Cover by CD_wolf_girl
Chapter Eleven
"I can't believe you spilled it." Duncan deadpans as we clean up the large coffee stain spread across his floor.
I came into his classroom this morning in desperate need of some coffee since I was up until three with loads and loads of homework. Then Bruce and Angel woke me up at five to let them out of my room, and I wasn't able to fall back asleep until 30 minutes before my alarm. I got so excited when Duncan handed my coffee to me that I just kind of dropped it...
It was tragic.
"I'm sorry, I'm just as upset as you, trust me." I sigh, grabbing another paper towel.
He sits back on his legs and sighs deeply. "My room is going to smell like coffee for the rest of the day."
"Hey, at least you had your coffee. That smell will be taunting me all class." I grumble, throwing away the wet and sticky paper towels, drenched in my nightmarish failure.
"Well maybe you shouldn't be so clumsy." He says, and I scowl at him.
I glance down at the previous stain marked tile and sigh. "Do I owe you the money for that coffee?"
"Have you ever owed me money for a coffee?"
I shrug and walk towards my desk. "Good point," I quip as I sit down.
Pulling my sketch book from under my desk, I place it delicately atop the table and line up my colored pencils next to it. I flip to the page that holds the colorless drawing, begging to be filled with more than just the gray shading of my pencil.
It's a simple drawing of a house on the beach- my dream house. It's nothing too extravagant, but enough for me to know I'll need a well paying job to ever afford a house like this.
I color the house itself a light blue, fitting in especially well with the orange sunset I have drawn on the horizon of the emerald sea. There are rocking chairs on the decks of the house and a small sandcastle on the sandy beach in front, with buckets and shovels littered around it. I guess when I was drawing it I was in the mindset I would have young kids at the time I built the house.
"You missed a spot."
I jump out of my skin and lift my head so fast I think I broke my neck. Hayden has one hand on the backs of each of our chairs and is looking over my shoulder at my drawing.
"Do you mind?" I snap, leaning away from him since his head is hovering just above mine.
His eyes shift from the drawing to me and he grins. "Not at all."
I bite my tongue and close my sketchbook, the delicate cover landing atop the skillful pages. I glance around the classroom and am completely surprised to see everyone in their seats. I completely lost track of time. When did class even start?
"How come you don't have coffee this morning?" Hayden asks as he slides into his seat. He has his shirt sleeves rolled up enough to reveal his forearms- beautiful muscular veins on full display.
I pout when I remember my mishap with gripping my coffee earlier. "I did. It just decided to betray me and spill all over the floor."
He raises a brow at me and nods slowly. "Alright then."
I yawn and cover up my mouth with the back of my hand. "It's tragic actually, I really could have used that boost."
Hayden looks questioningly over at me. "Not enough sleep?"
I shake my head. "Not nearly enough."
A smirk lights up his lips and his eyes turn mischievous. "Up all night fuck-"
"Homework." I say swiftly, cutting his suggestion off. "I was doing homework."
He chuckles and sinks back into his seat. "So no late night booty calls for you?"
I smile sweetly sarcastic at him. "You seem to have stolen them all."
Hayden glances at me and smiles, his dimple accentuating the crinkles by his eyes. "I wouldn't mind sharing."
"Let me guess, you keep the numbers in a little black book?"
"Where else would I keep them?"
I chuckle and roll my eyes, and he directs his attention to something on his phone. Who would have thought I just joked with the jackass that is Hayden Summers, and that I did it willingly?
I may not like him all that much, but he's at least tolerable right now.
I place my attention at the front of class when the door opens and disrupts the already rowdy art students.
Noah walks in with his bright smile on full display, and waves to multiple people in the class before walking to Mr. Duncan. My eyes discreetly scan his outfit, and I quickly divert my eyes before anyone can see me checking Noah out. He's wearing a button down and khakis, and he looks adorable. I feel my heart jump with surprise and start pounding harder when he starts walking towards my table after talking with Mr. Duncan.
"Hey Reagan," he grins, stopping in front of me. "Hayden," he adds, nodding at him.
Hayden lifts his eyes from his phone and gives a small 'sup' nod.
I tuck some hair behind my ear and smile at Noah. "Hey, what's up?"
"You left this in Mrs. Hughes room the other day, I've been meaning to return it." He explains, and only now do I see that he's holding my Great Gatsby book in his hands.
He holds it out for me to take and I smile gratefully at him. "Thank you."
He smiles, "I tried finding you this morning but didn't see you at your locker?"
I nod, "I came in early to talk to Mr. Duncan."
He places his hands in his pockets and nods. "Ah, that makes sense. Well, I should probably get back to chemistry before Mr. Ollie bites my head off." He chuckles, "I'll see you later, Reagan."
"Yeah, see you in English." I say as he walks away. I watch as he opens the door, waving at a few more people in my class before leaving the room.
"Well that sure was a cute exchange." Hayden pipes up from next to me.
"Eavesdropping? Really?" I ask, rolling my eyes at him. My good mood from Noah just seemed to vanish as soon as Hayden opened his mouth.
"I wouldn't call it eavesdropping if the two of you were talking over me. I didn't have a choice but to hear." He says, glancing up at me.
I shake my head and sigh, and he puts his phone away. "Get any love letters today?" He asks.
I roll my eyes and turn my attention to my phone as he did previously.
"Oh come on, just tell me." He pries.
I ignore him.
"You know, now that I think about it, I'd say they're from Noah." Hayden muses, scratching his chin in thought.
I look at him and scoff. "What makes you think that?"
He smirks, "You want it to be."
"I don't remember saying that. Noah is only a friend."
"You sure about that?"
I roll my eyes. "Yes. He's friends with so many girls, he would be my last guess."
"But you aren't denying that you want it to be him."
I scowl. "Noah's a great guy, I wouldn't mind them being from him, I just don't think they are."
Hayden purses his lips. "Okay, then it's Logan."
"I've already told you he has a girlfriend."
"Doesn't mean he can't want a side hoe."
I shake my head in disgust. "He's not like you. He actually respects girls, especially his girlfriend."
A flash of hurt crosses his eyes for a second, but it's gone as quickly as it came. "Who says I don't?"
I narrow my eyes at him. "You can't be serious."
"I respect girls." He defends himself, crossing his arms.
"Is that what you call kissing every girl at this school?" I ask, tilting my head.
He smirks and uncrosses his arms, leaning closer to me. His eyes flicker from my lips to my eyes and suddenly take on a much sexier tone. "I know one girl I haven't kissed."
I lightly shove him away by his shoulder. "Keep dreaming. You're the last guy I would want to kiss."
"I know, Noah's the first."
"Nothing is going on between Noah and I!" I exclaim for the umpteenth time.
Hayden can't stop smirking and puts his hands up in surrender. "Alright, whatever you say Cupcake." He settles down and our conversation ends.
---
For the first time in my life, I packed my lunch. I went out to dinner with Logan and Chloe last night to a new restaurant downtown. The waiter and I had some miscommunication and he gave me two times the amount I ordered for the price of one. So that second portion is serving as my lunch today.
I can feel my mouth salavating as I think about the extra serving of Pad Thai waiting for me in my locker, probably stinking up all my books. I round the corner and I swear the smell of my food is wafting through the air, taunting my stomach and making it roar to have a taste.
When I set my eyes on my locker, I see Hayden leaning against it with his phone in hand. He's scrolling through it with bored eyes, but when he hears me walk up he places it in his back pocket and pushes off of my locker.
My heart jolts when I see my letter resting in his calloused hands and I inherit skills I never knew I had and snatch it from his hand before he had the chance to pull it away.
"How the hell did you get into my locker again?!" I exclaim, angrily placing the letter in my backpack.
He smirks and lazily lounges back against my locker. "I was attempting to catch whoever's giving you the letters."
I don't respond and cross my arms, glaring down at the floor. Slowly, interest seeps into my mind and I start toeing the tiles, awkwardly glancing up at Hayden who's trying to open the locker next to mine now.
"Well...did you?" I ask.
He raises a brow as he continues to fiddle with the lock and gives me a second long glance. "Do what?"
I roll my eyes, "Find who's been giving me the letters?"
Hayden looks at me over his shoulder and smirks, shaking his head. "Nope. I must've just missed him."
I do my very best to hide my disappointment and he goes back to opening the locker. I ignore him and walk up to my bland white locker, blocking his site of my lock as I do the code, not that it will make much of a difference since he already knows how to break in, and I take out my lunch.
"What the hell is that smell?" Hayden grimaces, shifting so that he's looking at me.
I hug my lunch close to my body and pout defensively. "It's my lunch." I state indignantly.
"It smells like ass."
"It smells like Pad Thai." I retort.
"Pad Thai? From that new restaurant...?" He asks carefully.
I scrunch my brow and nod, "Yeah, what about it?"
He recoils slightly in shock. "You didn't hear?"
My eyes get wide and I look down at my Pad Thai. "No. What did I not hear?" I ask, snapping my eyes back to him.
"I really shouldn't say, it's still undergoing investigation. I'm surprised they're still allowed to serve people..." He trails off with an expression that worries me.
Oh my gosh, there were only three other people in the restaurant last night and it's basically brand new. I knew more people should have been there, it was practically the grand opening.
"Hayden." I say, but he puts his hands up and shrugs. "Hayden, tell me." I repeat, glancing down at my food. "Hayden, what's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, have fun eating your food." His expression doesn't change and I continue to freak out; he's definitely hiding something about that restaurant.
I quickly follow after him. "Hayden, am I going to, like, die?" I exclaim worriedly.
He glances down at me and sighs, "Look, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't eat that."
"Why not?" I ask again.
He looks around and sighs, "Give it to me and I'll dispose of it, okay?"
"Not until you tell me why." I state, taking a step back from him.
"Reagan, have you been feeling ill at all?" He asks, scanning me over. I see actual concern in his eyes and it freaks me out even more.
"I mean I had a headache when I got home last night." I say, and panic settles in.
Oh god. I can already feel the food taking its effect on me. Is my head supposed to hurt like this? What about my stomach? I have a cramp that should definitely not be there and I'm feeling faint.
"Cole applied to work there, Reagan. He knows what they actually put in their food." He says, giving me a look. "It's an open investigation, this could even be evidence."
I glance back at my Pad Thai and quickly shove it away from me and towards him. Hayden takes it from me and I let my arms fall back at my sides. I can't believe this is happening, how could I have missed that story? How could Logan and Chloe have missed that story?
Now we're probably all going to die.
"Thanks Cupcake, I was out of lunch money." Hayden quips as he looks inside of the styrofoam box holding my food. He closes it with a wink and then quickly walks away before I can even comprehend what the hell just happened.
I stand there like a fish out of water, my eyes wide as he walks in the opposite direction. I keep opening and closing my mouth, trying to figure out something to say.
"He just..." I finally breathe, but he's long gone with my food. "You asshole!" I screech, slamming my foot on the ground as I ball my hands into fists, and I can hear him laughing somewhere in the distance.
He just made up some ridiculous story and I fell for it!
I'm an idiot.
I hear a door open and an angry teacher steps out with her arms crossed and one menacing eyebrow raised. "What was that?" She asks, tapping her foot.
I look at her with wide eyes and yet again flounder about for a response. "But...he stole...he stole my food." I whine breathlessly.
The teacher rolls her eyes and walks back into her room. "It's not even worth a detention slip," she mutters.
---
"Where's Logan?" Chloe asks as we pull into the Sonic parking lot.
I glance around and finally see his 1995 Jeep Wrangler clanking into view. "He's right over there," I say, nodding towards him as we get out of my car.
His engine starts popping as he gets closer and parks next to me, tires over the line on the opposite end. As he gets out of his car, his door loudly creaks open and refuses to close when he attempts to slam it shut. It takes him three tries before he finally succeeds.
It was his uncle's Jeep and he bought it from him for $1000 with over 200,000 miles on it. It barely runs, but that car is his absolute baby.
"Still runs like new." He grins, patting his Jeep before walking over to us.
"If this is the 1990's then yeah, maybe." Chloe mumbles. "It still sounds like a dying cat on its last breath, Logan."
His eyes snap to her and he throws a hand over his heart. "Don't let him hear you!"
"It's a car."
"His name is Harley."
"Again, it's a car." Chloe reiterates.
"He has feelings."
"You concern me." She sighs, running a hand down her face.
We all three sit down on the picnic tables in the middle of the lot and order our food.
"How're your parents doing, Reagan?" Chloe asks with concern seeping into her voice.
I sigh deeply, "They're still arguing more than ever."
Logan frowns, "I'm sorry Reagan."
I shrug and fiddle with the straw to my slushie. "It's okay. They fought this morning as soon as I walked out to go to school. I left my history textbook inside and went back in to get it and heard them fighting, so I came to school without it. I didn't feel like dealing with it."
"They still think you're oblivious?" Chloe asks.
I nod and feel their hands comfortingly on my back.
I smile tiredly at them, "Thanks guys."
"You know if you ever need to just kind of get away from the fighting you're always welcome at my house." Chloe says.
"Mine too." Logan agrees. "Vick knows how close we are, so she wouldn't ever have a problem with that. Plus she's in Nevada, so."
I give them both grateful smiles. "I know, thanks you two."
I know my life isn't miserable. I have a home, I get to eat as much as I want every day, I have great friends, two of the best dogs in the world, and my parents love me. The only fault is that they don't love each other.