When school started back up again on Monday, Cassie and I had almost completely forgotten what had happened during the weekend.
Almost.
We never talked about it because we feared that if we did, then it would make everything far more real. I didn't want to think about what secrets were hiding out there in the world. I had to go back to school, study hard, and think about my future.
And the second that I opened the school's doors and heard the shrill sound of the morning bell, everything was back to normal.
I followed Cassie to our lockers, which were side by side, and began to unlock mine.
"Killer party, Cassie!" Some random senior yelled down the hallway.
"The queen of partying reclaims her throne!" Another random person hollered. It felt like a year had passed since then.
"What class do you have?" She had asked me that about a hundred times and still forgot.
"Bio and you have history." I reminded her and she pouted her lips, looking at her nails.
"Wanna skip for today?"
"There's a huge project coming up and I don't want to miss it."
"Fine, I'm going to guidance." She used to say she was going to the nurse but I think Nurse Thomson got tired of her.
The late bell rang and I sprinted to my class which was all the way on the other side of the building.
"Thank you for finally joining us, Ms. Aster," Mr. Henderson said sarcastically and the class snickered as I ran in late.
I found my seat in the one of the lab tables in the very back. I didn't have any friends in bio so I worked alone.
Everyone had their notebooks out so I took mine out, too, but only to draw in while I zoned out whatever Mr. Henderson was lecturing on about.
"Today, we'll start by—" he stopped talking and I heard the classroom door open. I didn't look up from my notebook as the flash of a crescent moon burned into my vision. The last dream I had was so intense that I woke up with tears in my eyes, "Oh, we have new students. . ."
It was frustrating not being able to recall my dreams. They always woke me from my deep sleep yet the moment I opened my eyes, my memory lapsed.
I was barely listening when I heard a familiar voice. I picked my head up and dropped my pencil on the floor when I saw them.
"I'd usually tell you guys to introduce yourselves but we have a lot of material to cover today, so take your seats wherever, I don't care," Mr. Henderson waved his hand dismissively.
Archer and Zack made their way to the back of the classroom. . . to where I was sitting.
The whole class stared as Archer took the seat next to me and Zack took the one across from me. More than half of the girls and even a couple of guys were eyeing them flirtatiously but interestingly enough, they were immune to their smiles. They were drawing too much attention.
"Girls, up here," The teacher snapped but none of them turned back around and their stares fell onto me with envy, "Girls!" He startled them with his booming voice and they finally stopped staring.
"Back to biology," Mr. Henderson cleared his throat and continued like the two new boys hadn't been a huge distraction, "As I was saying before, the project. . ."
"Don't think I wanted to sit next to you, this was the only open seat," Zack snarled in my ear.
I stiffened but didn't say anything. Zack obviously had some hatred towards me for some reason and I wasn't going to make it worse by asking what his problem was.
"We're here to protect your sister," Archer said calmly, not very subtly stepping on Zack's foot. It just made his temper flare up.
"Yeah but we got stuck in this class." Zack muttered under his breath.
"Why? What's wrong with my sister?" I asked anxiously. Was it because she covered for me, protected me instead?
But Zack ignored me and only looked at Archer, "Don't waste your breath, she won't understand."
I didn't understand why he hated me so much, I didn't do anything to him.
Archer was kinder though. "It's a lot to digest so I'll explain when we have more time." He seemed to genuinely mean it.
The conversation ended and they didn't say anything else after that. It left my mind wandering and worrying.
I worried about Cassie and why she needed to be followed around. The whole reason Cassie admitted to the dreams was to get them to let us go but it only made it worse somehow. It would be very difficult now to shake them off.
But more worrisome was how easily Archer and Zack were enrolled in our school on such a last minute basis. They obviously had power and influence, or knew people who did.
Neither Archer nor Zack were in my other classes and I felt relieved that they wouldn't be following me around all day. They were here for Cassie anyway. Except for my first class, the day passed by uneventfully.
Until I got to my last class of the day, English. English was my favorite class because it was the only class I had with Cassie. I took the seat next to her like always and looked up at the front.
A new teacher was scribbling his name down on the board with his back turned. I saw that he was almost twice the size of the most muscular jock in the class. His silhouette seemed very familiar.
"What's up with the new teacher?" Cassie asked to no one in particular, "It's the middle of the year," It was strange that our old English teacher was being replaced in January, we still had half of the school year left.
The late bell rang and he turned around, "Your old English teacher had a family emergency so I'll be filling in for the rest of the year."
"Is that who I think it is?" Cassie grabbed my arm and squeezed tightly. His eyes stopped on the two of us like he had heard her. Another familiar face I never wanted to see again.
"It's Drake." I swallowed. He looked different, his hair was tame, smoothed back and he was dressed in nicer clothes.
He underlined his last name and tapped the board, "I'm Mr. Villemaire and I hope you'll actually learn something,"
.•*•.
Cassie and I were officially freaked out. I told her about Archer and Zack and she said that they were scattered in her classes, too. One of them was always with her.
"This protection thing's getting out of hand." Cassie made a face as we drove home after school. "You know I thought it would just be an occasional escort to the worst parts of town but this is crazy. I don't want to be followed everywhere I go." Better her than me since I really valued my privacy.
"I just want to know what they think they're protecting you from."
Cassie pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. "Archer explained it to me. Or at least tried to. I was hopelessly confused."
"When did you talk to him?"
"In math. I swear, Mad, he's completely coo-coo bananas. They all are. You can't trust them."
We got our stuff from the back and walked up the steps.
"What did he tell you?" I couldn't help but be curious.
Cassie turned the key and unlocked the door, stepping inside. "They think I'm their goddess," She snorted.
"Who thinks you're their goddess?" Cassie and I jumped at the voice as we hadn't expected anyone else to be home.
Cassie was just as shocked as I was.
"Mom? Dad?"
I'm aaaaaaalive! Lol sorry for not updating but sometimes life gets in the way -_-