Midnight Kisses| ✓

Chapter 26

The rest of the day in school passes in a blur. To my surprise after the last bell rings, Kristina finds me when I am almost to my car. "Hey," she says thumping me on my back.

I want to ask her if she knows what her best friend did to my bestfriend but I am too drained, all of my energy having washed away in the confrontation. All I want to do is now just get inside the car and collapse.

But Kristina is holding out an envelope towards me and I realize with a start that she is also saying something. But I have totally zoned out on that, "... I just wanted to give you this. It's two hard to explain. But letters are surprisingly easy, when you want to say something your heart and mind is conflicted about. And also you are not interrupted in between." She adds jokingly.

I take the letter from her dumbly and move it in my hand. It has my name written on it and smells faintly of vanilla oil. "Do I have to read it now?" I snap.

"No," she says her eyes going round. "You can read it anytime you want. I just thought you should know what I have to say."

"Okay," I say my mind already filling up with possible explanations for this letter. I want to tear it and read it on the spot but just as Kristina waves goodbye, Seth is suddenly in front of me with an embarrassed grin on his face.

"I don't have a ride. Can I ride with you?" he asks shyly.

"Sure," I say slipping the letter in my pocket. Before we reach our car though, I specifically ask Seth not to mention anything about Emily or the video or anything remotely close in front of my mom. He nods and in return he doesn't ask me anything about Brad or Trisha or what happened between us.

Mom is really happy that I am finally making some progress on the friends front and I am not cynical right now to break her bubble or anything so we drop Seth home which is on the other side of the town, but mom doesn't mind at all that he is carpooling with us. Instead by the time he has stepped out from the car and inside his house, my mom is positively beaming. I guess for parents or anybody else outside the school, social status doesn't matter just as long those people are exemplary students, like Seth who gets straight As everytime and is probably going make some company rich as shit selling secure secrets.

When we stop infront of our house, I walk along the low wall overlooking Novahk's house thinking if he's inside, and at the same time the door opens with a bang and out comes Novahk. He's dragging someone behind him and I startle when I see it's his dad wo has taken a big blow to his face.

Novahk himself is not unscathed either with his busted lip and his torn shirt and his black eye. My stomach lurches as I almost run over to their house. Novahk looks livid. Behind him his mother comes out almost cowering while his younger brother Adam is crying so loudly, cradling one of his arm on the other that he is drowning out almost everything his dad is saying.

"You sick bastard. How dare you do that to Adam?" I taste bile in my mouth when I realize he has broken Adam's arm. I push past my mom who's frozen and gaping at the scene enfolding in front of her eyes along with some of the neighbors who have come out of their homes with all the shouts echoing in the McAllister's frontyard.

I half stumble in there but Novahk pays no heed to me. He is looking at his dad who is sprawled infront of him, with his fist clenched at his side. McAllister is still in his uniform and to my disgust he laughs looking at Novahk tauntingly, and spits blood on the grass beside him.

"Novahk," I say softly and he looks at me once but I don't think he really sees me. His eyes are blank, devoid of anything and it scares the shit out of me. I have seen this look before only back then I didn't recognize it but now I do. He looks at me the same way Emily did when I saw her last. Like there is no hope left, no light nothing. Novahk has snapped and to my utter horror he has a gun in hand.