Dinner,’ she said closing her books. ‘With my uncle.’

     ‘Okay,’ he frowned. ‘Anything tomorrow?’

     ‘Not yet,’ she said sliding her laptop into her satchel.

     ‘How about we meet here again? Mostly just as a starting point.’ He got out of his chair in a rush, his words running together. ‘L-let me know if I'm being too pushy, I just-yeah. Tomorrow. Here. 4pm. All that. Yeah. Heheh, okay. Sweet.’

     ‘Yeah, tomorrow,’ she laughed as he practically tripped over his chair.

     ‘Tomorrow,’ he said when he righted himself.

     ‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said shaking her head as she watched him walk away.

The minute he fell into the chair across from hers she knew who he was. The black hair, the cerulean eyes drooping with fatigue, the lean body draped in black and those damn boots. Robocop. After he left she slammed her linguistics book shut, disturbing a law student who shot her a dirty look, She apologised quietly and began packing her laptop into her satchel.

     Cade. That was his name, right? Cade? Short for...? Caduceus? That sounded awfully familiar like something she used to know, the smell of autumn leaves, maybe?

     She frowned, pausing as she wrapped her charger up. She raised one hand to her forehead as the cheesy pickup lines swam in her head. He may not be inconspicuous, but she gave him credit where credit was due. He had tried to engage her in conversation, and she had been more than willing to flirt with him. That was a new trend.

     Shaking her head she picked up her satchel and made her way across the campus. She was late for dinner with Charlotte. Her roommate may be a little over emphatic about her religion, but she definitely knew the places that had the best Korean food. She was halfway across campus when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was an argument, or at the very least a colourful debate.

     Mina paused and turned to get a better look, almost groaning when she saw Missi was one of the people engaging in the heated disagreement. The other person was a hulking brute. A hulking brute Mina recognised from her fieldtrip to Club Blood. Mina forgot meeting Cade, she forgot dinner with Charlotte and she even forgot her mother’s terrible business party completely when she saw Missi’s face. Tears were coursing down Missi’s cheeks like rivers, blurring her makeup until her eyeliner and mascara dripped in identical blank lines down her face.

     Mina sighed heavily, hefted her satchel higher on her shoulder and walked purposefully across the lawn. Soon their disagreement was loud enough that she could make out words, then sentences, then –

     ‘I’m sorry you think you’re worth more to me, but honestly you were just an easy fuck. I can’t take the blame for that.’

     ‘We didn’t even have sex!’ Missi cried, her lips quivering. ‘I didn’t consent!’

     The guy looked around, then back to Missi. ‘Look, honey, you’re just a dime a dozen slut. Just deal with it.’

     ‘B-but’ –

     ‘Excuse you?’ Mina shouted pushing in front of Missi. Mina’s blood was pounding in her ears, deafening. ‘What did you just say?’

     ‘Oh look, now we have a feminist goth girl involved,’ the guy spat in condescending tones. ‘I was just explaining that I don’t date sluts, or goths. So, you know, you can fuck off now.’

     ‘How dare you?’ Mina said, her voice holding a menace she hadn’t known she possessed. ‘You aren’t a man, you’re an animal. No, wait, that’s an insult to animals. You’re a rabid misogynist, chauvinistic pig! Wait, you don’t know what that means do you? I should use terms you’d understand, you’re a fucking monster.’

     The guy smiled sarcastically and towered over Mina. She hated it when guys did that. He father and brother both did it to her. Using height, something Mina also possessed, against her was one of the few things she truly hated. It was a hateful act of dominance.

     ‘I hate to disappoint you, bitch, but when a skank comes up to me’ –

     ‘She is not a skank!’ Mina said with the same penetrating tone. ‘She is a human being who you are vilifying for no reason other than to satisfy your own disgusting ego.’

     ‘I have no idea what you’re saying’ –

     ‘Then I’ll use words your small brain is more familiar with fuck off!’

     ‘What is wrong with the bitches at this school?’ he shouted back at her. Mina stumbled back, grabbing Missi’s arm as she did.

     ‘Missi, we have to go now,’ Mina hissed, trying to hold her composure. She was sure Missi could feel her shaking.

     ‘Where the fuck do you think you’re going?!’ Mina felt a hand on her shoulder. She felt the adrenaline course up her body, cutting off her air supply for a moment.

     Someone help me, she pleaded to herself. There was no way in hell she could –

     ‘Alright, that's enough,’ someone shouted, getting between Mina and the hulking mass of testosterone, ‘I've heard enough.’

     Mina felt the breath leave her lungs in a rush as the hand disappeared. She turned back and saw him, standing there his black everything contrasting with his pale skin.

     Cade?

     ‘Nico, what the fuck is wrong with you? I've already displayed disgust at your actions, yes, but this is a whole new level of douchebag.’

     ‘Whatev’ –

     ‘DON'T “WHATEVER” ME, YOU DENSE MOTHERFUCKER.’

     Mina’s grip tightened on Missi’s wrist as she backed up. ‘We have to go. We have to go.’

     ‘If you think that this is something to ignore,’ Cade continued, his expression a medley of angry, frustration and disgust, ‘then that just proves how much of an ignorant bastard you are. You have not a single iota of sensibility left in your head at all.’ – ‘Mina’ – ‘You haven't grown at all since those days when you tried to pound my face into the dirt.’ – ‘Mina!’ – ‘You know what? You are dirt. You have no respect for the women you trawl through like a pig at a trough. That's what you are, a pig.’

     ‘Mina,’ Missi moaned in Mina’s ear, ‘you’re hurting me!’

     ‘Fuck, sorry,’ Mina muttered dropping Missi’s wrist. ‘We have to go.’

     ‘You’ve been saying that for the last two minutes,’ Missi wavered. Mina assumed she was still crying, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Cade as he continued his verbal assault.

     ‘You're a bigoted, egotistical pig, with no respect for women, or those around you. You're the reason why guys have such a bad reputation. What you did to Missi is one step shy of rape’ –

     Missi screamed as Nico swung a punch at Cade. Mina pulled Missi out of the way as Cade ducked, catching Nico’s fist mid swing and twisted it viciously. Nico collapsed onto the ground with a pained shout.

     ‘Ooooh, that hit a nerve, didn't it?’ Cade spat, twisting harder until Nico cried out in pain. ‘What, do you think you have some form of self-respect? Are you worth something? Fuck off you are. You're a chauvinistic fuckwit with no hope for the future.’ – ‘Cade.’ – ‘You'll keep ignoring any problem that comes your way out of pride, believing yourself to be some sort of alpha male, and never change,’ – ‘Cade! Please!’ – ‘letting all the shit wash over you until you die lonely with your cock in hand.’

     ‘Cade!’

     It took Mina a second to realise she was the person shouting his name. She stopped as he glanced up at her, eyes burning with frustration and pain and so much loathing in those eyes. The look on Cade’s face said it all. Mina realised at that point that Cade wasn’t just stepping in on a fight. He was ending a very long, very dangerous friendship.

     ‘But I won't be there to see you fall,’ he said, turning back to Nico with a sigh, his rant dying as he reached the end of his anger. A bystander shouted something about kicking Cade’s teeth in, but they all ignored it. This was so much bigger than a simple spat between friends.  ‘I'm out. I'm done. It won't be hard to find smarter, or at least more considerate, friend. And if I see you making the world worse again, I will feed you your own teeth. Is that fucking understood?’

     ‘Fuck you,’ came the muffled reply.

     ‘I can’t hear you,’ Cade hissed menacingly, twisting Nico’s arm harder. ‘What did you say?’

     ‘Fuck, FUCK! Fuck, yes, I understand!’ Nico shouted his dust covered face meeting Missi’s over Mina’s shoulder. ‘I fucking understand.’

     ‘Good,’ Cade spat kicking Nico so he rolled onto his back. ‘You piece of shit.’

     ‘Mina, please, I’m scared,’ Missi whined into Mina’s ear as everyone realised the fight had ended. ‘I’m sorry I caused this, but, please, can we leave!’

     ‘You didn’t cause anything!’ Mina shouted grabbing her friend by the shoulders. ‘He did!’

     ‘Mina,’ Missi said her eyes desperate.

     ‘Okay, okay,’ Mina said grabbing Missi’s hand. ‘Let’s go.’

     Mina glanced over her shoulder to see Cade watching her. She didn’t have time to fix her startled expression before Missi began moving. She turned back to her friend, draping an arm over her quivering shoulders. The adrenaline was wearing off. Soon she wouldn’t be able to walk any more.

     ‘Mina? Mina, who was that guy?’

     Mina smiled sadly. ‘His name is Cade.’

     ‘Who is he?’