Out of the Dark

Chapter Eight

I was jolted awake by the sound of the tardy bell. I looked around the room quickly, and then checked the time on my phone.
1:15.
I had already missed two classes and lunch.
"Damn!" I gasped, rolling out of my bed and checking my face and hair in the mirror before yanking up my backpack and running out of my room to the gym. I had been excused from playing sports, but attendance was still important.
Why did I think that if I put my head down I'd be able to stay awake?
Stupid.
I ran as fast as I could through the dormitory. Once I reached the warm sunlight, someone caught my eye. It was Eddison, obviously skipping class, and smoking a cigarette.
Not him.
"Hey, Annabeth, right?" He greeted me with a crooked smile. I looked down at his cigarette and grimaced.
"You know those are bad for you." I commented.
Eddison chuckled and rolled his eyes at that.
"Yeah well apparently so is volleyball." He retorted on a long exhale of smoke. He was sure to blow the cloud away from me before offering me a grin. My face felt hot and my palms began to sweat.
"What do you want? Why are you just now starting to hang arpund with all of us?" I snapped defensively.
Eddie exhaled a grey cloud of smoke and shook his head. Something about the look of it had an allure that I couldn't resist, despite anchoring the smell.
"Why are you so against it? Too handsome for you?" He chuckled.
I rolled my eyes.
"No, it just feels odd that your brother has been attending this school all year and you are just now coming around. Where were you last year?" I interrogated him mercilessly.
Eddie took another drag off of his cigarette before flicking it away from himself.
"I was busy." His voice was much lower now, and his smile disappeared. I shrugged and rolled my eyes. With everything in me, I wanted to know what had kept him so busy that he'd ignored his family for so long, and left Danny to fend for himself against what could have been his certain demise. My pride wouldn't allow me to ask about it, though.
"Well I'm already really late, so I'm going now. I'm watching you." I warned.
Eddie laughed at that.
"Promise?" He tried making his voice sweeter than it was.
"Go to hell." I spat, storming towards the primary building.
How dare he say that to me? I didn't know what his angle was, or what he was so sidetracked with last year that he forgot about his little brother, but I didn't care.
People don't just show up out of nowhere.
"Wait!" He called after me.
I don't know why I stopped. I wanted nothing to do with Eddie. I was terrified of him.
I don't know why I stopped.
"Do you want to see something?" He asked before taking another long drag off of his cigarette.
I was already twenty minutes late. It would take another eight to reach the gym from where we stood. What would they do if I didn't go? Call my father? I wondered briefly if he even cared about what was happening in my life right now.
I found myself nodding in response before I even gave it any thought. I didn't even question him about it.
He nodded past the school grounds, signaling for me to follow him. I did.
"I don't usually see you cutting class," he noted, breaking the silence between us. "Are you sick?"
In some ways, I suppose I was.
"Just over estimated my alarm." I shrugged.
Eddison stared straight ahead, not seeming to notice me watching him closely. He seemed much taller today than he had when I'd last seen him. Despite the smoking and the alternative look, Eddison put off a very wise and peaceful vibe- a necessary quality in any hydrokinetic super.
"Right, so avoiding all of your friends and classmates is normal for you?" He laughed bitterly.
I glared at him.
"Are you trying to make me go back? Because I'll go." I insisted.
"No you won't," Eddie glanced at me from over his shoulder. "You want to see what I have to show you."
He was right.
I scoffed, unable to think of a response.
"It doesn't feel good to be grilled and made out to be an asshole,  does it?" Eddie chuckled, squeezing the red ember out of his cigarette butt.
Rude. But I got his point. He put the filter in his pocket to avoid dropping his trash onto the grass.
"No..." I hated apologizing, especially to Eddison. I still didn't trust him, but I had to be less of a jerk about it. "I'm sorry."
"No worries," he offered a kind smile in my direction. "But you'll want to be more aloof about your distrust in people in the future."
I wondered why he was so calm about it. I wouldn't have shown anyone the same kindness had the tables been reversed.
"What's back here?" I changed the subject. Eddie shook his head.
"No spoilers." He insisted.
Anxiety knotted in my stomach, but I followed him anyway.
Trust something other than your fear.
I inhaled deeply through my nose in an attempt to calm down. Soon, we were veering off onto a thin, dirt path.
"How far are we going?" I asked.
"You ask too many questions, has anyone ever told you that?" Eddie laughed, not even glancing back in my direction.
I opened my mouth to retort, but nothing clever came to mind. The wilderness around us grew thicker and thicker. I hadn't realized how well the school had been hidden from the public eye, until I found myself in a full blown forest without a city street in sight.
Eddison turned off the path, and I followed closely behind. Suddenly, I heard the sound of several kittens frantically crying out.
"Is that...?"
Eddie nodded before I finished my question.
"What I wanted to show you." He chuckled.
We walked a little bit further until we reached what seemed to be a nest, made from fur, ribbons, twigs and leaves. The nest was full of kittens, and I sat down beside them. The ground was still soft from the rain the night before. I knew that when I stood up, my clothes would be covered with mud.
"You wanted to show me kittens?" I squeeked in disbelief.
Eddie shushed me and took a seat beside me.
"Their momma has been M.I.A for a couple of days now, even for strays that's not normal." He explained in a low voice. "I've been giving them kitten formula, but they're all so hungry it's hard for me to feed them on my own. Think you could help me? I brought two bottles."
All of this fear and anxiety over a boy that cared for orphaned kittens?
Get your shit together, Annabeth.
I nodded and agreed to help. Eddie pulled the bottles from the pockets in his hoodie, and handed one of them over to me. The bottles were surprisingly warm despite the cool air around us.
"Squeeze the bottle, so that a little bit of formula comes out. They can't see yet, so they need to smell the milk." He instructed before scooping up the calico kitten. I watched him closely to be sure I was doing it right. I was more careful with the tiny white kitten than I'd ever been with anything else in my life. As it fed, I felt the guilt of wrongly alienating Eddison, heavily weighing on my shoulders. What kind of villain cared for orphaned kittens? I'd misjudged him completely...
Brandon was extremely sweet.
I hated myself for thinking it, but I had to keep my guard up.
Just in case.
"They're lucky you found them." I noted absently, carefully feeling the kittens belly.
"When it gets a little hard, he's finished." Eddie instructed, as though he'd read my mind. I took a deep breath and nodded. I counted to ten in my head and focused on the tiny kitten claws kneading on my hand. For once in months, I was able to soothe myself. When his belly was full, I gently placed the white kitten back into the nest and grabbed the next.
"They're just lucky I like animals a lot more than people." Eddie chuckled, doing the same. "Thank you for helping me. It normally takes me an hour to feed all six of them."
"No worries. I didn't have anything better to do. Besides this was a really good surprise." I replied light heartedly.
Justin was the only other guy I knew that was so openly passionate about something other than his image. Honestly, it was refreshing, like his mind was out of high school entirely.
It took under half an hour to feed all of the kittens. Once we put them all back and covered them up a bit so that they'd be harder for predators to find them, we were on our way back out of the forest.
"An old friend of mine's parents are going out of town next weekend, and she is having a party at her place on Saturday. If you and the rest of my brother's friends want to come, you should. It might help you relax." Eddie offered.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asled suspiciously.
Eddie seemed taken aback by the question.
"I..." he stamered. "You just look like you could use a friend."
I have friends. I wanted to say snidely.  I kept my mouth shut because the truth was that I did need a friend. I'd been isolating myself from the group and I hardly spoke to anyone other than Justin anymore.
"Thank you." I said softly after a long pause.
He smiled and put a heavy hand on my shoulder.
"I'm always around if you need to chat."
The phrase was too familiar by now, but this was the first time he'd said it to me and I didn't feel on edge. I appreciated him, even if I couldn't fully trust him.