At the moment, Mrs. Atwood was rambling about the movement the arts had make through the years, and pretty much everyone in the class was either asleep or doodling on their notes. I wasn't listening either, since Rose had texted me from her English class. I felt the vibration in my pocket, and covered it with my palm so it wouldn’t be so loud. I looked around to make sure Mrs. Atwood hadn’t noticed. She was still going on, oblivious to all the students that weren’t even looking at her. I took my cell phone out of my pocket, and opened it, reading the message that was appearing on the screen.
I need a break. Wanna skip next? I read on the screen. I felt my heart sink in when I realized I couldn’t miss French. Art would’ve been great, but French… I needed to pass the exams and right now wasn’t a good time for me to study and have good notes. Plus my mom would freak out if she found out that I skipped. My fingers were moving fast across the mini keyboard. Fast enough so I didn’t have the time to think about my decision a second time.
The answer came quickly and when I opened again my cell, the message on the screen wasn’t a surprise. C’mon, it’s only an hour, and u can always ask for feedback from someone else. It’s gonna be fun
, she wrote.I sighed heavily, far too loud apparently since Eve, sitting beside me, turned and gave me a meaningful look. Mom is going to kill me… I thought, but then I was typing my answer, letting my head worry for the consequences of my actions, when my heart screamed to me to have fun for once.
I waited a little longer for Rose’s answer this time, and when it finally came, I was taken aback with the words she had written to me.
Ok cool, Cole and Aiden are coming with us, we’re meeting in front at 2
see you there! Great, I was hoping for a little quiet time with my best friend… And what was Aiden doing with Cole anyways? I had seen them a couple of times together these last few days, and I was surprised to see that they even knew each other. I knew that my brother and Liam had deeply disliked Cole for different reasons, and the main one was that he was an evil werewolf… That, my brain wasn’t completely willing to understand. I knew, it was true because I saw it. But somehow, werewolves were something out of my range to understand, even with my kick ass notes in school…
And that’s how I was there waiting at two o’clock in front of the school. I had seen Cole on my way there, and the feeling of uneasiness had dissipated a little since seeing and talking to him. I didn’t know why exactly, but every time I was with him, it was all okay. Even when I was away, he was freaking me out for a reason I couldn’t grasp.
He had surprised me earlier when his hand grabbed my elbow when I was putting my stuff in my locker. I had turned around, masking my surprise of seeing him there, which was a stupid thing considering that his locker was right beside mine.
“I just want to make sure you didn’t mind us coming…?” He had asked and I smiled up at him like I didn’t even think it would disturb me.
“No, of course not. Why would I mind?” I didn’t know why I asked that, maybe just to make him think that I didn’t mind, really. Or maybe it was just because it flew out of my mouth, not giving me time to stop the rush of words.
“Alicia,” a voice said behind me, stopping my train of thoughts right there. I turned toward the front door, were Rose was coming out and I wasn’t surprised when Aiden and Cole appeared close behind. When we were finally all together, we gathered up in a tight circle.
“So what are we doing?” Rose asked, her voice dripping with enthusiasm. I shrugged, not wanting to say anything, since the feeling I had felt when she told me the guys where coming had crept back into me.
“It’s the last period, so we can go anywhere we want, we don’t have to come back,” Cole said, smiling at me, and then at Rose. She smiled back, her eyes full of trust, directed toward him.
“Let’s just go see a movie or something…” Aiden said, finally saying something after a few minutes.
“Nah, too plain for today,” Cole answered. “We need something fun and exciting.”
“Laser Quest is fun and exciting,” I heard Rose say, and I knew she was looking at me, but didn’t I dare look at her. This had been the best hang out place when we were young and we had lots of fun there, but it had been a few years since we had set foot at the Laser Quest. Rose expected me to say something in her favor, but after a few seconds of waiting, she got the message that I wasn’t going to support her on that one. Fortunately, Cole was a big fan of laser quest and was agreeing far too quickly.
“That’s a great idea! Let’s go, we can at least play a few games before we have to be home,” he said, enthusiastically. Rose was happy too, and Aiden seemed close behind, but I was not so happy to go there again. But I shut my mouth and trailed behind them as they walked to the nearest bus stop.
They bickered and laughed, but I was just on the border of the scene, not quite there to participate, just observe. Sometimes, Rose would look back, her eyes pleading me to join them and have fun for once, but I knew better. She knew me enough to know that there was something wrong with me right now. I was mad, and she didn’t know why, but she didn’t care either. She just continued to laugh with the guys, like nothing was wrong. And that made me even more mad. And the fact that I didn’t know why I was acting like this.
When we arrived in the bus, I sat down across form Rose and Aiden, Cole beside me. That's when I began to loosen up.
“So, what’s up?” Cole asked me, loud enough for me to hear, but too low for Rose and Aiden to make out.
“I’m good,” I answered, feeling some of the tightness in my chest go away as he scooted a little closer to me.
“You sure? Your seemed a little preoccupied.” I nodded and smiled, happy that he had remarked that I wasn’t skipping and signing like everyone else. “Okay then,” he said. After that, it felt a little more bearable and I was able to jump in the conversation.
“How was the I See Stars concert? I heard that you guys were there a few weeks back,” Aiden said, turning to Rose who had jumped at the sound of the band's name.
“It was amazing!” She said and I nodded.
“Yeah, absolutely. I never thought I would be able to go see them, ‘cause they never come to Ottawa…” I added. At that, Cole turned to us.
“You saw I See Stars? Where?” He asked, like he was surprised.
“Montreal, at La Tulipe… it’s a –”
“It’s an old theater, I know, I was there too. Apparently, we were at the same concert, but we didn’t know,” Cole said, his surprised eyes searching mine.
“That’s so cool! I wish I could have gone… But it was for their anniversary and Ben didn’t want the others around. You know how he is… And besides, I had to babysit my little sis,” Aiden said, smiling at the three of us. Cole shrugged beside me.
“We weren’t with them though; we got our separate ways as soon as we could. I didn’t want to stay with them, are you crazy?” I said, laughing.
“Yeah, with the little love birds… It makes me want to throw up sometimes,” Aiden said to me. I nodded, saying that I felt the same way.
“It’s not that bad!” Rose squealed, indignant. “It’s cute and romantic…” We laughed at her.
“If you like someone glued to you every time of the day, yeah sure. It’s cute,” Aiden said, laughing again, but this time Rose joined us.
“Apparently Liam couldn’t take it anymore, though,” Cole jumped in. I tensed at the sound of Liam’s name.
“Yeah, I’ve heard about that. I’m glad I wasn’t around when it happened... Must’ve been pretty ugly,” Aiden commented.
“Uh,” was all Rose could manage, her eyes were glued to mine, a shared secret I was scared would escape her lips.
“Alicia was there... Apparently, Lisa wouldn’t let Liam go,” she finally said, laughing and looking at me, testing her boundaries.
“Yeah, he had to say it like four times before she finally let him walk away. Even then, he had to pull his arm free...” I tried to focus on my tone, keeping my eyes straight, not bothering to look at either of them. Cole’s snicker made me lift my head up.
“Poor guy, must feel bad for her, eh? But he had to leave her sometime. I could feel that their thing wasn’t true love,” he said. His eyes met mine, freezing me there, not able to look away. His lips curled in a crooked smile. My insides quivered, and my chest was suddenly too tight for me to breathe properly. Cole’s eyes were traveling across my face, his smile still plastered on his lips, only now it had took an evil aspect.
A strident bell sounded at the front of the bus, making me jump. “That’s our stop,” Aiden’s voice echoed through my head, making it the only thing I could concentrate on at the moment. I got up absently, and wiped my hands, suddenly sweaty, hands on my jeans.
