The (not so) Good Girls Bad Boys: The Good, The Bad and The Abandoned

27- Fire Spreads

I looked between Declan and Naomi, trying to keep a straight face while on the inside I was freaking out. I continuously open and closed my mouth, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse while my mind just drew a blank.

I looked between Declan and Naomi, both looking at me with serious gazes before letting out a nervous chuckle. "What are you the hoodie police?" I joked. "This hoodie is mine, Naomi. Is that really so hard to comprehend?"

Naomi just cocked an eyebrow at me and I tried not to squirm underneath her fixed gaze.

She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at me. "Everyone has a scent, and you don't smell like that, Alexa. This-" she gestured to the oversized hoodie I wore, "-is not yours."

I could feel myself begin to fidget, but every time I stopped my foot from tapping, it would start back up moments later. That stupid foot tapping was a dead giveaway to my nervousness. I decided to keep moving to make the tapping less obvious and fixed my gaze on the vending machine down the hall.

I chuckled uncomfortably as we walked towards it and continued, "since when have you had the nose of a bloodhound?"

Naomi shrugged, momentarily allowing us to stray from the topic at hand as we stopped in front of the vending machine. "My mom gets easily distracted while making dinner and somebody needs to make sure the food isn't burning." She stopped herself as she realized I was trying to change the topic. "But that's beside the point. So, are you going to tell us or not?"

Or not, I wanted to answer. Instead, I scanned the vending machine that was now in front of me to look at my options.

"I think what you mean to say is, do I want to tell you or not, and I think the answer to that is pretty obvious."

My eyes landed on a 3Musketeers bar and I licked my lips. I reached into my back pocket and fished out a one dollar bill before feeding it to the machine.

Naomi sighed at my reluctance to answer her question. "Alexa, come on. This isn't fair. The guys and I shouldn't have to constantly worry about what you're getting into every time you show up to school all battered and bruised."

And there you have it ladies and gents. The reason I didn't want to tell them about my problems in the first place.

Naomi even admitted it herself- I'm a burden. She's completely right. They shouldn't have to worry about me constantly. It's not fair to them. If this is them being worried, imagine how they would be pulling their hair out in stress about my current situation. That shouldn't be them. That should be me. This is my crappy life - my problems - not theirs.

I stopped my finger from hitting the A on the vending machines keypad as I thought guiltily about the problems that could be forced on them just by being with me. Naomi mistook my silence for agreement and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Alexa, you can trust us. Whatever is going on, you have to lean on somebody," she continued.

I paused momentarily before typing in the letter and number into the keypad and grabbing my candy.

I sighed. "Of the four of you guys, I thought you would have been the one to understand, Naomi," I said in disappointment. I turned to face her puzzled expression and leaned against the machine for support.

"How many years did you take the bullying without telling anyone?" I asked.

Naomi's confusion dropped as she saw where I was going with this.

She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh before opening them. "Alexa, that's different-"

"How many?" I repeated.