I do NOT own the Darkest Powers series or any of its characters! They belong to the amazingly awesome author Kelly Armstrong. I repeat: this is all in Chloe's POV!
When I looked at her I glanced at my arm. She saw this and smirked. I bared my teeth and let out a silent growl. Wow, I must be really mad, because I haven't seen this side of me since fifth grade when a boy in my class punched Rae's shoulder. He ended up with a black eye and I ended up in the principal's office with my dad and my Aunt Lauren talking about how this behavior was not acceptable. Of course Aunt Lauren freaked out about it saying how violence is completely unacceptable and blaming it on dad. She did that a lot. Blame things on dad. Like my mother's death. My mother's death, of course was not my father's fault. She died in a hit and run after having a fancy dinner with my dad halfway into my first grade year. But Aunt Lauren still says that it was my father's fault because he was the one driving the car. She would have found a way to blame it on him even if he was in the passenger seat though. My Aunt and my dad. They don't get along well, so you can imagine how the holiday dinners are. Dad does try, he really does, but because his work schedule is basically 90% business trips, I don't really get to see him that often.
Derek seemed to hear my soft growl because he gently put his hand on the small of my back, and guided me away from the vicious cheerleader. Once we were a good distance away he pulled his hand back and acted like nothing had happened. I guess to him nothing had happened. But that's only because nothing did happen. Did it? Ugh, now I'm confusing myself. He probably just didn't want to get caught in the midst of any traumatic girl drama. That's how boys are. But Derek wasn't like most boys. I think. Then again I've never said more than ten words to any boy. But I'm positive that Derek doesn't like me. How could he? I'm…well… me.
I was walking really fast now, which wasn't very smart because I am known for tripping over my own feet. And that's what happened. Of course it did not help me that the janitor had finally decided to clean the floors. My left foot smacked into my right one and I went flying. I landed on my arm and smacked my nose against the tile floors. "Crap." I muttered under my breath. I pulled my arms up and my feet slid around and I fell down again. This time I didn't bother getting up. I just sat on my butt in the middle of the empty hallway with my eyes closed. All of a sudden a warm snake went around my waist and helped me up. I opened my eyes and saw that the snake was actually Derek's arm. "Sorry." I muttered. But I don't think that he heard me. He was too focused on my face. Suddenly I was very self-cautious. My hand flew up to my cheek, "What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked him. He nodded "Yes. Blood. A lot- a lot of blood." Said Derek, not softening his gaze. It was then that I realized the strong ache in my nose. Dang, I must have hit it when I fell. I moved my hand to my lip and felt a warm substance. I pulled it back and saw that it was indeed covered in blood. "Is that mine?" I asked no one in particular. "Yes." Said Derek. I suddenly felt hot and cold and green and red spots dotted my vision. Then the colors faded and everything went black.
I awoke and heard two familiar voices whispering. "I am sorry sir but you are going to have to leave." Said the first voice, it was high, almost shrill. "I will. When she wakes up." This voice was deep. Very deep. Almost like a rumble. I heard a sigh and took this as my queue to open my eyes.
The first thing I realized was how bright it was. The second was my Aunt Lauren standing in a corner and Derek, standing next to me with his arms across his broad chest, staring- no- glaring at my aunt. "Ahem." I cleared my throat. Both of them looked over at me. Aunt Lauren smiled when saw that I was alive and healthy. But as soon as Derek and I made eye contact, he swiftly left the room without a word. He must have been the second voice. I hid a small smile. He seemed happy that I was okay. The third was that I was in the nurse's office, with absolutely no idea how I got here. "Oh, sweetie! I'm so glad that you are okay!" Aunt Lauren exclaimed. "Yeah. I feel fine. What happened?" I asked. "Well, it seems as if you hit your head-rather hard-, but that boy claims that you just fainted."Aunt Lauren said. She tried to hide it, but I heard the disapproval in her voice. "Chloe? Are you free this afternoon? I would like you to come to my house today if that's alright." She obviously didn't believe Derek. I knew what happened when she didn't believe a males story. Afterschool talks.
Aunt Lauren has afterschool talks with me basically every week. Imagine that. Having "The Talk" every week. This is how it plays out. First she offers me a drink, and then she asks me to sit on the sofa. We talk small talk for a few minutes talking about school and the weather. And then she somehow ends up talking about how I am a growing woman who is going to start making decisions of her own someday. Then she goes into details. Details so…. detailed that I will not describe. Then she brings up how many girls my age have been forced into things they want to do. She brings up the male of her choice and tells me to stay away from him, because he could do something that he could never take back. Now, normally I would nod and say, "Yes Aunt Lauren. I understand." And get on with my life. But I will not do that when she brings up Derek. Nuh-uh. No way. If anything will tell her how I plan on befriending him instead.
"Well, I think that Derek is right, because I don't feel any pain in my head." I said. "Okay honey." She said. I hate it when she does that. When she just dismisses my words like-like nothing. "I'm still going to need a few x-rays done though. Just to make sure that h-you didn't damage anything." Said Aunt Lauren. She was going to say he. Aunt Lauren was going to say "Just to make sure he didn't damage anything. He, not you. He. I jumped off of the gurney and walked to the door. I opened it and once I was out of the room I slammed it with enough force to make people send a few looks my way. I just glared at them and they looked away. Stupid gossips. Stupid Aunt Lauren. How dare she make accusations about a boy whose name she didn't even know? That's what made me angry. In the office she had called Derek "that boy". She called him That Boy and then she practically accused him of raping me. There is still one thing that I'm curious about. How did I get in the nurses office? And then it clicked. He carried me. And that's probably why Aunt Lauren had her suspicions. Sure they may be way off suspicions, but suspicions none the less. And I guess she had a reason.
I checked my watch. 12:20 pm. "Well no point in going to class now." I thought. "The lunch bell is going to ring any minute now." I walked down the hall and found a bench next to a rusty water fountain. I took a brave sip. Ugh, I spit it out. The water was warm and it tasted like old lady lip-gloss. I sat down on the bench and closed my eyes. A few minutes later a loud shrill sounded through the empty halls. My eyes flew open and I got up from the bench and raced to the cafeteria. Once I was in the room I realized that I had not shown Derek or Simon where the cafeteria was. "Oh well. It's not that hard to miss." I muttered under my breath as students started to file in. "Besides, it's not like I'll be able to find them with this crowd now." I said muttered again. A little louder this time though. Big mistake. A girl with short spiky black hair and huge bright blue eyes stared horrified at me. Great. Now she probably thinks that I am some crazy who talks to themselves. A few other people stopped to look at me. People who couldn't have possibly heard my babbling. There was now a small group gathered around me. Some clicks were heard as people took pictures. "Isn't that the girl who went to a crazy person home last year? Yeah? Well I heard that she tried to pick a fight on a wrestler." My head snapped in the direction of the voice. It was I blonde chick, probably on the cheer squad. She was standing next to that same girl with the blue eyes. I kept staring at them. Eventually the blonde girl looked over my way. I glared at her and she quickly looked away. The blue eyed girl sent an apologizing smile and led her friend away towards the growing cafeteria line. I was so focused on them, that I didn't realize someone had stepped behind me until a hand pushed me away from the small group and out of the cafeteria. Once I saw the bench that I had sat on earlier, I grabbed the hand of my attacker and used it to spin myself around and face them. It was Derek. "Why were they staring at me like that?" I asked him softly. "You still have blood on your face, but now it's all over. You must have smudged it." He answered, keeping his eyes forward, his face expressionless. I let out a small sigh. This was just what I needed. Now someone will probably tell Amber that I had blood on my face and she will turn it into some story about how I got into a huge fight and almost killed someone. Okay maybe not that extreme, but you know what I mean. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom to wash up." I said spinning around to face Derek. He grunted. I will take that as an okay. I headed down the hall towards the bathroom. I opened the door and looked in the mirror. I almost shrieked. I looked like one of those little girls that are in the horror movies. There was blood all over my left cheek and my nose and mouth. I grabbed a bunch of paper towels and wet them in the sink. I scrubbed my face so hard that I was afraid my skin would fall off. I stopped and looked in the mirror. Perfect, there was no more blood on my face. But I did, however look like I had just sobbed the life out me. Due to all of the scrubbing and sleep loss. So I just stayed in the bathroom for few minutes in order for my blood to rush back from my face. Once it did I walked into a stall. I don't know why I did but when I walked in to the dirty stall I found my reason. Someone was-or had been- standing right inside the same stall as I. "So?" she asked. "Is it true?"
