~~~Katheren's P.O.V.~~~
The phone call-even though I hate to admit it- freaked me out so much that I had nightmares all night. Then, the next morning when my alarm went off, I screeched and fell off of the bed. Hm, Daren was right, that hurt!
To my day even worse, when I looked out my balcony door, I saw it was snowing. Ugh! This was going to be a very long day.
Finally, I was ready for school, I even had extra time. I grabbed my book and just as I sat down, just then someone knocked at the door. My heart was hammering in my chest as I slowly walked over to the door to open it hesitantly.
"Good morning Kates," Daren crooned at me.
I beamed at him and opened the door all the way. "'Morning Daren," I said then leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek, but as I was pulling away, I froze.
'You'll stay away form Daren if you know what's good for you.'
Daren grabbed my hands and twinned his fingers through mine before brushing my cheek with the back of his hand. "Is something wrong?" he asked, worried.
I forced myself to relax, to forget about it. "No," I lied, "everything's fine." Maybe I just imagined that call last night. I mean I was tired...
He stared at my face for a long moment. "You're lying."
I sighed. "But you're here," I told him, thinking that telling semi-truths was much better than lying, "so I'll be fine."
He smiled slightly. "Would you like a ride to school today? Because that was my initiative for coming over this morning."
"Sure."
"I won't let anyone hurt you," he promised looking into my eyes. God I hope he is right.
The ride to school was mostly quiet because I was mostly asleep. I'm pretty sure that Daren would have just drove me home when he noticed this, but he didn't argue too much when I said that I wouldn't allow him just to skip because I was a little tired. "Are you sure that you are alright?"
I groaned. "I'm fine." Daren didn't see entirely convinced, but he grabbed my hand wordlessly and led me to our first class, geometry.
~~~Daren's P.O.V.~~~
Katheren didn't look fine. If you looked close enough, you could see that her eyes were almost bloodshot and she was pale under her slowly fading California tan. I was so aggravated that she was hiding something from me; it was eating at me so badly that I could hardly hold still.
About halfway through Mrs. Brooks' boring monologue on statistics, Katheren raised her hand urgently. "May I go to the bathroom," she asked.
Mrs. Brooks wasn't even able to answer before she ran out of the room. "Oh my," the older women said looking alarmed. "Could someone please go check up on her?"
I volunteered and headed out into the hallway to look for Katheren. I went to the closest bathroom and knocked on the door. "Kates, are you in there?"
