Falling For A Fallen

3 Not Giving Up

*Dedicated to xxAvenice for being a dedicated reader.

፠CHAPTER THREE፠

The day dragged on slowly. Chayn didn’t stay with me the whole day after all. In fact, as soon as I walked into the first class, he disappeared and didn’t show up for the rest of the school day, but I wasn’t complaining. The only thing I couldn’t ignore was the fact that everyone kept sneaking glances at me, but no one ever said a word. Kaiti told me not to worry. That it’ll all fade by the end of the week. Of course, I was very late for the first class and using Chayn as a scapegoat didn’t help me at all. I earned myself a detention after school, and Kaiti wasn’t too pleased with the idea that she would be joining me.

“I told you to just let him walk us to class, but nooo.” She complained. “Nobody even paid any attention.”

Kaiti and I were put to help clean the classrooms after school. I was wiping off the table tops, while she grabbed the broom and swept the class. The school was quiet, as most students had already left.

“That’s because he left as soon as possible.” I grunted.

“Yeah, where is he anyway?” she leaned on the broom stick and looked around.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as he isn’t around me.” I roughly shook the cloth around before rewetting it and resuming my job. The room was dirtier than I thought. I was pondering on whether the teachers gave us this job as punishment, or for help because they were too lazy to have it cleaned themselves.

“Isn’t it pretty cool?” Kaiti smirked as she continued to sweep. “How you two can’t seem to get along? You better be careful with that.”

“What do you mean?”

She let out a playful laugh. “Oh come on, don’t you read? The cutest couples are those who hated each other from the start. It’s the best romance.”

It was my turn to laugh. I couldn’t believe her. The only thing I really cared about was getting out of here and finding my freedom, everything else was not of my interest. I was surprised they hadn’t given us some kind of overrated detention, seeing that we aren’t mere ‘humans’.

“Those are fiction.” I argued.

“Hello.” Kaiti replied. “Do you see where we’re living? The word 'fiction' doesn’t exist anymore.”

Before I was able to answer her, though, she let out a high pitch scream. My head turned in her direction and my heart stopped for a second.

“What?!” I cried out.

“A cockroach!” she jumped away and tried to smash it with the broom. “Ew! Ew!”

“Kaiti, come on. It’s just a cockroach.” I sighed.

That’s when it spread out its wings and started to fly. I dodged and yelped as the bug flew over my head. Kaiti, on the other hand, screeched and dived under one of the tables. I swatted the air with the wet cloth, hoping that it wouldn’t crash into me.

The classroom door swung open and we both froze. What would the teachers think if they saw us like this? That we were fooling around? But instead of a teacher/ coach stepping into the room, Chayn did. He only eyed the cockroach as it flew right past him and out the door.

“What are you guys doing?” he eyed the room sceptically. “It doesn’t look much cleaner to me.”

I ignored his comment and picked the broom off of the floor. Kaiti popped up from under the table, rather enthusiastically.

“Look who’s here.” She said.

I rolled my eyes and turned my back to them.

“I thought you weren’t a troublemaker.”

“I’m not.” I answered, knowing that he was referring to me.

“So why are you in detention then?”

“Because of you!” I slammed the broom down and turned around, propping my hands on my hips. I was about to explode. In less than a week, I’d ruined my reputation of keeping myself unknown and a goody-goody. I couldn’t remember the last time I exploded on someone.

“Yeah, blame me for your stubbornness.” Chayn replied rather casually, despite my sudden yelling. “Anyway, I was sent to pick you up. Detention was over a half hour ago. Did you not notice?”

Kait and I both turned our heads to view the clock that hung on the classroom wall. Chayn was right. How didn’t we notice this before? I sighed and set the broom and cloth aside. At least they couldn’t say we didn’t do our work. I brushed my hands off and walked back towards Kaiti and Chayn.

“So can she come, please?” she pouted at him and clasped her hands together.

“I said no.” He eyed her and raised an eyebrow.

It seemed like Kaiti was trying to convince him to bring me somewhere. She crossed her arms and glared. “She was right about you. You’re not worth my time.”

Then, she marched to me and grabbed my fragile wrist without care. “We’re going out, Nyala.”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Chayn followed her steps and grabbed my other wrist even harder. “Why should I risk getting in trouble for her?”

“We’re just going to the main town!” She pulled me towards her. “Loosen up!”

He tugged hard on my arm and drew me closer to him. “I don’t think so.”

“Kaiti!” I interrupted before she could haul me over to her again. “It’s alright. I’ll stay in my dorm.”

I pulled away from their childish act and burst through the classroom door. The sound of my hurried steps echoed through the hallway. Soon the sound of Kaiti’s and Chayn’s footsteps joined mine. I ignored their attempts to catch my attention. Well, Kaiti’s attempts, anyway. Chayn lingered in the back, hands in pocket and glancing around. I exited the school building and snuck a glance to the gate that led to Harroway Woods. No, I wasn’t considering going to escape again. Instead, I felt a sharp, icy pain stab my back.

As if something or someone was watching me.

A shiver escaped me, and when I felt Kaiti’s hand on my shoulder, asking me if I was okay, I decided that it wasn’t over yet. House arrest or not, I wanted to escape, and I won’t give up completely until I’ve tried my best.