Burn My Paranoia One Last Time

27. We are Connected by Pain

"Ugh, I can't believe we made Carmen mad again," Amber groaned as she and Shelby walked up the school steps that cold morning.

"Well, I can't believe she said all those rude things to us! She had no right," Shelby crossed her arms in frustration.

"I'm not going to cross Joel off the list of suspects just because he's her dad," Amber affirmed while opening the door.

The girls stepped into the quiet hallway. There was no sign of Carmen whatsoever. The long corridors were unnervingly silent.

Shelby sighed and hugged her shoulders. She couldn't deny the fact that she was hella pissed with Carmen. Still, she hoped she was okay...

"Gosh, there's literally no one here. Why did you want to get here so early anyway?" Amber said quietly, not wanting to disrupt the ghostly silence.

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me," Shelby said loudly before putting her arms behind her back. "I have an early morning tutoring session."

"Tutoring?"

"Yep!" Shelby stepped back slowly. "I should probably get going now, I don't want to be late."

"Um, alright. Good luck with that."

"Thanks, Amb. See ya later!" Shelby waved and skipped away.

Amber raised an eyebrow as she watched her turn a corner. She'd never seen her be so excited for anything academic— no but of course, she had to be meeting with Mr. Banks. No wonder she was so happy. At least she was studying, Amber supposed.

Having nothing else to do, Amber decided to get ahead on some honors assignments in the courtyard to kill time. Once she was there, sitting on a wooden bench with her stuffed binder opened on her lap, she noticed a peculiar piece of paper with a cartoon-style drawing of a cat on it. She pulled it out to get a better look and smiled when she remembered how Hayden would sneakily sketch cartoons on her old assignments. Amber rolled her eyes and smirked. What a silly guy.

A chilling breeze suddenly snatched the paper out of her hands and sent it flittering across the ground. Amber jumped up to chase it, but someone had already knelt to pick it up.

"I see you're enjoying Felix's company," Hayden grinned, holding the piece of paper up for Amber.

Amber took the paper, using it as a convenient way to hide her embarrassment. "How sweet, you even gave him a name?"

"Yeah, I mean look at him. He clearly has a lot of personality."

"You're such a dork," Amber couldn't help but grin while rolling her eyes.

"There's that smile I like to see," Hayden said happily before sitting next to her on the bench. "You looked down before, so I'm glad Felix could cheer you up."

Sure, it was definitely Felix.

"Were you watching me?" Amber raised an eyebrow.

Now it was Hayden's turn to blush. His eyes went wide for a split second before he turned away to stare absently at the courtyard. "I was just wandering around and noticed you were here too. I didn't want to interrupt you, it seemed like you were stressed with something."

Amber stared at her dandelion-shaded plaid pleated skirt. She felt caught, somehow. Everyone always thought of her as "the ice queen" without emotions. It felt incredibly lonely harboring her feelings deep down under the surface, but she'd grown so used to it that having someone else notice her true state almost felt like a violation.

"You nailed it. I am stressed," Amber breathed out and leaned back, staring up at the light golden foliage above them.

"Something tells me it's more than just school," Hayden said carefully. Amber's gaze finally met with his, but that veil of coldness and judgment was slowly fading away. Her eyes revealed a dewy sadness, and her expression was soft.