Dreams Or How I Live My Life in Daydreams

Sleuthing

"Autumn, wait!"

The words went unheeded. Autumn snatched her arm from out of Nara's tight grip. Fury seeping through her pores, the only thing she wanted to do, at that moment, was to rearrange Maddox's face. How could he? Especially after.....

She wanted to puke.

"Autumn, please," the redhead pleaded. "Think this through! Don't go in half-cocked. Don't go in hot!"

Autumn whirled around, tears brimming her eyes. "I just want to know why!" her voice cracked.

Seeing her best friend in so much pain, hurt Nara. She felt partly to blame for their coupling. She all but pushed her into his arms, thinking he was sincere in his motives. It was all part of a sick prank, the bastard.

They needed to turn the tables on him somehow and give him a taste of his own medicine. What could they do?

Autumn fisted her hand, her amber eyes a vibrant yellow and copper like flickering flames matching her rage. "Maddox plans to prank me, huh? Well, two can play that game," she muttered.

At her best friend's declaration, Nara grinned her approval. That's the strong-willed Autumn she knew and admired. There's no way in hell that she would allow herself to be anyone's plaything, let alone Maddox's.

*********

"Where is she?"

Maddox stared at the classroom door as Mr. Axel stood at the chalkboard, going over the day's lesson. Autumn's desk sat unoccupied. They arrived in plenty of time. Why was she late?

He reached in his back pocket for his phone when the door cracked opened. Autumn stepped briskly into the classroom. Mr. Axel halted. "You're late, Ms. Fleetwood."

"Sorry," she mumbled, parking herself at her desk. 

"Detention after school," the instructor said, continuing with writing on the chalkboard. Maddox signaled at Autumn to get her attention. "Psst!" 

 She didn't look at him. 

He frowned. Is she mad?

*********

He was staring again. Autumn felt his eyes boring into her. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. If she did, she wouldn't be able to contain her anger, blowing the plan, formulating in her mind, to get back at him to hell.

For it to work, she would have to bury it deep inside of her and act cool as a cucumber. She could pull it off. No problem. She learned well from her parents how to pretend that everything is all right. Besides, the look on his face will be well worth it. After that, Maddox will be a memory she would like nothing more than to forget.

*********

Pushing by his classmates, Maddox seized Autumn by the arm as she exited the classroom. She leveled him a death glare. 

"Hey," he said, unease creeping into his voice. "Are you mad at me?"

Don't blow it now, Autumn thought. She mustered a smile so tight, her cheeks ached. His eyes pierced her as though looking through her. She gulped from the heat of his magnetic stare. She hated how effortlessly he got under her skin. Worse, she had opened up to him, exposing the most intimate part of herself, for him to betray her trust.

She eased her arm out of his grip. "No," she said, keeping her voice even. "I'm not mad at you. Why would I be?"  Liar! The word resounded in her head. 

Maddox scratched his cheek. "It's just that we arrived in plenty of time. Why were you late for Mr. Axel's class?"

She blurted the first thing that came to her mind. "I was trying to salvage my friendship with Nara and lost track of time," she said. It was the truth, a half-truth.

The prankster dipped his head, a coy smile on his lips. "I was hoping you could..." he stepped closer, "Come over to my castle after school. We could spend time together."

Autumn stiffened. Could she do it? Could she be with him intimately and turn off her emotions? She'd rather swallow thumbtacks than spend time alone with him. "I can't," she said. "I have detention after school, remember?"

"I can wait for you," he said. 

"You don't have to," Autumn said, her irritation growing. 

Maddox sighed. "I want to—-"

"Maddox!"

Autumn mouthed her thanks under her breath for the interruption. Lisa stepped between the bickering couple. "What do you want, Lisa?" Maddox said, glowering.

"Can I borrow your boyfriend?" the brunette said. 

"Be my guest," Autumn replied, earning a wide-eyed stare from Maddox.

"I have to go," Autumn said, making a beeline down the hallway while Maddox protested. "Autumn, wait!"

"Let her go," Lisa said, shaking her head at the lovesick boy. She elbowed him, teasingly. "You got it bad for her. Don't you?" 

Staring dreamily in the direction where Autumn departed, Maddox nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "I do."

*********

Nara caught up with Autumn heading down the hallway. "How'd it go?" she said. 

Autumn smiled with a gleam in her eyes.  "Not bad," she replied. They entered the library and took their seats. "What's the plan now?" Nara said, fidgeting with her hands. 

"Find out if Maddox has any skeletons in his closet," Autumn replied, keeping her voice low. 

The redhead leaned forward. "Like if he has any dark secrets?" she whispered. Autumn nodded.  Nara gave a thumbs up. "I like that plan."

Autumn opened the Instagram app on her phone. "What's your dark secret, Maddox?" she mumbled, typing Mad_Zach into the search engine. His account had no new postings though his follower count grew substantially.

She focused on the picture with the most likes. The picture, with no caption, was of Maddox laughing with a boy who looked to be around the same age with light-colored hair, both wearing matching t-shirts. Who is he? she wondered.

Chewing her lip, she clicked on username Selby.Rain. To her surprise, there was another picture of the same boy arm in arm with a short-haired woman with plain features.

The caption read, My dear brother, Marc. 

"Selby Rain," Autumn muttered contemplative.  A snap of fingers jolted her from her thoughts.

"Did you find anything?" Nara asked. 

Autumn furrowed an eyebrow. "Possibly," she replied.