Don't Talk to Strangers

Chapter 9

I woke up to the sound of my alarm and dreaded going to school. I looked at my phone and saw three missed calls from Mia and multiple texts from her and Ryan. I looked at the most recent text from Mia.

"Ryan and I are skipping, wanna join?"  It was like Mia could read my mind...

"Sure"  I sent back, I really don't think I could make it through the school day.

I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I frowned at the dark circles under my eyes and looked at the slash on my calf. They were the only signs that the weekend really happened and it wasn't just a nightmare. The cut appeared to be healing well so I didn't stress about. I washed my face off and applied some makeup, hoping nobody would notice. 

 I put on a pair of jeans and a baggy sweater. I opened my window and saw Josh at the foot of his bed, head in his hands. I wanted to go to his house, tell him to skip school, tell him to be with me all day, but I knew I couldn't.

I pulled my hair into a bun just in time to hear a car horn outside my house. I ran down stairs and into the cold air. Ryan's car was sitting in my driveway and my stomach churned at the thought of his driving skills. 

"Hi," I said getting into his car. Mia was in the passenger seat with a huge smile on her face. 

"Good morning, darling," She said. "Where shall we go?" 

My stomach growled, "Breakfast?". Ryan put the car in reverse and started the day off by almost hitting my neighbors mailbox. 

"So I heard a new arcade opened up down the road, we should check it out," Ryan said, eating a burrito. I poked the now soggy pancake that sat on my plate, smothered in syrup. 

"You and your video games, what makes you think Kara would like that at all?" Mia asked rolling her eyes playfully. 

"I don't really care," I replied, a little more harsh than I planned. Ryan looked away and quietly said he was going to the restroom, but really I knew he was leaving to let Mia and I have "girl time".

'Kara, what's wrong?" 

"I'm just tired, I stayed up late last night," It wasn't a complete lie.

"Are you sure?" I thought about telling her what happened but something told me to leave her out of it. Instead, I nodded and gave her a smile that I hoped would reassure her. 

The waitress came by and Mia paid the check. Shortly after, Ryan drove us to the arcade.

I didn't think I'd say it, but the arcade was pretty fun. Ryan and I had an air-hockey competition and we were tied. 

"Last game," I said to him, while Mia sat on one of the fake motorcycles next to us. Ryan had his game face on and I knew I had to win. He slid the disk to me and I hit it back. It ricocheted of the wall and slid back to me. I pushed it back to Ryan who it with too much force and it flew of the table. I turned to see a guy with a hand on the back of his head. 

"Kara! Why would you do that?!" I heard Ryan yell, I turned to glare at him and saw him and Mia both laughing wildly. I walked over to the guy and picked up the puck. 

"I am really, really sorry! Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm alright," He said laughing. "Did you win?" 

"We were tied," I replied smiling. Mia walked over, grinning at me. 

"Who's your friend?" 

"Uh-"

"Skylar," 

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mia," She paused, "How's your head?" 

"It's ok, I'm just disappointed there wasn't a winner for a shot like that." He said. "And you, arcade girl?"