Whispers of Rumours

Chapter 8

"You what?!"Jewel exclaimed when I told her what was going on with Kade and me. I hadn't wanted to tell her for a while now, mostly because of this reaction. I didn't expect her to take this well. "Sandra! He's our teacher! Oh my goodness, where has your mind gone?! I need to take you to a hospital. I think you might be insane." She was breathing heavily and her eyes were crazy. She shot up from the armchair in the corner of my room, and grabbed my shoulders.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, amused. She was definitely trying to process this piece of news I had brought down on her. Luckily, my parents weren't home, so they couldn't hear her crazy antics.

Jewel sighed, and sat back down in the velvet armchair. "How long has this been going on, exactly? Does Joey know?"

I debated on telling her the full story, on how Joey had caught Kade and I at the formal, and hadn't told Jewel about it, apparently, but I figured I should save Joey's life for him, so I decided not to do anything too rash. I wasn't going to flat out lie to her, though, so I chose to just evade the question.

"Since the formal. That's how long. I didn't plan for it at all, it just happened." I told her, hoping she forgot about Joey, and how he was involved with this.

"The formal? Sandra, you're crazy. It's official. You're officially a nutjob." She ranted, shaking her head from side to side in disbelief. Her dangly silver earrings shone in the dying light filtering in through my main window. Joey and her were going on a date here soon, and so, therefore, Jewel was all done up in her best outfit, which included some nice heels. Not too high, though, because she didn't want to end up being taller than Joey. Joey was tall, but he wasn't that tall.

"Don't you have a date to go on? I don't want to talk about this anymore, it's giving me a headache." I complained, rubbing my temples. Talking to Jewel was like talking to one of those parrots that just don't shut up. Don't get me wrong, she was the most best friend in the whole world, next to Joey, but she still irritated me frequently with her constant judgmental accusations. She normally wouldn't act this way to me, but I think the circumstances were a bit different this time around.

"Whatever. You do what you want, Alessandra, but don't come crying to me when something bad happens. You know what I'll say." She frowned at me, grabbing her purse from off the floor. Joey was picking Jewel up at her house, so she still had to go back home. I had called her over here for a quick talk, because I couldn't stand the guilt of her not knowing who I was seeing. After the night in the park with Kade, we had discussed our relationship status in the privacy of his car, deciding that we were, in fact, dating, but could only tell people close to us that we trusted. Only Joey and Jewel fit that description for me. While Jewel was having a bit of a hard time comprehending the fact that her best friend was dating the new English teacher, she wouldn't betray me. Ever.

"I'll see you later, right? Tomorrow?" I called to her as she sashayed out of my room on her heels, hair swinging. Tomorrow was Saturday; it had been a few days since Kade's and mine's rendezvous at the wintry park, but tonight, I was seeing him again. I hadn't told anyone that little detail. Of course, I saw him every day at school, still. He never missed a day.

"Yea, we'll hang out tomorrow." She mumbled, swinging the door shut as she walked out. A few seconds later, I heard the front door slam shut, leaving me alone in my empty house. I had told my mom and dad that I was hanging out at Jewel's tonight. They didn't check in with her parents about that because they trusted me. I felt guilty yet again because of that little detail. I gathered my things quickly, and then headed out the door.

I was dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a blouse, with a pair of suede heeled booties. Once I put my huge, puffy white winter jacket on, my whole outfit looked less appealing. I seriously considered leaving the jacket here, but as I opened the door to the freezing air, I tightened the coat around me more. Sharp gusts of wind were blowing throughout the sky, rustling the branches of the trees. I climbed into my car quickly, turning on the heater. As the warm air spread throughout my car, the cold driven out, I was able to drive. I had never been to Kade's before, so I didn't know how to get there by memory, of course. My GPS spoke in a choppy, animated voice, telling me which streets to turn onto, messing up a couple times --- resulting in me having to make several U-turns and detours. I hated these dumb GPS things.

The "dumb GPS thing" led me into downtown Minneapolis, where I pulled in front of a high rise apartment building, with lots of glass windows. I could see inside everyone's houses, and what they were watching on TV. Didn't they think that was creepy? The whole city being able to look into their apartment windows and see what they were doing. Talk about an easy job for a stalker. I pulled into the visitor parking garage, and paid a few bucks to have a spot. This was why I hated coming downtown. Everything cost money.

After pulling into a spot, I climbed out of my car, heading towards the elevator. Kade had texted me what floor his apartment was on, and what room. He was almost near the top of the building. The elevator sped it's way up to the tenth floor very quickly, scaring me slightly. When I stumbled out of it, Kade's door was on the left hand side, right there. I stood there for a moment, preparing myself to knock. Before I could even lift my hand to the door, it swung open, revealing a girl. She was tall, blonde, like Kade, and had a skinny but fit body. She was beautiful. But why was she walking out of his apartment? We stared at each other briefly, and then her eyes brightened, and a smile broke out.

"You must be Sandra! It's so nice to meet you! I'm Kassidy, Kade's sister." She winked, holding out her hand to shake. I tentatively shook her hand, looking back into the apartment, where Kade stood holding the door open. He had a vaguely shocked expression on his face as if he didn't expect his sister to do that.

"Nice to meet you, too." I greeted Kassidy, turning my eyes back to her. She retracted her hand after we shook.

"Well, I must be going. I have a little date of my own waiting at home." She smiled one last time, and entered the elevator. She must have pressed the button already. I turned back to the apartment, letting out a breath I was holding in. I had been scared that she was some other girl Kade had been seeing. I still worried a little bit about his intentions, but for the most part, it was okay.

He gestured for me to come inside, sweeping his arm out. I winked at him as I stepped past him, admiring his grand entryway. The whole place was very modern, and featured dark, hardwood floors, and white walls. It was beautiful. The crown moulding at the top of the walls gave it a slight antique feel, but the whole vibe was strictly modern. How did he have enough money to be able to afford such an expensive apartment? From what I knew, a teacher's salary didn't pay much. He saw me gawking, and took my hand, leading me to the living room.

"It's nice to see you." He smiled warmly, squeezing my hand. His eyes were very dark in the dim light, and they looked almost grey.

"We only saw each other earlier." I giggled, shrugging my ginormous jacket off. I looked around for a place to put it. Kade grabbed it, and set it on the back of the couch.

"So, what should we do tonight?" He questioned, eyes glinting.