Evelyn's POV
It was Monday morning and I hated having to go back to school. It was a hell of a weekend, and I was emotionally drained. The rest of Saturday went by quickly; after shopping with the girls we went back to Bailey's place, where we talked about everything and nothing at the same time, as I filled them with lies about how Friday had gone and I heard Ivory be as snoopy as ever, looking for clues on Aiden's mystery girl like a mad man.
My alarm went off and I forced myself out of bed, the last thing I wanted was to be late and have to face my oh-so-nice teacher, who would most likely kick me out of class if I was late- stupid physics. I resisted the urge to throw the alarm across the room, it had taken enough hits already and I really couldn't afford to have to get another one. My wallet was still mourning after Saturday's purchase.
The set I bought lied comfortably inside of its bag on top of my desk. My bed had become my best friend this weekend. The hangover took all the power out of me and the remains of its effect were still killing me until the moment I closed my eyes on Saturday night. I took a little time away from my friends on Sunday, only texting back to assure me that I was alright. Aiden and I hadn't spoken after our talk on the balcony, and I noticed that he didn't come home on Saturday night, neither did he show up for most of Sunday, apart from coming home late at night to sleep.
I shook my head; I need to get my mind off him and what happened needed to stay in the past. It didn't mean anything to me, it most likely didn't mean anything to him either, so there was no need for us to stay in this grey area. It was time to leave it behind us and move on, as friends. I don't want to have to hide every time I see him outside, and I have a feeling that if this doesn't get sorted as quickly as possible, that's what's going to happen.
I looked at the chair in my desk, the grey hoodie still draped over its back. Step one to go back to normal- return the hoodie and get my shirt back.
I didn't want to be the one to text him first, I realized that if he wanted to talk to me he would've texted me already. But what can you do, I need this to be over as fast as possible, so I'm not going to wait around for him to get his head out of his ass and text me.
Grabbing my phone from the bedside table, I finally stopped being a chicken and texted him.
Me:
Goodmorning
I resisted the urge to add a smiley face as I was scared that it would make him get the wrong idea, considering I now remember everything.
Dumbass:
Morning
You feeling any better?
Me:
I'm a lot better, thnx
Dumbass:
So what's up
Me:
I have something that belongs to you, and you have something that belongs to me. Care to trade?
Dumbass:
Come to my place after school. I wanna talk.
I left my phone on the bed and got dressed before heading to the kitchen. I didn't know how to reply to that, or if I should, to be exact. He wants to talk, I don't. Things need to be cleared between us, I know that, I just can't face him right now. Can't someone take my place as I hide under my blanket?
"Good morning" I greeted Cole, who was making coffee. Seeing him in our kitchen making coffee was such a weird sight for me, but I liked it. We could go back to being a family, even if our mum wasn't around as much. "Morning, kiddo" he replied, throwing his spoon on the sink. "Mum left for work early but she said we were having dinner together today so that's nice" he spoke, sounding hopeful. I on the other hand didn't feel as hopeful. I didn't want to be pessimistic, I wished mum would be home for dinner, but this promise that she made this morning to Cole, she's made a thousand times to me and Jason, and unfortunately, she never keeps it.
"That's good" I replied, taking a seat on one of the chairs. I unlocked my phone and looked back at Aiden's last text, thumbs fumbling around. I had no flipping idea what to reply. Finally coming up with something, I texted him, nerves getting the best of me. I was about to call Bailey when I heard Jason call for me from upstairs. Dropping my phone on the counter, I ran upstairs, he must have had one of his nightmares again.
Jason's separation anxiety has grown worse and worse over the years due to the absence of both of our parents. Usually, I'm the one to wake him up, and If neither I nor Cole wake him up, he goes into a frenzy. I've spoken to mum about this multiple times but she never understood the gravity of the situation, meaning nothing was ever done about this. I was still underage therefore I couldn't take him to therapy myself and Cole was always gone, so I just tried my best to help him understand that he would never be alone as long as I was around.
Cole's POV
Jason's cries were heard from upstairs, making my sister drop her phone and rush to his room. I never understood why Jason reacted like this when he was left alone. Evelyn has told me numerous times that we need to talk about his well being and take action, but given that I was barely around and mum didn't give a shit, it never happened. Poor buddy, living in this home.
I took a seat on the kitchen table and took a sip of my coffee, today I was going to relax. College was starting soon, and this time I had to go or I would get kicked out. The principle was very clear last time, if I keep up this habit I can lose my scholarship.
Taking me out of my thoughts, Evelyn's phone lit up, a notification popping on the screen, making the table vibrate. My gaze fell on the text that popped up.
Dumbass:
Good, I'll be waiting. Bring the hoodie.
Confused, I frowned. Who is this "dumbass" and what will he be waiting for? The mention of 'the 'hoodie'Â made me even more confused. Curiosity got the best of me, along with interest to find out who this person was and what they wanted from my sister. Grabbing her phone, I unlocked it and went straight to their chat. Guilt started settling inside of me, I shouldn't be snooping around my sister's phone, but with Black living next door I just had to make sure. I was sure there was nothing to worry about though, Evelyn has never lied to me before, there was no way she had now.
Reading through the conversation I couldn't tell who she was talking to nor what they were talking about, and the contact name she had given them wasn't really helping the situation. Going further up the chat, I found all the proof I needed.
Evelyn:
You're making me more and more upset that you're back. I was doing just fine without you living next door, idiot.
I dropped the phone on the counter. My brain was doing turns on turns on turns, the realization hitting that the person my sister was talking to was in fact Black. I was raging, anger coursing through my veins, replacing the blood. I ran towards the stairs, she was in serious trouble. As I stepped foot on the first step though, an idea stopped me. Going back to the kitchen, I took hold of the device once more and opened their conversation once again, this time typing a text of my own and pressing send.
Evelyn:
What hoodie?
The reply didn't take long to come. Only knowing who was on the other end of the screen made me wish I could crawl inside it and strangle him to death. But, alas, technology can only do too much.
Aiden:
Did the booze damage your brain or something? The grey hoodie I gave you to wear when we were at my place.
I turned off the phone and put it back in its place, frowning. I remembered mum telling me Evelyn was with her friends, I just hoped that he wasn't included. Knowing now that not only were they together but they were at his house and my sister was wearing his clothes only made me feel more stupid that I didn't investigate the situation further. Closing my eyes I took myself back to Friday night, and I could vaguely remember seeing Evelyn walk in her room, Mr douchebag following close behind. I was so high that night I didn't pay attention to the sight in front of me, another very stupid act on my behalf.
I wanted to scold her so badly, I've never been angrier with her. She came back down just in time, as I had just finished deleting the text I sent from her phone as well as Aiden's reply. "He's alright now" she spoke and poured herself some water, before running upstairs. "Aren't you going to have breakfast?" I asked her but she kept going up. "No time, I don't want to be late for school" she yelled, halfway up the stairs.
I gave it a second, taking the time to take a few deep breaths before following her up the stairs. I knocked on her door and went inside as I heard her approve my entrance. I calmly took a seat on her bed and watched as she looked around for her things. After some moments of silence, I asked "Is there maybe something you want to tell me?" I wanted her to be the one to tell me, instead of telling her I knew. She kept looking around, not paying much attention to me. "What do you mean?" my patience was running thin.
"Who's hoodie is that?" I asked her, grabbing the grey hoodie from her chair and showing it to her. "I told you it's yours" she said but something in her voice was off, unsteady. I tried to keep my cool but her lies made me almost fume at the mouth.
"It's mine? Oh, of course, it's mine! But hold on if it's mine then why the fuck does Black want it back?" I fired at her, my own words suprising me and watched as she got more and more defensive by the minute. "What?" her voice was low and she was trying to compose herself, poorly, as she was looking around the room. She looked like a trapped victim desperately searching for somewhere to go.
"You heard me. I saw the texts Evelyn, how could you lie to me like this? And why do you have his damn shirt?" her defensive stance turned into anger as she realized I had invaded her privacy.
"You went through my texts?" she put the hoodie down and shook her head. "Unbelievable! don't you trust me at all?" her question made me laugh, though I found nothing funny of the situation we were in. "Should I trust you? I trusted you, Evelyn, yet you proved I shouldn't have!"
"You trusted me but kept secrets from me! And if you had so much trust in me, then why did you go through my phone? What was it that you needed to know that you couldn't ask me about?" she moved her hands around before crossing them on top of her chest.
"Ask you? So that you could lie to me once more and tell me that the hoodie is mine?" I paused and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Now I'm going to ask you one more time, why did you have his shirt?"
Realizing she had no other option but to tell the truth she sighed and ran a hand through her hair before replying " We were in his house and my shirt got wet, so he gave me one of his shirts so that I wouldn't wear the wet one" she explained.
"Hold on a second, you were in his house?" What are you doing over there and where were your friends when this happened? And why was your shirt wet? Did you change in front of him? I swear if he tried to take advantage of you I will murder him, I swe-"
"-Cole! Nothing happened between us, I was in his house because that's where our friends were coming to because mum wouldn't let me bring them here and-"
"-You were going to bring him here? In our house? I've told you so many times Evelyn, I don't want this tramp stepping foot in here anymore!" I cut her off and got up from where I sitting to pace around the room, I couldn't even describe how I felt in that moment.
"Well too damn late because he already has and it was more than once!" Her attitude, along with the fact that she was as angry as she was was making me way too angry. She's not the one supposed to be angry, I didn't understand why she was angry at all, to be exact. If there was someone in that situation with the obvious right to be angry, it was me.
"Play smart with me all you like now, I'm here to stay and his little visits will be cut short" I said but it wasn't a threat. I was letting her know, he would never be coming to this house as long as I was here.
"You can't do that! I'm almost eighteen" she fought back, pointing to herself, making me beside myself. "Almost eighteen my ass, you're still my little sister and in major danger!"Â I spat "At least tell me why" she begged. "Cant you just keep that he's dangerous and not good for you? That boy is living foul and you're going to end up getting dragged into shit you won't be able to escape from, and I won't be able to help you, Evelyn!"
Frowning, her mouth losely left open, she shook her head and chuckled "You know what, I can't deal with this anymore, I need to go to school" she spoke and gathered her things, living me alone in her room.
Evelyn's POV
I felt a huge migraine starting to form and I rubbed my temples in an attempt to calm down. I opened my phone to call Bailey as we were supposed to go to school together, only to see that I was five minutes late and ten minutes away from school- that's if I walked fast enough. I can't believe this.
Finally arriving at school, I took a deep breath- please be in a good mood, please be in a good mood. "Come in" I heard my teacher speak and reluctantly, I opened the door, facing the stares of my classmates, amongst whom were Bailey, Ivory and Maya "Mrs Hayes, care to explain why you're twenty minutes late?". Off the bat, I could tell he was not in a good mood.
"I'm so sorry, my alarm is broken and I didn't notice it so that I could replace it, so I thought it still worked and I went to sleep thinking I was safe because I thought my alarm worked but as we know now my alarm doesnt work and- it's complicated" I tried to find some sort of saving board, I knew how strict he was and how easily he kicked you out of the class, and I didn't think my anxiety-caused rumbling would help my case. The last thing I needed was to miss the first period.
"You know I don't appreciate lies Mrs Hayes, the past month you're constantly late or cause some sort of disruption to the lesson. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for your classmates at the cafeteria"
I sighed and walked outside, shutting the door behind me. None of this would have happened if Cole just hadn't freaked out. I couldn't understand where all of this was coming from, I felt so angry when he told me he went through my phone. I know I lied and I was the one at fault in this but at the same time what else could I've done?
I moved towards the front yard, near the school's main entrance. I dropped my backpack next to me and sighed, burying my face in my hands, bringing my knees close to me. Cole's shenanigans made me late for school and I was beyond furious but also ashamed. We used to have such a great relationship, and I never even thought about lying to him, not out of fear but because I respected what we had. But like my teacher, I don't appreciate lies, I couldn't just listen to him and do as he said as if I was a puppet, while being lied to over and over.
What he doesn't know is that I actually didn't lie to him about the shirt, at least not intentionally, but I couldn't tell him that I was too intoxicated to know what I was doing, that would just make things ten times worse. As for Aiden, I was too scared to face him and hear what he had to say, and I prayed it didn't have to do with the kiss. Who was I kidding though, what else could it be about?
I checked my phone and realized the girls still had forty minutes of class, something that meant I'd have to wait here alone for forty more minutes. Great. I looked around the yard, thinking about how little times I've seen it empty. Usually, there are at least a few groups of kids outside, the ones who prefer not to sit at the cafeteria, or the ones sneaking in cigarettes and trying to find more private places to smoke without getting caught.
Minutes were passing, and I was playing a stupid game on my phone, when I noticed a figure coming my way. A girl, tall and as pretty as it gets. She looked like a runway model, with legs up to here, hugged by her black leather pants. A tight red tube top covered her chest, and her black hair was up into a sleek ponytail.
I looked away, realizing I had been staring for too long and focused my attention on my feet. Her presence only made me feel bad about myself, her aura projecting intimidation and confidence. Noticing she was coming towards me, I started getting anxious, as the sound of her boots hitting the floor were getting louder as she reached me.
"Hayes" she called, her tone sharp. Do I know this girl? I asked her exactly that and leaned my head upwards to look at her, her frame hovering above my own as I was still on the floor. From the tone of her voice, I realized that for whatever reason she was here for, it wasn't good.
"No, but I know you. You're the bitch that's drooling over my boyfriend" Even more confused than I was before, but trying to be polite as I definitely didn't want to start problems inside my school in senior year, I replied "I'm sorry?"
"Oh, you will be sorry when I'm done with you. You think you can just talk to your little friends about fucking my man and get away with it? Do you have any idea who I am? I will destroy you"
It was clear to me now, that the girl I was talking to was in fact pissed to the bone and way too full of her self, probably thinking everyone around her, including me, was scared of her. Wrong. Well, not exactly wrong but you know, gotta be dramatic. "I don't give a damn who you are, I'm not going to sit here and let you talk to me this way" I put my things next to me and stood on my feet, facing her. There was a bit of a height difference which only made things worse for me, but I tried not to look phased.
"I don't know who your boyfriend is or why you think I would want to have anything to do with him, but you better tone it down with that attitude cause I sure am not scared of those press ons" I continued, shooting a look towards her long fake nails. Truth of the matter was, I was very scared as I hadn't been in many physical fights in my life, if any, but something told me she had, therefore I don't know what would go down if we did end up fighting. My words probably didn't help the situtation a lot, but in that moment and time I thought they would.
She smirked and let out a chuckle "You're setting yourself a death trap, mutt. As for my boyfriend, I'm sure you know exactly who he is. Your dear savior and bestest friend Aiden" she mimicked my voice very poorly, as she covered her face as if scared, making fun of me. my heart started thumping inside my chest, what did she know about me and Aiden?
Not wanting to make things worse for myself I tried to appear composed and answered "Listen, I don't know what you've heard but there's nothing going on between me and him. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going" I put my backpack on my shoulder and turned to walk away when I felt her nails digging into my arm. She pulled me back to my original spot and we were once more facing one another.
"Oh, I'm sure there's nothing going on between you two, hon. there's no way Aiden would even think about touching you. But unfortunately for you, I also know you would love that. So much so, that you tell your little friends about it. You know at the mall in the dressing room of the lingerie store" she raised her chin and smirked knowing she had won. I frowned and turned away from her. What was she- I held back a gasp as it hit me; it was Bailey's comments that made her think I wanted Aiden. Damn you , Bailey.
"Is that what this is all about?" I asked her and let out a pretty convincing laugh "Girl my friend was just messing around 'cause she knows I could never see him as anything other than a friend, it's just an inside joke."
My attempts to calm her down failed, as she narrowed her eyes at me before she spat "Just how stupid do you think I am? You can fool your stupid friends all you want with that act but you're for sure not fooling me" she pulled me closer to her face and raised her chin, making it clear she was the superior one in the conversation.
"My friends arent stupid and it's not my fault you're so self-absorbed that you think everyone's trying to steal things from you. As for Aiden, I wouldn't be so sure he's enjoying your relationship too much" I released myself from her grip, and smirked, suddenly feeling a wave of confidence take up the space fear used to take up in my brain. I was sure I had won, as her mouth fell open and she was losing her composure, breathing heavily and shaking her head. What I didn't expect though, was that that initial shock turned into pure aggression, and she was now lunging towards me.
I soon realized I had overestimated myself and that new found confidence would be the one to sign me up for my fall, metaphorical and literal, as I didn't expect she'd try to hit me. Her hands found my hair and I quickly noticed that she was dragging me towards one of the open windows, its sharp corner smiling at me. My eyes widened instantly, and I had to do something before she got me there. I lowered myself until I was almost kneeling down and punched her on the chest, knocking her air out momentarily.
I took that as my queue to break free from her hold and move away, but I knew it wasn't over yet, so I walked away from the open window, just in case. I didn't know I held that much power, and that punch gave me a rush of adrenaline that made fear disappear for a second. "You're dead" her words were laced with poison, as a punch came for my face before I could block it. I felt the taste of metal on my tongue, and I knew I was bleeding.
Anger was getting the best of me and my blood was starting to boil. She went in to hit me again, but this time I moved my face in time. Before she could process what happened, I lunged forward and pushed her once, catching her off guard, before kicking her below the belt. I figured that if it worked on guys it would work on girls too.
Her face scrunched up in pain but not long enough for me to think I won. Putting her pain to the side, her eyes shot the most murderous of stares my way, before she headbutted me once, twice, three times, and then I was a goner. I lied on the floor with her on top of me, her knee on my chest, cutting half of my air supply.
"You've got some nerve, thinking that not only you can even think about fooling around with Aiden but that you can also fight me? Pathetic" she spat, grabbing my hair to lift my head off the ground, only to slam it back down. I groaned in pain and shut my eyes, hoping the hits weren't strong enough to cause damage in the back of my head.
Tears were welling up in my eyes but I fought against them, I didn't want her to think of me as weak, crying, and defeated under her. I tried to come up with a way to get her off me, but she wouldn't budge, my breathing got worse and worse as time went by. No one was coming outside to help but deep down I didn't want them to. I would be made fun of by the entire school and sent to the principal for participating in a fight. I wanted neither.
She took hold of my hair and pulled me towards her once more, sending me flying back to the ground with a loud thud. My vision was getting blurry due to the force of the impacts and I only hoped she would stop soon.
"Hey! You two, break it off" I heard miss Daisy, the nurse, speak and I was glad it was her that found us. Landing a final blow in my face, the girl on top of me finally stepped off, leaving me to lay on the ground. The minute I was free'd I started coughing and hugged my knees to my chest. I felt embarrassed to the core. How could I think I could win against her?
I watched as she- whose name I never got and to be honest I don't think I wanted to get- gathered herself and searched for an easy exit, finding none. Miss Daisy's voice had caught the attention of a few teachers, she couldn't just leave now. I didn't even know how she got in in the first place.
Soon, teachers were gathering around us, some trying to get me to talk to them, or pick me off the ground. I felt too weak to do either. Through the corner of my eye, I watched as the rest of the teachers guided her to the principal's office and said the police would be involved as she didn't go to the school. I closed my eyes momentarily to get a moment of peace and taking a deep breath, I forced myself to try and stand up, with help from the people around, of course.
"Miss Hayes, I need you to follow me to my office" I heard the principal himself tell me, to which I simply nodded. It's fine, she initiated the fight in the first place, plus I was attacked as she went out of her way to get inside and fight me. It's fine.
"Oh, and I will be calling your mother"
Shit.
~~~
It's 1 in the morning. I have school tomorrow. Guess who's still going to sit and write because she has no other time to do so? Just me? Okay then.
As I warned, my updates will not be very frequent as, as mentioned above my writing time is very limited. I hope you enjoyed this rather long chapter though, and I'll see you in the next one.
stay in school kids