Promise Chapter Seven

The week afterward, Cooper walked through the hallway searching for Paige. When he finally spotted her he strode towards her with purpose. She was speaking to some girls that he assumed she had a class with or was somewhat friendly with. When they saw him coming they must have excused themselves to walk away before he reached them. His reputation preceded him.
Paige was confused until she turned and spotted him walking towards her, her face broke into a smile that made his heart skip a beat. Why does she smile so big when she sees me? Cooper left his question unanswered as he reached her. He didn't pause in his step and was pleased when she fell in step beside him as they walked to English.
“What's up Abbott?” Paige asked, nudging him with her shoulder, she received a surprised glare in her direction
“Call me anything but that. That is what Beels calls me.” his tone was clipped but it didn't have the same menacing tone he used with everyone else
“Okay grumpy. What's your middle name then?” she asked, leaning over to look at him
“You can find the address to my house but you don't know my middle name?” he looked amused, this girl may be somewhat of a stalker but she hadn't gone full stalker. She only knew where he lived and what kind of vehicle he drove.
“Whatever, humor me” she pressed and knew she had won when he sighed
“Isaiah” he mumbled, he was hoping she would barely hear him
“Hmmm, I can work with that. I will call you Izzy!” she declared, basically drawing the attention of anyone in a ten foot radius of them
“Whatever makes you happy I guess” he said, he couldn't help but smile then he remembered why he sought her out in the first place, “I have a request” when she tilted her head in his direction he continued, “I was wondering if you would come with me after school and go with my to pick up Maisie. I'm going to need someone to watch her after school and if you're not busy I was hoping you could do it.”
She paused her stride for only a moment before catching back up with him, “yeah, I can do that. You have to do your community service and work after school usually right?” he had confided in her at least that much, but he hadn't told her why he was on probation or anything about his somewhat criminal background
“Yeah, plus the teacher needs to meet you so she knows that if you show up to pick her up that you are approved to do so” they were now standing outside their English classroom, trying to finish up the conversation so no one else could listen in
“Yeah, I wouldn't mind.” they started into the room and made their way to their seats and of course she had to ask one last thing before class started, “Ooo, does that mean I get to drive your truck?”
Cooper looked at her, obviously he hadn't thought about that. “Depends. Can you drive a stick?” he said so in such a smug voice she had to stop herself from slapping him in the back of the head
“Of course. My brother taught me” they both paused and burst into laughter, “I didn't mean it like that sicko” she lightly smacked his arm and they settled into their seats.
Cooper waited by his truck, the bell had barely rung and since he was used to sprinting to get out of school he had to wait for Paige. He figured she would get stuck into what he like to call the “Apocalypse” of students. Seriously, everyone acted like zombies before and after school. Either going to sports practice or a club or going to work they all walked as slow as death and he knew she wasn't the type to elbow her way through like he did.
Paige collected her criminal law book and her notebook and was heading towards the door when a group of three girls stopped her. The same girls she had been talking to the other day. Great.
“Hey Shannon, Krissy, Cecilia” she said their names as she walked over, they were standing in the doorway blocking her exit, “what's up?”
“What is the deal with you and that Abbott kid?” Shannon asked
“Yeah, you know he went to jail last year right? He's not a good guy” Cecilia piped in
“Uh huh, I heard he sells drugs out of that truck of his. He's always sprinting out to his car and speeds off, always burning rubber” Krissy added, all three girls stood with hands out their hips and disgusted looks on their faces
Paige stood there not saying a word, this wasn't the first time she's heard things about him and it probably wouldn't be the last. They had always come up to her before asking her the same questions and she had told them that they were just good....acquaintances. No need to get her hopes up on a possible friendship just yet. She had only known him about a month.
“I heard the quarterback, Jack Berlin, was talking to people in the lunch room saying you guys fuck in the druggie park on the other side of town” Shannon glanced over at Paige
Paige's face had paled, but she quickly composed herself, “It's been nice talking to you but I have to go. I have somewhere I need to be” she nudged by them, none too gently either and nearly ran down the hall, tears burning her eyes as she struggled to keep them at bay
Cooper's face broke into a smile when he saw her running towards him, only to frown when he realized she was upset and close to tears. He grabbed her arm gently and had her lean against his driver's side door. He knew everyone who was still in the parking lot were staring at them. He stood in front of her to block the view. “What's wrong? What happened?” he asked, tears had already started their descent down her cheeks and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled bandana, he gently wiped her eyes then gave it to her to blow her nose
Once she had cleaned up a bit she only looked up at him and the face he saw made him want to kill someone. “Can we go? Please” she begged, barely above a whisper, he nodded and led her around to the passenger side and once she was safely seated he closed the door and jogged back to his side and fired up the truck and sped out of there.
After an unbearable ten minutes of silence, Paige cleared her throat. “Jack Berlin. Do you know him?” good thing his truck didn't make a lot of noise or else he wouldn't have heard her
“Yeah, he's on the football team. We've known each other since we were kids. Why?” he hated not being able to watch her face and look at her constantly but unfortunately they had a schedule to keep
“He's spreading rumors about us” Cooper tightened his grip on the steering wheel, that kid is going to die. He deserved a slow and painful death for making this beautiful angel cry
“Who did you hear this from?” he tried asking gently but it came out almost in a growl
“I was heading out the door of my criminal law class and they were standing in the doorway, they were the ones I was talking to the other day when you asked me to come with you to get Maisie. They told me that Jack Berlin was saying he saw us having sex in the druggie park on this side of town and they also told me you were in jail last year” Paige said quietly, having to repeat what was told to her only brought the burn of tears back to her eyes
Without thinking, Cooper reached over and placed his hand on her thigh, he didn't noticed that she stiffened but when his thumb started to move back and forth in a stroking motion she relaxed. Without him even saying a word she knew that these things were going to get taken care of. She placed her hand on top of his just as they pulled into the parking lot at Maisie's school.
When Cooper parked and shut the truck off he first looked at her hand, which was still on top of his but that hadn't slowed the movement of his thumb. He then looked up at her and when she smiled at him he forced himself to smile back. He knew he would get into trouble with Riden but he didn't care. Someone had made Paige cry and he wasn't going to have that. Not to his girl. Your girl? Dude, snap out of it. You guys don't even talk. You haven't even kissed yet. Cooper shook his head mentally and when he opened his door she released his hand and they stepped out and went inside the school.