^ lovely cover made by

• • •

When I woke up, Mom and Dad were gone like always. Which was better since they wouldn't have appreciated my disastrous morning state.

Not the usual drowsy morning look. It was way worse than that. My hair had developed itself into a nest over the few hours I actually got to sleep. I hadn't even realized that I was still wearing my mud-smeared sneakers, flopped face-first onto my bed. There were small cuts and scrapes on my arms from jumping down and climbing up my window. Also, my head was aching really badly.

All in all, I looked like a sleep-deprived zombie, so much so that I was left shaken for a few seconds when I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was tangled into a mess, my brown eyes cast with exhaustion, and my skin almost looked sickly pale.

Once again, I was extremely grateful that my parents were gone on their little trip by now. Mom really wouldn't have reacted properly if she had seen me like this.

Even though I felt like laying back down on my bed, I forced myself to take a quick shower and did as much as I could've to fix myself up. I knew Alex would be here in a few minutes to pick me up, and I did not want to explain any of last night to him.

The only thing I got out of that little midnight trip was a cold, pain at the back of my head, and a little damage to my pride. Going outside at midnight and not catching a bad cold was kind of impossible when you lived at Crestmont Hill.

I stepped into the hot shower, thinking it might be helpful for my cold, but ended up hissing in pain as it made its way down my head.

Life's not fair.

I slowly touched the back of my head with my fingertips. Thank God I hadn't ended up with a concussion (I knew what a concussion was like).

The tip of my nose had gone all red and runny by the time I got out of the bathroom, dressed and fresh. I barely got to have any breakfast when I heard Alex's car pulling up in the driveway.

"Morning." I greeted him with a small sniff, closing the door as I slumped into the passenger seat.

Alex regarded me with a small, worried frown. "Did you catch a cold?" He asked. "You didn't have it when you talked to me on the phone last night."

It was a bit usual of him to get worried over me for absolutely no reason, and it warmed my heart. Not today though. I was sleep-deprived and a little cranky.

"Ate a lot of ice cream last night." I lied, pulling the ends of my trench coat against me.

He started the car and pulled out of the driveway, the frown still on his face.

"You could end up with a brain freeze or something. How much did you eat anyway? Three tubs? Five?"

I eyed him in disbelief. Did he really think I ate that much?

What was up with boys and their bold assumptions these days?

"Seven." I glared at him.

Alex's eyes widened and he laughed.

"Shut it, Alex." I shoved him.

Classes went the same that day, except for Physics. Mr Frank's lecture was a little too boring today, and with the slightly throbbing ache at the back of my head and my runny nose, it was really hard to concentrate.

Then it was finally lunchtime.

By the time I made it to the cafeteria, Alex was nowhere to be seen. He was probably with Coach, even though he hadn't exactly messaged me about it--something that he usually did if he was ever missing lunch.

I took my lunch tray and went over to our usual, empty table before sitting down with a heavy sigh. Alex never sat with his football friends, only because he knew how much out-of-place I felt at that overly crowded table.

Rubbing the sore spot at the back of my head, I opened my water bottle.

"Hi, Skylar."

I jerked up my head in surprise, almost wincing a little at my reaction when I saw the tiny smile on Hanna's lips. I didn't have any difficulty recognizing that voice and anybody else in my shoes would've been surprised too. Hanna rarely ever talked with anyone.

Her hair was combed into a single long braid, almost matching her charcoal-black eyes.

"Oh, hey." I smiled at her, before pulling my books from the chair in front of me. "Come on up. You can sit here. I was alone anyway."

She hesitated for a moment but sat down anyway, and I was happy that she did.

"You aren't sitting...with that friend of yours?" She asked.

Hanna wasn't the one who ever got bullied. She just tried to stay clear from everyone's path--something that I kind of liked about her.

"Nope. Alex is probably with Coach or something." I shrugged, taking a few more sips of my water.

Hanna nodded at that and eyed her lunch tray. "You look a bit tired today."

That was sweet, coming from her. I even smiled a bit at that. Hanna and I never had conversations other than usual greetings.

"Slept late last night," I answered, totally different from what I had told Alex. It wasn't exactly a lie, but still a lie. "So." I directed the conversation towards her. "How come you finally decided to eat lunch here? I mean, I've never actually seen you here in the cafeteria."

It kind of sounded like I was personally attacking her, and I almost told her that I didn't mean it like that, but she beat me to it. "I saw you sitting alone and I thought I should probably come out of my..."

"Shell?" I suggested with an understanding smile.

She smiled back and nodded.

"Well, that is great. I could do a lot with a girlfriend." I gave out a short laugh. Really, I only had Alex as a friend and that crept down to an extremely irritating level sometimes.

"I heard you got an A in that Physics test," I spoke up after a while, remembering when Mr Frank had announced the grades while passing out our test papers (such an evil thing to do, I know--especially when others snickered at you just because you got three C's in a row).

Hanna smiled again and nodded.

"How did you do that?" I asked her, my voice dropping to a miserable whisper.

A small laugh escaped her lips and it felt nice knowing that she was feeling a bit of herself with me now.

"I didn't do much. But I've got some notes and--"

I looked at her, raising my brows when she stopped a little too abruptly.

That's when I realized that it wasn't just her, but a few other chatters had gone dead around us too. I glanced back at Hanna to see her looking at something behind me, almost seeming surprised.

I tried catching her eye to ask what the hell was happening. But when curiosity got the better of me, I gripped the table and turned around, only to widen my eyes a little when I saw Caden.

Caden. The absolutely fucking shit himself, who also happened to be such an eye-candy, was walking towards our table. My table.

It was kind of scary if you ask me.

Finding Caden in the cafeteria was as unusual as watching Hanna talking to someone. Within all my years of high school, I had never seen Caden ever coming in here. If he had been going towards the football table, that would've been a tiny bit understandable. But the mere fact that he was walking towards my table, that was surely not expected at all.

Why in the hell was he even coming here?

I looked back at Hanna who seemed a bit panicked now.

Maybe it wasn't me he was coming towards, maybe it was just Hanna.

Who was I kidding though?

"Nice to see you again, Anderson." I heard his familiar voice behind me.

He did not.

I made a face, which was pretty justifiable, and turned my head back towards him.

"Who the hell are you calling Anderson?" I did not even care that I was glaring at Caden Miller out of all people. I hated a lot of things and being called by my last name came in the top ten.

It made me sound like an old man, for God's sake.

I could feel a few stares directed at me, and I wasn't surprised. Almost half of the cafeteria had gone silent. Everyone knew vaguely about the things that revolved around Caden. A perfect source for drama. I really hated this town sometimes.

"You, of course," Caden replied in a plain tone, though the amusement in his eyes gave it away. I scowled at the way he stood so tall and calm like not even a single stare bothered him.

The insults he'd thrown at me last night were still fresh. Yes, I was petty. And yes, I was going to hold it against him. Not that I had to give it much energy. Calling me Anderson was the cherry on top.

My eyes darted away from him and towards a jock who actually had his phone out, recording. I couldn't fucking believe this.

"What do you want, Caden?" I stood up and faced him, lowering down my voice just so that no one would hear me except him. I didn't want to make a scene. Just a peaceful day, please. Was that too much to ask these days?

Another flash of amusement flickered over his features before the impassive look came back.

"The letter. I want that letter." He said.

I blinked at him, taking my time to register what he had just said, as a few chatters started up in the background again--people who weren't at all interested in this.

"Are you for real?" I asked him in disbelief. "You believe me now? You didn't seem like you believed me last night. Remember? When you saved me from dying and being left in my own sickening pool of blood."

Wow.

I was thankful to notice a few stares breaking away from my face, probably not understanding what we both were even talking about.

"Save the speech for later, Anderson. Give me that letter." He narrowed his eyes at me, not looking happy at all.

"Too late, I threw it in the trash. God only knows where it would be right now." I lied.

Then I crossed my arms defiantly.

"Well then, I'm not so sure your parents would be happy when they find out where their daughter was last night."

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "You wouldn't do that," I whispered.

He wouldn't do that.

A smirk curved across his lips and my eyes widened a bit more. He leaned closer towards me and whispered, "I certainly would."

I didn't know what my heart was beating so wildly for: the fact that he was going to tell my parents where I had been last night, or was it just because Caden's face was very much close to mine? My eyes flickered up to his beautiful green eyes, down to his defined cheekbones, and that jawline, and his lips--

Suddenly, I was shoved away from Caden.

My initial guess was Hanna, which was actually a bit stupid. Why would Hanna suddenly feel the need to protect me from Caden? And it wasn't her.

It was Alex. My best friend Alex. The Alex I was pretty sure hadn't been anywhere near the cafeteria just seconds ago. He pushed me behind him, and I almost stumbled over the table as he glared at Caden--like he didn't care about his life at all.

It almost warmed my heart.

"You stay away from her, do you understand?" Alex gritted out in what I assumed was anger.

If not for before, people were really staring at us now. I looked helplessly at Hanna who looked a bit pale now. Probably rethinking her current decisions.

"Why don't you stay away from this, Carter?" Caden suggested with a look that passed as both murderous and disbelief, giving Alex's shoulder a hard shove. It seemed even more threatening since Caden had a few inches over him.

Everyone knew getting on Caden's bad side was the worst thing you could do to yourself. Few people who managed to do that ended up with painful bruises real quick, especially on the face. But judging by the way Alex was glaring at Caden, it didn't seem like my best friend cared about that.

Right before it could've been transformed into a full-on fight, which made me panic just thinking about it, I stepped in between them, hoping to stop this before it got worse. I didn't want Alex to get hurt because of me.

Caden, on the other hand, looked like he might shove me away from between them any second now.

"Stop it, Caden." I hissed at him, only to find his glare on me.

My head was starting to pound now, almost a little feverishly. "I'll give it to you, okay?" I added in. "Let's not make it a big deal."

"What? You won't give anything to him, Skylar!" Alex said from behind me.

I saw the moment Caden's gaze switched from me to Alex in just a second, his hand curling into a fist. And he might've even done it. Punched Alex, I mean. I didn't understand why no one was coming here and helping me out with this.

"Stop it, for God's sake! I'll give you that letter, I promise!" I said out loud, directing that towards Caden. "Don't make me change my mind."

I wasn't really expecting him to drop it, Caden never did that; he never took orders. But he didn't punch or grab Alex either. Instead, he just gave me one final death glare and left the cafeteria.

"What the hell were you doing?" I turned towards Alex once Caden was out of sight.

The cafeteria was starting to fill with hushed whispers now and I felt a bit sick to my stomach.

"Me? What the hell were you doing? What does he want from you?" He asked back, his fists still clenched tightly.

This was going to get so much worse, I knew that. I didn't even want to think of what gossip I'll be turned into tomorrow.

"It's not what you think, all right? Just stay out of it, please."

Alex eyed me unbelievably. "Skylar--"

"Can you just drop it?" I cut him off. "I'd really appreciate that."

I knew I was being mean to Alex, even though he had stepped in between us just because he didn't trust Caden. Still, I didn't think twice before turning around and leaving the cafeteria, not waiting for his response.

Just like Caden.

________

Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿