Walking Among Everyone

008

3am.

I yawned, leaning against the wall. I wanted to sleep too but my mind told me to stay awake, in case anything happened. Zion's jacket that was discarded by me earlier, was back on my shoulders, fending off the cold. Fred and Laura were sleeping against each other, same as Mike and Layla.

How come they were always sleeping but not me. I haven't been able to close my eyes at all.

Zion hadn't been around me since I had pushed him away. He was at the other end of the room, with his football friends and some cheerleaders. Amanda kept trying to get his attention but he was completely ignoring her. Strangely, I began searching for Brandon.

Had he been forgotten by Amanda?

I spotted him at one of the table, not far from me. His head was on his hand as he was on his phone, again. As if he could sense me, he looked up from his phone and locked eyes with me. I quickly looked away, swearing in my head.

Of course, Brandon took this as a chance to come over. Without asking me if it was alright, he sat down beside me, brought one of his knees up to rest his arm and continued being on his phone.

"You know my dad is in the force, right?" He asked. I stayed silent as I didn't want to talk to him. Seeing that I was not responding, he sighed but continued talking anyways. "He told me that at 6am, the army is coming to get us out of here."

I was listening though, thanking God that we will be saved. I tried to suppress a smile so I turned the other way, my sight ended up being on Zion who was looking at my direction. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me because it seems like his attention had been on me for a while but then, he looked away soon after.

I turned to see if Brandon had seen the exchange but he was on his phone, talking to some girl he must have found on tinder. I don't know how he still managed to find girls to chat with but that would mean that the rest of the world were unaffected. Sighing, I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the wall.

"You have to stop sighing like that. It will stir something up."

Opening my eyes, I saw Brandon putting his phone down to look at me. Oh, so now he want to say that I'm making him horny. Though it didn't feel like a compliment at all. Just a naughty remark that I don't appreciate.

"If sighing is going to stir something up, then that's your problem."

"But you are part of my problem."

He sounded so serious that I had to turn to look at him but I raised my eyebrows, sceptical. My crush finally said I'm sexy but at that moment, I can see the lust in his eyes and shook my head. Now, he was just searching for someone to help him out. All form of admiration I had for him was gone – he was just a douche.

"And I don't appreciate what you just said," but he didn't look offended by my statement so I thought it would be better to change the topic. "Did your dad say anything about the army or the monsters?"

He shrugged. "Nothing about the monsters. Even the media couldn't pinpoint what it was. They were too fast that no camera could capture them."

But I saw it, with my own eyes when it was right in front of me.

"Though dad told me that the army can only bring a few amount of people out at a time, since they cannot protect a big group." He looked at the remaining 50 of us that survived. "You know what that means.

Which means some of us have to stay here longer.

"Have you told anyone about this?" I asked him, my voice low since I didn't want anyone else to hear the news. It would probably make more people panic and stressed out.

Brandon shook his head. Of course, he haven't told anyone. His only friends in school were Fred and Mike but they both ignored him. Amanda is the kind who doesn't care about talking to someone she hooked up with and he didn't want to tell Zion about it since he hated that guy.

"Thanks for telling me. Though I'm not sure what I can do with that information." I shifted, getting uncomfortable sitting down for too long. My legs were numb and I stretched it out.

He didn't say anything but just looked at me, as though he wanted to say more. I don't mind having a serious talk but he looked reluctant and I didn't want to pry. He silently watched me as I massaged my legs to make the numbness go away. That was when he felt it was time to let it all out.

"As you can see, I'm still hooking up with Amanda. I haven't gotten over her honestly," he sighed, feeling disappointed. "And you are my friend, Ashley and I like you but not anything more than that."

So he knew. He knew that I liked him and he lead me on.

"You could say something about it, you know. To Fred or Mike. They had been with you since freshman. They are your best friends. Well, I'm not sure about now. You did left them in the dark about this."

He just shook his head. "I couldn't tell them. They had never liked Amanda at all. I admit she can be a bitch but she can be sweet too. There's just something about her that makes me...you know..."

"Well, I don't know anything else except you still love her," I smiled at him. Strange, I thought I would be more mad than this but I wasn't. It actually felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders.

"Sorry for what she did to you," was all he said as he opened his arms and I know if I don't hug him again for the last time, I would never be able to in the future. So I leaned towards him, snuggling close into his arms, taking a whiff of his cologne. I heard him chuckled, his hand stroking my hair.

I smiled, closing my eyes. Maybe I can drift to sleep now since a weight have been lifted off my shoulder.

"Excuse me."

Or not. I opened my eyes and pulled back from Danial to face Zion, who was glaring between Danial and me. I groaned inwardly, wondering what does he want now.

"Yes?" I looked at him. I was feeling cautious now with Zion because of what I had witness. We held each other's gaze before he sat at my other side without saying anything. I watched with disbelief.

What the heck is this guy doing now?

Brandon was glaring at him and he tugged on my arm, to signal to come close to him. I hesitated because I don't want to start another drama. I tapped Brandon's hand away and took a glance at Zion from the corner of my eyes. "I'm going to sleep now."

I didn't say it to anyone in particular but the quarterback nodded and pulled me closer to him, then tucked his leg behind me so that I was seated in between his legs. Then he pulled me into his chest from my waist while adjusting the jacket that was on my shoulders.

"Rest your head on my shoulder. I'll keep you warm." I did as I was told. Soon I drifted to sleep, dreaming about the sun and the meadow filled with flowers.

×××

Author's note:
So I was about to copy paste this chapter from notes to wattpad then I realised I haven't made any edits to this chapter. Which is why I finally edited it a bit. I also didn't edit the previous chapter so if you see a Danial, it means it was not edited properly.