Disclaimer: I do not own the Darkest Powers Series.
Chapter Three -
I'd had weird dreams again last night, and woke up in a cold sweat, still in the clothes I had worn yesterday. I was mildly confused, but decided it wasn't that big of an issue and had quickly gotten ready, almost forgetting to make myself some lunch.
As the day went on, I tried to convince myself that the dreams didn't bother me, somewhat halfheartedly, because the dreams just felt so foreign and strange.
In AP Psych, all I could do was sigh my way through it. Rae was in the class with me, but I still found myself mildly irritated with her. I could justify her talking bad about people who had wronged her in some way or had made fun of her, but it really bothered me that she even talked bad about people she didn't even know and had nothing to do with. I even found it difficult to sit next to her, and was mad at myself for acting like this. I have always been a forgive and forget kind of person, but the fact that she talked bad about people she didn't even know made me nervous about what she'd say about me as soon as I turned my back.
That thought alone irked me into being silent through my entire first hour and rush off to Seminar as quickly as was possible.
For the first twenty minutes of Seminar, I sat in my home room, as we're all forced to, and watched the morning announcements. Needless to say, it's always a rather painful experience.
After getting the nod from my Seminar teacher that we could "travel", I hopped on out of my seat and nearly ran on down to the performing arts wing.
Making it to the auditorium in record time, I sat in the hallway as I waited for the rest of the Drama Club and for the Club's mentor, Ryan, to show up.
As I sat, I was beginning to let my mind wander to yesterday's several embarrassing moments. I'd bumped into Tori Enright and Derek Souza, who in some weird way were related through Simon Bae. I'd never really talked to anyone in their family, and yet, yesterday I ran into half of them. It was bizarre, partly because they'd moved here around the same time I had and Derek had just had that fight this weekend supposedly.
Sighing, I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes.
This is none of your business Chloe. Stop thinking about it.
When I heard someone coming down the hall, I removed my hands and waited for the stars behind my eyes to clear.
"You're Chloe Saunders, right?"
Shaking my head to clear the stars quickly, I looked up at the person who had come up to me. Lo and behold, it was the other member of the family. Simon Bae.
.x.x.x.x.x.
I stared at the boy for a moment. He was tan with bright blond hair that was spiked up, making his almond shaped hazel eyes clearly visible on his angular shaped face, complimenting his lean build.
"I was told I would find you here," Simon said, after I nodded that I was indeed Chloe Saunders.
"Ryan told me that you were in charge of the Haunted House, and my brother and I –"
And I zoned out.
His brother and…What? I just can't get away from this family apparently.
"So yeah" Simon said with finality, finishing whatever it was he was saying to me.
"S-sorry, what did you say?"
Simon chuckled, his eyes lighting up with mirth. "I was wondering if my brother and I could help out with the Haunted House," he clarified. "We're pretty good at that sort of thing, and I'm decent with a brush while Derek is…" he trailed off, glancing behind me.
Perplexed, I turned around quickly to see what he was looking at, maybe Ryan had shown up.
My eyes met a powerful green.
Seriously?
I felt my eyes widen in shock…and noticed how Derek seemed to glare at my reaction.
For a moment I was confused, and then I remembered our last little interaction and how swimmingly that had gone and flinched ever so slightly.
Derek noticed.
"Simon…" Derek sighed, an edge to his voice. Clearly Simon hadn't informed him that he was planning on having the two of them help out with the entirety of the Haunted House I was head of.
Worrying my bottom lip between my teeth, I could feel the edge of panic start to creep in on me. There's no way in hell I can work effectively with these two here…but we do need more people in general. Oh jeez.
"Excuse us for a moment, please, Chloe," Simon said to me, yet stared at Derek, his eyes unyielding.
"N-no problem," I murmured as they walked off, I don't think they actually heard me.
The two headed a ways down the hall and, turned away from me so that I couldn't even attempt to read either one of their lips, they began to argue quietly. Or at least it seemed like they were.
Trying to push the worries I could feel building up because of the two boys before me, I stood up quickly in order to get over to the work shop. Yet, as I moved, everything suddenly felt off. Like the world was slowing down and getting much faster all at once.
And suddenly all I saw was green.
And nothing.
.x.x.x.x.x.
I could feel myself drifting through fog. I was a part of the fog, but I was much denser than the fog, like a liquid, I was seeping through it, yet moving along through it like air. I could hear my name from everywhere, sometimes a whisper and other times a shout. It felt wonderful and terrible at the same time.
Then it was gone.
"Chloe!"
My eyes opened with a shock and I could feel them grow big and wide, yet all I saw were stars and glimmers of light.
"Wh-wha-wha…" I struggled with the word, only vaguely aware of its meaning and more certain that it was necessary to say in this situation.
"Chloe." It was the same voice this time, though firmer and much more confident. It was familiar, too. And deep.
Oh fuck.
Reality hit me like a ton of bricks and I was aware of where I was and what had happened. I had passed out in the hallway, after standing up too quickly. Hadn't I eaten today? This shouldn't be a problem.
As I began to assess my surroundings, I could see that Ryan had shown up, his glasses slipping down his nose and his hat slightly askew. The man was in his mid-thirties with children of his own, yet he treated everyone that worked on the plays like they were his own children, and worried over every aspect of their lives like a mother hen. This little scene was not going to help the worries that he already had about me.
Holding back a sigh, my eyes moved to the person standing next to him, and made instant eye contact with Simon who looked mildly alarmed and panicked. For a moment, that seemed incredibly sweet. That is until I realized he wasn't looking at me but next to me.
That was when I realized I wasn't on the ground. The ground was a dizzying way below and would have been cold. I was very, very warm.
I whipped my head around so fast I almost knocked out Derek and passed out again. Grabbing my head to steady the dizziness, our eyes met for I'm sure the umpteenth time, and once more in an embarrassing situation. I could feel my cheeks flaming up. Derek looked annoyed. Angry actually. Which was odd…
"What the hell."
Breaking from my train of thought, I shook my head again and went back to staring at Derek.
"Ex-excu-"
"Stop." Yes. He is very much annoyed. His voice was deeper than I had remembered it being earlier, and as firm as when he spoke before, almost like it was thick. That didn't make sense though. People's voices went thick when they were overcome with an emotion, usually relating to an emotion such as sadness or lust. It went with extreme emotions and situations. This was not one of those times.
I glanced down quickly to see if I could stand and realized he was holding me. This just got ten times more embarrassing.
I couldn't help but stare at him then. I mean, he had grabbed me before I fell, of that I was pretty sure, because I didn't feel a single part of me throbbing from hitting solid tile. Well, I mean, I was pressed up against some boy I barely knew, so maybe everything was just confusing. Everything that had to do with this boy was just so confusing. His eyes looked brighter right now, than they had the other day at least, maybe that was just the lighting. How had he gotten over here so quickly though?
I tried to do a calculation in my head real quick, remembering something about objects falling at the same speed or other. As I fumbled with the numbers to figure out how quickly he would have had to get over here from that distance, I saw his nose flare and him inhale sharply.
What the hell? Did he just smell me? Oh crap. Do I smell bad? Is that why he's making that face? Oh – Wait.
Immediately it registered that he was being snippy with me about passing out and then stuttering. Oh hells no. My cheeks began to heat up again, this time not only from embarrassment, but anger too. "Excuse m-"
"Chloe! What's taking you so –" Liz began loudly, rounding a corner as she did, and stopped dead in her tracks. "What the hell happened?" Liz deadpanned, her voice taking on a much more motherly and serious tone than I was used to.
"She –" Simon began, but Derek took over.
"She passed out after standing up too quickly. There is obviously something wrong with her. You're her friend, so you should take her home."
For a moment I was bewildered by the fact that Derek had said so much at one time, but then I realized what he was saying again and once more felt offended. "Acutally, I have my own car and a lot to do today so –"
"Alright. Come on Chloe."
Before I knew what was happening, I was being set down and escorted out of the school, all before I could even tell Ryan what I had planned for the Haunted House today.
.x.x.x.x.x.
I was sitting on my living room floor with Liz lying next to me within fifteen minutes. I almost felt dizzy from everything that had happened within seconds of each other. Nauseous even.
I placed the back of one hand over my forehead, trying to steady my instable thoughts and keep my head cool. Then I put the palm of my other hand over my abdomen, and felt my insides squirm, almost like my intestines wanted to barf themselves up. I could feel the muscles cramping horribly and crushed my eyebrows together in confusion.
Oh. Shit.
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom.
I vaguely heard Liz so the same, calling after me and asking if I was going to be sick.
Quickly shutting the door, I hurriedly pulled my pants and unders down. Lo and behold, I had finally started my period.
"Liz!"
.x.x.x.x.x.
After having taken me to the nearest drugstore, Liz left me alone with my thoughts.
Honestly, I was super excited because of the fact that I had finally started my period. I didn't feel completely inadequate, and I felt mildly proud of myself. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I must have started when I passed out, and that was probably the reason why too. Then, of course, I had to review everything that had happened after that, and the embarrassment of the entire thing hit me like I had walked straight into a wall. Once again Derek Souza had witnessed me not being normal. Awesome. Now one more person thinks I'm a freak.
As I tried to remember the expressions on everyone's faces, I realized something. Derek had caught me and told Liz to take me home, and not only that, he had sniffed the air and then said so. My thoughts got ahead of me and I wondered if he had known that I…
My cheeks flamed up again. First off, not possible. Second, what the hell Chloe. Third, that would be so incredibly mortifying that it shouldn't even be thought about. Fourth, stop being silly, it's not even possible. I tried to take a few deep breaths as my mind raced and leaped ahead of me. Sometimes my imagination really got out of control and took off without me.
With a sigh, I realized I should at least make some dinner and do some homework if I can't work on the Haunted House.
I searched the house for my backpack for a good twenty minutes before realizing I had left it at school. Go team. The team is you. The game is life.
"Uuuugh. Oh, come on."
.x.x.x.x.x.
The next morning I got up early and left for school so I could grab my backpack and finish some of my homework before school started. There was also the fact that I was a little panicked about the whole period thing, but whatever.
I got in my car and drove to school without a snag, there was hardly even any traffic. I was at school in record time and there was hardly anybody else there so I ended up with a sweet parking spot right next to the entrance for the Performing Arts wing.
Jumping out of my car and slaming the door, I muttered "Score!" as I ran towards the door.
Once I reached the doors, I gave them a tug, but nothing happened. Grimacing, I tried again, pulling harder and using both hands. Nothing.
"Uuurgh." I snarled and kicked the clear door. "Seriously?"
"Woah there girly."
My back stiffened automatically. That voice was familiar, and not in a good way. He had graduated two years ago but still felt compelled to creep around school grounds, and he helped out with the football team a lot. Well, shit.
"Would you like my assistance?" The phrase would've sounded polite out of anybody else, but from him it sounded incredibly creepy with double meaning and sent a terrible shiver up her spine.
"N-n-no th-thank y-you L-li-liam." I bit my lip. I knew my stutter gave him some sick sense of pride but I couldn't help it. No matter how hard I tried I still stuttered when nervous and this boy made me pee-my-pants nervous just on sight. The fact that I was locked out of the school in the still dark early morning made me more nervous than I have ever been in my entire life.
Liam chuckled but I only barely heard him, my mind was busy going a mile a minute and trying to figure out a way out of this horrid situation. Vaguely I noticed how he stepped forward to try and box me in so I couldn't escape him as easily.
"I wouldn't be so sure cutie." Liam sneered.
"N-n-no r-re-re"
"Hey Chloe! There you are!"
Letting a strangled breath escape, I quickly stepped away from Liam to see who was calling for me from the parking lot.
The shock that spread across my face was only there for a moment or two, until I realized Liam was watching and I had to sell this so I could get away. "H-hey Simon, took you long enough! Heh…" my eyes locked on Simon as he quickly jogged up towards me and tried to stifle my nervous laughter from bubbling up.
"Sorry, we had to wait for Tori to get up and going, so that took forever!" Simon waved his arms about, like he was explaining a very dramatic and intense story when he was really just making up an excuse, I didn't even see his brother with him, let alone Tori.
Hoping Liam was preoccupied with Simon, I glanced back at him to see if he believed Simon. The look on his face said he wasn't, and he wasn't going to leave either. He looked like he was sizing up Simon and had decided he wasn't any sort of challenge already.
Well crap.
Maybe we could just start walking and maybe he'll leave us alone? No, he'd follow. There's no way of awkward-ing him away either. Maybe we –
"Oh, there you are bro! I was wondering what was taking you so long." Simon said, a smile in his voice.
Surprised by the change in conversation, I whipped my head around to Simon and my eyes landed on none other than Derek, with my black and blue messenger bag in his hand, and both his and Simon's back packs over his shoulder. Derek's face was blank though, more like set in a frozen serious expression, actually. It was like he was stuck between emotions and wasn't sure which to let through and decided to just go with nothing instead. But his eyes, they were shinning bright again though, almost like they were glowing green in this early morning purple darkness.
There was silence for a moment, I think Simon had expected Derek to respond, but he said nothing, just stared at the space over my left shoulder, his expression still painfully neutral.
For a moment I was confused, and thought he was trying not to glare at me, but then I glanced over my shoulder and realized that Liam had moved again, and was now much closer than he was before. I bit back the rising panic and turned my gaze back to Derek. I knew my eyes were wide with mild fear, but figured it was better for Derek and Simon to see me panicking than Liam.
I could feel Liam taking another step forward, but before he could even reach me Derek was right in front of me, offering me my bag. "Chloe, you forgot this yesterday. We grabbed it for you." He said, his voice sounding slightly strained.
Nodding, I reached for my backpack, and as soon as my hand grasped the strap, Derek yanked me forward towards him. Surprised and shocked, I tried not to yipe when I ended up flying into the solid wall that was his chest.
My blush was instant and spread quickly across my face and down my neck. Why does this keep happening?
"Woah there, Chloe. You sure are clumsy." Simon teased, I knew it was for Liam's sake, but my blush flamed brighter all the same, I could feel it spreading to my ears and further down my neck. Oh jeez.
I stumbled about, trying to right myself without bumping into Derek again or hitting Simon. Quickly righting myself I faced Liam again, only standing in between Derek and Simon this time.
"Well, we better get going now. See ya Liam." Simon said with a wave to Liam. And with that we dismissed Liam and walked towards the main entrance to the school.
.x.x.x.x.x.
The silence was beyond awkward. Breaching suffocating-ly awkward. Simon hadn't said a word, and that was certainly saying something. At the same time, I just met these two, despite the fact that we'd been at the same school for a couple years now. No matter what I knew nothing about them and they hardly know me at all, and yet…
"Has that happened before?" Derek's deep baritone released me from my ponderings.
"Wa…What?"
"Has. That. Happened. Before." Derek harshly bit at the words as if they offended him by merely existing. It was…odd. At the same time, he seemed to articulate each word as if I wouldn't understand him otherwise. As if my lower mind couldn't grasp a concept that came out of his mouth. It was infuriating.
"Yes, but I don't understand why you have to go and be all angry at me just because I didn't hear you the first time. It's not my fault you tend to mumble and that I happen to be much shorter than you. It makes a bit of a difference when the person talking to you is a foot taller and not even looking at you. I mean really."
As soon as the words left my mouth, my hand slapped over it, as if that would stop them, but I was a few moments too late. My eyes were wide with disbelief. I couldn't believe I had just done that. I never snapped at people. I barely even talked to people, and here I was insulting the guy that had just saved my ass mere seconds ago.
"I-I-I'm s-so sorry."
"Heh. Whatever."
And with that, Derek walked off and up into the school.
"Di…Did he just chuckle?" I muttered to myself, incredibly confused by the boy that was Derek Souza.
"Yes, actually. He did."
Slapping my hand over my mouth once more I turned around so fast it almost hurt. I had forgotten Simon was there. Oh jeez. This is just…not my day.
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Author's Note:
Sorry this was so slow in coming! I started a new job and I'm full time so my schedule has been super hectic! Hopefully that's mellowing out now though. So, thank you for reading! And hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.
And thank you to Crixtine, Crying Silently, and ChloeXDerekDP for the reviews! They really motivate me and I appreciate them so much!
Any questions, concerns, or advice, REVIEW!