chapter 3

I had never been this impatient about leaving school, never in my whole 17 years on this planet. 

I wasn't even shocked when I found myself practically sprinting out of there, my car wasn't the most comfortable, but it's like the moment I was in it I could finally breathe again, I took a couple of seconds just breathing and reminding myself why am here in the first place before I gathered whatever strength I had left and drove to my baby brother's school.

I pulled up at the front of the school and coincidentally he was sitting at the steps waiting for me. He rose to his  feet as soon as the car stopped and walked so fast like he was scared someone would call him back and force him to endure all that again. Lol. We are basically the same person 

"Well someone had a great day," i said smiling at the kid

"Nah not even close, drive Lia, get me out of this place."  Wow the theatrics, I shook my head and smiled while backing out.

"That bad?" I asked and he nodded in approval as he strapped his seat belt in.

"If it's any reassurance, mine wasn't that great either,'' I said as he turned on the radio and we began singing off key to Zara Larson's lush life.

"I live my days as if it was the last, live my days like I ain't got no past, doing it all day all summer....." we sang and laughed as the song ended and another one came on. 

Three songs later, we were finally at Finn's mansion. It was definitely not the biggest in this stuck up rich people filled neighborhood, but it surely made our little suburban home look like a doll house in comparison. The man had some serious money to afford this place. 

"LJ i don't want to go in now," my brother said looking a little sad. 

"Me neither mate.... you know what let's do something fun let's go to the park and have ice cream then mess around with people's dogs just like old times."  His eyes  lit up immediately and I turned the ignition on. 

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"JJ, it's 8 mum is blowing up my phone. Come on, let's go." I said to the 8 year old who was intently watching the dumbest magic show I've ever seen. He turned to me and gave me sad eyes.

"Listen, we'll come back tomorrow if you'd like. Right now we need to go before mum sends a search party after us,"I said.

"But the magic show won't be there tomorrow it ends in a few. can't we just stay a little bit." He said, making his puppy dog eyes. Ahh fuck he knows i cant say no to his puppy dog eyes. 

"You know what screw it, let's watch the darn show." I said and he giggled. This evil squirrel. 

"That's the spirit lia," he said laughing and I hit the back of his head. 

"Shut up and watch your darned show." I said trying to fake glare at him but couldn't suppress my smile. This boy was the only thing in my life that was worth living for. I loved him so fucking much. 

Needless to say my mother wasn't very happy when my brother and I walked into her house at 10pm on a school night . She kept on yelling about how irresponsible I am and my only response was the usual, ignoring her till she eventually gave up . 

I finally got ready for bed and said a little prayer hoping tomorrow would be better than today and hopefully this year would end faster so that my brother and I could leave this horrid place and that woman that calls herself our mother.

The next morning was a repeat of what I usually do. Piss my mum off. Drive my brother to school then go for classes. Thank goodness today no one really seemed to harass me, everyone  seemed focused on some other rackus that had gone down, apparently someone got into a fight. 

The morning hours went by in a blur and so did the afternoon classes and soon I found myself walking tiredly to my last class of the day. Home economics. 

Thanking my God above that I was the first person in class, I quickly made my way to the back of the classroom, sitting at the last table next to the window and sighing. I plugged my headphones in and started listening to Halsey without me. I closed my eyes and let the music sail me away and as I was just  about to welcome my dear friend, sleep, I felt someone tap my shoulder. What the actual fuck. If there's anyone more irritable than hungry Lia it's definitely sleepy Lia, if you ever encounter any of the two,  I strongly advise you to please do not disturb 

My eyes shot open and I stared at the green-eyed devil in front of me. Not just any green eyed Devil though, Hunter fucking Daniels, way to go Lia am sure he enjoyed your snoring show. 

He had an unfazed look on his face. I pulled my headphones out of my ears and sent him a questioning look.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"You're in my seat" he said with his monotone expression, well isn't he charming,  I could match that. 

My eyes manoeuvred around the room and realized there were barely 5 people in the classroom, almost all the seats were unoccupied.

"There is only four people in class right now dude which means you have more than three quarters the sits in this classroom unoccupied, but you still sought me out to bother, fuck off" i said kissing my teeth. 

"Look your new and shit so am going to be nice kid, get the fuck off my seat before I carry you off it" He said getting frustrated and I smirked a bit, he wouldn't dare.

"Kid is not my name ," i smirked 

he clenched and unclenched his jaw clearly irritated by my attitude. 

A part of me wanted to stop and look for another seat but another part wanted to piss him off and stand up for myself considering he did find me here.

"Look i dont know you, but ive had a rough day so get the fuck out of my seat." He growled and I laughed a bit. 

"Ah ah . I believe the right word is please. And I haven't heard it so try again cow boy.," i said and he did something I actually didn't expect him to, this fool actually lifted me off the chair and put me on the ground. On the fucking floor. Thank goodness kids hadn't come in yet because this would be too embarrassing 

"Asshole. That's rude," I snarled getting up from the ground. 

"So is calling people assholes, but you don't see me complaining," he smirked

"You're not complaining because you are an asshole. All you had to do was ask politely and I would have left your seat, you didn't have to put your dirty paws on me dimwit." I said and he rolled his eyes plugging in his headphones and completely ignoring my ranting,  so I threw a book at his face, it was completely reflex, I didn't plan to or think it through so you can imagine the shock on my face when I realized I had done it a little  too hard and he was sort of blacked out on the floor, and there were two whole witnesses.

"Oh my God, Hunter," the girl that was talking to her friend at the front of the classroom rushed by his side and her friend, a large muscular guy in one of my other classes followed behind her.

"What happened to him?" The girl asked but I still hadn't figured out how to talk. 

"He must have blacked out, I'll carry him to the nurse's office," the guy replied, all this while I was just standing there utterly convinced I was a murderer.

I followed them frantically till we reached the office and the nurse examined him. 

"What happened?" She asked the three of us. 

"We think he blacked out, we were talking and then I noticed he was on the floor," the girl replied. 

"Looks like dehydration, well thank you for bringing him, you can all get to your classes now," the other two walked off chatting mindlessly about what had happened and I stood there glued to the ground with tears welling up in my eyes. 

The nurse turned around and realised I was still there she smiled politely at me,

"I said you can go back to class, don't worry about him, he's okay, he just needs to rest," she cajoled 

"I accidentally hit him with my book, and he just dropped,  I didn't think it was that hard honestly I didn't even mean to, what if something happens to him," she looked at me with kind eyes and I realized I was crying while rambling. How embarrassing. 

"What's your name?"

"Lia...(snorts and wipes at my face).. Lia Jenkins," 

"Well lia, Hunter did not suffer a concussion by your action, maybe it did shock him and somehow lead to this but it definitely isn't a concussion so he's okay," there's a way she spoke about him, like she knew him personally, not just personally, like he was dear to her, I had to bite my mouth in order to stop myself from asking questions I probably shouldn't. 

"I won't report this or tell anyone, but am guessing you'd like to apologise to him, so you can stay till he gets up, I'll write a note to your teacher incase they need one," I swear my heart melted, I wanted to hug her so bad but I settled for a nod and she pat my shoulder before walking out and leaving me with Hunter. 

I sat by the table beside the bed he was laying on, he looked so at peace, his entire body was in a relaxed stance and I got the feeling he doesn't relax a lot because his face kept crunching  up and he's body would tense every so often as if fighting the comfort. 

I watched him for about 20 minutes before his eyes started flattering, I rushed to his side handing him a glass of water as he sat up which to my surprise he took. 

We stayed quiet for a minute, me thinking up ways to apologise and I don't know what the hell he was thinking about. 

"Am sorry for hitting you with my book," I spoke, finally breaking the silence and he looked at me. I don't know what I expected to see in his eyes but I sure as hell didn't expect what I saw. 

He looked like he wanted to cry, and he was tired not on physical level but mentally and maybe emotionally.

His gaze had goosebumps running down my entire body. I've never felt anything like it. At that moment I felt like I saw everything, he must have felt it too because he quickly stood up and tried to walk away. 

My legs shot up and my mouth was rambling apologies nonstop, if I was being honest I just wanted him to sit with me again so I could see what I had just seen. 

He turned swiftly, almost knocking me  off the ground. I had to take a step back, his face had turned cold and void of emotion making the earlier incident feel like a fantasy my brain had conjured up. 

"Leave me alone Lia" he spoke slowly and my feet froze, he knew my name. I watched him walk off, I couldn't explain the strong urge to cry, or the rapid beating of my heart. I couldn't explain anything honestly and it bothered me.