Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 53 - "The tax avengers?"

Dylan

I woke up at around three am, after sleeping for barely an hour. Memories of the party flooded my head, and I found myself wondering why Elle's hurt, distraught face featured most prominently in unwanted flashback, not an entire house or forest going up in smoke. I wondered Elle was awake, and if she would want to talk to me. I couldn't sleep now that I was awake, and now I had too many questions and not enough answers. In the darkness I reached for my phone on my beside table and quietly tiptoed out of the dorm to call Elle. I didn't think, I was too tired for that. I slumped down on the side of the wall and blinked at the harsh light of my phone before clicking on Elle's contact. I set the phone on speaker and waited for Elle to pick up. The phone rang, once, twice and a third time before she picked up.

"What is it?" Elle snapped.

"I wanted to talk to you." I answered quietly.

"Dylan, it's three am!" Elle whispered, her voice sounding hostile. Oh. Oops.

"I...forgot." I answered, making sure to whisper.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" asked Elle quietly and quickly.

"The kiss. Between Rose and I. It, I – I didn't mean it." I murmured. Elle laughed softly and cruelly.

"Don't waste your breath Dylan. I don't care." Elle said coldly and hung up the phone. I stared at my phone for a second before shoving it in my pocket and walking outside, shoving the door open with more force than necessary. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I just wanted to get out of the dorm.

It was brutally cold and I was barefoot as I walked through the grass. It was a misty morning and the world was shrouded in fog. The conversation kept replaying in my head, the party, the day at the pool – everything. All gone. The thought struck me hard and brutally, the idea of Elle out of my life, ust like that. The idea of returning to just being the delinquent, the rebel. Still half asleep, I sprinted through the grass, the cold air whipping against my face. I had to get out of there, I had to. I couldn't stand it a moment longer. So I ran.

My lungs were raw from the smoke, and the night was pitch-black but I made my way to the garden by memory, sprinting as quickly as I could and watching the shadows of the buildings pass by. I reached the rose garden quickly, going through the archway without hesitation and going to the bench at the end, leaping up on it and using my momentuem to vault me to the top. The stone was icy cold and bloodied my fingers as I pulled myself up onto the top of the wall, before pausing to look over the dark jungle. I took a deep breath, savouring the cold air, before jumping down, hitting the grass hard. I broke through the jungle, snapping branches as I trampled through the undergrowth, moving so fast that the air left my skin raw and stinging. I reached the familiar grove of trees, crawling into the roots of the one Elle and I had talked in, so long ago. I curled up, resting my head against a root and closing my eyes, not daring to open them. I had no desire to move, no intention to do anything but sit there, wait for a girl who would never come, remember something that would never happen again and dream of a future that would never, could never, happen.

Lukas

Psychopath. She'd called me a psychopath. I wasn't. She didn't understand. Not at all. If our positions had been reversed then she would've done the exact same thing as me. She just needed to keep quiet. To not say a thing. Ideally, she could've handled Amy too. Amy had called me a psychopath too. Thing was, I didn't give a damn about what Amy thought. I only cared about Rose. And now Rose was pretending she was the model of virtue. I threatened Amy for Rose. I did this all for Rose. Because she understood me, even the broken parts, just as I understood her. But it seemed she'd changed. That she'd been "healed", and now it just seemed like she despised me. The thought made she shake with unrestrained rage, ut inside, I knew I'd still follow her. I knew I'd still be devoted to her. That I'd do whatever she asked. She knew it too. Knew I'd always be there, waiting for here, helping her. That I'd never let her down. I was forever hers, and she was forever mine. That was just the way things were.