Misreckon

Chapter 8 - Somebody

The assembly hall was packed. I was surrounded by classmates, teachers, my friends. Yet my mind was completely elsewhere, as though I had lost my sense of hearing I turned to look at Wren, Anaya and Ivan who were talking. I knew not what they were discussing, but I didn't care. I was drifting, sinking, into myself. I felt my heart as though my head was resting against it, the valves opening and closing at an intense speed which caused my head to bump with its rhythm. 

"Quiet everybody." The headmistress ordered. Maybe it was from my lack of sleep. I suppose that coming home late after covering for Richard last night had affected my brain functions. But I would be lying to myself if I tried to ignore what was actually gnawing at my brain. Dean and Vincent. 

He was sat, with perfect posture, staring at our headmistress Mrs Croft as though she was the most interesting thing in the room. 

To a stranger walking by, he appeared to be a quiet yet smart mouthed, rich kid with no kindness in his heart. 

To his classmates, a freak of nature, a monster who deserved every evil act possible to be unleashed onto him. A target that would take their bullying. 

To me, well, I was stuck between the two. But I also feared him. Now knowing him, there was something beneath his layers, a meaning hidden in his words, an action easy to miss, that disturbed me. 

"Now, as many of you may know. A body was found in Clayton park early this morning -" My racing thoughts paused and my breathing came to a halt. 

 "- since we are a school not a police station, we don't know anything more than that. We advise that you all stay calm and safe, a curfew of ten in the afternoon is recommended." She finished. 

I looked around me, into the sea of students. His eyes caught mine, pulling me to him. I stared at him with worry in my face, hoping he would reassure me that we were okay. The fact a body was found in the park close to my home, especially since I warned Dean and Vincent about the lady's future actions, caused my skin to break out in goosebumps. 

He tensed his jaw, breaking our eye contact and looked at the floor momentarily. I continued to look, my worries rising the longer he avoided my eye contact. Looking back at me for only a split second, his eyes were instantly glued back onto the now empty stage. Mrs Croft was no longer there. The stage was empty and he was avoiding me. 

"Did you guys know about this ?" I asked my friends. 

"Yeah, I messaged you as soon as I found out this morning about it. Did you not see any police cars or tape coming to school ?" Anaya queried. I sighed and began to rub my right temple. 

"I got home late last night and forgot to set my alarm, I was late so I rushed this morning. I didn't have time to check my phone. I didn't pay attention when my Dad drove me to school either." I explained with a stressed undertone. Ivan looked at me with a furrowed brow. 

"Cora there's no need to panic, it's not like you live right next to the park anyway." Ivan announced. His comment didn't calm me, but, it did remind me that my reaction seemed rather extreme from their perspective. They didn't know about the possible target on my back, they probably saw me as an overreacting teenage girl looking for attention. 

After the assembly, Cora said goodbye to her friends and bought herself a cup of tea from the breakfast bar. Cradling the warm cup in her hands, she decided to sit in the library and read in the comforting silence. An escape was much needed from her eventful life. And so she sat, at the library's quietest hour on an early Monday morning, in the large black chair in the corner of the room. 

"I saw what you did earlier." Dean's voice whispered near my ear, causing my skin to tingle and move away from him. As soon as I heard his voice, my eyes shot forward and I dared not to turn to see him. There was no reason. I didn't intend to give him the satisfaction of witnessing my eyes widen in fear at his words. 

"Im glad you clarified that." I replied with sarcasm and returned back to looking at my book. Reading was particularly hard to do when someone is eerily close to you, but I attempted to, in order to block him out. 

"Cut the sarcasm i'm serious. We can't interact here. We can't have people draw a line from me to you." His voice boomed in an angered whisper which felt like he was shouting due to the close proximity of his mouth and my ear. 

"Well you should've told me that sooner. After your little outburst, I just had to go cry to my friends about how the big bad wolf scared me and I can't just erase that from their minds now." I ranted, sighing with frustration. 

"It's for your sake Cora, can't you see i'm doing this to save your arse. Just pretend like you don't know me, like i'm invisible." He seethed. 

"Then just answer me first. Was that dead body a warning for me, for us?" I asked, my stomach feeling tense as I feared his answer. 

"No, it was a d**g addict that overdosed. Everything's fine Cora so stop overthinking it." He sighed. 

I put my book down and finally turned to face him. 

Healing, his face appeared to be less cluttered with dark bruises and his cuts seamed to be less prominent. A smile crept onto my face, one he noticed quickly. 

"Why are you smiling ?" He asked, angry and somewhat embarrassed as he brung his hand up to his face and felt around it. 

"You look better, that's all." I wiped the smile off my face, he simply looked at me with his blank expression. 

I sighed quietly. 

"Goodbye Dean." I spat and turned back around in my chair, picking up my book. Again and again, I kept reading the same sentence as I felt as though my thoughts were preventing me from continuing. But I hadn't heard or seen him walk away from behind me, I felt his presence. 

A lone, crumpled peace of paper rolled onto my table and as I reached for it with curiosity, Dean's figure walked by and out of the library. My eyes followed him until he left the room. 

The ball sat on my palm and I unraveled it. Amongst the creases was a line of numbers written in blue ink, followed by the words "Phone me, only if you're in trouble". 

"Is that a love note ? Cora, who's your secret admirer ?" My friend Alessia squealed as she walked towards me, a sheet in her hands caught my eye. 

I rolled my eyes and giggled.  

"Just a random piece of paper unfortunately. I found it in my jeans and just forgot that I put it there." I sighed, putting Dean's note into my jean pocket. 

She plopped herself down onto the seat beside me and began writing some notes onto her sheet. She was a very academic individual like myself, she was quiet though and often got left out in our classes. I changed that, I think that its selfish for those who find it easy to interact with others to assume that everyone is the same. I would randomly talk to her and smile whenever I walked by or had a class discussion and she warmed up. Now, I find it hard to believe she could once keep quiet with me. 

"Here." She passed me the sheet, her big blue doe eyes gleaming at me. I furrowed my brows at her before reading the sheet. 

"My Aunts a sociologist and I know you were searching for some work experience, so she wrote down a list of contacts for you. I made some notes about what I remembered her say about each one, she said some of the people were quite far from here but she gave them to you anyway just incase." Alessia explained energetically. My smile grew and grew until I took the sheet from her and gave her a quick hug. 

"Alessia this is amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you." I cheered, quietly, as I feared that the librarian would be very dissatisfied. 

"You're very, very, very welcome." She giggled, copying my repitition.

Cora sat, nestled in conversation at their table. Wren was engaging her into another one of his hilarious stories, intoxicating the dining hall with her laughter. He loved making her smile, and felt a sense of pride when his jokes landed well with her. He watched as she rubbed her earlobe whenever she was deep in thought, or when her face would light up when greeting strangers. He always watched. 

"Lady and Gentleman." Ivan thumped both his palms onto the table as he arrived, causing me to stare at him with confusion and Wren to pause his story. 

"Friday afternoon, us four, several drinks and one unforgettable party." Ivan delivered dramatically. Somewhere in the middle of his speech, Anaya sat down with us and began to clap mockingly. 

"I told you to tell them the news, not present it like a dramatic b****y monologue." Anaya sarcastically announced. 

"Who's party is it ?" I asked.  

Ivan raised his brows multiple times and put on a cheeky grin, it reminded me very much of the cheshire cat. Surprisingly, his personality was much like the mystical creature too. He seemed to have nine lives too as there were times when his reckless self survived dangerous scenarios, especially those involving alcoholic substances. 

"Oh god." I facepalmed. There could only be one person: Niall Worthington. The boy I once longed for, the boy I never got. The boy who grew out of his nice, boy-next-door persona and transformed into a reckless nobody ever since he decided that the educational path just wasn't for him. He was notorious for dating girls from the younger years and leaving them within days. Nevertheless, he was our favourite party host. 

"I've got absolutely nothing to wear." Anaya blinked, frozen in thought. 

"Cutie Cora ?" Wren asked in a song like manner. I turned to him and smiled, knowing he needed a favour. 

"Yes Wondrous Wren ?" I played along. 

"Can you wear that white dress you found in the toilets from that party ? It really brung out your eyes." The group erupted in laughter whilst my eyes turned into slits, looking into Wrens. 

"Oh you mean the toilet paper someone decided to wrap around me whilst I was passed out with my head on the toilet seat ?" I jokingly questioned, crossing my arms like a stubborn child. In the corner of his lips was a frown, masked by his playful eyes that realised I wasn't truly upset. 

"You're my Toilet Paper Queen." Wren lightly took my wrist into his palm and lowered himself as though he was bowing, then placed a light kiss onto my hand. I swiftly slipped my hand from his lips and continued our little act. 

"Peasants like you mustn't touch her majesty without asking for her royal permission." I scoffed with an accent that mimicked Queen Elizabeth's. 

"Are you two up for it then ? The party ?" Ivan intervened. Wren and I nodded eagerly. 

Personally I felt like getting out of my main locations: home reminded me of my parents, school reminded me of exams, the bar reminded me of crime and Anaya's bedroom reminded me of what I would never have. I recalled the moments, in the haze of the party, where I would dance joyfully with my school friends. My arms would be within my hair as I lifted them to grasp the cooler air, my skin hot to the touch because of the abundance of thrilling emotions and, of course, my unrhythmic dancing was quite the exercise.