Bitter Heart √

Eighteen

I heard scraping of the chair right beside me as somebody pulled it out, before sitting down. I didn't pull up my head from my arms to see who it was. Whoever it was could certainly see that I was trying to sleep. And waking me up from my dear nap was like asking for a death wish. I think everyone already knew that.

"God, you sleep a lot." The person beside me muttered.

The way he stated it told me he was realizing that just now. Like he couldn't possibly shut his mouth and not state out the stupid fact as if it was supposed to be embarrassing.

I jerked up my head in his direction and gave him a menacing glare. Which didn't seem to have any effect on him. And that, in turn, seemed to anger me more.

"What did you just say?"

"I said you sleep a lot, Anderson." Caden repeated. And really, this was the only time I had heard him sounding patient, as if he wouldn't mind repeating that sentence over and over again.

I shook my head in disbelief. This guy really had a death wish right now.

"You can be such a pain sometimes." I snapped back.

I was kind of thankful that everybody else was busy with their stuff, or otherwise this could've gone downhill in just a few seconds. Besides, I was really cranky right now and nobody could blame me for that. I didn't even get to have any coffee this morning.

I shouldn't have said that though. Nobody said such things to Caden as long as I had known. All I could remember was the one time when a jock in my sophomore year had directed some bad words at Caden on the school grounds. I think he was rushed to the nearest hospital. He never came back to school though. The poor guy.

But it was Caden's fault that he'd made me snap.

And he even looked a little taken aback by my response, as if he hadn't expected my sudden outburst, but overcame it just as quickly. In one swift movement, he yanked my chair towards him with a pull and leaned closer with a threatening look.

Oh no.

"You don't say such things to me, Anderson." He said, looking straight into my eyes.

I froze naturally when I saw his piercing green eyes staring right back at me, a strange, almost roguish glint to them. And there were just inches left between our faces. He was close. Too close. And Caden getting too close was like warning bells ringing in my head. Sweet bells. I didn't know how to pull away.

I didn't even know how I was to remain angry at him. What was anger anyway?

I think someone was doing some kind of shitty sorcery with my life.

"Well, you don't say such things about my...sleep."

He wasn't doing much good hiding the smile from his face, and that just made my heart race a little more wildly. Was he enjoying this? What had I ever done to him?

"The world could be ending and you'd still be sleeping." He remarked.

My lips parted in surprise and his gaze dropped low to them. With a tiny gasp, I gripped the other end of my chair that he wasn't holding onto and pulled back. My face felt like it was on fire.

"You're insufferable," I said, failing to meet his gaze, and turned back towards my desk. Then I covered my face with both of my hands.

Placing my head down again, I decided not to look at him until the bell rang. I'd be so happy to get away from him. He was so irritating and he made me feel so...unnatural.

He's just crazy.

Talking about crazy,

"Something happened yesterday," I said, still not looking at him.

"I know. I made the worst decision of my life."

"I'm not talking about that," I mumbled into my arms.

My eyelids drooped and I almost would've dozed off right then, a little too happily. But just when I thought Caden couldn't be any more of an annoying imbecile, he nudged my chair with his foot and jerked me awake all over again.

Fucking hell, I thought. Gritting my teeth, I tried controlling the urge to say something obscenely bad to him.

"You were saying something?" He asked, almost laughing at me.

How much I wish I could just do something to him.

I placed my elbows on my desk and rubbed my eyes, inhaling a deep, patient sigh. You can do this Sky, I mentally cheered myself.

"When I came back--I mean when you dropped me back to my house last night, my mother introduced me to one of her friends," I told him, lowering down my voice a bit. "Mr and Mrs Matthews. Blake was there too."

I glanced at him to see the startings of a smile completely being wiped off his face. Like I had just dropped an f-bomb on him.

"What?"

"It was Blake. The same blond guy I saw on the homecoming night." I added it in case I had been wrong with the name.

Caden took his time to reply, and his dark brows pulled in together. "Your parents know the Matthews? Of course, they fucking do." The last bit was him muttering it to himself, mostly. Then he snapped his gaze back to me and something dark seemed to brim within the green. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

I rolled my eyes. "I hadn't known, Caden. I was surprised too, you know. I barely had any sleep last night."

He didn't seem to say anything after that.

"Would you do me a favour?" I asked him once the silence seemed to stretch on.

Whatever he was busy thinking about, he broke off from it and looked at me questioningly.

"Just wake me up when the bell rings." I said before turning back and slamming my head down on the desk.

Whatever this meant, Blake coming to my house, wasn't good. I could almost see the uncertainty on Caden's face.

_________

Make sure to click the ★ below ↓ if you liked this chapter.

Xoxo,
Crystal 🌿