Amber Eyes

SEVENTEEN

I sigh, walking behind him.

"You owe me one, by the way," he calls out and I roll my eyes. I don't like owing people and I would have found the wall even without his help if I wanted to but with everything lining up one after the other, it seemed like a good opportunity for me to meet Sam.

We reach the basement. The area is mostly used as a store room and not many teachers are here but if the wall is here, there was no way that the teachers didn't know of its existence. Maybe they just turn a blind eye to it. I follow him towards the other end and almost begin to feel like he doesn't know where he's taking me or whether he's leading me the wrong way until I spot some air curtains. Judging by their look, they looked old and non-functioning.

Just when I think that he's about to pass them, he stops. Turning to face me, I see something in his eyes that I can't quite make out at all until I hear him breathe out. He's scared. He's about to say something when he probably thinks otherwise and puts aside the air curtain and gestures to me to go to the other side.

My jaw would've dropped open if I hadn't seen a place like this before but I had - there was one in my middle school in one of the abandoned classrooms. They would repaint it every month because the shit written over it was nasty as hell but there was no way to keep people out of there - the students would always find another one.

I know this because I was one of the students who wrote stuff there. I only wrote something once, but it was enough to spark conflict.

This place, however, seems to be a lot more scary. There is stuff spray painted on the walls, there are random scribbles across it, there's the welcome poster with even more notes now. But what caught my eye was a sentence spray painted in red all over the wall in capital, bold letters.

CAMMY MCNOLAN IS A CHEAT.

A cheat, huh? It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'd need to know about this and if this turns out to be nothing and something only because she cheated on a test or on her boyfriend, it would be disappointing and not something I need to bother myself with.

"You're gonna get me in some trouble," mutters Sam under his breath.

"You've said that a lot of times over the night. I told you. You'll be fine."

"How do you know that I'll be okay?" his tone suddenly shifts and I realise that it's fear in his voice. He's scared.

I quickly scan the wall, trying to take in every detail, reading the names and memorising them too. There were some nasty rumours about people that were now fading away. Finally, when I'm done and find that there's nothing more than this that's related to Cammy. I turn to face Sam.

"Are you scared?" I ask him. "Of your brother?"

He shrugs but doesn't say anything and his expression almost makes me feel bad for him.

"Why does your brother hate you?"

"What does it matter to you?" he snaps. "My relationship with your brother is none of your business."

I sigh and turn to face Sam.

"You're scared," I point out. "Why are you scared? Because he might do something?"

He doesn't answer me but the silence gives me the answer I expected.

"You don't need to be, you know. He's not going to do anything to you."

"You don't know about that," he deadpans.

"Well, then, you don't know me," I tell him and he doesn't seem relieved. It was natural, I suppose, but this would change soon. He would trust me in a matter of days and come to me on his own accord. All I have to do is lay the groundwork and he'll never know what happened. "You need to relax."