Faye was not looking forward to seeing Reid.
Seeing her topless was bad enough but he might have seen the bandage or the first aid kit. She did not want the guys asking questions. If they saw Chase's message, she was dead. Faye felt sure of it. If she was honest with herself, she did not know which worried her more.
She searched the room for Kate and Sara. After finding them at the far side of the middle front row, she looked around for Tyler. He sat in the row behind the girls on the opposite end. The other two Ipswich descendants sat to his right and Reid to his left. Taking a deep breath, she grumbled to herself, "Here goes nothing."
Instead of walking to her own seat, she headed toward Tyler. With a few "Excuse me"'s, she found herself standing in the row in front of him. "Hey Tyler."
All four boys turned their attention to her. Tyler grinned at her and his face lit up, "Hey Faye."
Faye could feel the other three looking at her as the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She knew she was beginning to blush. Biting her bottom lip, she did her best to ignore them. "Um. . . I just wanted to thank you. I tried but you had already left."
"No problem. Glad I was there to help."
She played with her necklace. "Well, uh. I think I'll go now. Before I make a fool of myself."
"You going with Kate and Sara to the library after class?" This was from the boy sitting next to him with the longer hair. He had eyes that reminded her of a cat's. They seemed to look into your very soul.
She continued to play with her necklace but looked over at the girls, "Probably. I doubt they'll let me get away."
If possible, Tyler's smile seemed to get bigger. "Great! We'll see you then."
Faye started to walk to her seat. Reid had to speak up. He just would not be Reid if he did not make some smart ass comment. "Hey Faye. I like that tattoo you have."
She continued to walk past him, "Kiss my ass, Malfoy."
"Any time," he grinned and watched her sit down beside Sara. Just then, realization dawned on his face, "Hey!"
Smirking, Faye leaned over to Sara, "Little slow, isn't he?"
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Tyler furrowed his brow, "Tattoo?"
Reid had his trademark smirk plastered on his face. "The one around her belly button. You know, the Celtic knot-work wreath."
Pogue eyed him, "When did you see this?"
"This morning. I walked in on her changing. She didn't have anything on from the waist up"
Caleb leaned forward, grinning and shaking his head. "You never knock, do you? Reid, you don't just walk into a girl's room."
Reid looked from Pogue, to Caleb, and back to Tyler. He was shocked at what he found. Reid had never seen Tyler this mad in his life. "What?"
"Is there anything you won't do?"
Reid crossed his arms on top of the desk and leaned his chin on them, "Please. It's not like I saw anything you haven't."
"What are you talking about?"
Sighing heavily, it was Reid's turn to frown. "When you bandaged her stomach. I assume you did it this morning because I sure as hell didn't see you do it last night."
Pogue started to chuckle, "You see a girl topless and all you look at is her stomach?"
"Dude, I have some dignity."
Caleb could not believe this. "Reid."
Before anyone could say another word, the Professor started class. Tyler, however, did not hear a word he said. He was too busy looking over at Faye. Millions of questions ran through his mind. Why had she lied to him? If she was injured bad enough that Reid noticed the bandage, why was she hiding it? Tyler decided he was going to find out. No matter what.
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Faye made her way out of class as quickly as possible. Her stomach was killing her and Faye had a feeling she would need to change the dressing. Because she knew people would notice she was in pain when she moved, she had waited until everyone had left.
Unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky. Waiting in the hallway was Kira. "Shit."
"Hi there, roomie. You didn't come back last night. I was waiting for you." Faye stood still, trying her best not to show the pain she was in.
"Go away, Kira."
Kira's face looked really ugly when she was mad. She stormed up to Faye and shoved her in the stomach, forcing Faye to hit the wall behind her. "Don't bother coming back to our room. After what you did to my Aaron, you'll be lucky if all I do is kill you in your sleep."
She walked off in a snit. Faye closed her eyes as the pain seemed to travel in waves across her body. Sliding down to the floor, she mumbled to herself, "People need to stop slamming me into things."
"Maybe you should stop pissing them off. You're starting to act like Reid."
Faye opened her eyes. Tyler was kneeling in front of her. His blue eyes seemed to deepen with determination. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" She knew it was pointless but it was in her nature to be stubborn.
"Reid told me. He thought I bandaged you up and I'm letting him think that." Tyler was gentle as he undid her blazer. Faye had been right. Blood stained her white shirt. "How long has it been bleeding?"
"Since last night. I didn't tell you then because I didn't know."
His face was stern, "You couldn't feel it?"
"Nope. Didn't start hurting until this morning." Faye watched him. He was so serious.
Tyler's eyes shifted from her blood-stained shirt, to her face. "That's not good. I'm taking you back to my room, it's closer."
Faye let him help her stand. She leaned on him as they walked towards his room. "Tyler? Promise me you won't tell the others. Please, it's important."
"As long as you tell me what you're hiding."
Knowing she had to trust someone, Tyler seemed the best choice. From what Kate and Sara told her, he was the quite and reasonable one. "Deal."
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A/N: You'll find out what Chase's message is in the next chapter. Unfortunately, I think a lot of you may be disappointed. It's not as huge as you think and it's more symbolic than anything else. Anyone have any guesses as to what Chase left?
Daydream1: I'm glad you thought it was funny. I found when writing the last chapter, that it seemed like a filler. Pure torture IS pure evil but sometimes necessary.
demonickiwi: Just think 'he's not a natural blond' and there's your answer... but it's probably the bad boy persona. It's true that we love the bad boys.
Draco's Secret Lover: I say it should be a real word too. I'm glad to hear that people actually liked chapter 4. I wasn't a huge fan myself. I'm trying to make Faye as real as possible and I'm glad to see that someone is relating to her. About the message, I have a feeling that it may be a disappointment after all the wait but it was difficult to come up with something. Chase is lurking in the dark for now. He has this way of letting you torture yourself, so we'll see. The thing with him and his sister may become clearer in the next chapter. . . I hope. You know how it is, a story sometimes writes itself. And then there's the times when you have 17 million versions of one scene.
kEs-2717: Glad you like my story. It always helps the ego to hear that. I figured that was why Tyler was closer to Reid then the others. They seem to be opposite sides of the same coin. Oh so fun to play with.
paige: Good to see she's different in a good way. I noticed that even in the movie, Tyler didn't get much attention. He was kind of the filler character and it bugged me a little. They should have given all 4 boys attention.
Skye Mercer: Glad to know. I look forward to reading your story. I'm going to take a wild guess that Lily and Carlie are OCs? Reid really SHOULD'VE knocked first but would Reid ACTUALLY knock first? I didn't think he was the type so that's where I got the idea.