Faded [OLD DRAFT 2014]

.VI.[EDITED]

I groaned inwardly at the sound of my alarm clock going off for the third time since I hit snooze. As much as I didn't want to, I had to get up now or I would be late for school. I sluggishly crawled out my bed, heading straight for the shower. The hot water cascaded down my body, before I rubbed myself with strawberry scented soap. I let that rinse off my body before I got out, drying myself.

I got dressed in a new record of thirty minutes with ten minutes left to spare. I yawned and covered my mouth, tired out by my recent activities. It's been two weeks since I've been sneaking around with Graham, without Landon and crew knowing. Graham's been keeping me up past two in the morning, saying it was for the extra time that he missed during school. The only downside to that was, besides that first day, we've never been by his house again. Instead, we've been around town where we could've gotten caught at any minute. After the first week, I kind of convinced him I was claustrophobic and hated crowds so we stayed in the woods by a lake a bit of a distance from his house instead. It took a lot of panic attacks to pull that off.

I yawned again, pulling my book bag from the closet, to head out of the house. If I left now, I could make it to school in time to get a couple of conversations in before the rest of the kids would pile in.

Heading out of the house, I walked to the bus stop and the bus arrived as soon as I reached. I paid my fare, taking the first seat in the front. It would be almost an hour ride to school if there was no traffic. I didn't have music on my phone to pass the time, so my mind drifted to certain conversations I had with Graham. It was interesting to learn how much we had in common.

By now, the bus was getting a bit more crowded and I ended up giving my seat up to an elderly lady. No one else bothered to move, looking the other way.

"Thank you, dearie," she smiled, taking the seat. I smiled back, nodding to show I was acknowledging her. I side stepped, letting the next person on the bus, as the bus driver closed the door, driving past the next stop.

I pressed the bell, maneuvering my way off, heading in the direction of my school. I kept my head down, walking past a group of teens but they didn't look like they attended my school. A girl with dark brown hair turned in my direction, her nose turning up at me as she rubbed her nose rapidly. "Eww, he smells."

I jerked up at that, but kept on moving forward. How could I smell? I was nowhere near her, not to mention, I showered more than I was supposed to. I ignored the comment, continuing on my way to school. I walked inside, heading straight for class. No one was in sight so I was probably earlier than usual. The only people here during this time was the lacrosse team in the gym, two floors up, for practice. They wouldn't be getting out any time soon.

A sudden snarl swept the floor, filling my ears and ending my train of thoughts. I jerked up at a sound of a growl, my eyes widening. Behind me, I spotted Nate down the hall advancing full speed towards me. His eyes wild and crazed, his posture stiff with anger. I rummaged for anything in my frazzled mind, thinking about something I did today or any other day and came up with nothing, unless they found out about me still talking to Graham.

But that couldn't be it. Landon would've shown up instead of Nate. I hadn't done anything since my punishment and hadn't been punished in any way since.

I took a step backwards, as he stalked closer before I took off in a sprint away from him, getting rid of my book bag in the process. I heard another animalistic roar from him, his thundering footsteps hot on my heels. He was advancing closer, my heart pumping faster, urging myself not to stop, to ignore the aching pain growing in my legs. I made a sharp left, going down a flight of stairs two at a time, almost falling in the process. Spotting the locker room, I ran towards that direction, pushing the cool, metal painted doors, and darting my eyes around for a place to hide before he reached.