Drawn to You | ✔️

12

The next morning my dad drives me to school. "So, what did you and Chelsea do yesterday?"

I turn to face him. "Huh?"

"You and Chelsea. You said that you didn't need me to come to pick you up, so you could hang out after school yesterday."

I didn't tell my parents that I was with Landon yesterday in case they might start asking questions about us, which I'm not even sure how to answer.

"Oh... Yeah, right. We just...um, we just... We stayed at the library to write on this assignment for school." I hope I sound convincing. Luckily, he doesn't question it more.

After Landon drove me home, he didn't even say properly goodbye to me. He just said, "See you" and I got out and saw him drive away in a rush. It must have been an emergency or something.

As we arrive at school, I say goodbye to dad and head for the entrance. I see Chelsea and Garret standing outside on the stairs and talking. I go over to meet them.

"Where were you after school? You never texted me like you said you would," Chelsea says.

"Shoot! I forgot. Sorry, Chels. I... I..." I stammer.

"No worries. So, what did you do?"

I hesitantly open my mouth to tell her about yesterday but my eyes catch Landon's car driving in the parking lot. I see him and his other friends get out. Luckily, I see all four of them, so nothing could've happened to them yesterday. They walk with their heads down. Landon has his hood on like he's trying to hide from something. When they come near us, Landon peeks up a little and eyes me. And then I see his face... It's like everything changes in slow motion. He has a bandage on his eyebrow, a blue eye, and a rift on his cheek. What the hell in hell's office? He looks down quickly. That's when I notice that Toby and Ethan also have bruises on their faces. Luckily, Nat doesn't seem to have any. They walk past me, Landon doesn't even greet me and they head inside.

"What was that?" Garret breaks my thoughts.

"I have no idea." I stare at the door in shock.

*

I sit and stare at my desk in English, not able to concentrate on what Mrs. Teasly is saying.

Landon's face...

Those bruises...

What happened?

As Mrs. Teasly can sense my perplexity, she clears her throat, making me look up. She eyes me and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"Ms. Hastings, if your thoughts could just join the rest of the class, I think we would all be very grateful." She turns around and starts writing on the board. I hear some giggling behind me. I just want to get out of here and find Landon.

When the bell rings I quickly grab my bag and head out of the classroom. I don't even know where to find him. I don't even know what classes he has. I don't even know anything. This is so ridiculous. What am I trying to do? I just walk around school, looking in every room I pass but don't see anything.

I run my hand through my hair and exhale. I decided to give up and hope that I'll find him sooner or later. If he even wants to see me. I walk over to my locker and flinch when someone taps me on my shoulder. I turn around quickly and hope to meet Landon's face but am disappointed when I see Jordan's. I look confused. What does he want?

"You're boyfriend looks like shit." He smiles an evilly smile at me.

"Did you do that to him?" He chuckles a little and shakes his head. I don't find any new bruises on his face, so he couldn't have gotten into a fight.

"We warned them. They need to know where they belong." He leans into me. "I would be very careful if I was you," he whispers into my ear and walks away. What is that supposed to mean? What is going on? And where the hell is Landon?

*

I sit on the stairs and wait for my dad outside. I rub my hands against each other, realizing they're shaking, and look down. Landon usually knows that I wait for my dad after school and hopefully he will come and find me but as time goes on, I start getting the feeling that he won't.

When I see my dad's car driving down the parking lot, I get up and walk over to him. Taking one last look back to see if he's there but see nothing. I get in the car and think we're driving home.

But we drive through town. "Aren't we going home?"

"Your mom asked me to buy some cooking books for her at the bookstore and I need to get some things at the hardware store for the garage. Will you be a sweetheart and go to the bookstore? Your mom made a list of the ones she wanted." He hands me the list and I take it.

"Sure." I get out and my dad drives away. I walk past a few stores before I reach the bookstore. I stop at a 21forever store and look in the window to see the new sale. I look around and notice the reflections of two figures standing on the opposite side of the road. They stand close to each other. One of them looks familiar and when I turn around I see one of them is Ethan. The other guy looks unfamiliar. The unfamiliar guy hands Ethan something in a small bag and Ethan hands him an envelope. They say something to each other and part ways. I watch Ethan walk away and corner a building and vanish.

That was strange.

Reminding myself what I was going to do, I walk into the bookstore and get the books my mom asked for. I walk out of the store and look where Ethan and the other guy were before. Wonder what that was all about? This just keeps getting better and better.

*

After dinner I go up to my room and lie in my bed, I'm on my side facing my window. The sun starts going down slowly as I watch it.

After lying in bed for what feels like hours, I try to fall asleep. Trying to clear my head of all that I've seen today. I just wish Landon would talk to me instead of ignoring me. Maybe his friends had a point of not getting involved with someone. But I can't help but wonder what is going on and if something like that will ever happen again.

After a while, I finally feel my eyes shut and I fall asleep.

_____

Author note: This scene from "SKAM" was what inspired my scene with Landon and his friends arriving at school with bruises.

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