It was when somebody nudged me that I jerked awake from my little slumber. I would've probably ignored that slight nudge only if my brain hadn't woken up. But when I did wake up and look around, I was left a bit shaken.

Oh shit.

I was still in the classroom while everyone else had left. The teacher, who was supposed to be the substitute one, was standing in front of my desk, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground as she looked at me, probably waiting for me to get my whole self out of there too.

"Dear, you don't sleep in class. I believe you know that?" She asked me in a distasteful way.

I smoothed out my ruffled hair and cleared my throat, nodding at the same time. Picking up my bag and stuffing my book inside, I stood up groggily and gave her a polite smile.

"I'm sorry." I said before sprinting out of the class.

Even though this had been my last class, I couldn't help but feel angry. So much so that I wanted to kill a specific person. I fucking told him to wake me up when the class ends, but he hadn't cared and left me sleeping there just like that. He's so going to pay for this. I was so going to kill him.

You just wait and watch, Caden.

Turns out somebody stayed for me after all. As I reached outside and in the school grounds, almost everyone was gone except for my only best friend Alex.

"I thought you fell asleep in there." He gave me a funny look before opening the passenger door for me.

That was the truth but I wasn't the one telling him. I had already made enough fool of myself for one day.

"Why did you stay? I mean, you don't usually stay behind on Mondays, do you?" I asked him as I got inside.

He started the car before answering me. "You need to do some explaining, Sky. I thought we agreed to that in the morning?"

We did. Did we?

"I...uh need to go home first." I mumbled. I wasn't even trying to make it sound convincing. What was wrong with me?

"I think not."

I opened my mouth to protest but ended up blowing out a heavy sigh. It would probably just make him even more worried if I refused to talk to him. This wasn't fair to him.

Looks like it's going to be a very long day.

•••••

"So?" Alex asked.

I crossed my arms behind my head as I laid down on his bed, not sure what I was supposed to tell him. I was so going to fall asleep if I didn't reply to him soon.

"Don't doze off, Sky." He let out a small, frustrated groan. "I brought you here to tell me whatever's going on with you. At least say something."

That just made me feel guilty. Was I doing it wrong hiding this stuff from him? But then again, it had nothing to do with him. It was better if I didn't tell him about those gangs. It wasn't my place to tell him about any of this.

Inhaling deeply, I opened my eyes and looked up at the ceiling right above Alex's bed, at one of our school's football team posters--something I was used to seeing stuck on our school walls.

"Caden is just helping me out." I started, not wanting to tell him anything more than that, and not wanting to lie to him either.

"Those two words don't go well together, Sky. Caden and help."

I sighed and racked my brain for an answer. Something to help me get out of this mess. "I...helped him that day. The night of homecoming. You were too drunk to remember it."

I was partly telling him the truth. He had been drunk after all.

"You helped him?" Alex frowned. "Why would you--Why did you help him?"

"You don't remember anything?"

He looked confused for a moment before replying, "I got drunk, all right. I remember you coming there even though you'd told me homecoming wasn't your thing."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I was enjoying my life until you phoned me."

"I called you." And it was a bit odd that he didn't make it sound like a question.

"Yeah, because you were drunk."

He let out another groan before slumping back on his rolling desk chair, sliding backwards towards his desk. "I didn't do anything bad, did I?"

Not much other than him about to confess his feelings to some random chick.

"No, don't worry. I saved your ass." I closed my eyes once again. Maybe he'd be too embarrassed over getting drunk that he'll forget the thing about Caden. I really hoped so.

"And helped Caden." He repeated my words.

Darn...it.

"Something happened, okay? He got injured due to some stuff that I don't know and well, I just helped him." I rushed out the words. "That's it."

Alex looked at me with an expression that told me he wasn't buying this. But thankfully, he didn't press any further either.

"All right." He murmured, leaning his head back against his seat.

And I did notice the sudden edge in his voice, something that made me feel horrible.

I'll come up with something. Just a bit more time.

•••••

Later when he offered to drop me back home, I refused out of mere instinct. I couldn't have gone with him and not blurt out the secret. Heck, I didn't even know if Caden and that gang was supposed to be a secret. I just couldn't wipe off Adrian's words from my head.

There will be consequences.

So I decided to walk back home myself. What I'd be doing the first thing after I saw Caden, was tell him that I was not going to keep lying to Alex anymore. Of course, Alex could be trusted. He had been my best friend for so long. I didn't want to lie to him anymore.

And even if it wasn't technically lying, it still felt like lying.

I reached my house with the same heavy feeling inside my chest. I wished I could've said something reassuring to Alex. Maybe told him something not so lie-like.

On the other hand, I didn't know what I was going to go through once I faced Mom and Dad. Mom especially, since she had told me not to go anywhere after school. And since it was already night by now, I'm sure I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

I was almost up to my front door when I heard a soft rustle from right behind me. I turned around hastily and ended up slamming into someone.

"Ow."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Adrian spoke up. "Didn't mean to sneak up."

For a moment there, I thought it was Caden. But then again, Caden never really apologized. Adrian grinned at me as if he had indeed meant to sneak up.

After all, wasn't that his speciality?

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, glancing back at my house cautiously. If my mother sees this--I didn't even want to think what would happen if my mother saw this.

"I came here to give you Caden's message." He said that with a warm smile--a smile that I knew Caden could pull off nicely. Way too nicely. Not that I'd ever get to see that. Not when he was so much into those frowns and scowls. And why was I even thinking of that when Adrian was here, waiting for my response, and had a supposedly important message?

"Yeah?"

"About Blake. He asked you to keep up your act with him. Like a friend, I suppose." He replied, tilting his head to the side.

It took me a while to wrap my head around what he was saying. Safe to say, I was left dumbfounded. Caden was asking me to do what? He knew what Blake was capable of and he was literally asking me to be his friend?

Was he fucking kidding me?

"I can't do that." I said, my voice lowering to a hushed whisper. I remembered how creepy his smirk had been and how I couldn't have slept all night after that. Something about Blake screamed at me to not trust him at any cost.

"I know it's dangerous, Skylar. I even told that to--never mind. Just keep this up for a little while. Anything happens, you're supposed to tell Caden. We'll make sure to get some backup." He looked apologetic at this point.

I wished I could knock some sense into Caden. What was I, a fucking toy?

"Yeah, sure." I grumbled. I wasn't that much of a fool to not know what Caden was doing here. He was making me the bait. Now that I knew his secret, he expected me to agree and go along with anything that he said?

What kind of jerk did that?

"Hey, I'm really sorry for this. Maybe he has some plan?" Adrian encouraged.

I smiled in response even when I didn't feel like smiling. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." I said. I didn't need Caden's help for that matter.

"Okay then. I'll...get going." He passed me one last smile before walking away.

I watched his retreating back as he turned around the corner and left. Sighing, I turned around myself and opened the front door. Things were starting to fuck up even more now. The least Caden could've done was shown up himself.

But no, he sends one of his freaking gang members.

I wouldn't even know what to do first when I'd see him next. Bonk some sense into his stupid head or strangle him.

_______

↓is

Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿