Chapter 5

"So Levi, where did you say you were from again?" Haley asks, as she starts putting books in her locker. Lucas already left for soccer practice so now it's just the three of us hanging out around our lockers.

I just lean against mine; I don't want to take anything out knowing that there could be something that I don't want Haley to see. Levi might be waiting for me to open it since he keeps glancing this way but I'm not going to give him that satisfaction.

"I came here from South America with my brother and a few of our friends," he replies, twirling what looks like house keys between his fingers. Is that what he used to get into my house?

I shake my head at the thought. Am I really that paranoid?

"Does your brother go here?" Haley asks, closing her locker.

"Um, nope. He doesn't really like public schools so he decided to get a private tutor," he replies, looking nervous.

I give him a suspicious look and cross my arms across my chest. "Really? What about your other friends? Do they go here too?"

He shakes his head and we start making our way to the soccer field. "Nope, I'm the only one. None of my friends like public schools so they just get private tutors."

When we reach the field, we can see soccer players doing drills and the cheerleaders practicing their routine on different sides of the field. We walk to the very top of the bleachers and Levi sits down in the far end where there's shade.

"Don't like the sun?" I ask, sitting down next to Haley, who takes the seat between us.

"Yeah. I'm practically albino from how sensitive I am to the sun," he jokes, pulling his hood further up to cover more of his face.

"There's barely any sun though," Haley comments, looking up at the cloudy skies.

"I can feel it," he replies, looking down.

Haley and I give each other weird looks before turning back to watch the players practicing.

***

"Where are you going?" Levi asks, stopping me in my tracks. Haley has to go to her cousin's birthday and Lucas is still in practice so I'm alone. Great.

"Oh um, uh..." I can't think of a clear answer to give him. On one hand, I have to go pick up my brother. But then there's a chance that this Levi guy is my stalker or related to him so I can't risk him following me, even though he already knows where the school is.

"To Tony's, I have to work there," I say, giving him a small wave before turning around and walking fast in one direction. If I lead him down a different road, that'll give me plenty of time to pick up Jason safety and return home.

Parents are already leading their kids to the cars when I get back to the elementary school. I try to pay no attention to them and walk towards Jason's class. When I get there, I see him coloring in a book before he looks up and smiles widely. "Braska!"

He gets his backpack and runs over to me before I take him by his hand and lead him out of the classroom. On the way, he starts saying goodbye to a lot of the kids. When we get to an empty street, I give him a small smile. "Someone's popular," I playfully sing out.

"When you nice to people, they are nice back," he says, giddily bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Yeah just wait till you get to high school buddy.

"Really, that must mean you have a lot of friends since you're so nice," I say, ruffling his hair. He gives me a frown and starts fixing his hair, whining about about how he likes it nice and clean. And yet, he didn't brush it this morning.

"Not as many as you," he says, running towards the house when it comes to view. His words make me stop in my tracks for a second before I continue walking.

The only real friends I have are Haley and Lucas. I know for a fact that Jason has never seen me hang out with anyone else other than those two. It's hurts a little knowing that Jason's life is more in order than mine is.

After I unlock the door, Jason runs up to his room while I make my way to the kitchen. I prepare apple slices and peanut butter and place it on the table for Jason before walking up to my room.

Most of my homework was finished in class and study hall, so all I have left to do is read two chapters of a book. I'm taking down notes for the book when my phone rings. Without even looking at the caller I.D, I answer. "Hello?"

There's a lot of commotion on the other side but no one really answers to my greeting. I take the phone away from my ear and look at the caller. Unknown number?

Could this be..."

No one is talking back to me yet I can tell that there's something going on in the other side. I raise the volume and strain my ears to listen.

"No you do it...I can't...wimp...why don't you...I can't just do that...you do it..." It seems like there's two people arguing about something.

Maybe this is just someone buttdialing me? Should I hang up? Biting my lip, I clear my throat and decide that it wouldn't hurt to see who's on the other side. "Um just...can you two...HEY!" I shout into the phone.

The voices and movement stop and all I can hear is heavy breathing. This reminds me of a scene in one of the crime shows I watched and out of instinct I look around the room and out the window to make sure that no one was going to spring out of nowhere and kill me.

I check back on my phone and see that the caller had hung up. I scoff before tossing my phone to the side. This is all getting too much. I need to do something to forget about everything. I just need to pretend that for one hour, my life is normal. It used to be anyways.

Getting out of bed, I walk to the dining area to see an empty plate. Looking around, I see Jason waving out the window. "Another one of your friends?" I ask dryly, putting the plate away. I love my brother, but sometimes his popularity at his age really gets to me.

In other words, I'm jealous of him. I'll even admit it. I'm jealous of my eight year old brother's popularity.

He shakes his head. "Nope, it your boyfriend."

My eyes grow wide and my mouth falls open. "What?" I exclaim, rushing to the window and looking out. I only see a few cars parked on the sidewalk. Other than that, all I see is an empty street.

"He walk that way," Jason says, pointing to the left as he pops up next to me. I groan and close the window before sitting back against the couch and pulling him to my lap.

"Jason, what exactly did you see?" I ask. He has a thoughtful look on his face before he smiles and runs to the door.

"Braska, Braska! He left something here! He points to it before he left!" he says, looking extremely excited for absolutely no reason at all.

While he's excited at the thought of the creep leaving something in the doorstep, all I feel is fear. Gulping, I get up and walk over to the door.

My hand is inches away from the doorknob before I withdraw it and look at Jason. "Can you get me the big boy scissors from my room?" I ask, giving him a small smile. He pouts before running to my room and I take that as my chance to open the door.

Outside, I see a bundle of black roses with a note attached and next to it is a heart-shaped box with another note attached to it. I groan before picking it up and placing it on the counter next to the door.

Jason comes back a few seconds later holding the scissors. "What is it?" he asks, handing the scissors to me.

I glance at the roses and box on the counter before looking at Jason, who has a curious yet hopeful look on his face. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it.

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This wasn't my best chapter. With the first half of the chapter, I was sick with a headache. The second half, I wrote in a rush while struggling to study for science and history and geometry and my english final and why does school even exist really :/

Sorry to say I won't be able to update as frequently as I want to. School comes first so this will still get updated but not as often as I'd like. Good news is spring break is coming up and I'll definitely be writing more then.

Anyways, remember to comment and vote if you like it :)