The Alliance

Chapter 16

I'm lucky Olivia and her boyfriend sleep in. Since it's Tuesday, I'm not getting tutored today afterward. Maybe I can sneak into my room if the window is unlocked. Although, maybe I should leave it locked considering someone trashed it a week ago.

I sit where I usually do on the bus, my hands sweating. Did Hayden want to take the bus to talk to me, or for a different reason? Maybe he gets to school earlier on the bus? Does the bus make him late?

I see him standing outside, but instead of looking ahead like he usually does, he turns his head to look at my window, and my heart bursts when we make eye contact. I can't believe he and Alisha are twins. They look Identical, with their hair, skin, eyes, and tattoos, but when she mentioned her brother I thought she meant an annoying brother who acted like a twelve-year-old.

When Hayden gets up, he takes the seat beside mine, even though the one guy always says he wants to sit there. I assume Hayden isn't scared of him.

"Hey," The guy comes towards me, "Get out. I want to sit there,"

I grab my bag about to get up when a deep voice says, "Go sit with Logan and leave her alone,"

The guy looks between me and Hayden, "Look, I don't know if you guys are banging but-"

He's cut off when the bus driver starts driving, and he almost falls, having to catch his balance by grabbing onto the seat behind him.

I laugh lightly, and out of the corner of my eye see Hayden turn to look at me. I cover my mouth to stop laughing when the guy glares at me.

"Bitch," He mutters, and I glance at Hayden when his fists clench.

He leaves, I presume to sit with Logan, and I let another stifled laugh out, looking to the window, trying to ignore Hayden's look.

"I thought you were dead," Hayden says, and I whip my head toward him.

"What?"

"You didn't text me, so I thought you got hurt. You said you were going to text me, and you fucking didn't, Ava. What the fuck? Who does that?"

"Sorry," I tell him, not sure if I am. I couldn't contact him after what happened. I was too hurt, scared, and alone.

He shrugs, "It's not like I care, I just don't have time to worry about you. And what, you're friends with Alisha, now? Are you going to ditch her too?"

"What?" I say, "Of course not," I say, hurt about his words.

"Why am I different then? Why would you ditch me but not her?"

I sighed. I couldn't explain that to him. I couldn't tell him a huge part of it was because he was a guy, and I lost all my trust in men, and I couldn't tell him why. I can't tell him that even now, getting yelled at by that guy causes too much anxiety for me. That I want to trust him but I can't. I want to tell him to wish it never happened, because then maybe I would have stayed in touch, but all those scenarios mean explaining what happened, and I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that.

How am I supposed to tell him that sitting one seat beside him is making my hand shake, and making me want to run away because I don't know what he's capable of?

"Alisha has been through enough, so don't fucking ditch her," Is all he says, and then we wait a few minutes in silence until my stop is here. What has Alisha been through? Something bad?

I stand up but then pause for a second, "Thank you," I say softly, not sure if he can hear me, "For the chocolate bar," and then I walk off the bus, like any usual day, even though it's anything but.

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When art came by, I couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened in the past few days. Talking to Hayden, finding out that Hayden and Alisha are related, Hayden saying Alisha had been through enough.