Burn My Paranoia One Last Time

10. Cosmic Intervention

"Mm.. haven't had these since I was in kindergarten!" Amber exclaimed, savoring the sweet chocolate pastry.

"Haha, well maybe we should share more often," Hayden raised his eyebrows before biting into a rainbow sprinkled square.

Amber side glanced him and smiled shyly. He was sweet and all, but she could tell he didn't belong here. Everything about him set him apart from the rest of the posh kids; from his rebel beanie to his laid back manners. "Say, what made you move over to Willowburg High?"

"My mom got a new job in this part of town. It pays way better than her old one, so of course we had to move here," he answered as they walked down the autumn courtyard.

"What's your mom's job?" She asked, reaching into the box for another cosmic brownie when he held it up for her.

"Accountant. My dad's an auto mechanic and his work's literally between our old and new place, so it worked out perfectly. Mm, what do your parents do?"

Amber dusted off crumbs over the grey pinwheel patterned pavement and shoved her hands into the pockets of her beige coat. "Uh well, my dad's a veterinarian and my mom's a marine biologist."

The beanie kid's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "Wow, I mean that's amazing. Those are some pretty tremendous careers."

"I mean I guess," Amber shrugged. Everyone always said that. They usually followed up with some fake sympathy on how much pressure she must be under, or that they instantly expected her to be just as grand in the future.

"How did they meet? I'm curious how they knew each other being in such different professions," he asked instead, looking up at her with polite attention.

Amber felt a fresh breeze pass by. It was an unexpected question, but a welcome one. "They met in college studying biology."

"It would have been a cliche if they'd fallen in love studying chemistry," Hayden chuckled, shyly readjusting his beanie. "All good romances start in school, as they say."

Amber snorted aloud before she could stop herself. Her heart started beating quickly for no apparent reason. "No one says that," she raised an eyebrow and shook her head while smiling.

"Oh sure they do," he grinned.

"Uh huh, says who?"

"Says me..." his blue eyes sparkled under the shade of autumn leaves. ".. and a lot of other people."

"Well, I've yet to know those other people."

"And you've yet to know me, Amber."

***

"Amber is such a busy girl, poor chic can't catch a break," Carmen shook her head.

"Are you daft? She's totally not catching up on an assignment. Check the courtyard at nine o'clock."

Carmen followed Shelby's gaze out the hazy window and stared down a story below.

There weren't many people crossing through the courtyard. Understandably, who would want to be outside in such frigid weather? Carmen could only count about seven people.

"There," Shelby pointed, her peach finger pressing on the glass.

Under the shade of a grand tree was Amber in a tan coat standing next to a guy in a red beanie.

"Isn't that the guy from this morning?" Carmen's eyes widened.

"Yes!" Shelby laughed. "I told you she wasn't studying. What do you think they're doing?"

"Studying?"

"They're not holding any books. My guess is that they're hitting on each other. Gosh, I want to be mad at her for lying to us and ditching our hang out but look at her! She's totally smitten."

Carmen smiled softly and glanced at the reflection of her supportive friend on the pane of glass. But Shelby wasn't there. Instead, she saw the face of a dark skinned crying girl staring back at her.

Carmen whirled around, heart pounding, desperate to confirm who was really next to her.

"You're not Shelby," she uttered.

Blood dripped from the girl's dark lashes as she sobbed, desperately gripping her face as wild curls fell over her.

"Help me," she whispered hoarsely, before her face was replaced by her father's eyes rolling up and white foam dripping out his mouth.

"Oh my god!" Carmen cried, taking a step back towards the window.

She held up a quivering hand to stifle her scream when suddenly the glass behind her cracked, resulting in a reverberant ear-splitting shatter. The window blasted into a million tiny fragments, most of which strayed overboard to the ground far below.

"CARMEN!" A familiar voice screeched, pulling her arm up just before she fell.

The girls tumbled over one another into the hallway, their breaths heavy and rushed with horror.

"Are you ok?!"

Onlookers hovered over them as others surveyed the broken window. Teachers stepped out of classrooms to push students back from the dangerous opening.

"I'm fine," Carmen rubbed her head.

"Carmen..," Shelby stared at her with a concerned expression and pointed. "Y-you have you have glass sticking out of your hand."

"Oh shit," she muttered, holding out her hand in front of her.

Her vision started spinning. There was so much blood. Sure enough, there was a good-sized shard of glass protruding from of her knuckle. Fresh blood swirled down her wrists, dripping onto a bright red pool next to where she sat.

"Rain..." Carmen choked out before collapsing onto the cold checkered floor.