Kaia's P.O.V.
It's the beginning of lunch and I still feel happy throughout the day. Kieran is still at home, and I'm pretty sure he's still in bed. He's in one heck of a surprise when he wakes up. That's what he gets for breaking my laptop three days ago. I woke up really early today just to do the exact thing I planned to do over the weekend. He's going to kill me when he wakes up.
I spot Cade walking down the hallway, his hands in his pockets. I run up to him, jumping right in front of him. "Hello!" I great, a large smile on my face. Cade doesn't jump, scream or anything to indicate he got scared. Instead, he smiles. Dammit.
"You're in a happy mood," he states.
I nod, "Yes, I am. Pretty proud right now," I say, feeling the proudness oozing off of me.
Cade chuckles, "I can see."
"Where were you in class today? I didn't see you," I state. He winks and I knew exactly what he said by that. He ditched, again. "You ditched, obviously. I don't even know why I bothered asking," I say. "You're so like Kieran," I say.
That's not really true anymore. I finally realise the differences between him and Kieran, even though they both love to ditch like it was their job. But the two of them are like rebellious airheads. Where Kieran is like a bored cat and Cade is like a mischievous hyena.
Cade shakes his head, "No, we're not really alike," he says.
"Yeah, you are," I laugh.
"No, we're not. You see, Kieran ditches class because he needs to whereas I ditch class because I want to," he explains.
I frown, "No one's forcing Kieran to ditch, he does it because he wants to."
Cade shakes his head, again. "No, you see. Kieran wants to do things like sleep, or play video games or whatever he wants, but going to class conflicts with what he wants to do. So, he needs to ditch in order to do the things he wants to do."
"Why do you want to ditch then?"
"I want to ditch because it's fun. Breaking the rules, the exhilarating feelings of breaking rules, getting out of going to class by coming up with a plan to ditch... all reasons why I want to do it, because I find it entertaining," he explains.
"Oh, I get it. Yeah, they have a word for that," I say in a casual tone. "Um, psychopath." Psychopath, breaking the rules and doing things that people don't usually do because they love the feeling of doing it. Yep, Cade is one and now I can see the difference between him and Kieran.
"Oh, but you love it," he says in a seductive way. I resist the urge from gagging then and there.
"Uh, no, not really. You see, I'm more into sane people. You know, the usual," I state.
Cade nods as if he understands what I mean, "Ah, right. The usual," he says, nodding. "Yeah, unlike many of the girls here."
"So, was that thing I heard about you jumping off the school building to get away from Principal Howler, was true?" I ask, a bit surprised. I thought that was a total lie because I highly doubt anyone could survive jumping off the school building without ending up in the hospital.
Cade laughs, "I used the flag pole to slide down from the school building," Cade says. "I didn't jump off."
"And that's why you started that fight with Ashton?" I ask, recalling that fight in history class.
Cade smirks, "Exactly. Planning ways to get out of class is always fun," he says.
I roll my eyes, "How did that turn out?" I ask.
"I got grounded either way for fighting."
He's totally crazy. My eyes widen, leaning in, "Wait, did you just say there are girls who likes psychopaths?" I ask, jumping back to our earlier conversation.
Cade nods, "Yeah, like Amy, Lily, Daphne, Velma..."
"Are you starting to name Scooby-Doo characters now?" I smirk.
"No, Daphne and Velma are actually people at this school."
"Oh really? I guess we're missing a Shaggy, Fred and Scooby," I laugh at my own joke. I notice Cade isn't laughing. My laughter starts to die down into an embarrassed one, "Bad joke? Okay," I say, looking away.
Cade chuckles, patting my head. I slap his hand away from my head, "Going back to the topic. Those girls actually like psychopaths?" I ask, my mouth slightly apart.
"Yeah, they want to date me." Cade winks. I notice the close proximity but pretend I didn't. So, Cade admits that he's a psychopath.
I laugh, "Oh, so their loose in their heads. I get it," I nod acting as though I understand. I remember when he said to me that he almost always lies. Do those girls who wants to date him also a lie? I can't tell when he's lying anymore.
"No," Cade frowns. Before he could say anything else, a voice echoes in the hallway.
"Kaia!" I hear a loud, angry yell. I turn my head to the source of the sound to see a very angry Kieran standing all the way on the other side of the hallway. He's a good twenty feet away from me. He's wearing his uniform loosely, missing a few buttons of his shirt, and wearing a brown beanie covering his hair. "What did you do to my hair?" He growls. Kieran pulls off his beanie to reveal his perfectly new hairstyle.
I immediately break into fits of laughter, not able to hold it in. Cade body tenses beside me but I continued to laugh, not worried at all that Kieran is going to kill me soon. "I think it looks great!" I tell him, in between laughter.
"It's pink!" He screams
I laugh even louder. "It's a good colour on you, it really brings out the colour of your eye," I laugh.
"I'm going to kill you!" He starts bolting towards me.
My laughter dies away immediately, "Oh crap, I'll talk to you later," I say to Cade before running away as fast as I can. I can't let Kieran get to me.
"Let go of me," I hear Kieran yell. I look back to see Cade holding Kieran back.
"Kaia, run faster!" Cade calls out.
I mentally say 'okay', before taking a turn. Cade wouldn't be able to hold Kieran for long. I take as many turns as I possibly can. Finally, I find the stairs and I run up hoping that Kieran would not be able to sniff me out. I run all the way to the top and run down the hallway.
I earn a few stares but I ignore them. Kieran is seriously going to kill me and today may be my last day on this earth. I find the stairs to the rooftop and without a second thought, I open the door and run up the stairs. I push open the rooftop door, closing and locking it behind me. I lean against the door, finally able to breathe again.
After catching up with my breath, I lean off the door and head to the edge of the rooftop. I take a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air. Well, not really fresh air, more like polluted air but this is as fresh as it's going to get. I tilt my head side to side, relaxing my muscles. Kieran will find me soon, and I need to prepare to run again. Luckily, I will have an advantage as Kieran will be running around all over the place trying to look for me.
I hope he isn't smart enough to ask around if anyone saw me run around like a maniac. Kieran is too angry to encounter people; I doubt he would. I can't believe he actually came to school and just showed everyone his pink hair. I turn around to lean my back against the paved railings. I look around the rooftop and I spot that same guy I met earlier. The one who was harassing Tommy.
Oh great, now I'm on a rooftop he is most likely pissed at me too. Abruptly, Ben's eyes look up to me and I almost jump. Instinctively, I smile. Got to look friendly otherwise he'd beat me into a pulp. He continues to stare at me, his eyes squinting. In a matter of seconds, realisation dawns over his face. Crap, he remembers me.
Next thing I know; I'm walking towards him. Maybe I can have him help me from getting killed by Kieran? "Hello," I say, cheerfully once I stand directly in front of him.
He stares at me, "Why are you talking to me?" he asks.
"Oh, was I not supposed to talk to you? Oh, I'm sorry. Pretend I didn't even talk to you, pretend this encounter didn't even happen," I say, turning towards the wall beside me. "Oh, what an interesting wall," I say, casually, slowly walking away.
"You ruined my reputation, you know that, right?"
I face him. "Oh my God, you have a reputation? I'm so sorry," I say, sarcastically.
Ben smirks and it is my first time seeing him ever smirk. Instead of his scary, deep dark eyes staring into your eyes, deep into your soul, pulling out all your deepest, darkest secrets and crushing your souls just with his eyes, it turned into an egotistical one. Just like the one Cade had a few minutes ago, boasting about how all the girls wants to jump his bones. Ha, jump his bones? I'm hilarious.
"You're really sarcastic."
"Yeah, I think I malfunctioned in my brain putting me into sarcastic overdrive," I explain, in a jokingly serious tone.
"I think the malfunction did more than that," he states.
"Wow, savage."
He brings his hand up and take a long drag of a cigarette. I stare at the cigarette and watch him taking in a long, deep inhale with my head tilted sideways.
"First time seeing a cigarette?" he arches an eye brow.
"I'm trying to figure out whether that's weed or an actual cigarette, you know the one with tobacco inside."
He glares at me, "I don't do weed."
"You never know, I heard lots of teenagers do it these days. Never really met a person who has, but it is possible. Like that's what I see in the movies and shows," I say.
"Do you believe in everything in movies and shows?" he asks, chuckling.
I nod, "Pretty much. I see movies and shows as a guide in life," I say, in a very serious manner.
"It's a cigarette. If you don't believe me, you can even take a wiff," he offers.
I shake my head, "No, I value my life," I take a few steps away from him. He notices. "I heard second hand smokers are more likely to get affected than first hands," I say, taking another step away.
Ben huffs before dropping the cigarette and stepping on it, twisting his foot side to side. "Happy?" he asks, annoyed. I smile, appreciating the fact that he put it out for me.
I take a few steps back to him, leaning against the wall beside him. "Are the rumours true about you?" I ask. Judging by the way he is even talking to me, being considerate to put out his cigarette for me, I find it hard to believe that he actually hurts every single human being that gets in his way. Despite that I witnessed him bullying Tommy. This guy is the enemy; I shouldn't even talk to him right now. But I felt like in a talking mood. Distracts me from the fact that Kieran is still out there, hunting me down.
"The rumours? What if they are?" he challenges.
"Then something is seriously wrong with you. But, I find it hard to believe that you beat up everyone, girl or boy, if they get in your way. I still have faith in humanity, so that's why I find it a little hard to believe," I state.
"Some of them are true, while others aren't."
I turn to look at him, "What parts are true?" I ask.
"I do beat people up if they get me angry, but I don't beat everyone up. I still have a little bit of humanity in me."
"You beat people up, how does that make you humane?" I arch an eye brow.
He looks at me, "I don't kill them," he shrugs.
I scoff, "You're an asshole, you know that."
"I can't help it; people annoy me so I just have to be an asshole."
"You weren't much of an asshole to me a few minutes ago."
"Yeah, because you're a chick."
I roll my eyes, "How chivalrous," I spat. I move away from him and lean on the railings, looking at the view of the carpark.
"Sorry to disappoint you."
I clench my jaw. I turn around and face him. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you. If I ever catch you hurting another person, I will intervene. I don't care if you'll beat me to a pulp but I'm going to stop you no matter what. I don't like bullies so I will make it my life mission protecting any bullied victims I find. So how about you do us both a favour and stop harassing people and in return, I'll leave you alone."
"But what if I don't want you to leave me alone?" he asks.
I frown, "You're joking, right?" I ask.
He smirks, "Alright, fine. I won't harass people."
My eyes widen, "Really? Just like that?" I ask.
He nods, "Just like that."
"Wait a minute. What motive do you have? Why are you agreeing to this deal all of the sudden? You have something up your sleeve, don't you?" I accuse.
He laughs, "No. I won't harass people at school," he promises.
"You mean, you'd stop harassing people overall, like ever, right?"
"No, just not at school. Outside of school, you'll never find me," he winks.
He walks away, heading towards the rooftop door. My eyes widen, "What? What did we just talk about?" I yell. Abruptly, I hear a loud bang against the rooftop door and I let out a scream.
"Kaia! I know you're out there," Kieran screams through the door.
I scream again, hiding behind the wall. I peek at the edge of the wall, looking at the wall as Kieran continues to throw his body against the door. Well, that's what I think he's doing. I ignore Ben's stare and continue to hid behind the wall.
I abruptly look at Ben, "Hey, can you do me a favour?" I ask.
"Another one?" he frowns.
"This one is very important, like excruciatingly important," I state.
"What is it?"
"Can you, uh, protect me from my brother trying to kill me?" I yelp as I hear another bang.
On cue, the door swings open revealing a pink headed, angry Kieran. I scream, hiding my whole face behind the wall.
"Dude, what the fuck is wrong with your hair?" I hear Ben ask.
"Kaia, where are you?" Kieran yells, ignoring Ben.
Shit! I don't want to die. I slowly tip toe to the other side of the wall, ready to bolt towards the rooftop door. As I see Kieran walking to some direction, I take this as my cue and I start running towards the door. Kieran spots me and screams my name but I ignore him, running down the stairs. I run down the hallway, ignoring the fact that Kieran is chasing after me.
As I reach the stairs to go to the lower level, abruptly a person walks out into my direction. I immediately dodge myself from hitting into that person but as a result, my foot gets twisted causing me to lose my balance. I feel myself falling and feel my back hit against uneven floor. Abruptly, my whole body tumbles down and I land onto a flat surface. I groan, hearing a cry of my name. I open my eyes to see that I fell down from a flight of stairs.
I groan, slowly getting myself up. "Kaia!" I hear a few cries. I feel people surrounding me, some arms pulling me up and people asking me if I'm okay.
I open my eyes again and see a bunch of students, circled around me. I immediately straighten my body, ignoring the pain. "I'm fine!" I announce. "I'm totally fine!" I lie.
Kieran pushes through the crowd, his angry face replaced with worry. He comes in front of me, his hand on my shoulders. Ouch. "Kaia, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"We should take her to the hospital," someone says.
I frown, "Hospital? No, no hospital. I'm totally fine, I just fell down a few stairs. Nothing unusual," I awkwardly laugh it off. "See," I say, walking a few steps to demonstrate I'm fine. Kieran moves closer to me. I lean to his ear, "Kieran, get me out of here. It's too painful to walk and I don't want anyone to know that I'm in pain," I whisper, low enough so only Kieran can hear.
Kieran looks around and before I know it, Kieran lifts me up and flops me over his shoulder.
"Ouch, Kieran, what the hell?" I growl.
"Guys, move out of the way," Kieran says. He walks down the steps, and I can see the people watching us as we walk away. This is so embarrassing.
"Kieran, was this seriously the only way to get me out of there?" I angrily yell once everyone was out of sight. We're now in a hallway, where no one is around. I felt relaxed, glad that no one can see that I'm hurt.
How embarrassing was that.
Suddenly, Kieran lifts me off of his shoulder and drops me to the ground, my bottom crashing against the marble floor. "Ow!" I cry. I rub my butt, scowling at Kieran.
"What the hell was that for?" I growl.
He's smirking now, "That's for dying my hair pink," he says, before walking off. My eyes widen. Did I just hear that? I just got hurt from running away from his death and instead of looking after me like a good, older brother, he gets me in more pain.
"I hate you!" I cry, jumping up and run after him. After a few steps, I feel a pang of pain jolt up my leg. I immediately stop, jumping on one foot as I hold onto my other one. "Ow!" I cry again.
I grab my bag off of me and I throw it towards Kieran but it lands a foot away from me. "Oh my God, that was so pathetic," I cry out of embarrassment and pain.
[a/n: Here is chapter seven! I hope you enjoyed it! I wonder what you guys think of Ben now. Hate or meh character?]