Shadows Fading (BxB)

~10~

~Collin POV~

I sat at the foot of my bed, holding the small slip of paper in my hands delicately as I read it over and over again. He has such nice handwriting... It was surprising to see how neat each letter was. But why couldn't I stop reading it? This wasn't normal. Then again, nor was the most notorious bad boy in the city giving you a handwritten sorry and thank you note.

Sighing, I sat the note aside and pulled my legs up to my chest. I felt bad for leaving him earlier, but it only made me wonder why he exploded like that. Why did he think nobody cared? Didn't he have anyone at home? He did jump out of his window... but why?

Guess I won't be figuring that out anytime soon. With a shrug, I transferred to the mattress and pulled my thin blanket over myself. The weather outside was getting warmer, but it was still cold inside since the house didn't have very good insulation. Somehow, I usually slept pretty soundly, despite the chill.

Within moments, I had slipped away.

A banging resonated through the house some time later, waking me up. I could hear my stepdad, most likely drunk again, stumbling around outside my room. I sighed, curling myself up even more after glancing to make sure that my door was indeed locked. I hated being woken up in the middle of the night like this...

Hours later, the sounds had stopped and I had fallen back asleep again before my alarm started buzzing, waking me once more. I half-rolled, half-fell out of bed, then made my way to the bathroom only after checking to make sure the coast was clear. After my shower, I got dressed in my normal jeans, shirt, and hoodie, then slung my bookbag over my shoulder. Before I left, I dug around the pantry for a couple bags of Doritos. I wasn't sure if Kyle was going to bring anything for lunch today, and if he didn't, I still wanted him to have something. If he's even at school today. I hope he is...

I stuffed the Doritos in my bag as I walked out the front door, closing it behind me and starting along the sidewalk. I arrived at school a little earlier than usual somehow. Maybe it was just because I wanted to see if he was here..?

I nearly tripped as I approached the door on the mostly unused side of the building.

"I'm trying to sleep," a familiar voice grumbled with an annoyed tone, still sounding as if he was half-asleep. I couldn't see who it was, but I didn't need to see to know.

"Kyle..?" What's he doing here? And sleeping here..?

Instantly he became alert, and I could see movement and the dark form of a body where I hadn't thought one had been previously. My eyes probably had just missed it. "Collin?" It looked like he had moved to sit up now. "What're ya doing here?"

"Just got here a little early, I guess," I explained. "What about you? Why are you... sleeping... here?"

He just huffed, standing up. I almost didn't think he was going to answer, until he said, "Got here early. Didn't feel like going home, so I didn't." He seemed like he didn't want to talk about it, so I decided to avoid the topic.

"Oh.. ok." Silence overtook the space between us for a few moments before I spoke again. "So... why here? Why at the school, and not somewhere else?"

Kyle shrugged, replying in a blunt tone. "Just got here over an hour ago, and there wasn't anything else to do. I wasn't here all night." He leaned back against the wall, arms appearing to be crossed.

Since he clearly wasn't going to say any more about it, I let the matter slip, not wanting to pressure him at all. Eventually, the bell rang, signaling us that it was time to go inside.