"You so are jealous." Kyle said back.
"Am not! I just don't like Nova and I don't really want you hanging out with her, much less flirting with her."
Kyle kept his cocky smirk, and I felt sort of embarrassed at my sudden outburst. Why did I just act out like that like a crazy person? I wasn't the kind of person to try to interrupt people when they were flirting...
"Well, anyway, it was too crowded in there and I was getting sort of claustrophobic."
"You're a great liar," Kyle said, sitting down on the edge of the water fountain, "but I'm good at telling if someone's lying or not."
I glared at him, knowing he was most probably right. I would bet an entire chocolate cake that he was trained to know when someone was lying.
I sat next to Kyle. "Why were you flirting with her anyway?" I asked him in a simply curious tone.
"I don't know, I just sort of thought it was fun." I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to ignore the pain that ached in my chest. Nova may have been slutty and I looked down on her for that, but she was definitely prettier than me. I just thought, for once, a guy would be more interested in the girl's actual personality instead of their looks.
Especially a guy like Kyle, who is literally my only friend at this school.
I chose not to say anything else, because I felt like the next words that would leave his mouth wouldn't make me feel any better. I glanced at Kyle, looking into space with a dazed expression. He was in a completely different world, and I wondered what he was thinking. It made me frustrated because he seemed to know me so well but I barely understood him.
I suddenly wanted to go home. Maybe inviting Kyle was a bad idea. I like him, but he might be thinking of me as obnoxious for inviting him to a party when he absolutely despises them.
"Let's go back inside." I suddenly said, not wanting to be alone with him anymore. I would only fill myself with pessimistic thoughts.
Kyle followed me inside with a shrug, and I walked into the middle of the dance floor where sweaty teenagers were jumping up and down. I didn't know who the kids were, but they seemed to be juniors or sophomores. I started dancing with them, and screaming the lyrics of some Jason Derulo song. Kyle watched me for a second, and then to my immense surprise, started dancing with me.
"You're actually dancing!" I yelled over the sound at Kyle, who rolled his eyes.
"I'm not going to stand there like an idiot."
I didn't even know what we were doing, but we danced randomly to the loud music coming from the speakers, and other teenagers danced around us, and eventually Wendy and her three friends made their way towards me. The moment I spotted Nova I wanted to kick her barely covered butt out of the auditorium.
Nova put her hand on Kyle's, moving close to sway her hips next to his.
I won't act all crazy again, I told myself as I forced myself to turn the other way and dance with some other people in the crowd.
"Hey Cass, nice moves!" Lily said to me, her blue gown shimmering in the dim lights.
"Thanks, you too!" I said back, trying not to think too much about anything as we danced. A boy I felt like I'd seen before made our way to us and greeted Lily.
"Hey, I didn't know you danced!" He yelled to me, and I smiled a little.
"I'm not really the type, but today's an occasion." I told him, and he gave me a thumbs-up.
"I'm Tyler, by the way."
"I'm Cass."
"I know." He said, and I laughed at that. Who didn't know me in this school really?
"Hey Tyler's having a get-together after this, you should come!" Lily yelled, and again, the feeling of being involved and fitting in flowed inside of me, and a jolt of happiness swelled in my chest.
"I'd love to!" I said, and Lily and Tyler whooped before the beat dropped and the crowd of dancing teenagers went wild. I was finally having a great time, and I met a few other people who seemed nice enough, even though I was pretty sure they were also gossipping about me when the entire thing with Zayden happened.
I did the mistake of looking for Kyle, and I found him talking to Nova and a few other girls. They seemed to be having a normal conversation, but I should have guessed the girls would get over his uniqueness and recognize his looks.
A feeling of discomfort and jealousy started blooming in my chest again. Why was I feeling like this?
It was because he was the only friend I had, and him making other friends made me really jealous.
That had to be it.
After a lot more dancing, the party started coming to an end and half of the people had already left.
"Want to head to the get-together now?" Lily asked me, and I nodded.
"Yeah, let me just go look for Kyle." I told her, and Lily told me she would wait outside.
I searched around for Kyle, and finally found him tapping something into his phone. He looked up, and I smiled at him.
"Lily invited to me to an after-party thing. I'm going to go, and you can come with or not, whichever's fine." I said to him, even though I secretly wished he would come as well.
"You're what?" Kyle said, much more loudly than I was expecting.
"Lily invited—" I started, but he cut me off.
"Yeah, I heard that. I thought these people hated you?"
I bit my lip and ignored the harshness of his words. "They do, I guess, but I don't know, they thought I was fun to be with or something so—"
"Why do you keep going back to them like a lost puppy when all they did to you was be rude?"
I pouted. "I don't necessarily know they were being rude."
"You're full of crap, Cass. You damn well know they were speaking shit about you behind your back until the moment you talked to them."
"Well, you're probably right! But maybe they changed their mind once they actually talked to me!"
Kyle ran his hands down his hair, looking irate. "I don't understand! Why the hell do you defend them?"
I sucked in a breath to stop myself from getting angry myself. "You'll never be able to understand Kyle. This is my life, and I have to spend the rest of my stupid life with these people. No matter how mean or nasty they are to me, I'll always want to fit in!"
Kyle shook his head. "You're a masochist."
"Is it that wrong to not want to be alone all the time? I'm sick of being weird, being the loner!"
"They're not worth your time. They aren't even your real friends."
"What is up with you hating these people so much? You literally judge them because they're wealthier than you are."
"Because they bathe in their wealth! They show it off to the world! They're all the same, snobby, rude people!"
I frowned, trying not to get emotional. "Wow. Thanks a lot."
Kyle seemed to realize what he had said. "Shit. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You're different."
"Right. But you thought I was just like them until you actually got to know me, right?"
"Well, actually I knew you were different but—"
I cut him off before he could ramble on about how strange and screwed up I was.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, I'm going to the party. Don't you have a group of skanky girls who seem to be worth your time?"
Kyle's eyes flared. "Dammit, Cass! You are so god damn annoying!"
I raised my eyebrows. "Really? I'm the annoying one?"
"Yes, you don't fucking get it. It's all complicated."
"I'm sure everything is." I answered sarcastically. "I'm sure everything is so complicated that even flirting with a girl has some motive behind it."
That shut Kyle up. "I'm not trying to be a jerk." He said.
"Okay."
"But I have a job to protect you, and going to this party won't be the safest thing for you to do."
"That's the problem with you." I hissed, "everything's a job with you. What you don't understand is I'm an actualy human being as well, and I have emotions. Don't act like I'm some sort of briefcase with a million dollars that you need to protect for a few months."
"Fine, I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what the hell I've been doing wrong, but I'm sorry for fooling around with that Nova girl and I'm sorry for being like a fucking over-protective parent to you."
His apology didn't sound genuine, but I knew I wasn't going to get any more than that from him.
"Fine. Whatever." I muttered, not feeling like going to a party anymore.
"Just go home, Cass." He said much gentler than how we were talking before. I shrugged and walked outside. The cool air had gotten even colder, and I shivered. I walked out the school building and headed to the parking lot, when I realized I didn't have a ride.
I sighed and took my phone out to dial Henry's number, when suddenly strong arms came from behind me. My hands were suddenly tied back with one of the person's hands, and his other hand covered my mouth. I thrashed in the person's arms.
"Let me go!" I screeched, and a thin, fabric-like material suddenly covered my face. I gasped, breathing in a powdery substance.
At that instant, I knew I was screwed.
And that was when the world around me went black and I fell limp into my abductor's arms.
******
sorry for the cliff hanger!
this chapter is dedicated to badwriter_ who is sooo magical, beautiful, and awesome and she's also my best friend who just so happens to be a brilliant writer! (unlike what her username states) Aaaandd it's her birthday today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALIA ILYYYY
Check out her stories because they're great!!!
Thanks for reading :)