Endless

Before

ANGEL'S POV

*Two Years Before*

"Carlos, I need to go to the store but my friend Terry might be here before I get back. Would you let her in?" I called towards the bathroom as I tugged my coat on. Carlos stuck his head around the corner, his hair wet from the shower he'd just taken.

"I'm thinking I'll just let her sit in the hallway and wait for you there," he said dryly. I narrowed my gaze and he rose his hands up in defense.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He nodded, waving me off.

I walked to the bus stop and waited patiently. It was nearly 6:30 and I needed to study with Terry for a huge test we had coming up that I was not at all prepared for, but Carlos and I also didn't have any food, and I chose life before acing a test.

When I got to the store, I headed straight produce aisle. I grabbed a bag of apples, oranges and both flavors of grapes. I then headed to the bread aisle, grabbing a small loaf of wheat for me and a small loaf of white for Carlos.

I can't believe you like wheat bread, he'd say to me, pretending to gag. It's like eating cardboard.

After going through the lunch meat aisle, I moved on to the drink aisle. As I was shutting the fridge that the milk gallons were in, I turned my cart and it rammed into someone else's.

I was utterly embarrassed. I looked up to see who I'd ran into, and lo and behold, it was Ben Freed, Leo Kingston and Sage West. I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment.

"Sorry guys, I wasn't paying attention," I spoke, glancing down at their cart. It was full of beers and tequila. Typical.

"No problem, Angel," Ben replied with a kind smile, leaving me surprised. He knows my name?

"Yeah, don't sweat it," Leo chimed in. I sent a half smile, not interested in talking to them for any longer than I needed to.

I was just about to turn when I felt eyes on me. My gaze trailed to the black haired boy with intense green eyes that were boring into mine. He was the quietest, which surprised me, because when he was at his parties — the ones Carlos had made a habit of dragging me to — he was the most talkative one there. Never to me — I always avoided him. Not that he's ever looking for me, I reminded myself.

As soon as Sage and I met eyes, he quickly averted his gaze. My eyebrows knitted together, subtly, as to not draw attention to the situation. If there even was a situation; I couldn't tell. I was confused and just wanted to leave. I turned away and as I left the aisle, Leo's hushed voice floated to my ears.

"We should give him a ride," he said. My eyes widened a bit. No, no, no.

"Why?" Ben replied. It seemed as though they were slowly trailing behind me, which just made me feel even more awkward.

"Because, guys, he took the bus." Okay, how the hell does he know that?

"How the hell do you know that?" Sage repeated my thoughts incredulously.

"There's a bus ticket sticking out of his coat pocket," Leo said in a duh sort of tone. There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. "What? I'm very observant." Ben cleared his throat.

"Anyway... I think Leo's right. He's got a ton of food in his cart; are we just supposed to let him take all of the bags he's going to have on the bus and then carry them all around campus until he gets back to his dorm?" Sighing softly, I turned to face them.

"You know, that's really not necessary." The three of them halted.

"You heard us?" Leo asked. I paused, opening my mouth to speak, then closed it right after like a fish.