Dark Magic

09. Chapter Seven

DYLAN'S POV

'In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take.'

I don't know what happened after I dropped Sophia home. She didn't call me that night either and I knew not to call her. So we didn't talk. I still felt horrible about what I'd done to her, but she'd forgiven me, right?
We had school the next day.
I was still beyond tired as I tugged on a black hoodie, deciding not to wear a shirt underneath. I didn't care if it got hot during the day. I tugged on some black skinny jeans and red converse, running a hand through my already messy black hair.
I had history and chemistry with Sophia today. I didn't know if I'd sit with her or not, considering somebody might just have the audacity to bitch to people at her bloody church. I can't believe she puts up with that shit.
Just as I'd finished brushing my teeth, Kyle rocked up to my house. He mainly did that because we always had really good food, so he'd scab it all. Mum didn't mind. Kyle was practically one of her own.
"So, what happened after the party?" I asked, settling down on a chair.
"I mean, with your mum and all." Kyle shrugged, pulling out a carton of milk and placing it on the bench, shutting the fridge and grabbing out some cereal from the cupboard above.
"She tried to ground me but then she got all weird and asked if I was doing this because of dad." He replied drily.
Kyle's dad ran out on them when he was little, just like mine. I guess that's why we were so close. Because we had so many similarities.
"What'd you say?"
"I said yeah. I wasn't very drunk anyway; I think she mainly smelt cigs' that rubbed off on me from other people. I don't know. I told her she was delirious for accusing me of smoking."
"But you do smoke."
"I know." He murmured, walking over to the table and putting down his bowl. I laughed half-heartedly, resting my head on my hand.
"So, what'd you do? We didn't hang out or anything. I was starting to think you were dead." He said.
"You thought I was dead and didn't call? Thanks, Ky. I feel the love." My best friend grinned proudly, shovelling cereal into his mouth. He tilted his head back, so he could speak through a mouthful.
"No problem." I laughed, shaking my head and looking down.
"Uh- I hung out with Sophia-Grace, actually." I said quietly. Kyle looked up slowly, dropping his spoon in his bowl with a gaped mouth, still full of chewed up food.
"Sophia from our chemistry class!?" He said loudly. I looked back up at him and cocked my brows,
"Yeah. Her." He finally recovered from his shock and swallowed the food, looking away from me.
"Isn't she like- Christian?" He asked, whispering the last word. I leaned back in the chair, resting my hands on my stomach.
"Oh, fuck yeah. But I don't think she wants to be. She's not actually as bad as you'd think. She called me at like midnight on Saturday and/or Sunday and we went for a drive."
"Last time I called you at midnight you said you'd slit my throat."
"Yeah but that's because I hate you."
"Oh, I bet you do." He said sarcastically. I smiled, running a hand through my hair once again.
"I don't know, she's pretty cool. Her dad's dead, ya' know? She's like us." Kyle rolled his eyes, propping his elbows up on the table.
"Yeah, but her dad is actually dead."
We didn't talk after that. We sat in silence until he finished eating, went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Kyle was at my house so often, and I was at his so much, that we both had tooth brushes at each other's places - not to mention clothing.
Kyle gave me a lift to school. I only lived a few blocks down, which was actually great. I was rarely actually late.
"Hey, Dylan," Kyle said as we got out of the car, tugging our back packs out. I looked at him over the roof of the car and smiled,
"Yo?"
"What are you going to do if Sophia falls for you? Or if you fall for her. She's not exactly a great compatible partner for you, y'know? I doubt she's ever said the word, 'crap'. You swear like a crazy son of a bitch." I shrugged my shoulders, closing the door and walking around to him, weakly holding my bag.
"I doubt I'll fall for her, Ky. She's pretty and all but definitely not my type." Kyle raised his eyebrows and nodded, looking past me and grinning.
"Speak of the devil." He murmured. I turned around to see Sophia, alongside James. She was talking to him, but he wasn't replying. I wasn't surprised, considering what Claire had told me. James happened to walk right by me, and I grinned, waving.
"Hey, James!" I said happily. James just looked up at me with no expression on his face at all, and kept on walking. I raised my brows, looking to Sophia who had just reached me. She sighed, gripping the straps of her bag.
"Hey. What's up with him?" I asked. She shrugged, looking up at me.
She was wearing a long sleeved shirt today that was sort of maroon. I didn't know what fucking colour it was - I wasn't paying THAT much attention. She also wore blue skinny jeans, which she seemed to wear a lot. Not that I paid attention to her clothing. Okay - maybe I do. A little.
"I don't know. He's more mute than usual." She replied, shrugging.
"I see- Uh, Sophia - this is my best mate, Kyle." I stepped back, revealing Kyle who was looking around aimlessly until I'd said his name. He looked to me first and then to Sophia, grinning, reaching over and shaking her hand, despite the fact they already knew each other.
"Hi." He mumbled. She nodded her head, pulling her hand back quickly and looking around.
"Has anybody seen Abbey?" She asked.
"Who the fuck is Abbey?" I murmured, beginning to walk. Kyle and Sophia followed.
"A friend." She replied numbly. I glanced to her,
"You don't sound so excited." She looked at me, right dead in the eyes.
"I don't like her. Not one bit." I laughed lightly, looking away and burying my hands in my pockets.
"Why?" Kyle asked, looking over me to see her.
"She's like my mother, and trust me, you do not want to meet my mother."
"Meet Sophia-Grace, the girl who likes to talk shit about her mumma." I said sarcastically.
"Shut up, Dylan."
"What'd you tell your mum anyways? I dropped you off at like 8."
"Funny story," She began as we entered the school, immediately getting looks from all around. Most of the looks went straight to Sophia. I rolled my eyes, wanting desperately to flip them all off.
"Claire told mum I'd left early to get more milk because there was none left, and mind you, we had like two cartons, and when I returned with nothing, I just said they weren't open yet because it was Sunday."
"What'd Claire do with the milk?" I asked, curious.
"I'm pretty sure she drank it. I don't know. She backed me up anyway and that's all I care about."
"So, why was James so emotional, do you know?" She paused, pressing her lips together and clenching her fists.
"Uh- I don't know...really." She mumbled. It sounded like she was lying. I didn't bother to ask her to be truthful, just in case she was being legit, and I didn't want to offend her by getting all in her personal space.
"Just teenage things, huh? What year is he in anyway?" She pursed her lips, shrugging.
"Nine. He's fourteen soon. I just really want him to talk again. He doesn't have a lot of friends and it's really quite sad."
"Don't you have like...one friend?" Kyle asked awkwardly, peering past me. Sophia looked to him angrily, but I cut in before she could say anything.
"Well, she has three now, doesn't she, Ky? Me, you and Abbey. Whoever the fuck that is..." I mumbled the last part. As I looked up, I noticed Lily and dread hit me. She was by her locker, talking to her friends, wearing a pretty short skirt, especially for being at school. I quickly looked away, but Sophia had already noticed my gaze.
"Do you know her?" She murmured.
"You bet your ass he does," Kyle snapped.
"He nearly fucked her." Sophia raised her brows and looked up at me, giving me this kind of 'Is he being serious?' look, and at that very moment, I wanted to beat the shit out of my best friend.
"Oh. I see. Well, I didn't realise you were into...those kinds of girls." I looked down at her, confused.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She smiled,
"I mean, I thought you had higher standards." She pet my shoulder, before turning off and walking to a girl who was staring at myself and Kyle already, with quite a judgemental look on her face. I could read what she was saying on her lips too, I was pretty good at that.
"Why are you hanging out with those two?" She asked. I rolled my eyes. That must be Abbey. I looked at Kyle, who was now laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" I mumbled.
"She literally just insulted the fuck out of you. I like her. I like her a lot." I sighed, looking down.
"Your opinion changed rapidly. Besides, I thought you liked Lily." I murmured. He grinned, shaking his head.
"I thought about it- and no. I like Taylor Anderson now."
"She ain't any better."
"Yeah, but you've already fucked her so I don't need to worry about you trying to hook up with her." He replied. I didn't think he meant to offend me, because usually, I'd laugh off those situations but at that moment in time, I just couldn't. I sighed and looked away, burying my hands deeper in my pockets. It seemed like I was totally hypersensitive to everything today.
I'd trailed off completely and only awoken when I found myself colliding into Lily, (Just my luck) and shoved her into everybody in front of her. I cleared my throat, glancing at Kyle who was now laughing at me from afar.
"My bad." I murmured, stepping back. She smirked, turning around, only to surprise me with a shit ton of cleavage. I blinked several times, before looking into her eyes and raising my brows.
"Hey, Dylan. Nice to see you again." She said, apparently with a new lot of confidence.
"Yeah. So, how'd you put up with the cops?" I replied drily.
"Oh, it was nothing, really. Anyway, what class do you have first?" I noticed that her friends were giggling behind her, mumbling things to one another.
'Bitch probably fucked one of the cops.'
"Chemistry. You?" I was trying to make it very obvious I was not interested in talking to her, but she wasn't catching the hint at all.
"Uh- I have a free period. Hey, can I like talk to you...privately?" She pretty much whispered the last part.
"I don't think your friends are even listening right now. So, what's up?" I murmured. She groaned and took hold of my hand, tugging me away without any permission whatsoever, straight to the girl's bathroom. The bell rung at just that time. I glanced back, noticing Sophia looking at me. She cocked her brows and lifted her hand, wiggling her fingers in a wave. I decided to flip her off. She just laughed, shaking her head and turning the other way, heading for class. Lily continued pulling before dragging me straight into the girls' bathroom, and shoving me into a stall with a hell of a lot of force. I stumbled, gripping onto the door for stability and I grinned awkwardly,
"Lil' roomy in here, ain't it?" I asked as she stepped inside the small cubicle and closed the door behind her. She placed her hands on her hips, looking to me.
"I thought you were the kind of guy to get straight to the point - to finish what he started." She said. I cocked my head to the side and raised my brows, letting my tongue slide across my bottom lip.
"Not really. You should see me doing my assignments - boy - half of them are never fin-" She cut me off by roughly slamming her lips against my own and pushing me up against the sad excuse for a wall. I sort of squirmed underneath her, pulling away.
"You seriously wanna do this in a school bathroom? Is that - y'know- sanitary?" She moved away from me (kind of), grumpily putting her hands on her hips.
"You don't want to fuck me? Is that what you're saying, Dylan?" She replied. I looked at her for a little while, before letting out a weird high pitched sound and moving my hand around a bit.
"Honestly?" I asked. She just stared at me dumbfounded and I nodded slightly,
"I don't want to - not because you aren't pretty or anything, you are, but... I mean, we're at school. It's not exactly hygienic." She scoffed,
"God, Dylan. You're so pathetic, you know?" My eyebrows rose and I leaned back, more than enthusiastic to listen to what she had to say.
"I should have listened to what every other girl said about you. You're no good and you use girls for sex and nothing else!"
"Well, I gotta object to that. I didn't have sex with you."
"You were going to! Why won't you? Because this isn't fucking hygienic? God, you're so lame! Is there another girl? Do you like someone else?"
"No. I stated my reasons beforehand, so getting pissy at me isn't fixing anything. Maybe you should calm down, okay?" I replied. She looked down for a moment, before stepping closer and rubbing her hands up and down my arms. I raised my brows, watching her.
"I'm sorry, babe - it's just that I'm having a lot of problems with my friends. I didn't mean to take my anger out on you."
Babe? BABE? Did she just call me...babe? What the fuck am I? Her boyfriend? Oh hell fucking no.
"Uh- yeah..."
What the fuck was that? Why did I say that? No, I should tell her I'm not interested - I don't do relationships.
"I understand your reasons. Truly - I do. I respect that. I do." I restrained myself from scrunching up my face is disgust as she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight, resting her head on my chest.
"Your heart is beating really fast." She whispered.
Yeah, no shit. You're creeping me the fuck out!
"Is it?" I replied. She mumbled something I couldn't understand, before pulling away and smiling.
"Okay, I'm going to go to class. Leave the bathroom about fifteen seconds after me, just in case. I'll text you."
She had my number?
She kissed me before opening the stall, flipping her hair behind her shoulders and walking straight out of the bathroom. I awkwardly walked out from the stall, looking to my reflection and shaking my head.
"What the fuck just happened?"