Skylar's POV

I trudged towards my locker, trying to rub off the heavy sleep from my whole face.

I hated, absolutely despised going to school when I had gotten no sleep the previous night.

But then again, that never actually happened to me. Now, it seemed to be happening quite constantly. Ever since that certain someone appeared in my life. Nothing seemed normal anymore, not since my first conversation with Caden.

I couldn't put all the blame on him though. This all had started way before when I got that mysterious letter mailed to me.

Sent by BM. Blake Matthews.

Caden had only been saving my life when I had stupidly followed the anonymous instructions in that letter.

"What's been up with you lately, Sky?" Alex asked, opening my locker for me when I kept staring at it and made no move to open it myself.

A lot has been going on.

A lot that I wasn't telling Alex.

"I'm tired, Alex. I'll tell you everything when I'm not." I leaned my forehead against the cool metal, trying to understand why my mind was so overworked.

I was too creeped out to sleep last night when Blake Matthews had made an appearance in my house out of the fucking blue. Even when I tried, I just couldn't sleep. I kept on tossing and turning, too focused on the thoughts and questions in my head. All I could think about was Blake and that knowing smirk on his face and gangs and blood and gunshots.

Was he planning something bad for my family? How did my parents know him and his parents? What if he hurt my parents?

"When aren't you tired?" Alex questioned sarcastically.

I shrugged helplessly, taking out my Calculus book and shutting the locker once again.

I knew I had to tell Caden about this. I needed to ask him a hell lot of questions too, about everything. He must know Blake's intentions. Wasn't Blake his brother? Stepbrother? Half brother?

Alex walked me to my Calculus class, probably to make sure I wouldn't bump into someone, and I couldn't help but think how much of a great friend he really was. I hated keeping things from him, especially after that night of homecoming.

But I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about these gangs. No one.

"You'll come with me to my house and we'll talk things out, all right?" He asked, gripping my shoulders gently to get my attention.

I nodded even though I was sure Mom wouldn't be happy with me if I didn't go back home right after school, especially after last night. But if I hadn't nodded, Alex would've asked a hell lot of more questions.

I was tired of questions. Because I already had tons of them in my head and it was making me sick.

So I silently walked over to the back seat in hopes of getting some sleep with the teacher not being able to see me. Turns out the universe took some pity on me because we got a substitute teacher walking in right then.

How remarkable.

I sighed in relief, placed my textbook on the desk, and laid my head down on it. Then I closed my eyes shut. Everyone was busy doing what they wanted as it was a free period. I, on the other hand, decided to sleep.

Blake, I thought. There was this something hidden in the way he had met my gaze last night. Something knowing.

As if he knew so much that I didn't.

I heard scraping of the chair right beside me as somebody pulled it out, before sitting down. I didn't pull up my head from my arms to see who it was. Whoever it was could certainly see that I was trying to sleep. And waking me up from my dear nap was like asking for a death wish. I think everyone already knew that.

"God, you sleep a lot." The person beside me muttered.

The way he stated it told me he was realizing that just now. Like he couldn't possibly shut his mouth and not state out the stupid fact as if it was supposed to be embarrassing.

I jerked up my head in his direction and gave him a menacing glare. Which didn't seem to have any effect on him. And that, in turn, seemed to anger me more.

"What did you just say?"

"I said you sleep a lot, Anderson." Caden repeated. And really, this was the only time I had heard him sounding patient, as if he wouldn't mind repeating that sentence over and over again.

I shook my head in disbelief. This guy really had a death wish right now.

"You can be such a pain sometimes." I snapped back.

I was kind of thankful that everybody else was busy with their stuff, or otherwise this could've gone downhill in just a few seconds. Besides, I was really cranky right now and nobody could blame me for that. I didn't even get to have any coffee this morning.

I shouldn't have said that though. Nobody said such things to Caden as long as I had known. All I could remember was the one time when a jock in my sophomore year had directed some bad words at Caden on the school grounds. I think he was rushed to the nearest hospital. He never came back to school though. The poor guy.

But it was Caden's fault that he'd made me snap.

And he even looked a little taken aback by my response, as if he hadn't expected my sudden outburst, but overcame it just as quickly. In one swift movement, he yanked my chair towards him with a pull and leaned closer with a threatening look.

Oh no.

"You don't say such things to me, Anderson." He said, looking straight into my eyes.

I froze naturally when I saw his piercing green eyes staring right back at me, a strange, almost roguish glint to them. And there were just inches left between our faces. He was close. Too close. And Caden getting too close was like warning bells ringing in my head. Sweet bells. I didn't know how to pull away.

I didn't even know how I was to remain angry at him. What was anger anyway?

I think someone was doing some kind of shitty sorcery with my life.

"Well, you don't say such things about my...sleep."

He wasn't doing much good hiding the smile from his face, and that just made my heart race a little more wildly. Was he enjoying this? What had I ever done to him?

"The world could be ending and you'd still be sleeping." He remarked.

My lips parted in surprise and his gaze dropped low to them. With a tiny gasp, I gripped the other end of my chair that he wasn't holding onto and pulled back. My face felt like it was on fire.

"You're insufferable," I said, failing to meet his gaze, and turned back towards my desk. Then I covered my face with both of my hands.

Placing my head down again, I decided not to look at him until the bell rang. I'd be so happy to get away from him. He was so irritating and he made me feel so...unnatural.

He's just crazy.

Talking about crazy,

"Something happened yesterday," I said, still not looking at him.

"I know. I made the worst decision of my life."

"I'm not talking about that," I mumbled into my arms.

My eyelids drooped and I almost would've dozed off right then, a little too happily. But just when I thought Caden couldn't be any more of an annoying imbecile, he nudged my chair with his foot and jerked me awake all over again.

Fucking hell, I thought. Gritting my teeth, I tried controlling the urge to say something obscenely bad to him.

"You were saying something?" He asked, almost laughing at me.

How much I wish I could just do something to him.

I placed my elbows on my desk and rubbed my eyes, inhaling a deep, patient sigh. You can do this Sky, I mentally cheered myself.

"When I came back--I mean when you dropped me back to my house last night, my mother introduced me to one of her friends," I told him, lowering down my voice a bit. "Mr and Mrs Matthews. Blake was there too."

I glanced at him to see the startings of a smile completely being wiped off his face. Like I had just dropped an f-bomb on him.

"What?"

"It was Blake. The same blond guy I saw on the homecoming night." I added it in case I had been wrong with the name.

Caden took his time to reply, and his dark brows pulled in together. "Your parents know the Matthews? Of course, they fucking do." The last bit was him muttering it to himself, mostly. Then he snapped his gaze back to me and something dark seemed to brim within the green. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

I rolled my eyes. "I hadn't known, Caden. I was surprised too, you know. I barely had any sleep last night."

He didn't seem to say anything after that.

"Would you do me a favour?" I asked him once the silence seemed to stretch on.

Whatever he was busy thinking about, he broke off from it and looked at me questioningly.

"Just wake me up when the bell rings." I said before turning back and slamming my head down on the desk.

Whatever this meant, Blake coming to my house, wasn't good. I could almost see the uncertainty on Caden's face.

_________

Crystal 🌿