Chapter 14 (K)

“Did you run home?” asked my mom as I shut the door behind me. I’m totally out of breath, and I take long gasps to steady my breath. “You know that you didn’t have to be home until another hour.”

“Yeah, I know. Just felt like some exercise today,” I smile weakly. No point in telling her that I thought I was being followed. I would end up in a mental hospital in a blink!

I drag my feet up the stairs, and enter my room. That’s when I realize I still have my boots on. I have a little chuckle at my own expense and kick them off, sending them flying to the other side of the room where they land with a loud clunk.

I collapse in my favourite chair, and relax as the chair moulds to my body. Ever since I’ve entered my house, I haven’t felt the eyes following me. Relief made me wobbly. That must’ve been a result of my mind working overtime, and I know the only cure for that: sleep.

I find my charger underneath my bed and plug in the tablet. I send a message down to my parents saying that I was tired from being sick and that I was going to bed early. I crawl into bed, and my eyes shut.

Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep…

Ugh, is it time to wake up already? I glance at my clock. Yep, it’s 7:30 already. I kick off my covers, not bothering to put them on my bed properly. I slip into a t-shirt, a cardigan and jeans and make my way downstairs.

“Morning!” says my little brother Kadin brightly. “You missed the latest episode of ‘Explosions’ last night!”

“I did? Well you can tell me all about it afterschool today.” I ruffle his hair and make my way into the kitchen.

“Morning, Mom. Morning, Dad.” I say to my parents as I grab the breadbox. My dad’s grinding coffee while my mom is stirring the porridge on the stove.

“Morning Kaya. Did you have a good sleep last night?” my mom asks.

“Yeah. I think I’ve recovered totally!” I say cheerfully. Might as well keep up the whole “I was sick” act.

“That’s good,” says my dad, his voice barely heard over the sounds of gears and blades whirring as the grinder munches away at the coffee beans.

I prepare my normal breakfast of bread and eat hurriedly. I’m running late to meet Lae. I put my dish away and run upstairs. I grab my tablet and stuff it into my backpack, along with the packed lunch my mom made earlier this morning. I brush my teeth and my hair, glancing at the clock the whole while. Shoots! I should’ve been out of the door 3 minutes ago!

I grab a hair elastic and my bag and make my way downstairs. I put on my boots and run out the door with a quick and shouted farewell.

Somehow, I manage to meet Lae at our normal meeting place right on time.

“Did you run all the way here?” she asks, concerned. I just nod in response, too out of breath to really say anything. She pats my head, and we start heading to school.

“Apparently we’re getting a new kid today. I’m hoping he’s not a loser like all the other guys in our class.”

“Oh we are? When did you find that out?” I ask. A new kid? I guess it’s not all that weird to have a new student come, but wouldn’t I have heard about this?

“An informer. She helps out in the office, and she listens a lot.” Lae smirks. She looks triumphant right now, probably because she has a piece of info that I don’t.

“Don’t feel superior just because you knew something I didn’t. I’ve been preoccupied lately,” I sigh.

“On a totally different topic, did you finish your French homework. I­-“

“Can’t find it. Am I right?” I finish off for her. It was typical of Lae to forget her homework.

“Yeah, yeah. And I don’t want Madame to hate me anymore than she does so…”

I hand her my homework. It’s best to give it to her now so that she won’t bug me the rest of the way to school. She takes it gleefully and starts copying it.

We reach our school. It’s really nothing special. It was built in 2011, so it’s falling apart a little, but it must’ve looked awesome when it was brand-new. I hear the 10 minutes warning bell ring, and I sigh. My locker is all the way on the fourth floor.

“Just give me the homework when we get to class, ok? I need to race up to my locker,” I tell Lae. Her locker is in the basement, lucky her.

“Yeah, sure thing. Make sure you get to class on time!”

I’m already on my way to the staircase closest to my locker. I look up the high, grey stairs that loom in front of me. You would’ve expected that they would replace these stairs with something more convenient, like escalators, but that would mean remodeling the whole school.

I take a deep breath and run up the stairs, taking the steps 2 at a time. I scurry to my locker, quickly registering my fingerprint and shoving my lunch inside. I grab my binders for the morning and run down to the second floor.

I manage to make it inside the door when the bell rings. I sigh in relief and stand for the playing of the national anthem.

When the announcements start, I walk to my seat besides Lae and sit down.

“That was close!” whispers Lae. “Here’s your homework.” She hands me the sheets and I place them in front of me.

There was the normal murmuring of the morning, with all my classmates talking while Madame protests, trying to get everyone to shut up and listen to the announcements.

When the announcements are finally finished, there’s a knock at the door and Madame calls the attention of the class. “We have a new student starting today…”

Lae shoots me a triumphant look, but I ignore it. The door starts opening. The new guy has black hair and seems pretty tall. I can’t see his face as Nella accidentally shifts and blocks my view.

But when he gets to the front of the class, I see his face, and his dark indigo eyes…oh brother. I can feel my eyes widen. Not him.

“Class, this is Marc Gillwater. Make him feel welcome!”

An extra long chapter to make up for the many days I've missed!
And if you're wondering what the problem as that N was talking about, it was really my crisis, but thankfully it's all resolved now. I just have to change some of my plot to fit it, but we're back in business!
So G and I were brainstorming titles for this novel (I've been writing this for more than a month with no clue as to what the title should be). I picked my favourite ones, and set up a poll to see which one is the most popular! Make sure the one you choose would be a title that intrigues you, and would make you pick up the book!