Rogues

Chapter XVIII

- Nathan -

- Nathan! – Caleb's loud calling brought me back to reality.

- I'm sorry. What did you say? – I asked startled and a little embarrassed.

- What's with you today? You're acting weird. – he stated with a slightly upset tone.

I haven't been able to stop thinking of Ilene and Marcus. All day and all night I continue to rewind that day, and how unjust things turned out. I've been like this all day today as well, not able to concentrate the least in classes.

- I'm sorry, what did you want to tell me? – I said focusing on him.

- I think it's better if we work on this another day. – he said closing his notebook.

No one had to tell me twice. Chemistry is probably the last thing I want to do right now. I have no mind about it. Honestly, I feel a bit bad for making Caleb stay and work on the project.

- Do you want to talk about it? – he offered concerned.

- I already did with Mason and Kaya. Didn't help much. – I say harshly, upset.

- Okay, I'll leave you to it then. – he said, starting to pack his stuff.

- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just upset. Shouldn't have taken it out on you. – I apologize for my behavior.

- It's fine, don't worry. – he said calmly, still putting away his things.

- Don't go. – the words slipped my mouth.

- You need some time alone, it's fine, everyone does, I'm not upset. – he says looking straight at me. He's not angry or resented. Then he turned back to his backpack and fixed his notebook inside.

- Cal, stay... please. – I say and take a deep breath.

- Is everything okay? – he asks, genuinely concerned.

- It's just I argued with my father. – I begin explaining, he's looking at me expectantly. – There was a conflict a couple of days with Marcus and Ilene. – I say. I stop to try and organize my thoughts before getting to the details.

- I'll pretend like I know who they are. – he says making me chuckle a little.

- Sorry, Marcus is a werewolf a year older than us, and Ilene was his girlfriend. They started dating at about the same time as Nadia and me. – I fill him in a little. – Marcus attacked Noland, his best friend in front of Ilene. She's human and didn't know about werewolves, so it was quite shocking for her. -

- Oh, what a terrible way to find out. – he said, genuinely feeling bad for her.

- Yeah, Noland was heavily injured, but he's fine now. The problem is that my father decided to take Ilene's memory away. They messed with it so she'd forget about the incident and think Marcus and her broke up. –

- Keep going. – he said expectantly.

- My dad took Ilene's memory and forced her to think she broke up with Marcus just because her parents didn't like him dating a human. – I spat out.

- Okay, so? – he asked nonchalantly.

What? What does he mean by "so"? My father erased 19-year-old teenager memories like it was nothing and didn't even stop to consider a different option. Just to please someone else's wishes. How can he not see it?

- What do you mean? – I asked starting to get a bit upset with him. – What he did was wrong. It's fucked up, no one should have that power over someone else. I tried convincing him otherwise but he wouldn't listen. He just did it either way! – I exclaimed.