Chapter Sixteen

After the last period, I felt no need to hurry up and head out since Sam was clearing the grasses in the courtyard as punishment. 'Why did he have to start a fight?' I gathered my things and thought about going there to meet him. No, that would be a bad idea since Samson and his friends that fought with him would be there too. Seeing my face would only make them madder. No, that wouldn't be good. 'What do I do then?'

My stomach growled loudly answering that question for me. I skipped breakfast and lunch, it was only right that my stomach was protesting. 'I won't keep you empty for much longer?' I massaged my belly and took out my phone.

I texted Sam; I'm heading home babe, too hungry else I would have waited. I'll see you when you come by for your car. Be careful not to get into trouble again, love you!

I took hold of my bag and left the class. The corridors were completely empty now. I stopped by my locker to drop off some books. I opened it up and a note fell out. I wasn't surprised one bit. It was almost like I was expecting it, like I knew he would want to brag about successfully teaching Sam a lesson. I looked around before picking up the note. Even if I saw no one, I knew he was here somewhere or maybe he had installed a hidden camera in this hallway where he had a good view of my locker. One way or the other, he was watching me. I shrugged and read the note aloud. "I really just love you, Alex". Psst. A shiver went up my spine when I saw the next sentence. "I would kill for you, yeah that's how much I love you but you have no idea..."

And then, a thought came to me and I yelled, "You know why I'll never date you? Not because I have a boyfriend already but because I hate guys without the nerves to face a girl. What's this crap on the bottom of this note? Secret admirer?" I scoffed. "Arrant nonsense. Live in secret and die in secret then. Even better because that way I'll never know what a scared little rabbit you are". I shut my locker and left in a huff with the hope that I had provoked him enough to make him show himself.

I decided to walk home. Why waste precious money on transportation when I could use the exercise? As I walked, my thoughts travelled back to the fight that took place earlier today, to Samson who was my number one suspect. Why would he damage his car by himself and purposely start a fight? It was all confusing to me but then again the car could easily be fixed and he got the money to take care of it or rather his parents got the money.

But earlier his anger had seemed genuine. Did he fake that one too? Despite all the questions I had, I knew one thing for though, Samson did not like me. Xavier once liked me, had no idea if he still did. I found it hard to even assume that Xavier had it in him bash someone else's car. So back to Samson, since lunchtime he had been clearing the courtyard after getting his injuries cleaned up and he was still doing so even now. The last time I had a peep, a teacher was supervising their work. So when did he get the time to write and put it in my locker? He certainly didn't ask one of his numerous friends to write it for him because the handwriting was still the same. 'Yes! The writing, why didn't I think of this? Tomorrow I would compare the handwritings of my suspects with that of the secret admirer'.

My stomach growled again. I was becoming weak and didn't want to continue walking without taking in something. I feared I would faint on the way, if not from hunger, from dehydration. I dug around in my bag for my wallet to see what little change I had left. Fifty dollars. 'Should be enough'.

I looked around the busy street of Boston, Massachusetts. There should be a restaurant around since this was a commercial street. There was a mart, a beauty salon, a barbershop and aha! A cafe and the exterior looked pretty decent. The sign said, "Open Haven". I pushed the glass door open and walked in. A bell rang above me, signalling my presence. Once I entered, the rich smell of coffee beans assaulted my nose, 'wonderful'. The interior design was even more beautiful. It was decorated Italian style and gave out this homey feeling that would make anyone feel comfortably at home. It was truly exquisite. The place was packed to it's capacity but despite that, it didn't have that smell of sweaty people with cheap deodorants around the place like other coffeeshops I've been to.

I found an empty booth and sat down setting my bag beside me. I waited for one of the waiters running around the place to come take down my order. A woman with large bosom rushed to my table, "What will you like to have, sweetie?" She asked kindly with a friendly smile. I smile back and quickly look at the little menu behind her.

"Uh, I'll have a sandwich, two doughnuts, a blueberry pie and hot coco with cinnamon".

She jotted them down. "Someone will be here with your order soon". She smiled at me before walking away to the counter. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I brought it out, 'probably a reply from Sam'.

It was a message yes, but from an unknown number I've never seen before. My heart raced as I suspected who it was. I opened the message.

It read, "𝙄 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚...𝙇𝙊𝙇. 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤. 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛?"

I threw my phone on the table like it suddenly became too hot and shrinked back breaking out in cold sweat. 'Why won't this Psycho just leave me the hell alone?'

Someone placed a tray on my table and I jumped and hit my knee against the table. 'Calm down it's only your order', I told myself. I rubbed my knee and looked up to thank the waiter. I froze when I saw the face cynically smiling down at me.

"Here's your order... sweetheart?"

Oh Lord, there's no end to this, is there?