Chapter 11 - Wide Awake
I looked at my phone for the tenth time in the last two hours. The screen read 4:28 am and I finally made the decision to get out of bed. I'd been lying in bed awake since Slate and I came back in from the balcony at 3 am. I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing with too many thoughts and it felt like a current of electricity was running through my entire body. I climbed out of bed quietly and grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and a cute hoodie before going into the bathroom to change and do my hair and makeup. Once I was done I came out and saw that Slate was still sound asleep in the bed. I pulled open the bedroom door, only pausing when it made a creaking sound. I then grabbed my school bag and my converse deciding that I wasn't going to waste anymore time and I'd put them on in the elevator.
It was still dark outside when I finally climbed into my car. I tried to turn it on but had no luck. After trying another two times I let out a frustrated sigh before jumping out of the dead car and slamming the door shut way louder than I needed to. I pulled my hood over my head as I started walking down the sidewalk with no particular destination in mind.
The city streets were mostly empty, it was too late for people to be coming home from clubs and too early for people to be going to work. I walked for 15 minutes, not noticing what direction I was going until I was standing in front of an all too familiar building.
I looked up at the sign that read "Public Library" and sighed in content as I made my way to the back of the incredibly large building. I pulled the heavy door open and walked in, relieved that the librarian still always left it unlocked.
I could still remember the first time I'd entered through this back door. One night a couple of months ago I was walking home from the club when it started pouring rain. I'd seen the big metal door so I ran to it in hopes that it was unlocked so I could take shelter. Luckily it was, and when I entered I found myself inside the expensive three floor library and immediately fell in love with it. Ever since then I've been coming back whenever I needed to be alone or just escape for a bit. Luckily there are no cameras and the security system has been broken for a long time, so I'd never get caught. I'm fully aware that trespassing like this is illegal but I don't feel guilty because it's harmless, I always come here after opening hours when I know it's empty and I never stole or broke anything; plus I love reading and I had all the books I could ever ask for surrounding me so there was no way I was going to give that up.
I walked to my favourite couch and lied down so that I was staring up at the ceiling. Whenever I came here and I didn't feel like reading I would always stare up at the high ceiling, it's all glass so you get a breathtaking view of the sky and since it was still dark out I was staring up at the stars searching for constellations.
My mind kept wandering to the fight I'd gotten into with my parents and red hot anger filled me as I remembered my mother referring to Jace as a murderer. I took deep breaths trying to calm myself down and thought about happy things like the fact that gummy worms existed, that there was a new episode of Teen Wolf this week, the fact that Jace might get released in a month and the look of concern on Christian and Slate's faces yesterday when they were worried about me. It felt good, too good...
I didn't want to become dependant on anyone or grow too close to either of the boys. It was basic human knowledge that it's almost impossible to rely on people because they always end up letting you down one way or another but that wasn't what was making me feel like I needed to start distancing myself from Slate.
It was that I liked being more or less alone, I liked that no one really knew me all that well and that I could be whoever I wanted to be when I met someone new. I liked that Jace was the only person I had to worry about and I liked that I didn't have many people to disappoint. But more than all that I loved that people saw me as a mystery because I knew that no one would ever be able to solve me... I studied the sky as a wave of calm washed over me and for a split second I noticed it was dark purple not black and I found myself realizing that maybe not everything is as dark as it appears.
Before I knew what was happening I felt the exhaustion of hardly sleeping envelope me and my eyelids started to droop. My mind and body were too tired to fight it so instead I welcomed sleep with open arms letting my eyes shut completely.
*********
The sound of keys jingling woke me up from my light sleep. I immediately jumped up from the couch, grabbing my bag and my entire body froze when I heard the creaking sound of a door opening and a women's voice. I looked to the back door and panicked when I heard the voice coming closer. I ran as quietly as I could to the closest row of books and crouched down hiding behind it. I pulled out a book so I had a small space to see through.
A women who looked to be in her early 50's who I could only assume is the librarian was walking towards the checkout counter with a phone pressed against her ear. After saying a few words that I couldn't hear she hung up the phone and turned her back to me so she could put her purse down. I looked to the back door ready to make my move but just as I went to step out from behind the shelf and make a run for it, the book that I was holding slipped out of my hand and made a loud banging sound when it landed on the marble floor. The librarian jumped turning around quickly and I immediately brought my hands to my mouth frozen in place and not making a sound.
"Hello?" The woman shouted as she looked around the library. After a couple of seconds she shrugged her shoulders and went back to looking for something in her purse.
I took the chance and sprinted silently to the back door before pushing it open and I thanked the lord when the door opened and closed without making even the slightest noise. I didn't stop running until I was a couple blocks away. I took in deep breaths when I did finally stop and let out a relieved chuckle when I realized that I managed to escape without getting caught.
I pulled out my phone to check what time it was and as soon as my screen lit up I was spammed with notifications. I looked at the time and saw that it was already 5 minutes to 8 am which means school started in 20 minutes. I then read the notifications and saw that I had 11 missed calls from Slate and 9 missed calls from Christian along with a bunch of text messages from each of them asking where I was and if I was okay. I immediately felt guilty for disappearing without leaving a note or anything. I clicked on Slate's number and I started walking towards the school as it started to ring. After the second ring he picked up.
"Willow!?" Slate said almost shouting.
"Hey." I replied softly.
"Where the f*ck have you been?" He asked and I could tell that his jaw was clenched in anger just by the tone of his voice.
"Just, you know...around. Sorry I made you guys worry." I said feeling worse and worse by the second. This was the second time I made them worry about me in less than 24 hours.
"Where are you? I'll come pick you up." He said his voice softer than before but he still sounded a bit tired and I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault since he'd sat on the balcony with me in the middle of the night just to be nice when I'm sure he would've rather be sleeping.
"It's okay, you don't have to. I'm only ten minutes away from the school, I can walk." I said knowing that I had to start distancing myself from him before it got too late. I'm attracted to him, that's for sure, but it can't become anything more than that, it isn't going to become anything more than that.
"Don't be stubborn." He said sounding a little annoyed as he let out an exasperated sigh.
"Thank you so much for everything you and Christian have done for me, I really appreciate it." I said not answering his question and oddly enough as I spoke the words that I hoped would help me distance myself from them I felt my heart sink ever so slightly. I kept the phone pressed tightly to my ear as I continued to walk. There was a long pause and for a second I thought maybe he'd hung up, but then he finally replied.
"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice void of emotion.
"I'm not doing anything." I said, my voice coming out quiet. I bit my lip waiting for his reply as I felt my heart sink a little lower. Why did I care so much? I'd only known him for a week and a half.
"Then why does it feel like you're saying goodbye?" He said still keeping his voice emotionless but the truth in his words felt like a stab to the chest.
"It's not like that... I just have to go back home today." Lie. "We were just a hookup anyways right? It's not like we were planning on being friends." I said getting a bit angry as images of him making out with random girls at school re-surfaced to my mind.
"Of course, just a hookup," He said and for a millisecond I thought I heard a hint of sadness in his voice but then I realized I was probably just imagining what I wanted to hear. "I ended this sh*t a week ago, you're the one who showed up at my apartment, not the other way around so don't act like I'm the bad guy here." Slate finished, his tone cold and I realized that he thought I was doing this because I thought he was some sort of player. Even if he is a player, it has nothing to do with why I'm breaking things off between us, but letting him believe that I think he's an asshole will make it easier to end things, so instead of correcting him I kept my mouth shut and hung up without saying as much as a 'goodbye.'
I pushed away the sadness I felt creeping up, telling myself I had no reason to be sad. He was just a hookup. I'd had multiple hookups before but for some unknown reason, something about Slate kept me hooked. Maybe it was those piercing blue eyes or that silky black hair or maybe even the dangerous vibe he let off but something about him was addicting and boy did I need to go to rehab.
Before I knew it, I was walking through the front entrance of the school and making my way towards my locker. I threw my bag down and looked at my schedule noticing that I had Law & Order: Intro to Legal Studies (my elective) first period and it brightened up my mood a little bit. I walked to class and stepped in a couple minutes before the bell, taking a seat in the middle row.
"Hey." A girl with light brown hair and matching hazel eyes said as she took the seat next to me, I recognized her as Sasha.
"Hey." I replied giving her a small smile although I was kind of surprised that she greeted me since we'd never talked before. It was nothing personal but I'd always gotten a bad vibe from her.
"So are those hot new boys, like, related to you or something?" She asked and everything began to fall into place as I let a smirk form on my face. I immediately knew who she was talking about: Slate, Christian, Alec and AJ. I'd been waiting for someone to confront me about it, I wasn't oblivious to the jealous glares I'd gotten every time I walked down the hallway with one of them.
"Nope, they're just friends. Why?" I questioned, giving her an innocent smile.
"Just wondering why they'd befriend the girl who thinks she's too good for everyone at South Sea, because her daddy's rich." She said her words laced with venom as she arched one of her thin eyebrows. I'd be lying if I said her words didn't sting. If there was one thing I prided myself on, it was being humble and I hated being wrongly accused of throwing the fact that my parents are rich in other peoples faces. I didn't want any of my parents dirty money and I had donated the majority of the money my parents had given to me over my life, to various charities. The only time I've ever shown that my parents are wealthy at school is when I drive my Ferrari and as someone who was repulsed by greed and gluttony I'd felt my fair share of guilt over it. But I've been in love with fast cars since I was just a little girl, so at least it wasn't like I was driving it to show off. So what made her think she had the right to call me ungrateful and big-headed? Before I had the chance to reply I felt cool breath against my neck.
"At least she's kind and treats people with respect, can't say the same about you." Christian's voice rung out from behind me, causing some other people in class to turn and watch the encounter. I turned my head to look at Christian and gave him a grateful smile, silently thanking him for coming to my defence even though he's only known me for less than two weeks.
The girl looked super embarrassed, immediately getting up and rushing to a seat on the other side of the class, burying her head in a textbook to hide her bright red tinted cheeks.
"What would I do without you?" I asked, winking at Christian as he sat down in Sasha's abandoned chair just as the bell rang. As I said the words I started to realize that maybe I didn't need to push the boys away, hanging out with them was fun—more than fun—and as long as I kept my secrets to myself, continuing hanging out with them wouldn't be that big of a deal. Christian gave me a cute boyish smile before his face became serious.
"What did you say to Slate? He looked pissed after he hung up the phone call with you and he left school without saying anything to me." Christian said quiet enough so that the teacher wouldn't hear us talking. The conversation replayed in my head and I immediately started to panic, why did I have to go and ruin things for no reason?
"F*ck." I said as I got up and hurriedly made my way to the front of the room and asked the teacher to go to the bathroom before rushing out of the classroom and pulling my phone out to call Slate. It only rung twice before going to voicemail and I rolled my eyes annoyed, I knew I acted like a b*tch but I didn't mean any of it, I just did it to push him away and I was going to explain everything to him if he stopped being so stubborn and answered his goddamn phone! Just as I pulled up my messages and started to text Slate telling him to call me and that I was sorry, I was interrupted by an incoming call coming from a private number. I hesitated before answering, and debated declining the call but than realized it could be something important so I accepted it.
"Hello?" I said leaning against the wall as my eyes subconsciously scanned the empty hallway.
"Hello Ms. Woods. Do what I say unless you want to end up in the prison cell across the hall from your brother." A smooth deep voice said causing chills to run down my spine.
"Is this some sort of a prank call? Because it's not funny." I said trying my best to keep my voice from shaking. How did they know about Jace? A deep chuckle that made my skin tingle with fear broke out from the other side of the phone and I stayed silent.
"You're staying at a friends house right now, correct? Unless you want your brother—Jace Woods— to stay in prison for another year then move back in with your parents."
"Who are you, how do you know me and why the hell do you care if I'm living with my parents or not?" I said through clenched teeth as I let my anger override my fear. Another hair-rising chuckle was released from the man on the other side of the line.
"Oh Willow, that attitude of yours is going to get you killed." The voice replied with amusement but there was something unnerving in the way he said it. "You don't need to know any of that. The only thing you need to know is that I'm not someone you want to mess with so do what I say unless you want to end up with a bullet through that beautiful face of yours." The man said, the threat clear in his tone and I heard something that sounded exactly like a gun being fired right before the line went dead. I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the ground listening to my heart beating wildly in my chest and watching my hands shake.
If that guys goal was to scare me, than he definitely succeeded because to say I was terrified would be an understatement.
A/N
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I really like the gif above because the expression and the cigarette but that doesn't necessarily mean thats what Slate looks like :) Picture him how you want!
Thanks for reading babes!!!!!!! xoxo
-SlytherinAfff