Okay, so this was just a wee update for all you people out there since I'm going to stop myself from writing for like the next month because of all my essays and whatnot.

Chapter 4

Her eyes flickered open only briefly. The lights were too bright and cause a splitting pain deep inside her head.

Karen couldn't get up from her seat fast enough when she saw her daughter move. She had been sitting by her bedside for almost the whole time that Leaf was out cold, waiting desperately for her daughter to come to.

"Leafy, Leafy dear…" Karen's voice was barely a whisper but it was more than enough to show her concern for the drowsy teen. She helped Leaf sit up, careful not to hurt her arm.

Leaf was confused. She had no idea where she was or what had happened. Why did her head feel like there was someone inside it trying to kick it outwards? Why was she lying in a room that was so nauseatingly clinical? And most importantly, why was her key not resting in its safe spot round her neck?

"Oh, Leaf, your father and I were extremely worried when we got a call at work from your school…" Karen trailed off, not wanting to say that the school has called her regarding her unconscious daughter who failed to turn up to class.

"Where's my key?" Leaf croaked. It wasn't until she spoke that she realised how dry her throat had become, an indicator to Leaf that she had been out cold for at least six hours, maybe more.

"What key?" Her mother asked.

"The little one that opens my drawer, in my room." Leaf answered frantically. The thought that the key that she valued more than her own house keys was missing was scary. If she really did lose her key, there would be no way in to her drawer that held her journal.

Her mother gave it some thought then replied. "I'm sure I saw you wearing it this morning when I dropped you off at school..."

Leaf tuned out when her mother started to go on about occasions that she had seen Leaf where it as a pendant. She couldn't help but wonder if Gary had anything to do with its sudden disappearance…

Xxxxxx

Leaf's dad had followed Karen's instructions to take Leaf's bag up to her room for her while the she and Leaf sat in the kitchen with some hot tea. The warmth was comforting though nothing could remove the chilling fact that Leaf's key could be in Gary's possession and he could probably find out where she lives… The latter seemed a little bit farfetched, even Leaf thought so as soon as the thought entered her head but he did manage to find out that she had a secret somehow, so why not?

"So tomorrow you can have a nice lie in and we'll talk about returning to school the day after, if you're up for it." Karen said once Leaf had left her thoughts behind to listen to her mother, who looked like she was approaching the end of her speech.

"I want to go to school tomorrow." Leaf declared, surprising her mother in the process. "I feel fine."

"You feel fine now but that might not be the case tomorrow." Karen said knowingly as she put a gentle hand on her daughter's non-dislocated shoulder (Leaf flinched when the news that her shoulder had been dislocated was broken to her).

"No, if I feel fine now, chances are, I'll feel better tomorrow." Leaf retorted.

Karen stopped drinking her tea midway and stared at her daughter. The adamant tone she used reminded her of how the young brunette used to be; decisive, adamant and most of the time, annoyingly a know-all. Curse her daughter for inheriting all the intellectual genes in the family.

Leaf took her mother's silence as a sign that she was right. "Then it's decided. I'll go to school tomorrow."

Karen sat there, speechless. Was it possible that the bump to Leaf's head fixed her?

Xxxxx

Leaf had slept in the next day. Her mother had come into her room later last night to talk about returning to school so quickly but Leaf stood by her decision and after a lengthy discussion between the two stubborn family members, it was decided that Leaf would return to school for the afternoon. If it wasn't for the key, Leaf would've continued to feign soreness until her mother or father realised that she was fine. At least as fine as she'd get.

With her blazer half worn, half draped over her dislocated shoulder, which was now cradled in a sling, Leaf walked into the building and signed into school then proceeded to walk to class. The halls were quiet with classes in session and most if not all the doors shut. Leaf took this quietness as an opportunity to retrace her steps from the day of her accident. Even though she knew that it would be unlikely for her key to be at the back stairwell, she had to check anyway so that she could rule out any possibilities, or rather, let the clues tell her that her guess is correct.

Leaf frowned when she couldn't find it and headed to class bracing herself for the stares and murmurs just before she knocked and opened the door.

Leaf gave her teacher an apologetic bow then turned to take her seat, scanning the class as she did so. She spotted Gary at the back of the class, sitting nonchalantly on his seat with his feet resting on his desk. He gave her a smug look when their eyes met.

Leaf shuddered, sat down and unpacked her bag as the teacher continued with his lecture that would normally interest Leaf if her mind wasn't already occupied with another matter. She thought about pulling Gary up about stealing her key after class but then what good would that do her? It was unlikely that he would hand it over just like that. If anything, that would make him even more interested in the object in question. On the other hand, if Leaf played it cool about the key, maybe he'd decide that it's useless and return it. Somehow that outcome seemed unlikely too.

But did Gary really have the key? Leaf looked over her shoulder several times during class, trying to see the boy in question, as if looking at him would help her decide whether if he was guilty of stealing or not.

"Okay class, I want you to do questions one to twelve. Anything you don't finish you will do as homework." The teacher said as he sat down into his seat from the front of the class and pulled out a stack of papers that needed grading.

As soon as he made the announcement, chatter had started to rise and some students started to get up from their seats and wonder off to their friends across the room and the teacher didn't care – or he didn't notice.

Leaf decided against talking to Gary about it, at least in front of so many people. If the teacher was anything as spineless as the maths teacher, Leaf could end up with several more injuries.

Leaf put her head down and started to work on the questions. Reducing her workload tonight would probably do her some good. Leaf felt a nudge at her table that caused her pen to drag across the page and looked up just in time to see a devious smirk on the face of a certain brunet as he passed her desk and walked straight out of class. Leaf gave the teacher a glance. Shouldn't he do something about the student that just walked straight out of his class without permission?

Ignoring the disciplinary thought, Leaf followed Gary out of the class and down the hall back to the stairwell where she last saw him at school. The doors were shut but swinging, a sign that they had just been used.

Leaf pulled them towards her, hoping the doors would make no sound when she opened them. Leaf tried to walk silently on the hard blue floors of the back stairwell. She could hear Gary's voice coming from below her.

"Can't stand being in there." Leaf could hear Gary say.

"I know. I just walked out of class while that Blaine was still lecturing us." Said a second voice.

Who Gary was talking to was a mystery to Leaf but hopefully not for long. She silently walked over to the banister and peered over. Directly below where she stood was Gary with a peculiar looking green haired boy. They both had what looked to be a cigarette clasped between their fingers.

The green haired boy took a drag from his then let the smoke drift out from between his lips. The boys had jammed the fire exit open to help the smoke disperse faster.

"So I'll be expecting you in-" Gary stopped he was saying to his friend when he saw her Brunette locks hanging.

Leaf knew she was caught. But for some odd reason, she didn't run away. She stared back at Gary. The green haired boy stared at Leaf too.

"What are you doing there?" Gary shouted up. Despite it being a question, Gary said it like a statement, a threatening one.

Leaf contemplated running away and pretend that she never saw him.

"I want to know why you took it." Leaf said, trying to sound confident and firm when she spoke.

"So the girl can speak." Gary said, clearly taking the situation as one of humour. It was his first time hearing Leaf speak and he was surprised by the way she spoke; it didn't match the defenceless image that he had built up of her.

Whenever he spoke to Leaf, she always felt threatened. She wanted to back down but if she wanted to know the whereabouts of her key, she knew that backing down would equate to giving it up. "You never answered me." Leaf shouted down.

"Can't exactly tell you without knowing what I supposedly took?" Gary said then took another drag of his cigarette.

"You know what you took." Leaf fired back.

"Something that's to do with your secret. Interesting." Gary said calmly. He had a hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips, waiting to spread onto the rest of his face at any moment. "Maybe I'll tell you if you tell me your secret?"

Leaf's mouth fell open at the sound of his proposal. She was right! He does have her key, or at least know the whereabouts of it.

"You know my secret so you may as well tell me yours."

Leaf backed away from the banisters. She can't tell him something so personal. He's a boy and one that as far as she can tell, hates her and wants to make her life hell. There was no way on Earth she would tell him anything!

Gary and his companion had climbed the stairs while Leaf was in her thoughts. The green hair boy had blocked off the door while Gary stood dauntingly in front of Leaf, his gaze on her intense and dark.

"You know my secret." Gary said in low growl, "no one else knows about it. If we get caught, we'll know who to come to."

Leaf tried not to look intimidated by his stare like the other times that he invaded her personal space but she nodded as bravely as she could and hoped that he'd back away.

"Good." Gary smiled maliciously. "But you still haven't told me what your secret is."

Leaf could smell the cigarette fumes that clung onto him. She never noticed the smell before when he came up so close to her. "I have no secret to disclose." Leaf said.

"Keep telling yourself that." Gary said as he walked past her towards his friend and the door, nudging her injured shoulder on the way.

xxxxx

Leaf packed her chemistry books into her bag closed it. The teacher didn't seem to notice her absence from his class, or if he did, he made no effort in disciplining her about it. Leaf scurried out of the class and contemplated which way to go. She didn't particularly fancy going up the stairwell that she had missed half of class for and the alternative routes was longer. After considering her limited options, Leaf concluded that it wouldn't matter if she was late or not because one, she didn't care about school anymore and two, she had Erica, the only seemingly nice teacher who would probably let her off for murder. Especially if it was the murder of Gary, who as far as Leaf could tell, Erica didn't like.

Leaf followed slowly behind the sea of students that had filled the halls. Most had stop to linger round their friend's lockers and swap gossip on who had the newest and outrageously expensive gadgets or trendiest designer shoes or who was the latest person to be hospitalised by a certain boy.

Leaf tried not to listen to the pointless gossip or take notice of the sideward glances and continued forward, making sure to keep her bad arm away from the careless students. It was hard since she had chosen not to take the quiet stairwell but the busy main stairs up.

Leaf had managed to get to class without hurting herself further. The majority of the class had settled down already and as Leaf's eyes made it to the back of the class, she noticed that a certain brunet haired boy was also there.

Leaf approached a desk at the front, distancing herself from the rest of the students who primarily preferred to sit at the back. She pulled out her biology textbook and prepared herself for class.

"Leaf, can I have a word with you at the end of class?" Leaf heard someone say to her. She looked up from her desk and saw Erica standing at her desk and nodded.

"Great." Erica said then proceeded to start the lesson.

Leaf watched Erica intently as she spoke to the class about different genera of plants. What did Erica have to say to her?

From the back of the class, Gary wondered the exact same thing.

Xxxxxx

So, what does Erica want to say to Leaf? And Gary smokes… Yeah, that's just a casual habit of his :P but I'm going to expand on that in later chapters so let's bare that in mind. Also, going to bring the rest of the cast in later so be patient people! Patience is a virtue… Or so I'm told.

Anyway, review people and make me happy to be writing!