AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I mean, honestly, it’s ingrained in my mind now. Those are the reasons why Dad left. It’s all my fault. Dad wouldn’t have left if I wasn’t in the picture. She constantly blames me. I was a mistake. She never should have kept me. When I pull myself out of my thoughts, I realize I’m farther than I thought, and I’m in front of school sooner than I thought I would be.
Just seven hours to get through today, Pai. Just get through today. One day at a time. Then get through tomorrow and the next day. You’ve got this.
As I’m sitting here minding my own business, I notice the guys are coming my way, and I start to get anxious and freak out.
They can’t talk to me. I can’t be seen near them. I just can’t. Everything will just get worse for me this year. I just want an easy year. It’s my last one. I want to keep my head down and coast by as unnoticed as possible.
I grab my stuff as quickly as possible and move as fast as I can. I get about ten feet before someone grabs my wrist and spins me around.
Please let me go. Please let me go. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, I plead with my eyes.
The guy must not notice or care, because as soon as he breaks my gaze, he is introducing himself to me.
“Hi, my name is Kade! I heard you met my twin, Atlas, and my brother, Mateo, yesterday in class. You’re Paisley, right?”
I try to calm my breathing as much as possible. Clenching my backpack strap, I look around to see if anyone is close enough to hear him.
Is anyone paying attention? How long until someone notices…if they haven’t already?
I stare blankly at him.
“We were wondering if we could walk with you to class. We are new here, and we want to make some new friends.”
Kade. That’s what he said his name was, right? He takes a step toward me, and I immediately back away slowly, still looking around, hoping he understands that it’s a silent no. He reaches out for me again, and I start to tear up and he quickly pulls his arm back.
He rubs his arm behind his neck, obviously uncomfortable now. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I am just trying to be friendly.”
I’m still slowly backing away from him, but then he starts signing to me.
“Are you deaf? Is that why you aren’t talking? Why do you look so terrified?”
I sign back to him, “Not here, please.”
I just look at him with a plea in my eyes, then I start taking steps backward to move away from him. After what feels like minutes, but was probably seconds, Kade starts backing away. Breathing a sigh of relief, I turn around to distance myself further from them.
Suddenly, while my back is turned, he shouts, “Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you in class then? I’m sorry again that I made you uncomfortable. I hope you can forgive me!”
I hold still and try to keep the tears that are already starting to form from falling. There is no way someone didn’t hear him that time. When I turn around, several people are already staring at me with sadistic smiles on their faces. I whimper, knowing what I’ll be walking into when that bell rings.
* * *
ATLAS
Watching Kade walk over to Paisley has me on edge. I’m usually the calm and collected one, but after everything that I noticed yesterday and the things that we talked about last night, things just aren’t adding up. As soon as we got onto school grounds, we headed her way, but as soon as she noticed, she freaked out and started to run away from us as fast as possible. Kade caught up to her pretty quickly, though. When he spun her around, her eyes were full of pure unadulterated terror, begging for something. I just don’t know what yet.
I hear Kade introduce himself, double-checking that her name is actually Paisley, and all of a sudden, she starts freaking out, looking everywhere for something or someone. I glance around and notice some people moving around, but don’t notice anything significant.
By the time I listen back into their conversation, he is in the middle of signing.
“Are you deaf? Is that why you aren’t talking? Why do you look so terrified?”
Only because I’m already staring at her eyes do I notice the slight movement that she makes. But I don’t miss her actually signing “not here, please” to Kade.
Interesting. She knows sign?
She turns around, and the next thing I know, Kade is yelling at her, saying something about forgiving him. She stiffens and looks behind her, but not at us. No, at everyone else.
And that’s when I see it. Their murderous smiles. Like they’ve caught her in a trap and they can’t wait to play with her. Kade comes back over here a few seconds later and gives us a grim look.
