DAYSLEEPER |

02| bad

"I'm the bad guy, duh." 

BILLIE EILISH | BAD GUY

• • •

Thursday morning was a wave of hungover teens trying hard to hide it, and Eden was no special.

Most of the conversation surrounding her in low whispers and snarky remarks didn't interest her as much as the stranger that jumped her fence last night.

She couldn't help but think about Smith, the boy she hardly met last night, leaving his house around two in the morning or more like running away. Where the hell could he go after a night of chaos?

Eden sat still in her English Literature class, fiddling with the pen and notepad on her desk as her mind wandered elsewhere. Her gaze shifted from the surface of the white table to the latched open windows, political posters on the wall, and Mr. Hall's presentation at the front of the class. She just couldn't concentrate.

Suddenly, someone poked her arm.

"Hey," Caleb whispered. "Do you have a black pen?"

After a few seconds of blankly staring at Caleb's incredulous expression, Eden resurfaced to reality and pushed her flat-ironed hair behind her ear. It was so easy to forget that she was assigned to Caleb's table at the beginning of the year when he didn't always show up.

"How do your parents let you skip school whenever you want?" she asked as she rolled a black gel pen over his way.

"I don't skip school, only this class 'cuz I hate English. And when your parents are traditionally Asian, they don't give a shit about English when there's calculus and physics."

A laugh slipped out of Eden's mouth that was loud enough to earn a hard stare from Mr. Hall, and she quickly covered her mouth.

"I hardly knew you were in this class," she admitted. 

"I've been in this class since ninth grade. You know, when you were going around knocking people unconscious with books?" he remarked with a low voice. Caleb relaxed into his chair and ran a hand through his hair that matched the color of his black Champion hoodie.

Embarrassed, Eden looked away and shook her head. "That wasn't on purpose! If you didn't scare me, it would've never happened."

"If I didn't scare you, I wouldn't have such a great story to tell," he said. "How are you? By the way," Caleb suddenly asked.

"I'm doing perfect unless you think differently," she breathed and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Yeah, you were completely out of it yesterday," Caleb snickered.

Eden scoffed, trying to hide her smile as best as possible with the sleeve of her sweater. "No, I wasn't," she lied.

His eyes found their way back to the soft features of her face, studying the light freckles scattered across her toffee skin and the reddish tint of her lips. That was the thing about Caleb, he just knew how to make a girl feel special—or at least somewhat.

"It's been a while since I've seen that side of you," he remarked. "Since Halloween, if I remember correctly."

Once upon a time, Eden wanted that attention from him, but it only unraveled into shit. Never again.

The bell sounded, and Mr. Hall yelled over the rustle of paper as students' rushed to get out as soon as possible. Eden slammed her book shut, clenching her jaw at Caleb's comment. He just couldn't fucking stop.