Falling For A Criminal

Falling For A Criminal - Chapter Ten

The weekend passed in a blur.

When I got discharged, my mother took it upon herself to have a huge panic attack and she decided that the best thing for me to do would be to have my door open at all times so she could always hear what was going on in my room. My privacy, along with the door, were now gone and I couldn't do anything about it. Haydn hasn't attempted to break in at all, Trace hasn't been home, and Cassandra was acting weirder than weird. Andrew on the other hand, was pretty much. . . Being Andrew.

He stopped by the house when he heard what happened—that, and he wanted to see Trace—and we hung out in my room for a bit. Seeing that my mother now believes I have someone after me, she won't let me leave the house unless I have someone with me. And by someone, I mean someone that isn't as soft as a pillow pet.

So, now it was Monday and I was finally out of the house—but it wasn't something worth bragging about because I was still stuck in school. Apparently word had gotten around about what happened, and now everyone was looking at me with the strangest looks on their faces. I wanted to question them about it, but where would that get me? Simply asking a random bunch of people if they were looking at me because my house had been broken into and now I'm emerging on a Monday as if nothing happened? Who does that?

By the time lunch had rolled around, I was just about getting tired with everyone and their questioning. “I don't understand what the big deal is. So, I was in the hospital for a day after my house got broken into, big whoop!”

Laughing at me, Andrew shook his head and blew out a sigh. “You really don't get it, do you?”

I looked up at him with a confused look on my face and took a bite of my tuna sandwich? “Get what?”

After scrunching up his face in disgust, he shuddered for a moment and then continued. “OK, first, don't talk with your mouth full. I may be a guy, but I'm one of the most fabulous closeted homosexuals you will ever meet, and your table manners are just. . . Ugh.” I rolled my eyes before he continued. “Now, as I was saying. You're one of the most innocent girls in the school, and the fact that something like this happened to you—only a day after your brother came back—can only make people curious. You can't blame them for staring.”

Nodding, I took another bite of my sandwich and looked around the cafeteria. A few people were still staring, but not too many, which was good. If there was one thing I hated more than the way Trace was acting as of lately, was when people stared at me as if I was some display at a museum. It's almost as if they're watching you; waiting for you to crack so they have something to talk about.

That's the way high school works; it was always one rumor after the other and that's what kept us going. We wanted to know what was going on, and once we got our hands on some form of juicy gossip, we'd keep digging and digging until we knew every last detail.

Aren't we high schoolers just great?

I had only been halfway done with my sandwich when the doors of the cafeteria were thrown open and a blonde that I'd never seen before walked in. He was wearing a white t-shirt that was just a little too loose, his jeans were almost black, and they matched his black boots. Needless to say, he wasnt following the dress code. . . Something about him rang dangerous, but that wasn't what caught me off guard. The fact that we was staring right at me with a grin on his lips and a playful look in his eyes did. “Who's the cutie, and why is he staring at you like that?”

Shrugging, I watched as he made his way over to Haydn's table and felt my stomach tighten when he finally reached him. Since his table wasn't that far away from mine—and since everyone in the room stopped talking—we all sat and waited for their confrontation to begin. The blonde guy had just reached Haydn's table when he turned around and sent me a grin that had that tightening feeling in my stomach worsen. When he turned back, his eyes were on Haydn and anyone with eyes could see that he wasn't happy to see him. “I see you've taken refuge in the school. Must say, I thought you were smarter, Haydie.”