The Arden Gang

5. Garden of peace

Chapter 5

First period went on fine because Erin was by my side all the while. Of course, none of the boys from The Arden Gang dared to go against her. Hooray for Mrs. Blair Parker.

However, that didn’t stop the rest of the school population from coming after me. After first period as I was getting ready to leave the class, Paige, Hannah and another petite girl who I didn’t know the name of, came up to me.

“Anna-bitch.” Paige said, putting her hands on her hips.

Her friends laughed along at the name she’d given me.

“Paige!” Erin defended me, staring straight at Paige.

They were friends, yup. Before The Arden Gang started to give me trouble, Paige and her pals had totally ignored me. Hence, Erin thought she was an okay person and became friends with her when Paige had sucked up to her.

But I couldn’t say the same for now.

“Stay out of this Erin.” Paige looked at Erin briefly, before turning back to me.

“Annabeth is my friend, and her business is my business.” Erin stood protectively in front of me.

Though I couldn’t see, I knew she was giving Paige a really scary look, as uncertainty crossed her eyes.

“It’s none of your business.” Hannah, Paige’s sidekick, pushed Erin a side, while Paige moved to stand in front of me.

She was a couple of inches taller than me. She had on bright red lipstick which looked kind of good with her black miniskirt and black long sleeves.

I smirked.

Then, Paige kicked me in my knee.

Yes, with her sharp pointed boot, she kicked with all her strength, making me fall onto the floor.

“This is for offending Arden.” She said menacingly.

Then without warning, she stepped on my feet using the heel of her boot, inserting at least 50 pascals of pressure, making me yell out in pain. I stared at her, my eyes burning from the tears that threatened to fall.

“Paige!” Erin screamed, pulling her off me.

“And this is for them giving you all that attention.”

Then with a shake of her butt, she walked out of the classroom.

Erin helped me up.

“You okay?” she asked.

I shook my head and stared at the red spots on my legs.

“I think I’m skipping the rest of the day.”

She nodded understandably.

“Need a lift?”

“Maybe during lunch, you go ahead to your next class. Text you later.”

“You’ll be okay?”

I nodded and she left. Packing my stuffs, I got my bag and walked hurriedly through the corridor with my head down. Luckily the bell was about to ring so there weren’t a lot of people there. When I reached the end of the corridor, instead of turning left to English class, I turned right and climbed the stairs to the top floor.

In my four years in this school, I had discovered a few peaceful places which not much people knew about. This was one of it. This staircase led to an open space. There was nothing here but a field of neatly kept grass. Because there was absolutely nothing, no one usually came up except for the occasional couples who came to make out.

When I reached the top, I leaned against the wall and let my knees give way. Putting my arms on my knees and leaning my forehead on it, I started to cry. I was literally sobbing out loud for almost thirty minutes.

When I was done crying, I looked up to see a handkerchief fluttering in my face. It was held by a hand joined to a really hot body. Erik. He was looking out toward the distance, with one hand holding out the handkerchief to me, and another in the pocket of his skinny tailored beige coloured pants. He was wearing a black shirt under matching beige coloured blazer. His medium length, dark brown hair was messy due to the wind. Erik looked gorgeous.

Suddenly, I seemed to gain back my thoughts because I ignored him. This was one of the guys who’d made my first and a half days of school so unbearable. It was because of him everyone treated me badly.

He turned to look down at me, dark eyes emotionless. A minute later with nothing said between us, he kept the handkerchief back in his pocket, and turned to walk down the stairs, leaving me all alone.

I was dumbfounded. What was that all about?

Picking up my bag, I walked down the stairs just as the bell for lunch rang.

Erin dropped me home twenty minutes later. After making sure I was fine, she left for school again. Because Mr and Mrs. Parker were really strict parents, they wouldn’t let her skip. Josh, her brother, would definitely tell on her as they were always on each other’s necks.

I felt bad. Erin had wasted forty minutes travelling to and fro to give me a lift home, she only had twenty left for lunch.

Thankfully, my mom was at the laundry shop when I reached home. She didn’t have to know about this- me skipping school. Taking out the medicine box from the kitchen, I sat down on the sofa to examine my knee and foot. There were huge black bruises on both areas where Paige had kicked and stepped on. After rubbing some ointment on them, I went up to start on the homework which I had ignored yesterday.

By the time mom came home, the bruise on my foot had grown and was too large and obvious to hide. I had the one on my knee hidden by wearing track pants which wasn’t surprising as I usually wore them to sleep, except in the summer.

“Hey sweetie, have you had din- what in the world happened to your foot?” her voice was raised in shock as she threw the food she’d brought on the table and rushing to me, staring at my foot in concern.

“Err.. I accidentally slammed the table’s leg on it at school.” I lied.

Fortunately, mom seemed to buy it for she let it go. We had chinese for dinner, before settling into bed. I dreaded school tomorrow.

-x-

Was this boring? I thought it was. But it's an important chapter.

Sigh, don't stop reading.

oh and that's Erik at the side. I think he's reaaaally hot. 

What do you think? 

Vote/comment if you want to!

<3