«Skylar's POV»

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When I woke up, Mom and Dad were gone. Like always. Which was actually better since they wouldn't have appreciated my morning look. Which by the way, was disastrous.

Not the messed up morning hair or anything. I think it was far more worse than that. My hair had developed itself into a nest over night. I was still wearing my mud smeared sneakers. There were thorny gashes on my arms due to jumping and climbing up the window. And my head was hurting like shit.

I would've looked like a zombie and I'm sure mom would've screamed her lungs out if she had seen me. I screamed myself when I looked in the mirror. Well, almost.

The first thing I did was take a quick shower because I knew Alex would've been here any minute to pick me up. And I really wouldn't like to explain this to him.

The only thing I got out of yesterday night was a cold. My nose was red and runny. And my brown eyes looked so exhausted. Going out at night in Crestmont Hill wasn't ever advisory by adults. I hadn't thought about that earlier.

I stepped in 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 touched the back of my head slowly. I had slammed pretty bad on that ground. I'm surprised I didn't end up with a concussion.

Grabbing my most coverable hoodie, I switched off the lights, and got out of the house as I heard Alex's car honking.

"Morning." I murmured with a sniff.

"You caught a cold? You didn't have it when you talked on the phone last night." Alex asked turning towards me with a frown.

It sometimes warmed my heart how he much he actually cared about me.

"Ate a lot of ice cream last night. That's why I caught a cold." I lied looking right ahead.

I could almost feel his suspicious gaze boring into the side of my head before he shrugged and started the car.

"You could end up dying if you eat that much ice cream. How much did you eat anyway? Three tubs? Five?" He asked.

How could he have even thought like that? I most definitely did not eat that much.

"Seven." I muttered.

He looked at me as if I was a person from another planet. Then he turned around and decided not to say anything more.

Classes went the same that day. Usual. Though it was extra hard concentrating on Physics today. You couldn't listen to the teacher's lectures when your nose was running and you almost felt feverish. I didn't know if it was the cold or Physics itself, that made me feel like I might throw up.

Then it was finally lunchtime.

Alex wasn't anywhere to be seen in the whole cafeteria. He probably was with the Coach or something. I took my lunch tray and went over to the corner at my usual table before sitting down with a heavy sigh. Rubbing the sore spot on my head, I opened my water bottle.

"Hi, Skylar." Hanna said in a small voice.

My head jerked up out of instinct, making me almost wince in pain. Who wouldn't be surprised? Hanna barely talked. And she was right here.

"Oh, hi!" I replied with an inviting smile.

Her long black hair were neatly combed into a braid. Her hair almost matched her charcoal black eyes.

"Why don't you sit here?" I asked trying to break the awkwardness. She seemed relieved as she nodded and sat down across from me.

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

Hanna wasn't ever bullied. I knew that. She just always tried to stay away from people's path. I didn't know why she did that. Nobody knew. That's why I was surprised finding her here.

"No. He must be at the football practice." I replied.

She nodded slightly and blew out a sigh. "You look tired." She said eyeing me.

Those three words I had never expected to come out from her mouth, ever. I mean, wasn't I the one always talking?

"Slept late last night." I muttered with a smile. It was quite easy lining up excuse after excuse. I was a sicko. And a liar.

"So, how come you decided to come here? I mean, you certainly don't even come in the cafeteria." I asked slowly.

I didn't want to sound harsh or anything. I was just curious. She looked at me as her eyes widened an inch like I asked the wrong question. I really didn't want her to go.

She gave out a small sigh. "I saw you alone and...I thought I should finally come out of my." She stopped searching for the right word.

"Shell?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded.

"Well, that is great. I could do a lot with a girl friend." I said with a laugh. Really. I only had a boy as a friend. And it really crept down to an irritating level sometimes.

"I heard you got an A in that Physics test." I asked.

I had heard that when our Physics teacher had been announcing the grades in front of the whole class. Which was pure torturous. It wasn't fun when people snickered at you just because your teacher announced your grade in front of the class.

Where was the privacy these days?

She smiled and nodded.

"How did you do it?" I asked with a frown which made a laugh escape her lips. It was good knowing you could make someone laugh.

"I don't do much. Just study? But I've got some notes and–" She stopped abruptly.

I realized that not only she, but the tables which actually noise a lot had gone silent as well. I looked at Hanna who was looking behind me with a surprised look.

Judging by the direction of her gaze, it seemed like the cause was right behind me. And I didn't know why, but this all felt like a scene straight out of a horror movie. When you look behind and see a ghost.

I gulped and slowly turned my head.

Instead of a ghost, I saw Caden. Walking towards our table.

That was not normal. Firstly, Caden never came in the cafeteria. Secondly, he never walked towards someone's table. Thirdly, he never walked towards a girl. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at him as the distance shortened.

Seriously, why the hell was he coming here?

I looked back at Hanna who looked kind of panicked now.

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

That would've been great since I didn't want to see his face. This day was going just fine and he had to show up. I was most definitely not forgiving him for the insult he threw at my face yesterday night.

The thing was that whenever there was a situation regarding Caden, witnessed by almost the entire school, people gossiped about it a lot. And since he was coming here now–

"Nice to see you again, Anderson." He said from behind me.

He did not.

I rolled my eyes and turned my head towards him.

"Who the hell are you calling Anderson?" I asked with a glare.

I could almost feel everyone glaring at me. I most definitely did not liked to be called by my last name. Without any reason.

"You, of course." He said in a tone that clearly stated how he was enjoying this.

I still remembered how he had insulted me yesterday. I was never going to forgive him for that. But then again, I could see people taking pictures and some were even recording. Not to forget, some girls were giving me death glares like I had called him here.

I just wanted to get out of this situation.

I stood up and turned towards him. "What do you want, Caden?"

I almost made out the hint of amusement in his eyes before they changed back to that cold, hard look.

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

Wow.

"All of a sudden, you believe me?" I asked unbelievably, trying my best not to laugh out loud.

I knew how people were probably wondering what letter we were talking about. Because we both were the only ones who knew about that thing.

"Save the speech for later, Anderson. I want the letter." He knew how much I hated that name.

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

"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 from their sockets. "You wouldn't do that." I whispered.

His smirk widened at my expression. He leaned slightly closer and whispered, "I certainly would."

I didn't know why my heart was beating so wildly for. The fact that my parents were going to know about last night or the fact that Caden's face was very much close to mine. My eyes trailed over to his defined cheekbones, and that jawline. And his–

Suddenly, I was pulled away from Caden.

You know what the first thought that came in my head was? That Hanna did it. I almost laughed at that. But it wasn't her. It was just my sweet best friend, Alex, who was now glaring at Caden as if he didn't care about his life.

It almost warmed my heart.

"Stay away from her, Caden." Alex said through gritted teeth.

People were really recording it all. I looked helplessly at Hanna who looked pale now.

"Why don't you stay away from this, Carter?" Caden said shoving Alex with a murderous glare.

Everyone knew never to get on Caden's bad side. But my best friend was doing it. Right now. I quickly came between both of them before it could've turned into a real fight. I didn't want Alex to get hurt because of me.

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

"Stop it, Caden!" I hissed, making him glare at me.

My head was literally pounding, thanks to all of this. "I'll give it to you! Just don't do this."

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

Caden glared at Alex behind me and was about to take a step towards him.

"Stop it, for God's sake. I told you I'll give it to you. Just leave! Don't make me change my mind." I said out loud.

I wasn't really expecting him to leave. After all, he never took orders. But he didn't punch or grab Alex like I was expecting. Instead, he just gave me one final death glare and left the cafeteria.

"What the hell were you doing?" I asked Alex angrily.

The cafeteria was now filled with hushed whispers now.

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

This wasn't going right. It was getting much worse. God knows what gossip I'll be turned in tomorrow.

"It's not what you think, alright? Just stay out of it, please." I said exasperatedly.

My head started pounding more feverishly. Alex eyed me unbelievably.

"Skylar–"

I had already turned around, leaving the cafeteria.

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Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿