Nightfall ✓

Chapter 5

• chapter five •

A week finally passed after my football match with the three of them without anything eventful happening (apart from a harmless little spider prank), which was quite unusual for me since I was used to some drama taking place in my house all the time.

That harmless little spider prank caused us slight harm, though, it caused us to postpone the hiking by one hour, because Liam and Zack were sitting in detention at the time we were supposed to leave for the forest (yes, Zack had agreed to come), because they had decided to shove a rubber spider into Jessica's locker (who, I had to be reminded, was Luke's girlfriend. When I said that I thought they had broken up, Liam told me they were back together again).

I had no idea whose plan it was. Friday morning, when I was standing in front of my locker, Liam crept up behind me and said, "Boo!"

I jumped and dropped my books. "What the hell, Liam!"

His lips stretched into a goofy smile. "Look at this." He took out a rubber Redback spider from his pocket and showed it to me. Its creepy, rubbery legs shivered and so did I. "Ew."

"Zack and I are going to put it in Jessica's locker. Come, watch the drama."

He led me to Zack, who was standing in front of a notice board. Liam tossed him the spider. He caught it one-handed. "Niiice," he said. "Jess will love it."

"Why are you guys doing it?" I asked.

"We're bored," Zack replied, like putting spiders into someone's locker to chase away the boredom was the most normal thing in the world.

After the spider had fallen at her feet and she'd done a fair bit of screaming, tripping because of her three-inch stilettos and falling on her butt, a circle of people formed around her. She kept on saying 'ohmigod ohmigod' with her hand on her heart till Luke came running to her like an overprotective boyfriend.

The three of us were leaning against the wall casually with our arms crossed, which was very stupid of us, since standing casually wasn't quite casual at that time.

"Who put it here?" Luke's eyes scanned the crowd, zeroing in on us. "Samuels, you!"

"What?" Liam asked innocently. "I didn't do anything." Which was pretty true, because Zack was the one who had put it here.

"You're lying. I know you put it in there. Now just own up so that I can get you suspended." Luke pushed everyone aside and came to stand in front of Liam with the spider in his hand. He was almost as tall as Liam: around five-eleven.

Liam remained calm. "I told you, I didn't do anything. Fuck off."

Luke grabbed Liam's collar. "You fuck off, meatball."

Liam shoved him away roughly. He raised his fist to strike again, but Zack pulled him back. "Whoa. Calm down, buddy."

But when Luke punched Liam right on his jaw, Zack lost it too. "You asshole."

Both of them attacked Luke together.

"Guys! Stop it!" I said from a distance because I was too scared to go between them and actually stop the fight.

Then a new voice came and the circle of people scattered. "Stop it! Right now! What is going on here?"

They stopped fighting and looked up. It was a teacher, obviously. "M-Mrs. Parker..." Luke sputtered. "These guys started it. They put a rubber spider in Jessica's locker, and when I asked them about it, they attacked me."

Liam clenched his fists. The tip of his ears had turned red. I could see how angry he was.

Mrs. Parker looked at him, then Zack, then Luke, and said, "Come with me, all three of you."