Safe And Sound
Thank you very much to the people who read and reviewed on the previous chapter even though I left it on such a bad note ;) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts – Albert Einstein
Chapter Ten
Wednesday September 12th 2012, 8:30 am, the yard.
A list of reasons explaining why I am dreading entering that awful building:
1) Mason would be there.
2) Mia would be there.
3) Adrian may try to give me more advice which is rather scary.
4) People are still talking about me.
5) Eddie doesn't even make eye-contact with me anymore because he's too scared of what Mason's going to think.
6) I didn't even know what to do when I saw Dimitri.
Number 6 on my list could barely even be explained. It was all too confusing to me too. There was so many things wrong with what happened last night that I didn't know where to begin.
Even though I wished this day would end immediately, it still continued on. It's nice to know how badly the world can treat you sometimes.
"Hey, you okay?" A soft voice asked as I took my usual seat at the picnic tables. It was the first time I had ever seen Christian without Lissa being by his side. It was as though he was missing half of his body.
"Yeah, I'm fine" I sighed, clearly not judging by the tone of my voice. It was clear then that I would make the worst liar ever. The look Christian gave me told me as much.
"Can we skip the lying part of this conversation, so you can just tell me what's wrong and I can try to help you?" Christian said bluntly, shooting me a look that told me he wasn't in the mood to take any of my crap today. There seemed to be something wrong with him too. I'd have to ask just as soon as he was done grilling me.
"Wow, you don't waste any time do you?" I joked, tapping the table annoyingly as I thought of any way that I could change the subject.
"No, but I can tell that you do" Christian accused with a look that I could only describe as a glare. Yes, there was definitely something wrong with him too. "So are you going to tell me or not?"
"No, probably not" I answered with a shake of my head as assurance. There was no way he was finding out what happened. That sort of information could easily fall into the wrong hands and then that would mean the end of my time at this school.
Hey, that may not be that bad an idea. If I did that, it would mean I could leave school with a reasonable excuse and then never have to face Dimitri again. Now does that sound like a plan or what!? Fine I know it was completely unrealistic.
"Well, I hope you enjoy the feeling of bottling it all up" Christian stated, showing absolutely no human emotion whatsoever. Wow, whatever happened must have really angered him. "You have no idea what something like that can do to you. Keeping silent will tear you apart. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Thanks for your concern and everything, but I assure you it's not needed" I pressed on. It's not that I wanted to be mean to him or anything. I just didn't want him getting too close to the truth. If a little pushiness was what it took to keep that in check then I was all for it.
"Okay, I know when my help isn't wanted" Christian assured, holding his hands up in surrender. For the first time since I sat down, I was able to relax around him.
"So, what's up with you?" I asked with genuine concern. "You seem pretty pissed."
"Oh, so it's okay for you to ask me what's wrong, but I can't ask you?" Christian questioned.
"Yeah, pretty much" I joked with a friendly shoulder bump. It was surreal how comfortable I felt with Christian already. He was almost like the male version of me.
"You're wild" Christian noted before turning to me with a serious stare. "Lissa and I got into a fight about Mia and Mason."
It sucked that they had managed to get into an argument over something that was my fault to begin with. It seemed everyone was getting themselves into bad situations because of me. Christian and Lissa weren't talking because of me. Mason had turned mean. Eddie didn't know what to do with his life. Mia had turned bitchy. The worst one was that Dimitri could be facing losing his job because of something stupid that happened between us.
It would have been a much better idea for me to just stay at home and not bother coming back here. I'm just destroying other people's lives.
"What happened?" I asked, trying to push the guilt in my head away for two minutes, so I could learn more about this strange occurrence.
"She thinks she can bring them back to our group again and make everything okay, but I don't think she should even bother trying. They made their decision. If they want to go off and hate people in our group then that's their choice, but they can't expect to be allowed to pick and choose who they're friends with" Christian explain, his eyes already heating up in anger. All I could get from that was that Christian believed that I was part of his group. That small thing was enough to make me feel so elated that I could practically float mid-air. "As soon as I told Lissa this, she got all defensive and angry, so now we're not talking."
"Lissa will snap out of it" I assured even though I had no clue what I was talking about. I had only known her a little over a week. How was I supposed to know her behavioural patterns? I was just going on guess work here. She seemed like quite a mellow person and it was clear that she cared more about Christian than her own life. She wouldn't throw that away over a petty argument over Mia and Mason, would she? "She'll realise what's happening and she'll come straight back to you. Just make her feel loved. Just try and understand where she's coming from. She just wants to help."
"I know she does" Christian sighed in frustration. "It's one of the most annoying yet lovable things about her. She's always looking for someone to help. It's in her nature. It's like it was coded into her DNA. Goddamn it's a dominant allele."
"Okay, when you start bringing the sciency shit into it…it stops being romantic" I reminded. Was everyone this clever at this school? "Leave the alleles and DNA out of it."
"Thanks for listening, Rose" Christian finally said after long moments of silence that was more than just awkward for the both of us. Thankfully the bell rang and I didn't have to face any more awkward conversations with people. That flaming bell also meant that I had to face Dimitri.
Time to die.
Wednesday September 12th, 9:00 am, Form
"Rose. Outside. Now" Dimitri barked as soon as he flung the classroom door open. Well, he doesn't skip a beat now does he? This is so not going to go well. He's probably going to rip my head off as soon as the door's closed. With the way he's been acting lately, I wouldn't be surprised.
"What do you want?" I asked as soon as the door was closed. I wasn't entirely sure if acting casual was the best way to go with this, but it wasn't as if I had any other ideas to fall back on. I just had to put on a brave face and fight through this one. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Yes, a voice in my head told me that this could be very bad.
"You know exactly what I want" Dimitri muttered under his breath. "We need to talk about last night." Just like that, I got a surge of confidence. He was practically trying to blame me for what happened. Hell, I didn't even kiss him back. There was no way in hell that he was going to put any of this on my doorstep.
"There's nothing to talk about" I hissed. "You came onto me. You kissed me. It was not the other way round. As far as I'm concerned, this is your fault. I'm not going to tell anybody, so you can stop worrying about that. I just want to forget that it even happened." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I whirled around to storm away, but his hand caught my wrist and pulled me back. "Oh come on, you didn't have to ruin my dramatic exit."
"I don't want to forget that it happened" Dimitri whispered viciously, completely ignoring anything that I had just said. It's great knowing that people listen to you. Getting a real feeling of being loved here. "We need to talk properly about it."
"And you think the corridor at school is the best place for that?" I questioned with a disbelieving snort. How on Earth had it come to this? Two years ago, I had a great life. I had a tonne of friends. I was getting good grades. You know, generally enjoying life. I was a typical teenager and now look at me. I'm arguing with my teacher outside his classroom because he kissed me. What had my life turned out to be?
"No, it's not" He agreed as he peered around…probably to check that no one was listening. Ugh, I'm so going to hell. "Look, come by at lunch and we can talk about it"
"Okay, but don't go making any surprise attacks on my lips again" I warned with a point of my finger to emphasise my point. I didn't like that. It scared me. If I'm going to kiss anyone, I want warning and I want to be ready for it.
"I promise I won't" Dimitri sighed. "Only if you want it." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so I simply made to go back into the class. Once again, he blocked my path.
"But Rose" He began, "If you think for one second that I've forgotten about the way you acted when that drunk guy hit the bonnet of my car, you're sadly mistaken."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, feeling the lump forming in my throat already and my hands beginning to shake. I didn't want to get into that conversation with him here. I couldn't let him drag me into this. Not when anyone could see my reaction. Why did he keep pushing me into telling him things? Was it not obvious that I wasn't comfortable with telling him?
"It means that you better offer up some sort of explanation or I'm getting in someone professional to help you out. You need to talk about this." He stated seriously. There was absolutely no joking in his voice whatsoever.
And all because I felt so strongly about keeping my secret under wraps, I said one of the worst things I've ever said in my life. "If you do that, I'll scream from the heavens about how you kissed me. You'll lose your job for certain. Maybe a trip to prison would make you less likely to ask questions."
"Do you think that's going to stop me?" Dimitri asked, fixing me with his own determined glare as I cowered away from him. "If that's what it takes to get you some help and make you better than I'm all for it." As soon as the words were in the air, he pushed up the door and stormed back in, leaving me standing out in the corridor feeling like the biggest loser and bitch in the whole world.
And the tension mounts ;) I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter! Hey, I think I'm finally getting a system of updating! Anyway, thanks for reading!
Baby You're My Immortal