I'm a Fallen Angel

Chapter Three

The next day I woke up and got ready for school, throwing on a berry purple tank top, a leather jacket, black skinny jeans, and combat boots. I brushed my silver-white hair and applied some light purple eyeshadow and black winged eyeliner. I quickly headed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth before rushing downstairs to eat, stopping only to say good morning to my parents and my Husky, Harley, giving her a scratch on the head.
As I was shoveling food into my mouth, my dad spoke. "What's the rush today?" I paused to swallow my food before answering him.

"I don't know, I just feel like today will be a good day. I think I'm gonna bike to school today by the way." My mom turned to me at that.

"Okay, just remember to watch for cars, a lot of people are heading to work at this time in the morning."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I know, I know. I'm not a kid anymore, mom. I'm going to be turning sixteen in a few months, then I'll be driving. You can't be protective of me forever."

"I'm well aware of that. And just so you know, you're not going to be learning in your father's Lamborghini. It's way too fast and dangerous," she insisted, shaking her head slightly to herself as she spoke, as if imagining what could happen.

I was about to protest when my dad caught my eye. He gave me a smirk and winked when he was sure my mom wasn't looking, and I smirked back at him. No lambo my ass.

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I walked into school, feeling the sweat run down my back from the fifteen minute ride, even though it was almost December. I sat on one of the benches in the main lobby for a minute to catch my breath and to check Facebook. Within a few minutes, I was about ready to get up when something caught my eye. There was a piece of paper sticking out of my backpack, jammed in the zipper. I ripped it off the zipper and unfolded it, reading it's contents. My eyes widened at what was printed in bold ink.

Meet me in the janitor's closet at lunch. Knock three times.

That was all that was written. No signature, no indication of who had written it, what they wanted, or how they had gotten the paper into my backpack, let alone jammed it into the zipper. I was brought out of my thoughts when the five minute warning bell sounded. I stuffed the paper in my bag and rushed to homeroom, hoping I would get there before the late bell. I managed to make it in time and took my seat, smiling at Hayden as I did so. I decided not to mention the strange note, thinking it was best to ignore it. It was probably Hayley or one of her minions trying to mess with me.

Hayden mentioned that I looked a little out of it, but I brushed off his concerns, telling him that I had missed the bus and the bike ride to school wore me out, which wasn't a complete lie. I hadn't ridden my bike to school in a long time and my legs felt like jelly as a result. We chatted for a bit more before we had to go to first period, and the whole time leading up to lunch I couldn't sit still. I was so curious to see who had left the note, but my instincts were screaming at me not to go, and they had saved me from bad situations before. But the curiosity was nearly unbearable.

By lunch I still hadn't decided what to do. I walked to the library and waited for Hayden to join me so that we could share his lunch like usual, but by the time lunch was half way over, he still hadn't shown up. I shot him a text, asking him where he was. I figured he was probably making up a test or something and had forgotten to tell me but I couldn't help but feel strange about him missing lunch. When he still hadn't replied ten minutes later, I sighed and put my phone in my bag, deciding that I would just ask him about it in class next period.

The bell rang a few minutes later and I pushed my way out of the library and into the moving sea of bodies that was the main hallway of my school. I made it to my Driver's Ed classroom and walked in to see Hayden sitting in his usual seat that was across the room from mine. Since it would be a few minutes before all the other students came in, I sat on top of one of the desks next to his and looked down at him, seeing that he was finishing up some homework that he had forgotten to finish last night. I kicked his desk and he jumped, not having noticed me.   

"Oh... hey," he replied, a hint of anger in his voice.

I tilted my head to the side, but wrote it off as him being annoyed that I kicked his desk so hard. "Where were you during lunch? Did you have to make up a test or something?"

I didn't fail to notice how his eyes widened slightly before he answered. "Uh, yeah. I missed a test when I left school early last week for my doctor's appointment," he replied, the anger still imminent. I stared at him for a few more seconds, wanting to question what was up, but class was about to begin so I simply nodded and headed over to my seat, realizing just as I walked away that his handwriting on his homework matched the handwriting on the note perfectly.

I couldn't pay attention to whatever the teacher was talking about for the rest of the period. I was lost in my own sea of confusion. What had Hayden been planning to do when I went to meet him in the janitor's closet? How had he gotten the note into my bag when he didn't get to school until ten minutes after me? It sure as hell hadn't been there when I got on the bus. Was someone helping him? The biggest thing that confused me was that he had lied to me when I asked him where he was. It was all so strange. I wanted to ask him about it on the walk to Creative Writing seventh period, but Hayden rushed out of the room when the bell rang without waiting for me, something he never did.

I tried to talk to him during seventh but he kept waving me off, telling me that he was trying to concentrate on writing, which would've been fine if there hadn't been so much hostility in the way he said it, glaring at me while he did so. This made me furious, he'd never snapped at me like that before, and as far as I knew, I hadn't even done anything wrong! Well I wasn't going to stand for it. When the dismissal bell rang I already had everything packed up and nearly bolted out the door, silently hoping that he would try to catch up with me, listening for him to call my name, my ears straining to catch the sound of footsteps running behind me. I heard nothing.

Once I was out the front doors, I slowly trudged over to where I had left my bike chained up by the teacher parking lot. I stared at it for a few seconds before deciding that I didn't want to go home just yet, and sat down against the wall next to the bike rack. I pulled out my phone, secretly hoping to see a text from Hayden apologizing for how he had acted, but again I was disappointed. I quickly put my phone away and hugged my knees impossibly close to my chest, feeling like I was going to fall apart at any moment.

Hayden and I were the best of friends one day, and the next he acted as if I was his worst enemy. And the irony was that it was all his fault, how was I supposed to know it was him who wanted to meet me in the janitor's closet? Didn't he see how suspicious that would seem? It was borderline creepy. I again pulled out my phone and was about to send Hayden a text but froze as I was about to start typing. If he didn't want to talk to me then why should I torture myself trying to get a response? I knew the only reason I felt this strongly was because I hadn't had as good of a friend as him since... well... I'd never actually had a friend like him. I hoped that his sudden change in behavior wouldn't last long, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but feel that whatever I did had just ruined our friendship for good. I shook the troubling thoughts from my mind and decided to stop and get pizza on my way home from school, at least food would never betray me.