You Should Stay Away
1658 Words
Chapter 3: You Should Stay Away
The rest of the day did not feel real, not in the way it normally would, not in the way that allowed things to pass without meaning, because everything that had happened refused to settle into something simple, instead lingering in the back of Aria’s mind like a question that would not stop repeating itself no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.
She kept replaying it.
The note.
His voice.
The way he looked at her like none of it was strange.
By the time the final bell rang, the noise of students rushing out should have felt like relief, like an escape from whatever tension had built up throughout the day, but it did not, it only made everything louder, messier, harder to think through, and as she stepped outside, the cool air hitting her skin did nothing to calm the unease that had already taken hold.
“Okay, no,” Mia said the moment they were far enough from the crowd, her tone firm, leaving no room for dismissal this time. “You are not going home like everything is fine.”
Aria adjusted the strap of her bag, her gaze fixed ahead even though she knew this conversation was not going away, not after everything Mia had already seen.
“I am fine,” she replied, but the words felt automatic, something she said out of habit rather than truth.
Mia stopped walking.
Aria took two more steps before realizing, then turned back, her brows pulling together slightly as she met Mia’s expression, which had shifted from concern into something sharper, something that demanded honesty.
“Do you really believe that?” Mia asked.
The question hung there, heavier than it should have, because it was simple, direct, and impossible to answer without admitting something Aria was not ready to say out loud.
“Do you want me to panic?” Aria countered, her voice quieter now, edged with something defensive she could not fully hide. “Because I am trying not to.”
“I want you to think,” Mia shot back, stepping closer, her frustration slipping through despite her attempt to stay calm. “Someone went into your locker, left a note, and then stood there like it was nothing, how is that not a problem?”
Aria exhaled slowly, her fingers tightening around her bag as she glanced away, the memory of his expression flashing through her mind again, that same calm, unreadable look that made everything feel more unsettling than it should have.
“I know it is a problem,” she said finally, her voice lower now, more honest, even if it was still incomplete. “I just do not know what I am supposed to do about it.”
Mia’s expression softened slightly, but the tension did not leave completely, not when the situation itself still felt unresolved, still hanging between them like something waiting to get worse.
“You stay away from him,” Mia said, more quietly this time, but just as firm. “That is what you do.”
Aria almost agreed.
The answer was obvious, simple in a way that should have made it easy to follow, and yet something about it did not sit right, not because it was wrong, but because it felt impossible in a way she could not explain.
“Why?” she asked instead, her gaze returning to Mia’s face, searching for something more than just caution.
Mia hesitated.
It was brief, barely noticeable, but Aria caught it, the slight pause, the way her eyes shifted for a second before settling again, like there was something she was not saying.
“That is not the kind of person you want to be around,” Mia replied.
“That is not an answer,” Aria said, echoing her own words from earlier without realizing it.
Mia pressed her lips together, the silence stretching just long enough to make the tension sharper, more focused, before she finally spoke again.
“Some people are just trouble,” she said. “You do not need details to know when to walk away.”
Aria held her gaze, something unsettled building in her chest, because this was not just concern anymore, it felt like avoidance, like there was something Mia knew but was choosing not to say, and that only made everything feel more complicated.
“You know something,” Aria said quietly.
Mia shook her head too quickly. “I do not.”
“You do,” Aria insisted, her voice steady despite the way her pulse had started to pick up again. “You reacted the moment you saw him, you told me not to get curious before anything even happened, and now you are telling me to stay away without explaining why, how does that make sense?”
Mia looked at her for a long moment, the conflict in her expression clear now, no longer hidden behind quick answers or dismissive responses, and for a second, Aria thought she might finally say it, whatever it was, whatever piece of the situation had been missing this entire time.
But then Mia exhaled, her shoulders dropping slightly as she looked away.
“It is not my story to tell,” she said.
The words landed harder than Aria expected, sharper than they should have, because they confirmed everything without actually explaining anything, leaving her with more questions than before.
“What does that even mean?” Aria asked, frustration slipping into her tone now.
“It means you should listen to me,” Mia replied, her voice tightening again. “Not everything needs to happen to you before you take it seriously.”
Aria went quiet.
Not because she agreed.
But because part of her understood what Mia was trying to do, even if the way she was doing it only made things worse, only made the curiosity stronger, harder to ignore, harder to push aside.
“Fine,” she said after a moment, the word softer than expected, but not fully convinced.
Mia studied her face, clearly trying to decide whether to believe her or not, and from the way her expression lingered, it was obvious she did not.
“Aria,” she started, her tone more careful now, like she was choosing her words differently this time. “I am serious.”
“I know,” Aria replied.
And she did.
That was the problem.
---
By the time she got home, the silence felt heavier than usual, pressing in around her in a way that made it harder to distract herself, harder to pretend the day had not shifted something she could not quite name.
She dropped her bag by the door, her movements slower now, more deliberate, like she was trying to hold onto something steady even as her thoughts refused to settle.
Stay away from him.
The words echoed again, mixing with everything else, the note, the way he had stood there, the way he had spoken like none of it needed explaining, like she was already supposed to understand.
It did not make sense.
None of it did.
And yet, ignoring it felt worse than facing it.
Her phone buzzed.
The sound cut through the silence sharply, pulling her attention away from everything else as she reached for it, her fingers pausing slightly before unlocking the screen, something about the timing already making her uneasy.
Unknown number.
Her chest tightened.
For a second, she considered ignoring it, letting it sit there unanswered, unseen, but something in her refused, something that had already crossed the line between caution and curiosity without asking for permission.
She opened the message.
You got home safe.
Her breath stopped.
The words blurred for a second before settling back into place, sharper this time, clearer, impossible to misunderstand, and suddenly the silence around her did not feel quiet anymore, it felt watched, like the walls themselves had shifted into something unfamiliar.
Her fingers tightened around the phone as she looked toward the window instinctively, her heartbeat picking up again, louder now, faster, each pulse hitting harder than the last.
This was not coincidence.
This was not random.
“Who is this?” she typed quickly, her movements more urgent now, the question slipping out before she could think it through.
The reply came almost instantly.
You already know.
Her stomach dropped.
A cold feeling spread through her chest, slow and deliberate, as the reality of it settled into something she could no longer deny, something that had already moved past strange and into something much worse.
“How did you get my number?” she sent, her breathing uneven now despite the way she tried to steady it.
This time, there was a pause.
Not long.
Just enough to make the wait feel intentional.
You ask a lot of questions.
Aria stared at the screen, her thoughts racing, frustration mixing with unease in a way that made it hard to separate one from the other.
“Answer it,” she typed, the words sharper now, less controlled.
The three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Then appeared again.
And finally—
Come outside.
Her heart slammed hard against her chest, the force of it almost painful as her gaze lifted slowly, instinctively, toward the front door, toward the quiet street beyond it, toward the possibility she did not want to confirm but could not ignore.
This had to stop.
It had to.
And yet, even as that thought formed, even as every warning in her mind told her not to move, not to open that door, not to take another step into something she did not understand…
Her feet were already moving.
Because deep down, beneath the fear, beneath the confusion, beneath everything that told her to stay away…
She needed to know.
And something told her the moment she stepped outside, there would be no going back.
- Writer
