It was about seven o’clock now.
Both of my parents were nowhere to be found, which wasn’t much of a shocker; they were notorious for working strange hours all throughout the day. The only reason I didn’t mind was because it gave me time to sit in my room by myself. Neither of them would be home until at least eleven—if they were lucky—and since Trace was nowhere to be seen, I was home alone waiting for something to happen.
Of course, nothing did.
Closing my History textbook with a thud, I pulled away from my desk and threw myself on the bed. For some strange reason, I couldn’t focus—which sucked because I actually planned on finishing my homework in quiet today. The only thing on my mind was the look in Haydn’s eyes when he caught me staring at him today. But of course, what did he want me to do? He was hooking up with a teacher only a few hours after trying to talk to me—and I know what you’re thinking, but no, I’m not obsessed—so I guess it was expected that it’d bother. I just didn’t know it would so much.
Of course, it is Haydn we’re talking about; he’d hook up with anything that has a vagina just to say he did it. With a sigh, I turned around on my bed; my back facing the ceiling, and I put my headphones in my ears. The sound of Paramore quickly filled my ears, and before I knew it, I was falling asleep.
Before I did this of course, I remembered Haydn’s warning and got up to lock my window. My paranoia kicked in when I saw someone standing in front of my house wearing all black; a hoodie covering their face. Even though I couldn’t see it—their face I mean—I saw a pair of eyes staring at me and I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat.
And then he moved towards the front door; the unlocked front door.
Growing wide eyed, I ran out of my room and in the direction of the front door. I had just made it downstairs when I saw a shadow staring in at me with a venomous look in their eyes. Since nothing like this had ever happened before, I panicked and threw my body against the door; holding it shut so the person trying to get in couldn’t. But I was extremely small and my weight wouldn’t do anything to keep them out.
Eventually, the person stopped trying to get in, but they never walked away from the door. I could still hear their breathing, which quickly turned into a laugh. “Why are you scared, baby girl? Getting yourself into battles you can’t fight?”
I didn’t speak; I was too afraid to do anything but sit there.
Whoever was on the other side of the door clearly understood how I was feeling because they laughed again and gave the door another strong push; waking me up from my shock and forcing me to push back. Since the person was so much stronger than I was, getting in wasn’t a problem, and with one final thrust, the door was thrown open and the person was standing over me; revealing nothing but a monstrous grin. “Well, I’ll be damned; you are cuter than he said you were.”
Biting my lip to keep the tears in my eyes from falling, I slowly backed up and grabbed the railing of the stairs. “Who are you?”
He shrugged as if it were no big deal and took slow, cautious steps towards me. “I’m a friend of a friend, but I won’t get into detail; it’s not important.” Another step. “What is important, is that you’re about to pay a debt for someone.” And when I saw a gleam in his green eyes, I quickly turned around and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time and I locked myself in my room. I heard footsteps following after me, and then someone running into the door in attempt to break it down. “Don’t make this hard, gorgeous. All you have to do is open your legs a little, and let me do all the work.” I could pretty much picture the grin on his face, and that alone disgusted me.
When I didn’t say anything, he ran into the door again, and that sent me into a panic. I had already endured enough pain today; how much more was coming my way?
Shaking off my possibly over-dramatic thinking, I looked under my bed for a pair of sneakers and I ran towards the window. Another loud thud against the door caused me to jump, and I was certain that I heard the door begin to break. Damn it, how do I explain that to my mom? Cussing under my breath, I threw the window open and stuck one leg out, just as the door was crashed into again.
I looked down and grew wide-eyed; how the hell did I forget that I was on the second floor? I knew that now wasn’t the best time to freak out, but what else could I do? I was afraid of heights!
Just as I began to second-guess myself, the door flew open and the hooded figure walked in, making eye contact with me for just a second before I closed my eyes and jumped. I expected my landing to hurt, but the snow had just been deep and cold—really cold. I guess I chose the wrong day to wear shorts in the house…
Forcing myself to sit up, I looked up at my window and saw that the person was watching me with a sudden playfulness in their eyes, and I stiffened when I saw that they were now running out of my room, and most likely out of the house to where I was. I didn’t want to give him the chance to catch me, so, ignoring the pain that shot up my legs, I ran off my front lawn and down the block.
I could hear a pair of footsteps behind me, but that simply encouraged me to speed up my running; knowing that at any moment I could slip and land on my head—something dramatic; you never know.
“Adriana!”
“Leave me alone!” I sped up just a little more until I turned the block and saw the familiar two-story house that I had spent a lot of my time in. Hopefully she’ll hear me if I call her… Stopping for only a second, I opened my mouth and screamed. “Cassandra!” Almost out of sheer instinct, she poked her head from her window and looked at me with a confused look on her face. It was only when I heard a pair of footsteps behind me that I ran towards her front door and frantically began knocking. “Cas, open the door!”
Quickly, the door was opened and I came face to face with her dad. I honestly didn’t care at this point who it was; I threw my arms around their torso and began to sob uncontrollably into his shirt. “Adriana, what happened? Why are you in shorts?”
Was that really his main concern?! Slowly turning around, I looked into the night time air and tried to see if the hooded person from before was still there, but since none of the street lights were on, I really couldn’t tell. But I knew I wasn’t crazy; I knew someone had been chasing me, but should I really tell that to my fathers best friends? He’d probably think I was making it up. Of course, I wouldn’t be crying—or so short of breath had it not actually happened.
“C-can I see Cassandra?”
Nodding, he stepped out of the way and let me run into my worried best friends arms. A look of concern passed from her face to her fathers, but I was too scared to care; I had just barely escaped being kidnapped—if not something worse; I deserved to let out a few tears. “Adriana, what's the matter?”
Not knowing how to answer, I shook my head and felt myself slowly losing consciousness. The last thing I remembered was someone screaming my name before everything went black.
[ Haydn's POV. . . ]
Bringing a cigarette up to my lips, I blew out a puff of smoke and looked at the snow fall from the front of my apartment. I had been casually leaning across the frame of the door when I heard frantic running coming in my direction from inside, and sure enough, when I turned around, my brother, Chase was standing with his hand on his chest and a scared look on his face. Since I wasn't really in the mood to deal with anything, I simply raised an eyebrow and took another puff. “Something on your mind, Chase?”
He stood up and slowly composed himself. “We have a problem.”
“And what would that be?” I asked with a sigh escaping my lips. Everything with him was a problem.
“I was driving around, and I stopped by your girls house-”
“-she's not my girl.”
Ignoring me as if I hadn't interrupted him, he continued, “I was driving past her house and it looked like someone had broken in. It didn't look like anyone was home, so I parked the car, walked into her house and saw that there definitely was a break in.” Running a hand through his dark brown hair, he bit his lip and looked at me directly in the eyes. “They was a struggle, and now she's nowhere to be found.”
When he said that, I felt my jaw clench, but remembering what she said earlier, I simply leaned back against the frame of the door again and brought the cigarette to my lips again. I knew that Chase was watching me; expecting me to do something that would help the situation at hand, but I wasn't her baby sitter, and she wasn't my responsibility.
He seemed to know what I was thinking because he rolled his eyes and took the cigarette right out of my hands and placed it in his own; taking a quick puff. “You know you can't just let her go missing. You were the last person seen with her-”
“-what happened after she left the school was her problem. No one said make it easy for people to break into your house.”
Handing the cigarette back to me, he shook his head. “I have reason to believe that Jayson had something to do with it.”
Eying him curiously, I narrowed my eyes at the sound of my rival gang leaders name. What could he possibly have to do with this? He didn't know anything about my occasional conversations with Adriana, so why he would want her, was completely beyond me. “What makes you think that.”
“Because,” he turned to walk inside the house, but not before handing me a note, “whoever did his dirty work for him, left this note.” And with that, he walked back into the house to escape the cold winter air.
I didn't want to read the note; I knew it would piss me off, and I already had a head ache. Every part of me wanted to just throw the note away and let Adriana find her way back to safety on her own, but I knew if I wanted to finish what I had started, I needed to know where she was and I needed to know how to get her back to safety. I may not like her, but she was a priority at the moment.
Sighing, I opened the note and read it to myself.
I'm only guessing that a member of your group will find this, Haydn, so, I'll just let you know that we have your little girlfriend. I told you that you shouldn't play with fire. Now she has to suffer, not that it matters to you, of course. But if you want her back, come fight for her at the usual spot.
-Jayson
I rolled my eyes; throwing the paper on the ground and continued to smoke my cigarette. Just by the 'friendliness' in his note, I knew that he was bluffing, but then again, who could refuse a good fight? Of course I'd have my men there to back me up in case he pulled anything funny; it's not like it would be the first time.
So, throwing the last of the cigarette on the floor, I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked in the direction of the fight club. Really, it was just an old abandoned warehouse, but the cops stopped checking on it about ten years ago. All kinds of street fights went on here—mainly between the rival gangs—and whenever one was scheduled, anyone and everyone knew that blood would be shed, and someone was going to get hurt. It sent a message though:
One gang was better than the other.
We had never lost a fight, and you didn't have to be a genius to figure out why that was. Chase and I were the groups best fighters, but we had other members who could kick some ass just as well. No other gang ever tried to fight us because no one wanted to have their bones broken just so I could have a good time, and I don't blame them. But sadly—for them—it only showed that they were cowards. No one in this town backs down from a fight unless they wanted a rep, which several gangs already have.
I had only made it about halfway there when my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. Picking it up without bothering to look at the caller ID, I waited for the person to say something. “You're going to FC, aren't you.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about, Chase.”
“Don't lie to me. Everyone just got the text saying that you were about to go and fight Jayson. Does this have anything to do with Adriana?”
I rolled my eyes for what seemed to be the hundredth time; he really didn't understand that I had no feelings for her. “This has nothing to do with her. Am I not allowed to simply want a good fight? It's already been about two weeks; new record for me.”
Laughing only slightly, he said something about me never learning my lesson, and then he continued. “What possessed you to walk? Last time I checked, you hated the snow.”
“Nonsense.” Before he could say anything, an ambulance drove by me and caused me to stop dead in my tracks. When I looked back to see who was in the back, I saw a familiar head of blond hair, but I couldn't place my tongue on where I'd seen her before. I didn't want to let myself get distracted though, so I continued walking and took out another cigarette.
When I lit it, I could hear Chase sigh in the background. “You're not even going to share with me? I thought I was your best friend.”
“Blow me, Chase. I have to go.”
“Not even if you payed me, and I'm on my way.”
And with that, our conversation was over. I always tried to keep things short, but he never shut up, so it almost never went that way when it came to him. He was the only family I had though, so I couldn't really push him away—even though sometimes I honestly wish he'd just go away and stay away for a while. While he wasn't a threat to me physically, he was driving me insane and after a while, that's something that you can't take anymore!
Taking another puff of my cigarette, I grinned when I saw a black van slowly driving beside me. I knew the car all too well, so I stopped and watched as the driver rolled down the passenger window and glared at me with a pair of green eyes. “You seem pretty cocky for someone who's about to get his ass kicked.”
“I assure you, I'm shaking right now as we speak.”
With that, I watched as her parked his car and walked over to me; standing about two or so inches taller than me. Height wasn't a factor though; I could still kick his ass for what he did. “What the hell did you do to my sister, faggot?”
I grinned again. “Nothing you wouldn't have done if she wasn't my sister.” I watched as he poked out his chest in attempt to seem more aggressive, but I couldn't help but want to further provoke him. “I saw what you did to her today; I must say, I didn't know you had it in you.”
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
“Oh? I don't? I'm pretty sure the entire school knows about how you smacked her hard enough to leave a bruise and then you acted like you didn't do anything wrong.” Placing my hand on his face, I gave him two quick slaps before narrowing my eyes and continuing. “I didn't think you were pathetic enough to pick on someone who was less than half your size.”
And then he threw the first punch.
Grinning to myself, I dodged it and landed one on his left left cheek. He let out a grunt, but it wasn't enough to make him stand down. All the more interesting for me. I watched, humor extremely visible in my eyes, as he tried to throw another punch, but I dodged it easily and landed another punch on the opposite side of his face; followed by a quick uppercut. It was funny to watch his blood splatter all of over the snow; kind of cliché in a way.
“Come on, pretty boy. Don't tell me you're all bark and no bite.”
“In your dreams.” He lunged for me, and out of pity, I let him get one good hit on my pretty little face. Rubbing it, I grinned even more than before and watched as he got ready to throw another; only to get tackled onto a small white convertible and punched repeatedly by none other than yours truly. His face was completely covered in blood by the time I felt someone pulling me off of him.
My first instinct was to hit the person, but when I turned around and met a pair of blue eyes, I grinned and gave him a quick slap on the back. “Took you long enough to reach the party, Chase.”
Looking behind me, he rolled his eyes and walked over to the semi-unconscious body. “You kicked his ass pretty well, Haydn.” I shrugged; pleased with myself. I was even more pleased to see Chase grabbing what's his name by the collar and glaring in his face. “When you get back to Jayson, let him know that we're looking for him.” Throwing a quick punch, he motioned for me to follow him back to his car, which I had no problem with considering what had just happened. “I can't believe you beat up her brother,” he said once we were back in the car. “How do you think she's going to react when she finds out it was you?”
I shrugged. “Who cares? She's not my problem, remember?”
“You wouldn't be fighting him if she wasn't.”
I ignored his comment; he had no idea what he was talking about. “Any word on where she might be?”
Trying not to smile, he began to drive away from the scene before answering. “I asked Victor to do a little research for me. Turns out she had just barely made it to her best friends house before she fainted. They took her to the hospital about an hour ago.”
Nodding, I watched from the passenger seat as more snow began to fall. I could feel blood trailing down my cheek from where her dumb ass brother had hit me, but I wouldn't let it bother me. It was just a scratch compared to what I did to him. Chase clearly didn't like the fact that I hadn't cleaned it up though because he handed me a napkin and all but forced me to wipe the blood away. “Sh*t, Chase, you'd think you were my mom or something.”
“I'm your younger brother, Haydn. If I don't set you straight at some point, no one will.”
“Isn't that supposed to be my job?”
“You sure as hell aren't doing a very good job of it.” Laughing to himself, he shook his head and continued to drive. Where he was going, I honestly had no idea, but I knew better than to question him; he'd probably give me some strange, unclear answer and it would be like I never asked a question in the first place. He was only sixteen, I couldn't really hold that against him, but it was still strange. Chase was the only person who saw this side of me—the calm, laid back side—and he sometimes used that to his advantage, but that's what little brother's do, I guess. I only had one other one, and he died about three years ago in a shooting.
It was my fault, and I haven't forgiven myself since.
Letting out a sigh, I raised an eyebrow when I saw we were sitting outside a hospital. “What the hell are we doing here?”
“What do you think, hot shot?”
Quickly shaking my head, I reached to open my door, only to have them locked. I turned and gave Chase a quick look, and I noticed him smiling a coy smile in my direction. “Chase, I'm not going to see her. We've talked twice, and that was it.”
“Two times is more than enough for feelings to form-”
“-no feelings are being formed!”
He stared at me in the eyes for a long time; his blue ones holding an emotion I couldn't really recognize. Something was clearly bothering him, but when I opened my mouth to say something, a blond ran past our car with tears streaming down her face; causing us both to jump. When I realized it was the same blond from earlier, I rolled my eyes and gave Chase a look. “You go talk to her; I've got enough on my plate”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa; what makes you think I want to talk to the psycho blond?”
“Because if you do, I'll go talk to Adriana.”
“Oh really?”
Staring at him in the eyes with a hard look, I took a deep breath and nodded. “Sure, and besides; it'll be fun to see her reaction.” With that, we both got out of the car and walked in our separate directions; not having the slightest clue what we had gotten ourselves into.
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[Authors Note]: And tada! Haydn's first point of view chapter :3 Revealed some new people, found some stuff out, and... Yeah ^_^ Next chapter, the hospital scene with Haydn and Adriana; maybe if I'm up for writing it, we'll see Chase and Cassandra's chapter too :D But until then, show love by commenting and voting! And we'll see what happens next <3
- Taleesa <3