The perfect storm in a quiet room

Chapter 15

Luckily, my prayers were answered and my mom wasn't home. If she had been, it would have been a problem. I'm sure she would have asked me a hundred questions about me not being at school during school hours. Which is valid, but I can't answer that. I can't tell her everything that's going on in my life these days, she wouldn't understand, I don't even understand what's happening, and if she knew she surely wouldn't let me hang out with Casy anymore because she'd say she's "trouble". Besides, it's not like she's not hiding certain things from me... Yes, I don't have any concrete proof of this, but I'm one hundred percent sure she's hiding something, and how weird she was this morning is solid evidence for me.

Once I choose a table to sit at, I pull a book out of my backpack; my favorite: After. Gosh, I love this book. It's such a wonderful story. I admire the love story between Tessa and Hardin; it's just perfect, yet imperfect, which makes it even more perfect because it feels real... I love every word, every sentence in this book. I fell in love from the first page and as soon as I started to get closer to the characters and their story, I realized it must be one of the first books I read where you clearly see real issues that some couples deal with; and I loved that.

For about forty minutes, I let myself be absorbed by the pages of this book, devoting every one of my senses to it. I get so into the story that I barely feel when someone taps me on the shoulder. I close the book, and turn around. Casy.

"Hello..." she greets shyly, as she takes the seat across from mine.

"Hi," I reply dryly.

It feels strange to have her in front of me and I don't know how to react. It makes me nervous to see her and now more than ever, since I don't know what might come out of our talks.

"I'm not going to give it another thought and I'm going to start talking. I'm serious this time," she says, absolutely convinced.

I settle into my seat, preparing to finally hear the explanation I crave. However, I must tell her something first.

"First, let me apologize... for this morning. I was so stupid. I shouldn't have left like that, I don't even know why I did it, but I'm really sorry," I say sincerely, formulating the apology I had planned to tell her earlier.

She smiles at me. That sweet and tender smile that characterizes her.

"It's okay, really. After all the trouble I got you into... I deserved that. I'm sure you got tired of this mystery"

I nod, not knowing what to say. It's true that I got a little tired, but I don't think that that gave me the right to leave her there alone and react the way I did. I overreacted too much.

"But, anyway, I guess you have a lot of doubts, so I'd better start with the explanation," she pauses and starts again. "The night I went to your house I was coming back from... his house. He told me to come because he wanted me to explain something about school for an exam we have next week. I agreed, though reluctantly; I didn't feel like seeing him after what he had said about me at lunch in front of you."

"So I went anyway... big mistake, although I already knew it wasn't a good idea to go to Leonardo's house, I'm just really dumb. Anyway, I went to his place and we did everything but study... " she says with a lower tone than she was using before "but I already knew that was going to happen, because Leo's like that. He has me, Dilara and Valentina at his mercy and I know it's not right, but—"

"What do you mean he has all three of you at his mercy?" I interrupt her, surprised by her confession, but not that surprised. I knew something was going on between Dilara, Valentina and him, but Casy being involved too... changes everything. I wouldn't have imagined it.