Chapter 16: Blissful Ignorance
I was conflicted.
The note said not to tell anyone, and that was what I was planning to do...but was it the right thing to do? Who knows what this mystery person had on me, keeping this information to myself…
I wasn’t so sure about that to be honest.
I hadn’t gotten any sleep after I found that stupid note stuck to my door. How could I? All that was for sure, was that I was now freaked out. I’d seen a shadow of a person watching me… watching my reaction.
And now that seemed to be always on my mind. I’d lain in bed, tossing and turning, watching the shifting shadows that formed in the corners of my room. I don’t know whether it was simply a matter of my emotions influencing my perception, but the more I stared at them, the more they began to alter and almost move.
It was then that I found myself pacing back and forth across my cramped room. I couldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t. Not with my mind playing tricks on me, casting shadows of people that weren’t there.
The continuous and troubled thought kept popping into my head: What was I going to do about it? What could I possibly do?
The answer to that, I wasn’t yet sure of. I wanted so badly to look for the person, to find out who they were and their reason for wanting to blackmail me so seriously. Because honestly, I didn’t have a clue what I’d done, and that bugged me a lot.
Some deep part of me though, was against the idea of finding the identity of the person in question. Something told me that I didn’t want to know, that I didn’t want to find out and most importantly that the consequences for digging for information were going to be severe.
Did I truly want to find out who it was? Or was it better to just play it safe follow the rules and stay out of trouble?
As they say, ignorance is bliss.
With a groan of frustration, I threw my body onto my bed. I was utterly exhausted and still in my close from last night. I lay there, unblinking for a few calm moments, my mind empty of anything to do with my new found stalker.
That was though, before I mistakenly glanced at the clock on my bedside table, a clock that read that it was time to get out of bed. Even though I hadn’t actually slept in the damn thing all night…
Throwing myself into the shower, I closed my eyes and let the hot water and soothing steam refresh me, bringing a slight colour back into my pale face. After basically soaking myself in my favourite Strawberry Body lotion, I stepped out and dried off.
I leaned over the basin and rested my face against the foggy mirror. I was so tired I could have literally fallen asleep right there. If I hadn’t of gotten a glimpse of the horror that was my face in the mirror.
To say I looked terrible would have been an absolute understatement. My face was pale and lined with stress. There were dark blue bags under my eyes that resembled bruises.
I looked like a corpse, and I felt as shitty as one too. A defeated sigh escaped my lips as the awful truth came to mind: Not even makeup would fix my face today.
It took me close to an hour just trying to do my makeup, which resulted in my tube of concealer being thrown aggressively at the mirror so I now had one massive bone-co-loured smudge running down it and the basin.
Stomping angrily out of my room, I almost ran into Rachel who was just exiting hers. With just one glance at my scowl, her eyebrows rose and she winced.
“Rough night, huh?” She guessed in a cautious tone.
“What would make you think that?” I spat sarcastically. Rachel held her hands up in a defensive gesture and I hoisted my bag strap higher on my shoulder.
“Sorry,” She said honestly “Are you ok? Because you really look like you spent the night outside… and what in Hell happened to your hair?” She exclaimed, pinching a strand of my knotty hair between her thumb and finger.
“Don’t even ask. I didn’t get time to my hair this morning, I was too busy trying to fix the horror that it my face.” Came my reply accompanied with a yawn.
Rachel reached into her bag, retrieving a small black hair brush with a floral design on the handle. “Here, this might help a bit…though I doubt it’ll fix it entirely.”
Taking it out of her hand, I attempted to run the brush through the snarls, ripping half of it out in the process. “It’s always great to know you can make me feel better in my time of need.” I remarked, rolling my eyes.
“Drama Queen.” Rachel muttered.
“Oh shut up.” I meant it seriously, but a smile twitched at my lips.
“Ha! You can’t stay mad at me! No one can.” She teased, her blonde curls swirling behind her with every step.
I chuckled and rolled my eyes, such a typical Rachel-like response. “Whatever you say Goldilocks, whatever you say.”
“Guys, guys, guys!” A voice called from behind us. Rachel and myself both simultaneously spun around.
Jenna came running, her backpack bouncing crazily over her shoulders and her brown hair blowing behind her. She came to a halt only a foot away from us, causing Rachel to take a couple of shocked steps back
“What’s up, Jenna? You seem…on edge.” I commented, she was literally bouncing up and down on her heals.
“Well- Oh God I’m unfit!” She placed a hand on her rapidly rising chest, her other hand resting on her knee as she tried to regain her breath.
“Jenna,” Rachel snapped, growing impatient. “What’s going on?”
“Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe it. Peter and Tristan are fighting! Yeah, you heard me, full on punches and kicks and whatever else you do when you want to basically kill someone.”
My eyes widened dramatically and my mouth hung open to such a degree my jaw ached. Rachel seemed to be in a similar state as me.
“What?!” Cried Rachel, regaining her composure before me.
“Where?!” I yelled only a second after. Why would they be fighting? I knew they didn’t like each other, but was that hate between them really as bad as this?
What happened to them that made them want to fight physically rather than the little insults they threw back and forth whenever they were forced to be in the same room together?
All these thought ran through my mind on repeat as Rachel, Jenna and I sprinted through the schools towards the courtyard.
“Watch it!” A girl cried as I ran into her, causing her to stumble slightly.
“Sorry! It’s a matter of life or death!” I yelled back, not even casting a look in her direction. Jenna chuckled breathlessly beside me.
“Life or death? Really?”
I rolled my eyes, my heart thumping rapidly in my chest. “Well knowing those two, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Finally we burst through the doors to the courtyard and I found myself temporarily distracted by the light smattering of snow that covered the leaves of the pine trees, little icicles hanging off the branched that shone in the sun.
That was until a distinct Thump and a groan caught my attention. Down below, in the center of the courtyard, was a large group of kids yelling and cheering in a circle.
“I’m guessing that’s the fight?” I wondered out loud as I sped walked down to the commission.
“It’s either that or Queen’s paying a visit.” Rachel agreed.
Once we got closer, a younger student stopped in front of me, his toothy smile showing off his braces. “So, who are you gonna be bettin’ on today?” He mumbled, running a hand through his springy red hair.
I glared at him and pushed him aside, “Beat it kid. I’m not giving you any of my money.”
The boy frowned and crossed his armed haughtily but forgot about us when he was approached by another boy with a handful of cash.
Pushing through the dense crowd with Rachel and Jenna following behind proved to be quite a challenge. But my pushing sped up as I gained the center and the sounds of fists colliding and moans of pain caused my heart rate to pick up.
“Move!” Rachel cried angriliy to my right as she basically bowled over a girl in her path of destruction.
“Lara!” A male voice called once I had finally burst through to the center of the circle. I turned my head and my eyes landed on a panicked looking Daniel. He was trying, rather unsuccessfully to hold a furious Tristan back.
Tristan looked terrible, which was quite a feat for him since he looked well-groomed and perfect whenever he went. Now, he didn’t look anything like the cocky guy I was growing used to.
The sleeve of his black shirt was ripped at the seam, showing an already bruising but extremely tones arm underneath, the collar was also ripped and was soaked with blood from a large gash on his hair line that was spilling blood all down the left side of his face.
His bottom lip was swollen and spilt on the side and he also sported a black eye. A cry of shock escaped my lips as I took in the severity of his injuries.
“Lara! Get back, you’ll get hurt!” Daniel grunted, his arms wrapped around Tristan’s arms in an attempt to keep him back from Peter. Suddenly, Tristan’s arm broke free of Daniel’s grip and his fist went hurtling towards Peter’s face.
The sound of the impact sent a shiver down my spine and the groan of pain that emanated from Peter caused my stomach to drop. He was in just as bad shape as Tristan, if not worse. Blood poured out of his nose as he stumbled back and tripped over, nursing the cheek that Tristan had punched.
“You son of a bitch! I won’t warn you again you f*cking bastard, stay the hell away from her!” Tristan snarled furiously at Peter. His blue eyes were glowing with anger and had an almost crazed look in them.
Peter stared at Tristan defiantly, getting up on shaky legs and spitting a mouthful of blood onto the pavement beside him. “You can’t keep me away from her, remember last time?” He leered.
This obviously wasn’t the right thing to say as Tristan lunged towards him again, struggling against Daniel’s hold.
“ I’ll kill you! I swear to god I’m going to kill you!” He screamed, his voice echoing around the courtyard and loud enough to be heard over the jeers of his classmates.
That’s when I decided enough was enough.
“Stop it!” I yelled and took a cautious step closer to the two boys. Tristan stopped stuggling but did not break eye contact with a heavily breathing Tristan.
“Lara, stay out of this.” Peter spoke up, breathing heavily.
“Yeah, listen to your little boy toy and back the hell off. This has nothing to do with you.” Tristan sneered, still glaring intensely at Peter. By this time, the crowd had quietened as they all tried to listen to what was going on. There were even a few boo’s at the stopped fighting.
“Peter, listen to Lara. Stop fighting; it’s not worth it you’ll just land yourself in trouble.” Rachel spoke, coming to a stand next to me. “Look what this is doing to Claira; you don’t want her upset do you?” She pointed to a figure cowering on a stone bench just off to the side of the fight.
Claira’s head snapped up when Rachel called her name. Her eyes were red and swollen from the tears that seemed to endlessly flow from them, her face was pink and sobs racked her body.
Peter turned his head slowly to look at her and his expression immediately softened; he appeared to be almost guilty. Tristan also looked at his cousin and a similar expression swarmed his handsome features.
“I’m so sorry, Claira. I just got angry when I saw you talking to him.” Tristan soothed, getting down on his knees in front of his cousin. His dark eyebrows creased and a frown formed on his cut lips.
“I-I have to go.” She whispered before standing and pushing her way forcefully through the crowd.
“Claira!” Peter shouted and took a step in the direction she had disappeared to. He stopped however, when a growl ripped from Tristan’s throat.
“Stay away from her McAllister. I mean it, or next time I won’t just hurt you… I’ll kill you.” Tristan warned Peter with a savage look.
If looks could kill…
Peter straigtned up, wincing as he did and stared Tristan right in the eye. “You don’t scare me. Try your damn hardest West, I dare you.”
Quick as lightening, I stepped forward and wrapped a hand around Tristan’s fist which had started to make its way towards Peter’s face. His hand flexed under my touch and he ripped his arm away from my hold, throwing one last glare at me and Peter before he stalked through the parted crowd and into the School.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Peter spoke quietly, but I could hear the anger in his voice. “I don’t need you to stick up for me.” And with that, he spun on his heal and walked in the opposite direction.
Rachel came up to me and rested a hand on my shoulder. “They were fighting about Claira again, weren’t they?” She questioned with a frown.
I blew a breath, ruffling my slight bangs. “I think so. Has that happened before?” I wondered.
“You bet your ass they have.” Jenna answered for her, coming up on my other side. We all stared in the direction Peter had just walked in.
“I don’t get it. Did Peter and Claira have something going on and is Tristan just taking the role of protective big brother a little too far?”
Rachel shook her head. “I don’t really know. Peter never mentioned it. All I know is that Peter and Tristan fought a few days before Claira left the school about a year ago. No one knows why, but I guess having Claira back has stirred up some unresolved issues between the two.”
I shrugged my shoulders. I hadn’t even had breakfast and was already trying to play Sherlock Holmes and solve the mystery of the Testosterone filled boys.
At least it’s distracting you from that little note you got last night…
That thought alone sobered me up completely. My stomach tightened. What was I going to do about that?
“Hey are you ok?” Jenna asked me.
“I’m fine! Just a bit bowled over by the whole…” I trailed off, pointing to dispersing students. “You know.” I sighed.
“Yeah, I do know. How about you guys go have breakfast and I’ll go hunt down Peter.” Rachel offered. “He’s probably licking his wounds right now and I want to know just what the hell this whole thing was about.”
“Well if you find out, let me know.” Jenna said, linking her arm through mine.
“Same here. Something’s up, I knew those two didn’t like each other before but this is taking it a bit too far.” I agreed.
“Alright, well I’ll catch up with you both later. In Chemistry, yeah?” Rachel asked. She walked backwards a couple of steps.
I nodded my head and waved a goodbye. “Sure, d’ you think Tristan will show up to detention tonight?” I wondered.
Since that last detention, he’d missed three detentions in a row, something told me he wouldn’t be coming to the one tonight… not like I cared or anything.
***
Rachel’s POV
I walked through the corridors, not caring if I was late to class. Ms Jefferson is an uptight cow anyway and I didn’t like World History particularly.
I was worried for Peter, I really was. Out of everyone in the school, I was the only one he trusted with his secret and my God was it one hell of a doozy.
As much as I wanted to tell Lara and the others what that fight was all about, I knew I couldn’t. Peter trusted me and I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize that trust.
Where would he have gone to? I wondered to myself.
I continued walking until the answer came to mind. Of course! How could I have forgotten? Spinning around, I walked as fast as I could in my heels, but stopped when I got to my desired destination.
“Peter?” I called to the silhouette sitting on the stone bench in the memorial garden.
I heard a deep sigh. “What do you want, Rachel? I want to be alone for a while.”
My heart went out to him. He was in a bad place and the past year was hard for him. I of all people knew that better than anyone else.
I sat on the bench next to him and just let him think quietly to himself. If he needed me, he’d talk.
“So, I guess you figured out what Tristan and I were fighting about?” He finally spoke after moments of silence.
“Yeah I did. It wasn’t that hard you know. Give me some credit.” I joked, nudging his shoulder with my own.
Peter chuckled humourlessly and ran a hand through his blonde locks. “You’re really something aren’t you?” He smiled slightly.
“I do try.”
Peter sighed and rested his head on my shoulder. It wasn’t an intimate gesture, simply friendly. Peter was a really good looking guy and one of my closest friends but we’d never had things going.
Besides, he had someone else to take up that part of his heart.
“I’ve screwed up so bad haven’t I.” He said quietly.
It took me a while to decide on an answer, Sure he was at fault here, but he certainly wasn’t the only one. Far from it actually.
“It’s not just your fault, Peter. You didn’t know what would happen.”
Peter stood up suddenly with a pained expression on his face. “ Is it wired that I don’t regret it at all? That I don’t regret what happened between me and Claira no matter how hard it was on her? Hell! I don’t even regret getting my ass kicked by Tristan today.” He yelled frustrated. “I deserved it. I deserve worse.”
I rose from my seat and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “ Peter, you listen to me. No one can choose who they fall in love with. I wish it was that easy but sadly, it isn’t. Claira is the same, I’m sure she doesn’t regret anything that happened between you both. “
Peter’s eyes clouded over as he normally does when he shuts off from everybody. “I was selfish. Even when she left I didn’t go looking for her,she needed me.” He pointed sharply at himself. “She needed me.”
“You cou-“
“I got her PREGNANT!” He screamed. I flinched at his tone.
“I got her pregnant.” He whispered, sitting back down on the bench. I copied his actions and sat beside him again. It pained me to see him like this. I knew he was tearing himself apart the past year that Claira was gone, but I didn’t think it affected him that bad.
“It’s ok, Peter. She’s back now. You can make amends, right?” I suggested.
“It’s not that easy. Tristan won’t let me anywhere near her. He’s even more protective of her than before. Her being back isn’t going to change anything if I can’t even get near her without being kicked in the balls.” He sneered.
It all started about a year and a half ago. Peter was relatively new to the school and back then, he was a lot different than what he was like now. The Peter I used to know was shady and quite, dare I say it… Bad ass.
When he first met Claira though, things changed. At the time, she had just turned sixteen and Peter seventeen. Being the young teens they were, they fell in love.
Or that’s what Peter told me anyway. Tristan came to the school not long after, and instantly became Claira’s protective cousin. I remember the days when he used to threaten any guy who came near her.
Don’t ask my why he was so over protective, because I honestly don’t know anything about that boy. He’s a walking puzzle. Claira and I became fast friends as I was at the time one of Peter’s only friends.
After a while Claira finally told me about her relationship with Peter and how much she claimed how much they were in love. She told me that they were keeping their relationship a secret.
Peter wanted nothing more than to tell the world about them but Claira was more wary. She knew Tristan’s reaction was going to be nothing short of explosive.
One unfortunate night, Claira woke me up with tears streaming down her face. It was then that she told me something that was going to shake things up around campus.
She was pregnant.
When Peter found out, he was confused to say the least. Peter, Claira and myself were in the common room one night, late so no one could over hear us. We were discussing what we were going to do about the delicate…situation.
Tristan happened to be listening in on the conversation and stormed in with the most horrifyingly scary expression I have ever seen on his face.
Peter and Tristan then started the ultimate fight. Both ended up in hospital and Peter was suspended and sent home temporarily.
A few days later, Claira disappeared. We didn’t know where she went but Peter was shattered by it. Beyond shattered, he didn’t know what to do with himself anymore.
Claira kept in contact with me, but never any more. She never talked about Peter, or anything regarding the child that had been growing inside her. I never told Peter I’d heard from her or course. I knew he wouldn’t have taken it well.
The only thing he knew, was that Claira had put the child up for adoption. That alone broke Peter’s heart all over again. The couple had never even had a chance to talk properly about the decision.
“Maybe I should just give up.” Peter muttered almost to himself. I snapped out of my trip down memory lane and stared at him intently.
I had an idea, but if I suggested it, all hell would eventually break loose. It was worth a shot though if it meant Peter would stop beating himself over what happened such a long time ago.
“I’ll tell you what. I’m willing to talk to Claira and see if she wants to talk to you… in secret. Tristan would never allow you too to be alone together, but he doesn’t have to know.”
Peter’s head snapped up to look at me. His eyes sparkled with hope and something more…need.
“Really? Do you think it would work?” He wondered, his voice had regained a lot of his normal happiness which eased me a bit.
“Well, Claira has to agree first, ok? If she says yes, I’ll organise you to meet somewhere in private. “ I confirmed.
Peter smiled slightly and threw his arms around me. “Thank you so much, Rachel. You honestly have no idea how much this means to me. No one stuck around when Claira left, no one wanted to be near me but you did. You’re really the best.” He said honestly.
I grinned and hugged him tighter, “You deserve a happy ending, and I swear I’ll do whatever it takes to get that for you.” I replied.
“I just want her back. I want her back in my life so bad.” He whispered brokenly. I felt a cool of his tears as they soaked through my thin sweater.
“She’ll come back, I knew she loved you like nothing else before and I don’t think anything’s changed.” I admitted. Peter shook his head, his hair tickling my exposed neck.
“God I hope so, I hope so bad that that’s true.” He said quietly, his voiced quaked slightly.
“Don’t worry about it.” I moved my arms from around his neck and stoof up, holding a hand out for him. “ Now come on, let’s go get you cleaned up a bit. You look like shit.”
Peter chuckled and stood, wincing from the pain that was certainly starting to form after the fight. Throwing an arm around my shoulder for support, we made our way back to the school grounds.
“I really do love you Rach, you know that right?” Peter grinned, ruffling my hair with his free hand.
“Don’t you go getting soft on me Peter. Save that love for your special girl.” I winked.
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And the secrets out! Now you know what was up with Peter and Claira! Honestly, who thought she'd be freaking preggo? To be honest, it was my friend Mikayla's idea to have a teen pregnancy in it a while ago and I kinda went 'Why not, I'll give it a shot!' ( Haha, that ryhmed. I'm a poet and I didn't even know it )
I'm sorry guys, I didn't reach my goal last chapter and I'm gonna set the wame one again, PLEASE VOTE OR POST 1 SIMPLE COMMENT! Thats all I ask, I need you opinions coz I'm seriously pondering the futrue of this story. so, for the next chappy, please:
10 VOTES
15 COMMENTS
AND i'll update early!
Love,
Amber XD