Chapter 14

I am laying on my bed. My head, wandering and wondering about it. I am still shocked, I continually feel the shock of that night until now. It has been exactly a whole week since Carter and I kissed. I kissed Carter, no, he was the one who forced me to.

The wind is gushing from the open window of my room, letting the cool breeze hit on my skin, making me tremor. My room is a total mess, it has never been like this before. My clothes are scattered, Oreos and Cheetos' wrappers are everywhere and I, am in a hot mess. I have been staring at the white ceiling for about hours, thinking about him, the kiss.

Why did he do that? What was the thing that made him go for it? The last thing I remember before the kiss was the screaming contest we had, so why would he do that? I can still taste the feelings of the kiss, it was urgent, needy, and tender. He gripped me hard and held me in place, trying to deepen it. I still feel it, I was about to kiss him back and hold him too, but then I remembered,

'It is a use and throw rule to him, be more wise and heedful'

'We will kill her in no time'

Just then, I pushed him away. He was panting heavily, his lips red and swollen from the kiss, so was mine, I thought. He looked at me intensely and was about to say something, but before he did or I do any stupid thing, I quickly picked up my purse and jacket, and headed inside, to get the hell out of that house. I took off the heels and started to walk on my bare feet to my home, luckily his house is closer to mine, but far on walking. I didn't have the time to call Harris, even though he told me to call him at any time, I needed to get away from all of them. I didn't think of Jenny, Troy, or even Cole, I wanted to thank him for throwing the party and inviting me. But no, I should start distancing myself from them, they are dangerous, too damaging like I just told and warned myself before the party. I knew something would be happening to me.

When I reached home, no one was there, so I ran up to my room and slammed the door shut. I walked to the window, sat on the edge, and leaned down on my bent and pulled up knees, sleep overtaking me.

I have to, I need to promise myself and keep that promise up until I know I could be strong enough to lead myself and distinguish the right path because as much as I know, I made a fool out of myself that night just because of a stupid decision I made out of envy.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment. I promise myself, I would not ever talk, or even glance at them who I know, they will make my end bitter.

"Sweetie, breakfast is ready!" I hear mom calling me. I didn't reply, but got off the bed and went downstairs with my pajamas on. When I reached the kitchen, mom and dad were speaking in a low voice but stopped when they saw me.

"Is something wrong?" I asked them, knowing they won't tell me anything about what they are talking about.

"No darling," dad replies, "Come on now, let's eat and I will drive you to school." I nodded and sat at the dining table and started eating my breakfast.

"Dad?" I called out quietly as we arrived at the school gates, "Didn't you get a call from the school?" I asked. The school calls parents if a student is absent, so it means they called either dad or mom. He inclined his head, and cleared his throat, indicating he did, he got the call. Oh, shit.

"We were going to talk about it the day we came, but you looked exhausted." he said, "Since you brought it up, we will talk about it when we all are home, tonight."

I slowly nodded my head at him, "See you later, dad." I bid him goodbye and got out of the car. As soon as he drove away and I started to walk to the school entrance, at the corner of my eye, I see someone coming to me. To have a better look, I turned my head to the right and saw, ah... Carter. And me being the coward girl I am, I scurried to the school gates and made my way straight to the girl's bathroom. The place where he surely won't follow me, but since we are talking about Carter here, he will absolutely do it without any hesitation.

"Wait!" I hear him shout. What the hell is wrong with him?? Is he okay in the head? Why does he keep coming around all the damn time? He should be understanding by now that there is nothing I want to do with him, and I am trying to run away from no other than him.

I kept jogging then sharply turned to the right to the girl's bathroom. I got in, entered, quickly locked the stall door, and kept quiet.

I tried to make out a sound and hear someone walking in, but I heard nothing, good.

But the good turned into a bad when I hear heavy footsteps, oh, come on! The steps got nearer and nearer. The person, hopefully not him, opened the main door of the bathroom, then entered. Please don't be Carter, please don't be him, please don't be...

"Kate?" I froze, my heart almost leaping out of my throat, but then quickly relaxed. It is another student, not him. I opened the stall door and peaked to see one of my classmates, I think her name is Leslie, she is wearing a purple skirt and a black top, with heavy boots. Ah, that is why it sounds more like a men's steps.

"Hey." I greeted leaving the stall and standing in front of her. She moved to me and handed me a paper, huh?

"What is this?" I asked her confused.

"I don't know, I've been told to address it to you. I better go now, and hi!" she said and went out. I looked at the folded white paper, then to the door, she has just left through. Why did she give me this? I examined it and opened it. Inside, there is a scribbled cursive writing, and it said,

'Do not try to run away from me, I will get you'

Oh my God... this is from Carter. He wrote this and sent it by Leslie because he knew I won't be talking to him. What in the world...

I shake my head and compose myself. Kate, you better focus on what you have to, he is nothing but a waste of time, remember that. I looked at the mirror and started to fix myself. As I was motivating and hyping myself, the warning bell rang, indicating that I better hurry and head to my class, which was Literature English, one of my very favorite subjects.

"So, what happened with you and him?" Jenny asked me as we sat at our table in the cafeteria. I sighed and looked at Harris, but he huffed and looked away, still mad at me. When I told them about what happened there, he scolded me saying that I should've called him to pick me up, and it could have been dangerous and stuff.

"I won't talk to him, I've been avoiding him-"

"Again?" she exclaimed,

"-At all costs, because I don't want to talk about it. And to any of them, to be precise." I finished.

"To be honest," Harris spoke, "I am on your team for your decision, Kate."

"Who said that I am not on your side? I was just saying that you two should talk about it, then finito, you guys are done, and you can live the rest of your life freely." Jenny says, stabbing her meatballs.

"And who said I am not living my life 'freely'?" I asked, quoting the last word with my fingers.

"Oh my God, Kate, Carter is coming!" Harris whispers quickly, oh shit. I gracefully dove under the table and hid there. I waited for him to come, but nothing happened. All I hear aside from the chattering of the cafeteria is Jenny and Harris laughing. Then it clicked, he 'pranked' me. Oh.

"You guys are the biggest idiots, I hate you," I muttered, peaking up and continuing to eat my pizza.

"'And who said I am not living my life freely?'" Jenny mimicked me and laughed. I made a face at her and threw a chip on her.

"Kate," someone called from behind me. I turned around to see it's Perrie, one of the new students that transferred here, and yet after her very first day, has been labeled as the 'shy and bookworm' girl.

"Hey Perrie, what's up?"

"It's this," she handed me a piece of paper, " From a boy, I've been told," she mumbled and left.

"What is that?" Harris asks as I unfolded the paper, the same scribbled cursive handwriting is written on it. It says,

'Wanna hang out?'

Oh my... this is it. What is he trying to do? I already told him, by my actions, that I don't want to deal with anything that is associated with him, or about him. He is such a weird guy, one time he becomes silent and grumpy with me, then the other way round comes and I become as grumpy and moody as he is. He just starts to be annoying, flirty, and goofy, even though I kind of like it, it still irritates me.

"It's another note from him," I answered, passing the paper to him. He read it and looked up at me, "What is he trying to say?" he asks.

"Do you think I know? He also gave me another paper with a different message earlier by Leslie." I tell them, Jenny gasped.

"Leslie Hudson?? Did he ask Leslie Hudson to give you a paper? Wow, that guy has some guts." Jenny said.

"What do you mean?" I asked her. As much as I know Leslie, she is pretty quiet and... hate to say this, a nerd. She never speaks to anyone except her group of people, including me, of course. She doesn't even speak to Harris and Jenny.

"Seriously? He asked a smartass to send you a message! I won't even try to do that, bub," she said, now realizing what she meant. I reached and slapped her arm, "That is so rude of you, Jenny." I scolded her.

"Oh, now you became the nerdy tear saving agency?" she mocked me, I rolled my eyes at her, finishing off my food.

"Anyway, I better go guys. I should do some research at the library, I have a project to work on." I said. They nodded and bid me goodbye.

The walk to the library is silent since most of the population of the school is eating their lunch. When I looked at the time on the wall that I just passed, I had exactly twenty-five minutes to work on, hm, not bad.

My project is to write an essay about an object and make it seem like it has feelings. Mrs. Collins told us to write it down on a piece of paper and to make it as professional as possible, then after she reads and approves it, we will be presenting it.

Not to brag, but I like presenting in front of the class and sharing a piece of my mind. It has always been my dream to travel around the world and speak about something inspiring and motivating and spreading my words to people, so this would be by far the best project I ever got this year.

When I reached the library, I greeted the librarian with a hand wave, which she surprisingly waved back. She is pretty moody all the time, doesn't like speaking much, and just does her job, just like Carter... stop it.

I picked books from the shelves that could possibly guide me onto how to write a great essay and a dictionary to find some not-so-hard-to-understand words and throw them in the mixture. I took out my notebook and my pen, then started to do my research and writing. The more I write, the better and the more fun it became, lame right? Wrong. I loved writing and presenting a long time ago while I was in Ethiopia.

Whenever I feel sad and depressed, I go and lock myself in my room, take out a pen and my diary, and poured my heart out writing, which never failed to make me feel better. After I finish writing, I tear the paper from the diary and again tear it into pieces and throw it in the trashcan. It was kind of a great meditation for me, which made me like writing so much.

"Thinking about me?"

Someone whispers right next to my ear, making me jump and my chair screech so loud. Literally, everyone in the library glared at me. Embarrassed, I whispered a 'Sorry'.

I turned my head to Carter and glared at him back., "What the heck were you thinking of trying to scare me inside the library?" I harshly whispered. He smiled and sat at the chair beside mine. I should go, but I know he would grab me and force me to sit, so I better listen to any crap he says then leave without saying anything. I should not want to be with him, but I do, I feel something strange inside me when he comes around, hell, I even feel that when I just glance at him, but it should stop. This is no good for me, or him.

"How come you would not try to run away from me, again?" he asked, and I turned to my work and continued writing.

"So, the silent treatment then?" he asked, again, I didn't say anything.

"Okay," he said and stood up. Oh, I didn't think it would be this easy to make him leave...

"Ouch, hey! Why did you do that?! Mrs. Kendall! She is-" I quickly stood up and slapped my hand on his mouth, cutting off his shouting. Is he being serious right now?

"You two, leave the library this instant!" The librarian said, pointing her index finger to the exit. I shook my head vigorously, looking at her with my puppy eyes, "No, please, he was just-"

"I don't want to hear it. Put the books back and leave, now," she said sternly. I sighed and accordingly did what I've been told to do. As I left the door slouching, he was standing with his legs on one of the lockers closest to the hallway's corner, leaning on it.

"You took your time," he said smirking at me. I put my temper and my urge to scream at his face at a point, right under my neck, which I know I might explode very soon. I want to jump on him and rip his hair off of his head then beat the shit out of him, but I know why he made that scene at the library, it is only because he wants to get a reaction out of me. Silly him, I will just keep walking and ignore him.

Just as I passed him without saying a word, he groaned, "Come on!" he exclaimed. Without noticing, he quickly pulled and slammed me on one of the lockers. Blocking my way from escaping, he put both of his hands on the sides of the lockers and looked at me, furiously.

"Talk to me, or I would not let go of you," he warned. I broke the eye contact and looked down. If I did stare at his eyes for long, I will surely melt on him and will be hard to unlatch myself from him.

"So, you would not?" he asked. I stayed silent. He slammed his hands on the locker, making me startle and look at him with complete disbelief. He did not just try and scare me to look up at him, no he didn't.

"Do not make me do something you will definitely not like," he warned.

"If you are planning on kissing me, then I will surely do something you won't like too," I said shrugging lightly.

"Finally, you spoke. I was seriously thinking if you lost your voice," he said sarcastically.

"What do you want?" I asked quietly.

"Where is the confidence you had when you were flirting with me?" he said, smirking at me.

"I guess... someone took it," I said, slowly reaching up and putting my hands on his cheek. If that is what he wants, then I will surely show and give it to him.

This is a bad idea, Kate.

Shut up.

"Who?" he whispered leaning onto me, good.

"I want you to do something for me," I asked seductively. He lowered his hands and put them on my waist. I can't let him go more than this, since I'm feeling too uncomfortable and it won't lead to good.

"Can you," I paused leaning closer to his face. Our lips were almost touching and his minty breath fanned my face, but I did what I had to do.

With all my might I pushed him, hard. Surprisingly, he stumbled backward that he fell, and taking it as my chance, I ran away.

"I will get you no matter what!" he yells, but I ignored him and went to the open field of the school. I walked to the green playground of our football players, went up, and sat on the bleachers. Thankfully, there was a football game, so my mind wouldn't wander and focus on the game.

"K-kate." I hear someone call behind me. I turned around to see Troy and some of the guys from the football team sat at the top of the bleachers. Troy waved at me to sit with them, to which I gladly accepted his offer.

"How you doing?" he asked me as I took the space beside him. The other guy made a place for me to sit with him after I already settled, which was sweet and strange at the same time.

"I'm doing good. And, don't call me that, it was just a silly mistake," I said, feeling the bit of warmth around the crook of my neck.

"Oh yeah? Was I that scary, or that handsome?" he asked, making me blush. He laughed and put his hands around me for a second, then let go. "Just kidding. Anyway, what was a pretty girl like you doing down there alone?" Another blush.

"Oh, stop it," I said, playfully hitting on his arm.

"Well, you are indeed pretty," he said smiling at me. I never thought that a good and a badass looking person like Troy would be sweet. I hope he would like to be friends with me and understand me a little more.

"Girl," one of the players called on me, "I would've defeated hundreds of opponents by one shoulder of yours." I widened my eyes and looked at him with clear shock, but quickly looked back at the field, making me flustered.

"Yeah, like just think of how many awards we would be winning by this size of shoulder!" another one said. I am so uncomfortable when it comes to hate and mocks about me, so I have a better option and that's shutting up until they are done.

"Guys, cut it." Tory defended me. I gave him a small nervous smile, thanking him wordlessly.

"What? We were just telling her how great and big shoulders she has." the first guy said.

"Sorry, if they offended you, they like being dicks." the one who wanted to give up his space, who I guess his name is Liam, said. I gave him a firm no and smiled a bit.

"You suck, guys," Troy muttered.

"It's okay, it is pretty normal to me," I said shrugging my big shoulders.

"I am sorry for you," he says. He dove in a quick thought within a flicker of a second, then continues, "If anyone troubles you, you can get me, you know, call me if you need me?" he smiles and ruffles his hair nervously. I laughed and nodded my head, "That is sweet of you, I'll keep that in mind." I said.

He shrugged, looking at me with pure sincerity, "This is the least I can do." he said. This is the weirdest thing I have witnessed, and I don't know if I have to go with the flow or be more cautious around him.

"Have anyone seen Carter?? We were waiting for him for the past thirty minutes, lunch break is about to end!" the voice that I think is Broody's, the former and still current Captain of the football team.

"He said that he needs to go see someone, I think he is enjoying himself with a girl by now," Liam replied, snickering.

"But he takes his training sessions seriously, so it may be an important thing, not that," Broody said snappily. Why would Carter leave if he is so much in love with this game? What could be the important thing he could get done... wait, could it be possible that he left his training for me? It can't, but he came all the way from here to the library... oh Lord, could it be?

"So you ditch me to be with him?!" I hear him yell from the bottom of the bleachers. Oh, yep, I somehow guess I was right. He surely will make another scene right now, but a much bigger one.