Heathens (being edited )

Chapter Thirty-four

O A K

I tried to avoid Jason's continuos stares as he walked by me through the hallways awkwardly. "Hey...Oakster" I heard Pyper call and when I turned around to look at her she cringed and her pupils dilated as she stared at me dead in the eyes. "Okay there bud?" Peslan asked patting her shoulder as he walked past her then furrowed his eyebrows when his eyes met mine. "Oakley. Hey" he said awkwardly then glanced away from my eyes to Jason questioningly. "Hi" I muttered in confusion as I watched them skeptically, "Is there something wrong with my face?". "Uhhh. Noo?" Hema said with a quirked eyebrow then she chuckled. "You....your lips are red" Pyper mumbled then glanced to Jason with narrowed eyes and instinctively I licked at my lips. "You kissed her?" Peslan said with furrowed eyebrows as he surveyed my face in a way that made me uncomfortable. "Yes" Jason said confidently then immediately moved closer to me. "Oh" Peslan muttered as he glanced at my eyes skeptically again as he walked ahead with Hema under his arm.

"So. Are you driving with us or with him?" Pyper asked and I glanced back to where Lucky was just bending the corner as he sauntered forward. "I'm going with Jason. Sorry" I said not missing a beat because as soon as my eyes made four with he familiar pair of crystal blue ones that belonged to her brother, my heart began to beat hectically and my chest tightened. I felt light headed just taking in the thin line his pink lips had formed when he noticed Jason beside me. I almost whimpered when I fought against the urge to move away from Jason and move closer to Lucky. "Bye" I muttered through a grimace as I grabbed onto Jason's wrist and quickly began to weave through the moving school mass away from Lucky's frame that was slowly approaching. 'What the hell are you doing?' I heard something ask in a growl inside my head and I shook my head to regain my countenance.

No. Don't talk to me. Not right now.

I hadn't remembered anything more than the blunt look of disdain on Lucky's face as we retreated and I had finally surfaced from my sea of thoughts when Jason repeated my name several times and then he gently placed a palm on my shoulder. "Oakley" he called again and I cringed away with a gasp of shock then I blew out heavy breaths as I tried to monitor its uneven pace. "Sorry." I muttered as my pupils began to focus on him and I noticed the look of total concern across his face. "Sorry" I repeated with a chuckle then glanced away from his face to my house that he had been parked in front of. "What happened back there?-" "Nothing. It's nothing really. I just...had a glitch" I joked but he had failed to muster up a believable smile. Instead he stared at which ever peculiarities I had in my eyes as the others had earlier "Listen I'm okay. These things happen. I'm alright" I said as I slapped his cheeks playfully and he in turn made an attempt to bite me; and he actually didn't miss. I couldn't stop myself from laughing when I realized my index finger was trapped between his teeth.

I pulled it out when he chuckled and I gave him a sly grin as I opened the door. "Tomorrow Jason" I called out as I locked the door and he started the engine while capturing his bottom lip between his teeth and glancing at my lips 'discreetly' but I caught him. The act made me grin and he blushed as he smiled sheepishly. "Later Oaks" he called through chuckles with a wink then he drove off. I watched his orange car ,that seemed like it would give any top racer a run for their money, escape down the road then I moved from the path to my house , to the path then went to the backyard- or the backlands as I'd called it. I kept on thinking back to my eyes but also so how my back had back seemed crooked and it pained me every time I tried to straighten my posture. The bandage around my abdomen was also sure to shift up my vitals in a haphazard orientation.

Upon moving through the dense forestry I dropped my bag in the clearing that wasn't as muddy as the last time I had visited it. I couldn't help but to notice the almost perfectly sphere shaped the site was and how the trees guarded it almost completely. I placed my hands on my hips, eyeing how none of the branches had even dared to point to the direction of the circle giving it all an eerie look. Deeper in the forest the cracks of twigs and barely audible sounds of cackling rippled across the air and for some reason I had shuddered. I tried to stare through the thick fences as I slowly edged forward but the only thing I caught was silhouettes moving past the tree trunks before my foots froze underneath me.

'Turn around now. You're not going. It's dangerous. Lucky wouldn't want you to be hurt' I scowled myself internally and even though I'd like to laugh about the irony of him not wanting me to be hurt, I took up my bag with one last glance behind me then I retreated. 'Good. Get home. Stay on track' I heard my own voice mutter in my head maturely and I scoffed as I tightened my hands around the handles of my backpack. 'I'm always adventurous. I don't see what's the problem now.' I responded in a grumble and I got back a snort in return. I just needed to get home and have a long hot shower to try and relax the tensed muscles in my back and probably look at my own eyes to see what the problem was. Peslan and Pyper were acting weird.

'They're always weird. Don't trust them' I heard myself think again and before I could do more than just furrow my eyebrows in confusion, my phone made a 'ping' noise in my bag. The sound was so sudden and foreign that I probably jumped half a foot in the air. No one has never texted me other than the school (when they saint chain messages about any day school would be canceled), H&M (when they're promoting their sales) and my mother. I hadn't given Jason my number- even though we had moved from being just friends and resorted to....kissing friends? He's the only one that would text me if he ever got my number.

At least that's what I thought.

Unknown

You really know how to piss off someone. Where the hell did you go?

Oakley
what?
who is this?

Unknown

don't belittle my questions Oakley. Are
you at his house again? did he drive you
home.

For a while I stood at the entrance of the forest, gazing at the path to the verandah under the dim evening lights then it all came to me. Rushing in like fire when a window is opened; and the realization made me queasy. And I couldn't even stop myself from letting him now that I recognized him, but I was also able to make it known that I was in no way happy to receive his messages

Oakley
Not sure how you got my number
Smith but do yourself a favor piss off

Lucky

that's not how you're supposed to
address me

Oakley
oh well. Sucks to be you

Lucky

Oakley ...

Oakley

What are you going to do fight me?
You enjoy hurting females don't you

Lucky

you really don't know what you're
getting yourself into.
don't agitate me. I don't hurt females.
I'm not like that and get that perspective
out of your hard head.

I stared down at the phone, sabotaging my bottom lip with my teeth then I sighed with a close of my eyes and locked the phone. I wouldn't waste my time letting Lucky Blue Smith try to convince me that he wasn't guilty of a felony he had already committed.

Most of all I wouldn't text him because I knew he would have me wrapped up around his finger within the minute.