Bitter Heart √

Eight

For some unknown reason, Alex had been acting a little too concerned towards me since the moment he picked me up from my house today. Or maybe it was just me being a bit too paranoid because of last night, thinking that he was being clingy.

Biology was the only class I usually looked forward to, but even that didn't seem to be making any sense today. I could barely register what Mrs Jackson was saying, and maybe that had a lot to do with my lack of sleep from last night too. How was I supposed to sleep when somebody had broken into my house last night and almost killed me?

My brain was begging me to close my eyes and doze off right then and there. But I knew I couldn't do that. Mrs Jackson was too sweet for it, but I still wasn't looking for detention.

I propped up my chin on my right hand, listening to whatever the teacher was saying even if it seemed to be making no sense. Mrs Jackson's voice felt like a perfect lullaby at that point.

My eyes had almost closed shut when I realized what I was actually doing. I jerked up my head the next instant, hitting my injured hand at the corner of the table, and almost yelping out loud in pain. I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to hold in the painful shriek. Thankfully, nobody noticed. I looked down at my throbbing hand and pulled up my grey hoodie sleeve for a quick check. Everything would've been totally fine if the bandage that was wrapped around my palm hadn't started turning red.

Red with blood. My own fucking blood.

I pulled down the sleeve abruptly and felt my mouth going a little dry. Looking over at Mrs Jackson, I raised my other hand.

"Can I use the restroom?" I asked her in a rush, trying not to show the pain in my voice.

God, it hurt.

She must've noticed it on my face--the urgency--since she nodded almost immediately. I wasted no time standing up, stumbling a little as I pushed back my chair, and sprinting out of the classroom. It almost felt like my head was spinning as I ran in the hallway, looking for the restroom. I guess you really shouldn't run in the school hallways though, especially if you were counting down the last few seconds of your life with an absolute lack of sleep. Because the next thing I knew, I slammed right into a wall.

Literally.

A small groan slipped past my lips as I stumbled backwards. To my surprise, before I could've fallen down with the hit, someone placed a hand on my back to steady me.

Rubbing my forehead, I turned around and saw Caden in front of me. He looked at me in surprise, a tiny furrow in between his brows.

"Thanks," I whispered and took a step back (in a rush), forgetting that there was still a wall behind me, and hitting my head on it again.

What the fuck did I ever do to deserve this?

I closed my eyes shut and scrunched up my forehead in pain, rubbing the back of my head now. My head must hate me so much.

"Anderson," He sounded pitiful. "What the hell?"