30- OUT OF THE BLUE!
The door to the shotgun of my car slammed, followed by a grumpy voice,
"You're late." I rolled my eyes at the sound of Caleb's voice. I had picked up Ethan and Ryan before him. At the wee hours of today, I had woken up to a call from Caleb, informing me that I would be their designated driver for today. I was to pick up all of them apart from Drew.
We all ignored ourselves until I pulled up at school. I noticed the female bullies standing in front of their parked cars few feet from mine. They were obviously waiting for the boys. As soon as I turned off the engine, Ethan and Ryan stepped out, leaving Caleb behind.
"Well?" I inquired when he refused to get out of my car.
"Once the last bell goes off, I wouldn't want to wait an extra minute in school." He said then stepped out of my car.
"No practice today?" I called after him. He shot me a glare and I duly clamped my mouth shut. It was not my business, anyway.
I stretched, stifling a yawn, as soon as I stepped out of my car. I could barely sleep yesterday night. Andrew's reaction wasn't what I had expected and I was glad that at least he was merciful enough to not tell the guys... I guess?
I winced as I remembered the deadly look in his eyes as soon as I had said those words.
..."What if Candice didn't kill herself?"
"What?" Drew whisper-yelled. Then he boomed, "Is this a joke to you?!"
Unconsciously, I took a step back.
"Of course not! I-"
"Someone died, Sam!" He said bitterly. "My goddamn friend died! This isn't some joke!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it to sound like that!" My plea didn't even hold water.
"Well, it did! Now, you can take your wannabe FBI nosiness and stay out of our lives." He glared harder. I nodded, slowly, still shocked.
"I mean every single word, Samantha! This must never have a reason to come up again. Don't push me." He warned. "Get in the car!"
I must confess that though I was shocked at Andrew's outburst, the fact that he didn't physical hurt me made me admire his self-control. To be honest, the way he had been clenching and unclenching his fists, I had somewhat been expecting a real punch. I had definitely crossed the line then and there. I couldn't imagine if it was Caleb or Ryan instead of Drew. I shuddered at the thought.
~~~
I groaned as I opened my locker, suddenly remembering I had Maths as first. Someone leaned on the locker beside me and I turned to see Ethan staring at me.
"Deja Vu?" I said, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled.
"Are you okay?" He asked. I was surprised, my mouth slightly open. Why would he ask if I was okay?
"You wanna catch some flies?" Ethan mocked. I snapped my mouth shut, glaring at him.
"Why did you ask?" I said, referring to his initial question but obviously Ethan didn't get it,
"Well, your mouth was open. I had to, you know."
"Not that!" He smirked, clearly pleased he succeeded in riling me up. "Why did you ask if I was okay?" I repeated, glaring at him.
He pouted and I remembered the first time I had seen this guy. He had had the same pout on his face, looking innocent and adorable. I felt my chest tug at the thought of him doing what he didn't want to just to be loyal to his friends. He needed help!
"Can't I be concerned about your well-being?" He whined.
"Yes, you can, Ethan Woods! But not out of the blue!" I said, giving him a knowing look.
"It's not 'out of the blue'!" He scoffed. Then he sighed. "But seriously though, are you okay?" I decided to answer him.
"I guess." I muttered, biting my lower lip. Ethan nodded as if he understood.
"I assume your meeting with Drew didn't go as planned." He stated more than asked.
"You can tell." I chuckled, humorlessly. Ethan straightened himself then nudged me.
"Drew came to the Count yesterday, extremely upset." I stared at him with wide eyes. "He wouldn't tell us anything though but I figured it probably had something to do with your meeting." I visibly relaxed.
"It was that bad, Ethan." I said, slouching against my locker.
"Wow." He paused, then continued, "What exactly did you say?" There was worry evident in his eyes. Somehow, with that look in his eyes, I found myself spilling out everything that happened yesterday.
"Gosh!" Ethan said as soon as I was done. "Why would you even think that?" I knew he was trying so hard to understand me and not get angry.
"I know, I know. Everything just didn't add up. Somehow, I believed Candice was too strong to kill herself." I tried to explain. Ethan frowned shaking his head.
"You didn't get to meet Candice so you don't have any right to assume." I nodded my head.
"I'm really sorry." Ethan nodded just as the bell went off for first.
"Crystal mustn't hear this." Ethan said, seriously. "She'd be beyond pissed-"
"There you are!" Someone yelled hurrying to me. Auburn hair came charging towards me and I shared a glance with Ethan, terrified.
"Been waiting for you all morning! Didn't you get my text?!" Crystal huffed as she stopped in front of me. Visibly, Ethan and I relaxed.
"What?" Crystal arched an eyebrow. "You both look like you've just seen a ghost." I nearly winced at the irony of the situation.
"Well, you scared me!" I said, jabbing a finger into the side of her stomach.
"Ouch!" She yelped, backing away from me. "Well, didn't you receive my text?" I shook my head as I pulled out my phone from my backpack. I did a facepalm as I realized it was off. I remember I had turned it off when Caleb had almost run down my battery with his calls and texts to hurry me up.
"Sorry, it's off." I grinned sheepishly as I waved my phone at her.
"Ugh!" Crystal huffed. "Anyway, guess what!" She squealed. I had no choice but to cover my ears. I looked to Ethan and I saw he wanted to be anywhere but here. But for some reason, he stood where he was.
"What, Crystal, what?" I sighed.
"Don't you dare use that tone, you party pooper!" Crystal said, jabbing her elbow into my stomach. I groaned.
"What is it, dear Crystal? Pray tell!" Even a deaf man could hear the sarcastic tone. She rolled her eyes.
"You have been nominated as a member of the school's anniversary committee! Yaaay!" She was the only one celebrating as I tried to convince myself I had heard well.
"What?" I asked, incredulously. "Why?!"
"Relax!" Crystal rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed I had halted her jubilation. "He nominated you." She pointed to Ethan. Suddenly, Ethan started backing away.
"Oh, you wait for me, Ethan Woods!" I made a move to launch at him but Crystal held me back, chuckling. Ethan did a mock salute and walked away. I seethed.
"Why would he even do that? I'm not interested in this!" I said, disentangling myself from Crystal's arms.
"I know." She was suddenly sober. "It's just that we needed a replacement for Candice. Ethan suggested you because, why not?"
"Oh." I said, suddenly feeling bad for the way I reacted. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, hey." Crystal shook her head. "Don't beat yourself up. I mean, we didn't consult you before the selection, so it's not your fault."
"Caleb and Ryan? Weren't they against it? I mean, I'm their slave." Crystal scoffed.
"Slave my foot! Left for me, all four of them wouldn't even be in the committee. But they're shareholders so there isn't so much of a choice. However," She smirked. "My decision is final." I chuckled at the fact that she obviously loved the way she could 'control' them.
Then I remembered my maths class.
"O my gosh, o my gosh!" I frantically shut my locker.
"What is it Sam?!"
"I'm already late for my maths class!" Crystal groaned then punched me on my arm.
"Ouch! What was that for?" I snapped.
"For you to calm down! All committee members have been excused from their classes today. You would have known this if you had read the text I sent you!"
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh!" A broad grin spread across my face.
"I'm definitely glad to be in this committee! I must specially thank Ethan!" Crystal snorted but pulled me along with her.
"Our assignments would be sent to us via email though." What?
"I take back what I said!"
A/N:
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