CHAPTER 3: THE DARK HALLWAY.

The last bell rang. And I couldn't wait any longer than I have today. I texted my mom three times to wait for me near the school gate. I shoved my books into my bag with the kind of fury only teenage girls and lightning storms could manage. I went out the classroom and went down the back dark hallway- quiet, empty, shadowed. Quicker exist. I turned the corner sharply- and slammed right into someone.

"Agh-!" I gasped, stunning back. The person barely moved.

I looked up. It's a guy- he was tall. Automatically, my eyes traveled from his feet up to chest, up to his jaw, then to his face- and that's when I froze. My breath caught in my throat. To my absolute suprise... It was him.

JADE VALE. Well known as TJ.

The same guy that me and my previous best friend used to blab about. The boy I'd dreamed about,written about, secretly obsessed over- the guy I was in love with since primary. The one I never got to talk too. The guy I would watch from distant. Now that am close to him, my heart couldn't stop pounding. I didn't think I still had feelings for him after a long time of not seeing him or probably after the accident.

And there he stood like he didn't need anyone's approval- shoulders straight, hands always in his pocket, posture careless but impossible to ignore. He always wore black. Not because he was trying to be edgy, but because it fit him. Like he was born in it. Rumour was, his family had money, more than Melissas. They say he lives with his father in some gated neighborhood I couldn't even pronounce. I'd only heard about it because someone at school bragged that their cousin mowed Jade's lawn once for two hundred bucks.

But I never heard him talk about his family. No one ever mentioned his mother. So, I assumed she was one of those quiet, graceful rich women who drank green tea. Jade was the type of guy people didn't question. The kind they both admired and avoided. He was everyone's dream guy. Even guys admired him. To me, he seemed like a perfect mystery. Jade was tall- not just 'taller than most guys' but perfectly built, lean and sharp, like his bones had been carved with intension. He always wore a hoodie, and sometimes slip his long, delicate hands into it- like he was hiding secrets. He has black hair, so dark it looked liquid under the light- smooth, slightly messy in a way that had to be on purpose. His hair swipped across his left eye. And his eyes... they were violet. Not the fake purple some people wear in contacts. No. These were deeper. Sharper. Like amethysts frozen in storm light. I never believed in 'rare' eye colour until today I looked at them, straight into them.

He wasn't the type of boy who smiled often, and when he did- it didn't reach his eyes. It was like smirk. To everyone Jade was 'hot'. To me, he was something else entirely. He was impossible. Like someone born out of a dream, only real enough to ruin.

He raised an eyebrow and touched me on the shoulder. To bring me back the reality.

"What's wrong with you, are going to stare at me like that. It's creepy," Jade said with a low, calm voice. The words sounding like a warning.

"I-uh... " My brain short-circuted. "You see-"

"You always space out like that?" he asked, corners of his mouth twitching like he was barely not smilling.

"Only when I'm -um. Tired."

He looked at me like he didn't believe that for a second. Like he knew. He suddenly stepped closer. Too close.

"Are you new here, I haven't seen you around," he asked looking right straight into my eyes.

I just shook my head to respond. His arm came up beside my head, not touching, just hovering. I backed up, moving backwards until my back was pinned against a wall. He looked at me and walked slowly towards me. He exhaled slowly, cigarette in hand. The smoke curled like ghosts in the fading light. He flicked the cigarette and crushed it to stop it from burning. And moved closer towards me closing the gap between us.

Out of nowhere he grabbed both of my wrists. In one smooth motion, he raised my arms and pinned them above my head, pressing them gently but firmly against the wall. His fingers, wrapped around my wrists like he knew exactly how tightly to hold without hurting me. My breath caught. He leaned in, voice low- so close I could feel the warmth of it against my cheek.

"Did you see anything?"

I swallowed hard. "Y-You mean... the cigarette?"

He didn't smile. Didn't blink. His voice dropped another degree.

"YOU! Didn't see anything. Dont tell anyone about what you saw here," he said more like a threat, his voice steady.

I blinked at him. My heart thrumbling against my chest.

"W-Why would... I won't... Why think that."

"People love to pretend they're not snitches... Until it's convenient." his voice dropped low and cold.

"I won't. I swear."

"If I hear anyone talking about what you saw here today... I will make you miserable in this school. That you consider yourself worthless. Take this as a warning."

I swallowed hard. Is this how I was suppose to meet with him, in this kind of manner, being threatened. I shook my head to agree.

Suddenly-

"Ark!"

Mom's voice sliced through the tension like a blade. He exhaled slowly, and the voice seemed to work. His hands let go of my wrists, slowly, carefully, like he'd just realised how close he was. I stayed against the wall, breathing hard. Then he whispered, like it was only meant for me.

"You never saw me do anything."

And before I could speak my mom turned the corner. There was a heartbeat of silence.

"Oh." Mom frowned. "Am I... interrupting something?"

My face was burning. I could feel it. "No! We were just- he was just- leaving!"

Mom raised an eyebrow. He gave a crooked, clearly fake smile. "Nice meeting you, ma'am."

And he turned to look at me and gave me the look 'if you tell anyone, I will kill you.' and just like that, he vanished around the corner, dragging the scent of smoke and mystery with him. He was gone.

My mom gave me the look of 'you have a lot to explain young lady' and I wasn't ready for any of this.

At home

"Okay," Mom said as she closed the front door behind us, her voice way too casual to actually be casual. "So..."

I dropped my bag next to the shoe rack, trying not to look like I was still short-circuting inside. Mom raised an eyebrow.

"Is he bullying you," mom asked giving me a concerned look this time.

I didnt expect her to ask that. It caught me off guard.

"Mom! He is not."

"Is he forcing you to smoke?."

"Mom, he did none of the things you mentioned."

"But my nose caught alot of smoke caused by a cigarette. I know it. Am a nurse, Ark. Don't protect him. If he did something to you tell me," Mom said in a calm voice but I could hear her voice thrembling.

"Mom, I promise he did nothing like that. Trust me," I said rubbing my hands against hers.

I knew that she didn't trust me, the words that came out of my mouth. She thinks am lying. Her face showed everything. Then she looked at me and flashed a warm smile. I looked at her and returned the same smile

Thinking that the conversation was over.

"So," she said, drawing out the word like she was winding up for something.

"Are you gonna tell me who he was, should I just assume you're now secretly engaged to a mysterious hallway stranger?"

I groaned. "Mom-"

"Oh, come on, Ark. He said 'Nice meeting you, ma'am in that deep, broody-boy way. What was that?" She tilted her head. "Was that a voice? Is he an actor? A villan? Do I need to stalk his Instagram?"

"Mom! I'm going to my room," I said quickly, brushing past her with heat flooding my cheeks.

"Mm-hmm," she called behind me. "Take your secrets with you!"

I shut my door and leaned against it like it was the only thing keeping me upright. The room was quiet, a soft gray Iight slipping in through the curtains. Everything hit me at once.

His eyes.

His hands around my wrists.

The way he stood so close I forgot how to breathe.

And then-

Nice meeting you, ma'am.

Why had he said that?

Why had he acknowledged her at all?

I touched the edge of my scarf where it was wrapped snug around my neck- plain, soft, nothing special. I had barely remembered I was wearing it. It was something I wore every time I went out, when going to the doctor only. Now that I decided to go to school. I would have to wear it everyday. Something that felt like armor. And yet... he never asked me to take it off. Never questioned it. Never even looked at it twice. Why? I sat down on my bed, staring at my hands. Was it because he didn't care? Or... did he know not to ask? Did he sense something? That scared me more than anything. That maybe, in those sharp, violet eyes of his, he had already seen more than I'd ever said out load. I laid back, eyes on the ceiling.

And I whispered to the air:

"Does he know who I am. Does he know how I look. Or is it that he doesn't care about my face at all."

Why didnt he ask. People asked. Teachers. Students. Doctors. Even mom.

'Dont you get hot'

'is it fashion'

'Are you hiding something'

But not him.

Jade Vale didn't ask. I pulled my scarf up a little higher, like it might hide the way my chest was tightening. My heart was still racing from earlier, like my body hadn't caught up to my brain. And then- out of nowhere- I found myself smilling.

Maybe I should start going to school more. The thought struck to me like a whisper from a version of myself I hadn't met yet. One who wasn't hiding in shadows and excuses. One who didn't need to disappear to feel safe. School wouldn't feel so heavy if I knew he was somewhere else in those halls. Maybe he's the only reason I'd ever want to stay. My cheeks burned. It was reckless. Stupid. Absolutely out of character.

∆

I woke up before my alarm.

It wasn't even six yet, but the sky outside my window was already beginning to lighten. For a moment, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, wondering why I felt so... alive. Then I remembered- him.

The memory flared sharp and vivid: the corner of the school building, the faint curl of smoke that he exhaled. The way he hasn't flinched when I caught him. The way he moved- smooth, slow, dangerously calm- as he stepped closer. The heat of his body when he pinned my wrists against the wall, not hurting me, just holding me there. Testing. Teasing. His voice low and mocking.

"People love to pretend they're not snitches... Until it's convenient."

That look. His breath smelling like mint and smoke and trouble.

And me- heart in my throat, unable to speak.

I slid out of bed, feet touching the cold floor, and padded to the bathroom. By the time I was dressed and downstairs, Mom was still in her robe, holding a cup of coffee like it was the only thing keeping her alive.

She blinked at me.

"Ark...? It's not even thirty minutes past seven. Are you okay?"

I grabbed a piece of toast and smiled.

"Yeah. Just felt like starting early."

She stared, like she was trying to find a fever on my face without touching me. Then, slowly, her mouth curved into a smile. Not the teasing one. The soft, mother- proud one.

"Well, look at you. Maybe miracles do happen."

I grinned.

"But too bad for you, you have to wait for me to finish first so I can drop you off," mom said going upstairs.

With that being said, I had to wait for her to finish.