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So...what are you thinking so far? Should I continue?
Chapter Nine
Something wet is on my face.
I scrunch my eyes and my nose and move my whole head to the side, pulling my covers further over my head. That doesn't work and the wetness continues to spread over my cheeks, nose, forehead, and lips.
I spit it away and find open my eyes to a big tan and white body hovering on top of mine, and a big, pink tongue licking my entire face.
"Angel!" I grunt, shoving her away.
She keeps her tongue lolled out and sits on top of me, wagging her tail. I lift my head and look at her through squinted, sleepy eyes and then drop my head back on my pillow.
"Do you even know what time it is?" I groan, reaching for my bedside table to grab my phone. "It's-" I check my phone "-only nine, Angel. Go back to sleep." I say, resting my phone back down and shutting my eyes again.
Then they snap open.
Nine o'clock?!
I'm late. I'm so late.
I shoot out of bed, throwing Angel off of it in my sudden burst and she yelps as she falls onto Bruce. He lifts his head from on the floor and grunts, laying back down and instantly falling back to sleep.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." I mutter as I run around my room and get dressed, throwing a brush through my hair.
I don't bother to get in the shower because I know I don't have time, so instead I throw my hair into a braid and rush downstairs. I grab a bag of chips as breakfast and sprint out the door, speeding towards school.
I call Chloe during the ride since I had a bunch of missed calls from her, and I'm answered with a pretty pissed off yell.
"Where the HELL are you?!" She screams into the phone.
I cringe and hold it far away from me as her voice comes through. "I woke up late." I mutter when she finishes.
"You left me all alone!"
I sigh and almost run through a red light, barely making it through while it was yellow. "Well where is Logan? Isn't he there with you?"
"He's here, but you left me alone with him. I can only take so much Vicky talk, Reagan!" She exclaims, then she gets quieter. "He wanted to tell me why they decided to give anal a try..."
I cringe deeply and almost drop my phone from the news. I catch it at the last possible second and swerve on the road a little bit before regaining control. "I am so sorry, Chloe." I say genuinely.
"Luckily I had to go take pictures for yearbook so I got out of there before he could actually explain the story." She breathes, and I can hear the relief evident in her voice.
"Alright, well I'm here so you won't be alone during lunch."
"It's about damn time!"
I laugh and hang up on her, throwing my phone into the passenger seat as I pull into the parking lot. I practically sprint to art where Hayden is working on our project all alone; but I don't feel too bad about that. It's basically payback for him ditching me yesterday and then blackmailing me.
Hayden's eyes snap to me when I walk through the door and he crosses his arms while shooting me a smug look. I ignore him and walk to Mr. Duncan who has two cups of coffee on his desk.
He looks at me and sits back in his seat. "You could have told me you were going to be late before I bought you coffee."
"I'm sorry, Duncan. I overslept." I sigh, running my hand over my face.
"Well, it's still warm if you want it." He offers, and I smile gratefully at him.
"Thanks, I don't know what I would do without you." I breathe as I take it from him. The cup is still hot and massages my chapped hands.
I need to invest in some lotion.
I make my way through the cluttered students towards my table where Hayden is working by himself. I'm surprised to see that he actually got some stuff done without me here. I guess he really did mean it when he said he would work on this project, which is quite surprising.
"Don't look so shocked, I'm useful when I want to be." He smirks as I sit down.
"Seems rare."
"I can be quite useful in other ways too," he flirts.
I roll my eyes and place my backpack down next to me, over an old paint stain from the summer-camp classes we hosted. The janitor must have missed this one lone stain when cleaning up, and it dried into the tile before anyone could wipe it away.
I get my things out of my backpack and place them on the desk, and in doing so I discreetly look Hayden over and pay fine attention to how hot he looks today.
He's wearing a black t-shirt with some random design on the front with dark red pants. The shirt fits him just right and accentuates his perfectly toned arms, and the red of his pants emphasizes the darkness of his hair. Of course his eyes are glowing too.
His obvious good looks make me a little self conscious since I threw on some dirty jeans and a plain t-shirt in my five minute prep this morning.
"Get any more love letters?" He asks, lounging back in his chair as he looks at me.
I ignore him and he chuckles, dropping the attempted conversation.
---
"Thanks for covering for me, by the way." I thank Noah as he walks with me towards my car.
He smiles at me, "Of course."
During English I went 'to the bathroom,' which was actually code for meeting up with Chloe and Logan for a good half hour. Noah hadn't minded since he was in the middle of a conversation with someone from class, but when I got back Mrs. Hughes was very suspicious.
"Really, I thought Mrs. Hughes would have my head." I shutter, gulping at the idea.
She's only 5'2" but every inch of her is pure savagery.
"Oh she probably would have." He agrees, putting his hands in his pockets as we walk down the cluttered hallway.
"How did you come up with that anyways? Saying my car alarm was going off?" I laugh, looking over at him. "It was genius."
He grins at me, "I knew we were far enough away for her not to hear it, that way she wouldn't be able to call bs since nothing was actually going off."
"Well thank you for the quick thinking. I sure as hell didn't want detention." I breathe, accidentally bumping into him to avoid a group of cheerleaders marching down the hall.
Noah darts his hands out and grabs my arms to steady me since I was about to topple over from the avoidance, and I give him a small, sheepish smile. "Thanks..."
His teeth shimmer as he smiles at me. "I didn't take you for a klutz, Reagan."
As he moves his hands from my arms, I see Hayden with another random girl by his locker. I scoff and roll my eyes as we pass them and continue talking with Noah, giving little attention to Hayden.
Noah and I get to the parking lot, and I randomly see Cole walking in our general direction from a few cars over.
He's looking perfectly attractive today as well. He has on dark black jeans and an auburn shirt, twirling his keys around his finger.
No wonder Chloe can't shake her feelings. With him looking like that, who could?
I don't expect him to walk up to us, but that's exactly what he does.
"Hey Reagan, can I talk to you?" He asks, nodding respectfully at Noah.
I recoil in shock from the question and stare warily at him for a few seconds. I've never talked to him one on one in my entire life. The other day at my locker with Hayden was really the first conversation I've ever shared with Cole, and I said maybe two sentences directed towards him.
Noah sighs and then gives me a small smile. "I guess I'll see you later, Reagan."
Noooo don't go.
He left.
"Not to be rude, but what do you want?" I ask Cole out of genuine curiosity.
Like I've said before, I don't hate Cole like I hate Hayden. He seems at least a little more humane, and his eyes just look softer. Maybe it's because his are a dark shade of brown whereas Hayden's are a piercing shade of blue; as if every time they meet mine he's looking past all the walls I subconsciously put up.
Cole has had a hard past. I mean, his mom died from cancer when he was thirteen for crying out loud. No one should ever have to go through that, no matter who you are.
I don't like him because he dropped Chloe when he needed her most, but he has the most redeeming qualities out of him and Hayden.
"You don't like Hayden," he points out, throwing his hands into his jean pockets.
I raise a brow, "No, I don't. Why are you bringing that up?" I answer casually. I cross my arms and lean my weight onto one leg as I stare questioningly at him.
He sighs and glances down the parking lot towards where Hayden's camaro is parked. As he talks, his eyes snap back to me. "He's actually not that bad a guy, you know."
I make a weird disbelieving laugh/snort noise and Cole scratches his head awkwardly.
"I'm being serious, you should give him a chance to be your friend. He's a good person." He repeats.
I have to refrain myself from asking if he's fallen and damaged his head. I settle for giving him a weird look, but then the gears start turning and I let out a disbelieving laugh.
"Did Hayden tell you to do this? God, he really can't stand when someone doesn't like him." I say almost to myself as I shake my head. "I mean Jesus Christ, not everyone-"
Cole cuts me off and and waves his hand to deny my words. "He didn't tell me to talk to you, Reagan. I came here on my own account. I get that he comes off as an absolute dick, trust me, but he's actually a very noble dude. He's one of the biggest softies I know, actually."
I stare at him and try to decipher why he's telling me this. Hayden? A softie? Those words shouldn't even go in the same sentence.
Maybe I could see it if he was only a jerk because of protective nature, but he's nothing of the sort. The only words used to describe him are cocky and egotistic.
Since I don't say anything else, Cole sighs defeated and looks down at the faded pavement.
"I'll just go, then..." He trails off, walking back towards the school. But then he abruptly stops and turns around, his nervous eyes flickering from me and back to the ground. "Uh, Reagan?" He asks, his voice suddenly defenseless.
I raise my brows at his sudden look of vulnerability and soften my tone. "Yeah?"
"Do you think you could tell Chloe..." He trails off and doesn't finish his sentence, shaking his head and walking away.
I furrow my brow and watch him go, waiting until he's back inside the school before I walk towards my car across the parking lot. What the hell was that about?
"What the hell was that about?" Chloe suddenly shows up, literally voicing my thoughts.
She startles me and I almost fall back from the surprise. I lift my hand to my rapidly beating heart and lean on my car for support as she fiddles with her camera bag.
"You scared the shit out of me," I breathe.
"How about me?" Logan asks from behind me, appearing out of absolutely nowhere.
I actually scream, my horror-movie-worthy voice carrying through the parking lot, and he starts bellowing out laughter. He hunches over and holds his stomach, pointing at me as tears form in his eyes.
"You should have seen your face!" He exclaims, slapping his knee as another round of laughter takes him over.
I glare at him and turn back to Chloe, "What?" I snap, unlocking my car and throwing my backpack inside with more force than necessary.
"Why were you talking to Cole?" Chloe repeats, staring at the school where he disappeared to.
I shrug and lean on the open door of my car. "I don't know, he was trying to get me on Hayden's good side. Probably to get extra coverage in the yearbook or something." I say, waving it off as if it was nothing. It should have been, but it definitely raised a few questions.
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*Casper will not be in this story as a few of you were hoping :( I don't want any connections aside from that small reference I made*