Addicted to Green

CHAPTER 10

NAVINA

"So..." my mom says as I sit at the table eating yogurt. I take out my earbud as she approaches from behind me and pause my eating. I raise an eyebrow. "Yes?" I ask her as she smiles brightly and moves to the other side of the table.

"Well..." she starts, "your father is coming home this weekend, and... Neo," she adds with a smile.

"Really?" I ask, surprised. It's the week of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Lucky for me, I have two days off from school: Friday and Monday. "This weekend, like Friday or Saturday?" I ask.

"Well, your dad doesn't know the exact time yet, but sometime on Friday, and Neo is coming too," she says.

I nod. "So, does that mean we're going to do something fun?" I ask, smiling brightly. Neo is my cousin but also an adopted brother. His parents died in a car crash, and he came to live with us from my dad's side. His sister, my aunt, was the one who passed away. I wasn't very close to them, as my dad doesn't really talk about his family much, so their loss didn't affect me as much.

I know that sounds rude and selfish, but I never met her, only saw photos. Obviously, it hurts that my aunt and blood relatives are gone. Anyway, Neo has lived with us since he was 10, and I was 8 at the time, so we're only two years apart. That makes him 19, almost 20. We're close in a brother-sister way, and since he went to college his freshman year, I've missed him. He did come back right before school started in the summer, but only for a few days.

"Yes, I guess it does," she says. She looks at her watch, and her eyes widen. "Oh, I should have been at work ten minutes ago. I'm going to go now. I'll see you after school. I love you!" she says, walking out the door and closing it behind her. The door locks, and I start eating again.

"Listen up!" I turn in my seat at the sudden commotion, and so do Eden and Caden, who are sitting with us. I see Chase climbing onto an empty cafeteria table, cupping two trays together to get everyone's attention. "Eden freaking Kate freaking Aldor is mine!" Chase shouts, smiling around at everyone. His floppy blonde hair is messy, giving him a just-got-out-of-bed look that he somehow pulls off. His bright green eyes are shining with possessiveness.

I didn't think Chase was the possessive type.

He grins as he jumps down and comes over to us, sitting down and smirking at Eden. "How was that for an announcement?" he asks, putting a hand over Eden's shoulder. She breathes out and covers her forehead with her palm, sighing.

"Oh, Chase," she says, looking back up at him. "What am I going to do with you?" she asks, smiling. They're already practically kissing, and before long, they are kissing. I frown in disgust and turn away to see Caden, who is slouched back in his chair, staring off into the distance with a pained look on his handsome face. He seems to be staring into nothing, since he's looking in the direction of the hallway aisle where no one is.

I tap him on the shoulder a couple of times and frown when he doesn't respond. "Cade?" I ask, trying to get his attention. He blinks a couple of times, looking like he's seen a ghost. "You okay?" I ask as he turns to me. His eyes look frightened, even scared. A frown forms on my face. Is he okay?

He nods. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I gotta go," he says, clearing his throat, sitting up, and starting to walk toward the exit, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. I frown. What isn't he telling me?

It's only been a few days since we went out to that spot on Saturday, and now it's Thursday. We haven't talked about what we are or aren't during those days, but he's been acting strange. This isn't the first time he's acted like this in the past week. Actually, it started after we went to that party and I saw Thara.

One piece of good news is that I haven't seen Thara for those five days, which I count as good. I don't know why I saw her that day, but that's when Caden started with the dazed, scared, ghost-seeing look.

I'm actually getting worried about him. "Hey, guys," I speak aloud as Eden and Chase are practically all over each other. "Guys!" I shout louder.

They both turn, cheeks flushed and lips puffy. "Yes?" they say in unison.

I sigh but let it go. "Do you notice anything off about Caden?" I ask.

Chase shrugs, but Eden speaks up. "He's been a little out of it. But he's... secretive, if you know what I mean. Besides that, he does seem nice. Well, nicer than when you first talked about him," she says, still linking hands with Chase, who looks at both of us.

I nod. "He is secretive. He always shows up to school with cuts or bruises. Between Monday and now, I think I saw him grunt in pain at least four times." I think about expressing my thoughts. I wish Colby was here to give his opinion on this, but he left somewhere on Monday. He's coming back next week, though.

I think he went on a vacation somewhere. He didn't really tell me. He reminds me a lot of Caden, now that I think about it.

I've come to realize that I don't really know my own friends. "Nav?" I look up and see Eden's worried face.

"Yeah?" I ask, looking back at the door Caden left through.

"Are you okay?" she asks, smiling sheepishly, but worry shows in her soft but serious features.

I nod. "Yeah, I just... I feel like I don't even know my own friends," I say.

"You know me," she says, smiling. I've known her for most of my life. Her parents are divorced, but her mom got custody because of her dad's cheapness. She still sees him sometimes but not as often as a daughter should. She also has a little brother named Leo, short for Leonidas. I know fun facts like her favorite color and more. I know her quirks and how to make her mad or happy.

But I can't even tell one fact about Caden's family or Colby's or even Chase's. I tell them about my family. I told Eden, Chase, and Colby in the group chat that my dad and brother were coming. Right away, actually.

I sigh and shrug it off. It's fine. Some people are just not as open. "Yeah, well, I'm going to go get my stuff for class," I say, standing up. I pull out my phone.

ME: Hey, do you want to do something after I get out of school?

I sigh as I put my phone back in my pocket after sending the message to Caden. I go straight to my class, where the teacher smiles and greets me with a 'hello'. I respond the same and take my seat in the back.

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