« Skylar's POV »

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Trying to act like everything was normal hadn't been this hard for me. Especially when I had one of my hands wrapped up in a bandage.

The gash had been really painful. It felt like thousands of painful shocks were traveling up my arm whenever I tried to move it.

I could've told Alex. But I wasn't sure how I would've answered his questions. It seemed like I was increasing the lies with him. I used to tell him everything. It didn't feel good not telling him.

Someone threw a paper ball over my shoulder. I would've been surprised if it had been the first time. It was our way of talking. Alex and I.

I picked it up with my other hand carefully, without the teacher noticing, and opened it.

"You seem so distant today? Are you hiding something from me?"

I rolled my eyes and wrote. It was good that the gash had been on my left hand.

"Don't be foolish. Physics test is coming up and I'm too concentrated on it to give a flying shit to you."

I scrunched up the paper into a ball and threw it behind me when Mrs Jackson wasn't looking. Biology was the only period Alex and I had together.

I heard him snort lightly behind me. He kicked my chair with his leg and I turned around, giving him a full-on glare. After that, he pretty much didn't disturb me.

Biology was the only class I looked forward to but today, it felt like nothing made sense. I hadn't slept last night. Who would've if a person had broken in your house and deliberately tried to terrify each bone inside you?

My brain was begging me to close my eyes and doze off. But I knew I couldn't do that. I didn't want a reason to get into detention.

I propped my head in my right hand and kept listening to the lecture, trying my best not to close my eyes. Even if Mrs Jackson's voice felt like a perfect lullaby.

My eyes almost closed until I realized what I was actually doing. I jerked up, hitting my injured hand at the corner of the table and almost yelping out in pain.

But I didn't yelp. I bit my lip hard enough for the wince to hold in. Thankfully, nobody noticed. I looked down at my throbbing hand and pulled up the sleeve for a quick check. Everything would've been fine if the bandage hadn't started turning red.

I pulled it down abruptly and looked over at Mrs Jackson.

"Can I use the restroom?" I asked trying not to show the pain in my voice.

God, it hurt.

She must've noticed the emergency on my face since she nodded almost immediately. I sprinted for the restroom down the hallway. But I guess you shouldn't run in hallways when you are half asleep and half miserable. Because the next thing I knew, I slammed right into a wall.

Literally.

I would've probably fallen back on the ground if the person behind me hadn't placed a hand on my back.

"Ouch." I muttered, rubbing my forehead.

I turned around and saw Caden looking at me like I was the most weird thing ever born on this planet. I certainly was, no objection.

"Thank you." I said, taking a step back, forgetting that there was still a wall behind me and hitting my head. Again.

What the fuck did I ever do to deserve this?

A small groam escaped my lips as I rubbed my head. Again. My head must hate me so much.

"God, Anderson." He looked at me with disbelief.

The only thing I could've done was run over to the restroom and stop my hand from bleeding too much before it stained my sleeve.

But then, I saw Caden's eyes traveling up towards the hand I was rubbing my head from. Which turned out to be the injured one. Three tense seconds went by, the embarrassment swelling inside my chest.

Until I realized how better it would be if I just went to the restroom. Now.

He opened his mouth to say something the exact moment I turned around and literally ran for the girl's restroom. Opening the nearest stall, I shut it close behind me and leaned against the door.

This was so embarrassing.

Blowing out a shudder, I pulled up my sleeve and looked at the bandage almost fully covered in my blood. I removed the bandage and gritted my teeth in pain.

The gash was bleeding badly. And it looked really bad.

I should've gone to the doctor.

It hurt so bad that I almost didn't feel the tears slide down my face. I didn't know how long I could've stayed here without being noticed by Mrs Jackson. Or even Alex.

I scrunched up the bandage and threw it in the bin. A small sob escaped my lips as I looked back at the gash. It wasn't just the pain. It was everything. Everything that had happened yesterday.

Why was this even happening?

I froze in my position when I heard the restroom door opening. "What the hell is going on, Anderson?"

I didn't know what I was more surprised at. Caden coming inside the girl's restroom or him calling me by my last name in such kind of situation.

I sealed my mouth shut. For some reason, I didn't want to tell him that I was here. That my hand was bleeding this bad. He already thought how big of an idiot I was. He might've just laughed at my face once he saw me crying my eyes out.

"I know you're in here." I heard his voice just outside my stall door.

I couldn't have even said anything without sounding hoarse from crying. I wiped my tears from the other sleeve and waited for a minute. When I didn't hear his footsteps retreating, I finally opened the door.

His eyes traveled down towards my hand which now, was hurting more than ever. It almost felt like my whole skin was ripping apart.

"What–"

"Don't. It's nothing." I clenched my jaw to control the sudden pain. It wasn't fine. My freaking hand wasn't fine. Anyone could've seen that.

"How did that happen?" He asked with a frown.

I really didn't care at that point when I felt wetness drifting down my cheeks. The cool air hitting on that gash was making it so much worse. I felt like screaming out loud.

"It hurts." I whispered, closing my eyes shut.

I sounded like a child. So much like a freaking child. I opened my eyes, expecting him to say out a snark remark. But nothing like such happened. And for a second, I swear, I saw his eyes softening a bit as he looked down at my hand.

He took my hand almost too gently and looked at it. I was too surprised to pull it back.

"It needs stitches. Why the hell did you even wrap it in a bandage?" The frown came back.

I just wanted to hide it. But it's not like I could've said that.

"You need to go to the nurse's office." He muttered.

My eyes widened in realization and I shook my head. "No! Not the nurse's office. She'll tell my parents–"

"I didn't ask you, Anderson." He pulled out some tissues and wrapped it under my hand before looking back at me. "And after that, you are going to tell me how this happened."

I really wasn't sure if I should've told him. On the other hand, I couldn't think of any excuse.

"I mean it, Skylar." He said.

I was speechless. Not because of how he found out that I was trying to make up some sort of excuse.

But because this was the first time he had ever said my actual name.

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