a cigarette for cade | ongoing

14 | The Hurting

"The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself."
- Thales -

[ F O U R T E E N ]
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"YOU LOOK TIRED," he said.

I rubbed my eyes. "That's because I am tired."

"Come on," he chuckled and reached across the desk to grab my hand.

It was almost as if his touch had burned me, because I yanked my arm back quickly, dumbstruck.

Eli looked at me in confusion. "What's up?"

I shook the feeling away. Why did I just do that? I had absolutely no idea. I could feel his suspicion starting to grow.

"Sorry," I said lamely. "I was just up all night working on a sociology paper. Mr.Dulik's a good teacher and all, I just have to sound extremely sage in my projects to impress him."

I saw Cade watching me as I spoke through the corner of my eye, and when I finished my sentence, his face broke out into a cheesy grin.

I was almost about to smile back, but he turned away and faced Tatiana again, his expression deadpan.

Eli leaned backward, until the point his chair was balancing precariously on two legs.

"Ah, okay," he said, glancing up at my hair. "I like your messy hair. It's usually down, but it's cute when it's in a bun. You should stay up all night doing sociology papers more often."

"Thanks, Eli," I rolled my eyes, laughing. "That means a lot to me."

He reached over the desk and curled a strand of stray hair around his finger. Almost subconsciously, my eyes glanced over at Cade. Luckily, his eyes were fixated on his paper.

Eli was as cheerful as his normal self, so that was a good sign. Hopefully, Tatiana forgot about the little incident from yesterday.

"'Sup lovebirds?"

I whipped my head around, only to be met with Hussain's grinning face.

"Oh," I sighed. "Hi, Hussain."

"Hey, Willow," he smirked. "Having fun with Van Zandt?"

I flushed.

"Aw, you're so red. I didn't mean to embarrass you. Good to know you guys are-"

"Do you ever run out of bullshit to say?" Eli intervened.

Hussain's face fell, but he recovered quickly by flipping us off. "Whatever. I hope you fail your stupid assignment. I mean - no offense, Willow - Elijah here's just being an asshole."

"Shut up," Eli laughed, crumpling up a piece of paper and chucking it at Hussain's head.

Luckily, he had ducked just in time. With his face pulled into an expression of mock surprise, he picked up the nearest pen and threw it back at Eli.

It had the accuracy of a dart, and something would've gone terribly wrong with his eyes if Eli hadn't caught it in time.

He flicked it back at him, and at the same time, Hussain picked up a ruler and drew his arm back.

"Seriously!" Mrs. Coleman yelled. "You gentlemen are juniors! And in a few months, you'll be seniors! The least you can do is act your age."

"Sorry, Miss!" Hussain yelled back, his arm still in the air. "I'm immature and I deserve to be put back in the first grade!"