Shorter days, Longer nights

Chapter 23 || It happens

The circular table sat as a barrier between me and Eva. Her finger swiped up the screen followed by a stream of giggles every now and then. My gaze set on the food ahead of me as I mindlessly broke up the chunks in my soup. I had no intention of drinking it really. Cafeteria food wasn't exactly famous for its five-star cuisine and despite my lack of knowledge about cooking, I was certain there weren't supposed to be chunks of some suspicious blueish matter in soup.

"Is that even edible?" Eva broke up the silence, her eyes still set on her phone.

"Probably not," I mumbled and dropped the spoon into the soup, causing a small splash around the edges of my tray. A small sigh escaped my lips.

"Okay come on it wasn't even that bad," she finally set her phone down, "you've been groaning all day," she said, earning another groan as I slid down my chair, my head resting against the back edge.

"I ripped half of his shirt open!" my voice came out a little louder than needed, earning some attention from behind me.

"Yes and it was hilarious," I could see the giggle coming back to her, only to be held back by the death stare now plastered over my eyes, "It was an accident Liz it happens."

"Riping your teacher's shirt open in front of the whole class doesn't just hap-"

"Nice stunt earlier," a familiar voice broke out into laughter that was met by the two girls standing behind her.

"Urghhh," another groan as I quickly shoved my bag over my shoulder, "I'll see you later," Eva simply nodded in response before scanning my friends up and down. I gripped the tray in my palm and walked along with the girls, leaving the tray over the counter as I avoided the blaring glares I got from the lady behind it. Did they seriously expect us to eat that food?

The rest of the day was mostly just classes and desperately trying to forget the events of the morning. Now I sat in the car with Jaycee behind the wheel and Eva in the passenger seat, listening to Eva tell her all about the 'highlight' of our day.

"So we're late to class right, Liz panicking as usual ran up to the door, opened it, and just stopped, I was obviously running behind her and couldn't stop in time and run right into her back. We both stumble forward and our girl over here grips onto Mr. Jeffrey's shirt. Turns out, a few buttons can't hold the weight of two girls tumbling down face first. So not only do we fall on our noses but his shirt also goes flying open, in front of the whole class," there they were, the words I had been dreading all day.

The soreness of my nose didn't last very long, one of the perks I assumed, but the embarrassment did.

Despite all the horrors of this morning, my mishaps did seem to earn laughter from Jaycee. Her voice was mellow, calm as always, sending a current of relief through me with a smile that made me forget all my worries. It was strange yet amazing. She had still been avoiding eye contact with me, I was likely overthinking it but it still sent a shot of pain through my chest that made me want to curl up in my blanket and just stay there.

"How was I supposed to know he would just be standing there," I mumbled between my lips, barely audible but I knew that they would still hear.

The car turned onto my street, I was confused for a second with a pang of worry that maybe they had forgotten that they would let me stay with them or gone back on the offer before I realized that we had to get my stuff. After all, they couldn't just keep making stops at my home and speaking of which.

"Wait how have you guys been getting my clothes from my room, I didn't give you the key, did I?" I leaned forward, filling the gap between the front seats, instinctively leaning toward Eva while I stared at anything but the sight of the woman on my right as she majestically spun the wheel, manoeuvring it smoothly enough to leave my jaw hanging for the next three hours. After all, I'd been through, lusting after someone's driving skills was the one thing I would've never imagined.

"You know, I'm somewhat insulted that you think a lock can stop me," her face turned to view me. Of course it couldn't I realised, it was Eva after all, I doubted she even needed some supernatural power to break through my house. 

A gloomy feeling washed over me, as we neared the house. This morning was a good distraction from what I'd done but forgetting it entirely wasn't something I thought I was capable of. It haunted every free moment I found. It wasn't the memory that replayed in my mind over and over again, it was the storm of feelings I'd felt back then. It scared me. The car came to a smooth stop, just out of sight of any windows in the house. 

I shortly found myself sneaking around the side, Eva leading the way while Jaycee walked behind me. To the opposite side of my house, on my left stood a large wooden fence, branches of overgrown weed climbing up top, separating us from the neighbours. The right side held a few windows, one large one to the kitchen covered by blinds. Past that was the window to my room. Our footsteps were light, yet fast enough. We stopped directly below my window, the only problem being that it happened to be on the first floor. 

I rarely left my window open, the cold breeze sort of defeated the purpose of my electrical heater and Eva knew that. So how it would be open was beyond me. I looked toward her, looking for our next option. Instead, a smirk met my eyes. The same smirk she always got whenever she was about to do something 'funny'. Somehow, her fun always tended to leave me in 'certain' situations.

"Have fun," her gaze drew a triangle between me and Jaycee. A swift wind blew my hair upward and the next thing I knew, I glared at the back fence. It took me a few minutes of looking around before I noticed the open window panel. I turned around, Jaycee's sight just returning from the same view above us. A shared panic between the both of us.