One More to Pile

"Reed, it's been such a long time! I've missed you dreadfully," she said. Her soft blonde hair moved with the wind, showing a terrible beauty. Her steel blue eyes peered into the poor girl, shaking from fear.

"Arianna . . . You're supposed to be dead."

She laughed, and gave Reed a sensual wink. "Oh no. Not when I still have something to finish."

Reed shook her head in defiance, hoping for this . . . What was it, exactly? A dream? Reality?

Arianna stepped forward in two long strides, having Reed coward against the wall. Tears streamed down her pitiful face, and her captive laughed, making music in hell.

"You won't believe how happy I am," said Arianna, her voice a quiet whisper as she came forth, taunting Reed.

She didn't fight, though. And so Arianna had won, once and for all.

"AHH! Stop it, please!" I got up, making the bed creak and hitting my arm on the wall. My breathing was coming out very fast, and I was bathed in sweat. Cold air came over me, forcing me to shiver, and bringing more tears to my face.

"Reed?" I heard someone ask groggily. My eyes were closed, not sure what to think, and praying to God that wasn't real. After a short while, my breathing subdued. That was when I felt something tug on my arm.

I screamed at the sudden contact of cold fingers, and moved myself back, hitting my head on the wall. I groaned at the impact of the solid wall banging on my head. Pushing the covers aside, I scrambled to get out of bed, wondering who the hell was sleeping next to me.

"Reed! Reed! Calm down, it's just me!" the voice said. It was immensely dark in my room, and the only source of light came from my digital clock on the bed. It read 4:45 a.m.

There was a shuffling of bed sheets and a loud creak from the bed. I stood frozen, not sure what I should do. Should I go to the cafeteria and get a knife? Did I have any scissors at my disposal?

"Reed, it's me: Noelle. God, you scared the crap out of me."

Oh God, it was Noelle. Thank God.

She sighed, and I immediately felt the stupidity of my actions. I should have just sat there, waiting for everything to calm down, and fell back asleep. My feet were planted in the middle of the room, and I didn't feel like going back. I felt ashamed.

Noelle had spent the night due to a serious and rather annoying fight between her and Ivy. One of the deans had to come in, threatening them with some severe consequences. So I had convinced Noelle to spend the night with me, just so everything could blow over. But I had obviously forgotten about that this morning.

"Oh," was all I said after a very long pause. Nervousness crept over me, and I wondered what Noelle was going to say. My dreams were becoming more intense by the second.

I could see a faint outline of Noelle. She was sitting on the bed her head cast low as she tried to shake off the drowsiness. "Reed, talk to me."

I gulped. I didn't want to. I didn't want to explain how much it was affecting me, and I didn't want to explain how real they felt.

Suddenly feeling the urge to run, I blindly went over and picked up my sweatshirt, since I remembered where it was. I slipped it on with shaking fingers, and the whole time, Noelle was death still.

"I-I'm going to out for a bit." I heard a faint protest coming from her mouth, but I left before she could say anything. The dark hallway welcomed me, leading my blurred mind to the bathroom to clear my head. One, two, three times I splashed water in my face, add another ten. The sweat that was present a mere five minutes before was clinging to my body.

Slowly, I lifted my head up and saw an ugly picture of me. It was grotesque. It was pitiful. My hair was all over my face, some pieces still stuck on my face. I had blue bruises underneath my eyes, and my face looked gaunt. There was nothing there. Nothing.

I shook my head, needing an outlet for my anger and sadness. The blue orbs which once held a happy twinkle was gone, and a few more tears fell down. What was I? What did I become? Who did I become?

Quietly opening the door, I tip-toed my way down the stairs, not wanting to wake anyone up. I needed a complete breather. As I walked, my thoughts went to the dreams I was having. Was there some purpose? And why were they haunting me when everything was . . . alright? Just when I felt better, something had to everything upside down.

I continued to walk, dragging my limp legs to the soccer field. Once I got there, I went to the supply shed, where all the soccer balls were kept. It was ridiculously easy to open. I took a large bag out, filled with my favorite spotted black and white globes, and walked over to the field. One by one, I laid out the balls in different positions all around the goal post.

Smack! My toes were slightly hurting after the contact. But that only spurred me on. I went around my carefully laid out bullets, hitting the target. Images of Josh, Ivy, my stalkers, even freaking Amberly flashed in my mind. Anger rolled forward like a tsunami; I felt kind of bad for the soccer balls and the goal. The cold air barely registered to me. It just made everything go faster.

Now that I was somewhat done, I stopped, taking in some very deep breaths. I suddenly felt very weak and stupid. Everything that had happened for the past month; no, the past two damn years came crashing down. I was utterly exhausted. Nothing helped. Everything was just getting worse.

I plopped my butt on the ground and hugged my knees. Everything that had happened before Easton was nothing but a blurry old film. These past two years had dictated my life so bad, so much, I didn't know what else I should live for. What I should even do.

Bang!

My head snapped up at the abrupt noise. My heart started to flutter in anticipation and fear. Crap, crap, crap; I should've stayed inside.

I got up as fast as I could, looking for the source of the noise. In an instant, I heard another loud noise, and my brow furrowed. Over at the basketball court, I saw a blonde boy shooting some hoops, and the two loud bangs were due to the fact that he was dunking. They were pretty nice dunks. Thanks to Scott and his crazy obsession over the Celtics, I knew how much effort the dunks took.

Step by step, I walked over to the basketball courts. As I approached, I saw that the person was Sawyer, madly crossing the ball in between his legs, and going for a layup. It took a while for me to register that Sawyer was actually playing a sport, and for few minutes I watched him.

He finally noticed me. His swift stare took me by surprise. I flinched, finally breaking from my daze. "Hey, Reed." Sweat dripped all over him, his shirt stained with water. And I couldn't help but notice how tight the shirt was.

I couldn't help but smile. "Hey," I said back. An awkward silence passed by. I knew what we both wanted to ask: Why were we here?

"Couldn't sleep?" Sawyer finally asked. He came over, the ball resting on his hips.

A nervous chuckle came from my lips. "Yeah . . . You?"

He smiled. "Well, I am here, at 5:30 in the morning."

I cleared my throat and said, "You're really good. I didn't know what that loud noise was, and when I looked over, I was like 'Whoa, Sawyer's awesome!'" I paused, realizing I was rambling. "I'm sure you thought I was weird or something, watching you . . ."

Sawyer laughed. Really laughed. It wasn't a sarcastic laugh, or a taunting laugh; it was short. But it was so genuine. It was so real and heartfelt. I glanced at him, curious to see the emotions on his face. "No, I don't mind. It was rather flattering."

A small giggle escaped my lips. Perhaps it was flattering.

Another silence swept us, but it was comfortable. We both watched the sun rise, its large presence looming over our messed up souls. Faint pink lines circled the sky, and it was breath taking.

"Do you want to play?"

I smirked. I wasn't the best basketball player, but I was fairly good. "You're on." I stole the ball from him, and went straight up for the basket, gaining a point for me. The ball danced inside the basket and fell down. I caught it and said, "I think I was wrong saying you were good." I dribbled the ball, a smirk playing on my lips. "Well?"

Sawyer just shook his head and drove for the ball, stealing it from me. I chased after him as much as I could, but with no avail. I did manage to get a couple of baskets, only because Sawyer allowed me to go to the free throw line. Our bodies would collide when I would guard Sawyer, and vice versa. The jolt of electricity I felt when his arm brushed against mine didn't go unnoticed. I did get startled for the first few times (which caused me to lose the ball), but I soon welcomed it, fueling my need to at least get a two-pointer.

Finally, I was able to steal the ball from him. I raced down the court, laughing as I did so."Oh, and look at her! Look at that speed! Sawyer Hathaway can't keep up with the Great Reed!" I taunted.

"Hey! Since when did you start to steal the ball from me?" I heard Sawyer say from behind. I smirked again as I went up for a layup. My left foot stood planted on the floor while my right hung in the air, along with my right arm. Just when I thought the ball was going in, a hand came out of nowhere, knocking the ball from midair. My mind barely registered that the ball was gone from my grasp, and my mind certainly did not register that Sawyer was falling down on me.

His chest smashed into mine, and we both yelped as we went along with the laws of gravity. Out of impulse, Sawyer's arms wrapped around my body, protecting me, while his head rested on my shoulder. My body exploded in electric sparks and a new wave of heat swept over me. In that split second, we fell down. My elbows skidded on the concrete along with my back, but at least my head was OK.

"Ow! Crap, that hurts!" I groaned out. I shut my eyes, relishing the pain. I hoped I wasn't bleeding.

"Are you alright?" Sawyer's voice asked quietly.

The pain was momentarily gone as I opened my eyes up. Sawyer's beautiful grey eyes mixed with brown were looking at me, a mere inch and a half away from me. His arms were still around me, our legs tangled. Sawyer's golden locks danced around his face, a couple brushing over my forehead. My heart instantly beat faster, frozen at that moment. Sawyer kept on looking at me while I stared back, confused at what I wanted. What did I want? Why was I even wondering about what I wanted?

But I was wondering about one thing: When was he going to kiss me? My eyes flew to his pink, soft lips and at that moment, I knew that whatever was going to happen, it would be OK.

To say that Sawyer jumped off of me was understatement. To say that Sawyer pretty much freaked out was probably an understatement too. Sawyer curious and awe-filled face was replaced with a guilty and embarrassed expression in less than a second. He immediately released his arms from me and got up. The cold January air passed over me, and I internally groaned, missing the contact.

What a bummer.

"Uh . . . Um, s-schools about to start. I think we should, you know, head back," he said, his voice showing me no trace of him even actually believing it. Sawyer was propped up on his palms which were laid on either side of my hips. He then got up fully, dusting the tiny rocks off of him. A couple landed on my chest. I was mad. Really mad.

Why did he freak out? What was so wrong? Sawyer told Noelle and I that he wasn't a prude little boy we thought him to be. So why was he acting like a fourteen year old virgin? Not only that, why had I wanted it so bad?

Frustrated at my emotions and Sawyer's, I got up but I was still sitting down. I was really tired from the extreme workout, and I didn't want to face Sawyer yet. I glanced up and began to get up, until I realized the sharp pain from my left elbow.

"Ow," I muttered. I fell back down on the ground, inspecting the damage. There was a lot of blood coming out and my whole elbow was ruined.

"Here, let me look at that," I heard Sawyer say softly.

I instantly became defensive. Why was Sawyer offering to touch me, but not before? Was I some kind of disease?

"No," I threw out. It was rather harsh. "I'll be alright," I finished, sarcasm and hurt apparent in my voice. I refused to look at Virgin Boy. I refused to look Loser Bookworm Boy.

"OK." Sawyer's lean shadow moved to the right and left, leaving me utterly pissed off. Well, at least I wasn't going to feel all sad today. I was downright mad. Being mad was better than being sad.

***

After the rather exhausting workout, I came back to Pemberly and took a shower, getting rid of all the sweat and the blood. As I walked back to my room, I totally forgot that Noelle was sleeping in there, and I would probably have to answer.

I opened my door after a rather long pep talk, trying to calm my nerves. I hoped that Noelle wasn't going to beat the shit out of me and tell me to be a big girl. And I really hoped that she wasn't going to be nice- yes, nice- and send me to a shrink.

OK, now that was weird.

But I did open the door, and I saw Vienna handing Noelle a bag. What. The. Fuck?

"This is like, the only supply I have left," Vienna started.

"Shut up you crack head; I don't need the whole bag." Noelle took one bottle out and handed the bag back to Vienna. "There, now you can get all high tonight."

Vienna snorted. "You mean every night."

I was shocked. Noelle was taking drugs? Noelle was getting drugs from Vienna? I had thought of Noelle to be a clean girl, although there were times she did drink a lot. But this?

I was aware that Vienna and Noelle were frozen in the middle of the room, looking at me. Vienna and Noelle had a nonchalant look on their face, and I wanted to smack them square and hard. This was honestly fucked up.

"W-what is going on?" I managed to muster.

Noelle and Vienna smirked. "Reed, it's called getting a few extra hours of sleep," Vienna replied. "And," she said while she dug through the bag, "getting an awesome fuck, oh! Feeling extremely happy . . ."

I was beyond shocked. I knew Vienna did those kinds of things but still, I had always envisioned the Billings girls to be perfect.

But . . . that's been proven wrong countless of times.

"Hey, I need some time with Reed. Can you leave now, Vienna?" asked Noelle. Vienna just shrugged and walked past me, smiling to me as she did so. She laughed when she saw the confused expression on my face.

After Vienna left, I asked, "What the hell are you doing with those? Why are you-"

The bottle was thrown right in the middle of my chest and I caught it, wondering why Noelle was handing me the bottle. I gingerly raised it up to eye level, seeing that it was a sleeping pill. Then it hit me: Noelle was being nice. She was trying to help me. She was trying to help me sleep and get rid of my nightmares.

"Just take them. One a day, remember. I can always get you more," she added. Noelle wasn't looking at me, but she was intently focused on fixing her hair. After she was done inspecting her work of art, she grabbed her bag and walked forward. She looked at me straight in the eye, and her mouth formed into a weird looking . . . smile. A sympathetic smile.

My words stumbled out a thank you. "Noelle, I-"

She just cleared her throat and raised her chin up. "Come on, Glass Licker." Noelle left without another word, leaving me with a pile of emotions. Although I had been given drugs, the gesture was so nice, so earnest, I could not have been any happier to have a friend like Noelle.

As fucked up everything was, I knew I could count on at least one thing: my friends.


thanks for reviewing guys!

yeah, i know, another crappy filler. i'm sorry if the pace if going slow. i'm getting there, but i gotta build up friendships and ah, sexual tension. yep, that's why i have reed all mad and sawyer being a wimp in this chapter. all you josh fans, more will be coming soon! so don't give up yet.

any of you a fan of harry potter? check out the new fanfic i have out, called "Nothing to Give."

reviews please! you'll recieve some really nice curry from my mom sent through the internet (on second thought, i don't think i'll do that. i want some for myself. you guys can just go on google images). :)