Mistakes to Repeat

Chapter 17 "Rumors"

"Zar? Wake up." I jolt awake by the sudden noise in my ear.

I peel my eyes open to see that my head is laying on a desk, soft murmuring going on around me from the other students socializing.

Natalia watches me, her eyebrow raised in concern.

"What happened?" I ask while lifting my head from the desk, still groggy from my little nap. My eyelids left like bags of sand on my eyes.

"You fell asleep in class, we're supposed to be doing equation three and four with a partner." I roll my eyes and wipe the drool off my cheek. "How many hours of sleep did you get last night?"

"Like, half an hour." I rub my eyes, yawning silently.

"What the hell? You never miss out on a good night's sleep." Natalia exclaims in a yell-whisper.

She wasn't wrong. The only thing I love more than sleep is food.

"What's wrong?"

I look around the classroom to make sure no one was listening in before I lowered my voice. "I saw Finn last night."

Her eyebrows furrowed together and she narrows her eyes, "What, like for...?"

"God no, Natalia!" I yell-whisper at her and she throws her hands up in surrender. "I took walk around midnight and I saw him with some guy asking for his money."

"Money for what?" Natalia raised her eyebrows while she questioned me.

"I don't know, but Finn had a gun. He almost shot the guy."

"Maybe the rumors are true." She started, looking around the room as if the walls had the answer for her.

"You think?"

"What other explanation is there? Why would Finn be asking a guy for his money if he wasn't in some sort of gang."

As the words left her mouth, the bell rang, signalling us to leave for our next class.

"I don't know, and I don't know if I want to find out." I tell her as I stand up from my chair, grabbing my backpack from the floor and throwing it over my shoulder.

She nods her head in agreement as we exit the room and enter the crowded hallway of snails.

"Hello, ladies." A voice said from behind us, slinging his arms over our shoulders.

I jump, my heart suddenly racing faster than normal.

"Woah, I didn't mean to scare you like that." Finn said, obviously noticing my skittishness.

Maybe he didn't know it was me in the alley last night?

"I uh...I didn't get much sleep last night." I tell him honestly.

"Well get some sleep before school is out. We have a project to work on, Juliet." He smirks, pushing past Natalia and I, turning around to wink at us before he walks off into a classroom.

~~~

I managed to leave my other classes without being caught by Finn. Now all I have to do is make it out of the building.

I might just get away with this.

I push through the crowd of people in the hallway quickly, throwing the hood of my sweatshirt crop top over my head. I exit through the front doors and practically run towards Natalia's car.

"Don't tell me you forgot about our project now, Cupcake" A voice yelled from behind me, making me freeze in my tracks.

Maybe if you keep walking, he'll think you didn't hear him.