^She never fails to comment on every chapter.
~Alyssa~
“What are you doing here? Go back to Cole.” Jeremy’s voice was cold and hard, and every word was like knifes, stabbing and wounding my already injured heart.
“I-I…sorry. Forgive me.” I pleaded so hardly, begging him to listen to me, to let me explain.
“…No.” He responded coldly, not even sparing me any eye contact. The final knife stabbed right in the middle of my heart, as my heart burst with sorrow and regret, tears spilling from my eyes. He shove me away heartlessly, leaving me sprawled on the ground, my heart bleeding and broken.
“Jeremy!” I awoke with a start, jolted from my sleep by another nightmare of what happened yesterday. I had been tossing and turning on my sweat-sodden bed the whole night, awaken by these nightmares, and not to mention there was a loud thunderstorm out there. Deep rumbles filled the room, as streaks of bright light threatened to tear the night sky. The wind howled and pounded on the doors and windows, making me shudder in fright, curling myself up into a ball under my blanket. The storm had been raging on for about six hours now, and I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep.
Suddenly, thunder exploded out from nowhere, and lightning blinded my vision. I gave a strangled scream, covering my ears and shutting my eyes tight, but my scream was only muffled by the howling wind. Totally freaked out and shaken, I grabbed my pillow and ran out of my room.
~*~*~
~Cole~
Stupid rain. Stupid thunder. Stupid lightning. They were all interrupting my sleep. I groaned and rolled over to my belly, using my pillow to cover my ears, but it didn’t do a good job in muffling the loud claps of thunder.
From a distance, I heard faint squeaks of the wooden floor and shuffles.
Shit. What was that? Who was there? I pulled myself out from the comfort of my blanket, letting the cold wind nip at my cheeks. I craned my neck and strained my ears, trying to make out where the sound was coming from amidst the loud peels of thunder.
“Eeeek.”
There was it again! Was it a stray cat chasing a rat somewhere outside? Don’t be stupid Cole, why would they be out in the thunderstorm? I groped in the darkness and reached out for my baseball bat. I had to warn Alyssa that someone had barged into our house. But how so, without alerting the burglar noticing?
I stumbled to the door, waiting behind it, raising my baseball bat above my head. Someone was fiddling with my door knob as I gulped down my fear. The burglar was getting closer, the door was going to open, any second now…
“Ouch!” I heard Alyssa shriek, as my eyes adjusted to the dark figure standing in front of me. Her pillow fell to the ground with a thud as she rubbed her head profusely, moaning in pain.
“Why did you hit me with a bat?” She hissed in pain.
“Then why were you acting all mysterious and barging into my room?” I demanded, raising my voice a few decibels higher than hers.
She grimaced in pain, shooting me a glare. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Aren’t you going to apologize? After physically assaulting me?” She pointed to her head, her eyes widening.
“Oh, um, sorry, I guess…” I dropped my baseball bat, scratching my head sheepishly.
Thunder cracked and Alyssa jumped in fear, shivering slightly.
“So,” I raised a cynical eyebrow. “Why are you here in my room?” I questioned, sending her skeptical looks. She better had given me a good reason or excuse for waking me up in the middle of the night…although I wasn’t really sleeping. But still—
“Oh, um about that…” Immediately her hands fell to her sides as she tugged the side of her tee nervously. She hesitated a little, before opening her mouth to speak, and then swallowing her words.
“So, your reason?” I pressed her for answers.
After looking up at me then looking down at the ground for a few seconds, she finally blurted out. “Can I sleep with you?” She hugged her pillow tightly, hiding her face underneath it, only peeking a little at the side with puppy-dog eyes.
“What?” My jaw dropped, staring at her wide-eyed, unable to believe my ears. Had all that happened in the amusement park yesterday made her bonkers or something?
“It-it’s not w-wh-what you think it is, it’s just that I’m scared of—“She stammered, and another strike of lightning followed right after, making her shake uncontrollably, ducking her head into the pillow.
Oh, I see. She was scared of lightning and thunder, eh? A smirk slipped onto my face as I teased her. “Or was it just because you felt like cuddling up with me?” I took a lock from her hair and twirled it with my finger.
She stared at me in utter shock and bewilderment. “No!” She protested mildly, pushing me away meekly.
“Kidding, kidding!” I burst out laughing. “Your reactions are just too cute.”
“So? Can I, you know…” She pointed at my messy bed.
I looked over my shoulder and gave her reassuring smile. “Sure.”
~*~*~
~Alyssa~
I tucked myself cozily in his blanket, only to see Cole poofing up his pillow, and then placing it on the ground.
“You’re sleeping on the ground?” I asked, a little alarmed.
“Well, what did you expect? I sleep with you on the same bed?” Cole shrugged his shoulders, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
“No!” I quickly replied, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“Is that disappointment I see on your face? If you don’t mind, I can hop under that blanket with you!” He waggled his eyebrows at me.
“No! Stay there! Good night!” I swatted him off, pulling the covers over my head. He chuckled to himself a little before silence took over the room.
His bed totally smelt like him, a nice honeysuckle smell, probably because of the shampoo he used. I took a deep breath, and got a little intoxicated, making it easier for me to fall asleep.
When the rain finally died down, it was already the break of dawn. I peeked out from the covers, only to see Cole rolled up into a ball, his teeth slightly chattering.
Something stirred within me. I wrapped the blanket around him, feeling a little bad for Cole. The tensed up expression on his face instantly relaxed. It was my fault he fell out with Isabella; it was my fault he was sleeping on the cold hard floor, and he could still smile and joke around, like nothing bothered him.
I’m so sorry Cole, I thought to myself, but didn’t have the courage to say it out loud.
~*~*~
“The weather has taken a toll for the worst, and professionals say it will probably still be raining cats and dogs for the next few weeks, so remember to carry an umbrella with you always and stay indoors!” The DJ’s voice sounded from the radio.
The rain had reduced to a drizzle for a brief ten minutes before turning back into a heavy downpour once more.
“Dammit. Staying indoors suck.” Cole hit the steering wheel, irritated, making the car swerve to a side, sending reddish brown mud water to gush onto the sidewalk, barely missing a passerby.
“Look on the bright side, the car’s…um…clean?” I suggested, giving him a wry smile.
“There’s no bright side whatsoever, the sky’s loomed with dark clouds!” Cole moped.
“Aw, don’t be such a bummer, Cole.” I poked him playfully, making him sulk even more.
Given the heavy rain, we decided not to take our chances and brave through the rain, so we drove to school instead, but the rain was so heavy we almost didn’t make it to school.
Shit, I wasn’t really excited to go to school either. As we both walked down the hallway, I was getting anxious and giddy. I wasn’t ready to face Jeremy. Was he still angry at Cole and me? He didn’t understand…I haven’t had a chance to explain to him yet. He didn’t respond to his phone and wouldn’t reply to my texts. And I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to meet Isabella too, after all, she’d probably think I was a boyfriend snatcher or something. Cole and I were really stuck in some deep shit, and it wasn’t that easy to get out of it.
“My my Mister and Miss Evans, you’re one minute from being late. How lucky.” Mrs. Garcia squinted her eyes menacingly at us. “Take your seats quickly.”
Cole and I shuffled to our seats with our eyes downcast. I bet Cole was feeling as jittery as I was, especially when we were expected to sit next to Jeremy and Isabella.
I bit my lip as I sat next to a really sulky Jeremy and beside a not-so-lively Isabella. Cole cleared his throat uncomfortably. Throughout the whole lesson, the back row was completely silent, as if we would be charged with murder for killing the silence or something.
Sublimation, The word just popped into my head out of the blue. Yes sublimation, that’s what I wanted to happen to me. Sublimation: A change from solid to gas. I just wanted to sublime into air, so that I wouldn’t feel so awkward and so fidgety.
After what seemed like eternity, the lesson finally ended after Mrs. Garcia droned on and on. I got a start when Jeremy’s chair screeched and he stood up, abruptly packing up and leaving before I could say anything.
“Wait Jeremy I—“I tried to speak but my throat felt so constricted. He stopped and stood stiffly for a second when I called out his name, but then he quickly strode away.
I turned to Isabella, where Cole’s eyes met mine. He shrugged dejectedly and looked away.
“Isabella…I” I shook my head.
“We—“I corrected myself. “We’re so sorry.” I looked at my shoes, the words feeling so foreign coming out from my mouth.
“I mean, we tried looking for you two but we were hungry and we didn’t know what to do and our stomachs were so grumpy and then the person was talking about a competition that could get free coupons for a barbeque and we couldn’t resist so we signed up and it was a couple’s amazing race so we pretended to be a couple but we weren’t real, serious, and the kiss—“The words just fell out of my mouth in a jumble.
“I get it, Alyssa.” Isabella glanced at me, cutting me off.
“You do?” I widened my eyes in astonishment.
“Yes, Cole explained it to me yesterday night. It was just kind of a big blow for me so…I needed time to digest in the details.” Isabella whimpered.
“So, you’re together with Cole now?” I couldn’t resist asking.
Cole narrowed his eyes at me and my hands immediately flew to my mouth. I had once again said something I shouldn’t. Nice going, Alyssa, the big mouth.
“No…” Isabella said, her voice trailing off. “I just decided to—you know—lie low on relationships and stuff.”
“Oh…” I whispered.
“And um Alyssa, maybe you should talk to Jeremy about this too? He seemed really upset yesterday when we talked it over ice-cream.” Isabella advocated.
“Yeah sure Isabella…Thanks.” I smiled dryly at her, her words pricking my wounds.
~*~*~