West tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck and trying to loosen some of the knots out of his shoulders. He knew he shouldn't have snapped at the class like that, but he needed some kind of outlet. Maybe he would feel better after getting to see Alice for himself. The police had reluctantly told him her injuries, and they had only told him because he had wanted to know if it was safe to hug her. He was more touchy feely than people expected, a product of his culture, and now that she'd started to enter the world his half sisters occupied, he knew he'd be hugging her at some point soon.
                              
The lunch bell rang and West tossed the butt of his need-to-calm-the-f***-down smoke to the floor, heading back in. A few students gave him looks, word of his outburst already all over the school. He didn't care, the smoke giving him a slight blunting of his bad mood. West walked to his locker and dumped his bag, not needing it for the class after lunch. Romeo was waiting for him and kept silent, just giving a pointed sniff so West knew he smelled like illegal substances. Again West didn't care, so what if a teacher busted him for smoking cannabis? Right now he'd relish a reason to fight with someone.
                              
"Dude, you gotta tone down the hostile. Chicks love the knight in shining armour routine and I have a chance to snap up your discards. Don't ruin that for me by scaring all the tasties away with your nasty glare." Romeo cajoled, and West was never sure if his friend was serious or joking. Romeo was a good looking fellow West supposed, but he never seemed to have a girlfriend. Not that West really cared about his friend's sex life or lack thereof.
                              
West just grunted at his friend and walked with him back outside. It was cold enough that no one else really wanted to use the outdoor benches, but the Cuban didn't mind the chill. He figured that he could always put on more layers if he got cold. Romeo passed West the flask he always had and the Cuban swallowed the warm and metallic tasting scotch whisky, absently noting that at least Romeo had good taste in liquor. The Johnny Walker burned as it slid down his throat but seemed to burn away some of the foul mood hanging around West like a storm cloud.
                              
"I need a distraction. Think you're up for going out on the town tonight?" West finally, knowing Romeo would understand what he really meant. West needed a good fight, not a pity brawl like those cabrons had gotten. Romeo looked thoughtful but nodded, game to go out and find a brawl. The bell to haul a** back to class rang and both boys headed in to the performance hall.
                              
"Where's West?" he heard Alice ask her friends. Seeing her at the school filled him with a sense of relief, just knowing that he had arrived in time to stop her from being hurt worse eased the vicious anger in his gut.
                              
"Right here." he said from behind her, and put a smirk on his face so she wouldn't know how close to violence he'd been all day.
                              
"I hear I owe you a thank you." she stated, almost making it a question. But he didn't want to her a thank you from her, she should never have been in that situation. It was all those carbons' fault.
                              
"You don't need to thank me." he replied, not trusting himself to tone down the anger if he gave an explanation as to why he felt that way.
                              
"Alright I won't." she replied but instead of shrugging it off, she suddenly hugged him around hte waist. West froze, seeing Malcolm walk in at exactly the wrong moment. He wanted to call out to Reaper, assure him that he wasn't trying to steal his girl, but Malcolm just turned around and walked right back out. F***.
                              
"I knew it, chicks dig a hero." West smirked, deciding to just go along with it.
                              
"And then he opens his mouth...." Alice sighed and everyone laughed. West noticed that her two friends seemed a little flustered with him around and he couldn't help but wink at the nerdy girl who'd told him about Alice a while ago. Justine that was her name! He always forgot.