"So that's what happened." Skye lay back onto his seat after telling me everything that had occurred in the period I was passed out. Apparently, the stress from being locked in the storeroom was made worse by the news I received about Aunt Elda, and it had made me develop a fever. The blood had all gushed out of my head and down to my feet, and it had eventually made me faint. He had taken care of me in the storeroom, and my fever resided. From what I heard, he had smashed the window near the top of the storeroom with his fist and carried me out. I guess that was why he had those wounds on his knuckles and torso. The window wasn't that wide for the two of us to fit through; he had probably hurt himself while climbing out.
"We could have waited for help. You didn't have to smash the window." I said as I looked at his injuries. They looked really bad. The cuts were quite deep, and the areas around them looked red and swollen. Maybe we should go to a hospital.
"Mister, sorry but can you go to the hosp-" I sat up and started to tell the cab driver.
Skye immediately reached out and pulled me back. "No. I'm fine." He signalled to the driver to continue on our initial route. The driver nodded in response. "Weren't you worried about your Aunt Elda?"
"But.."
"Then let's just focus on that now." Skye replied and looked away, signalling the end of our conversation. I stared at the back of his head in silence. He was being.. nice to me. He may be a jerk, but he's not a bad guy. Maybe I was wrong about him.
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The cab turned into my street and my house came into view. The car barely came to a stop before I jerked the door open and ran - as best as I could with my injured leg - through the open gate. Please, please let Aunt Elda be okay. I ran as fast as I could to the door.
"Aunt Elda! Aunt Elda!!" I knocked on the door as if my life depended on it. "Aunt Elda! I'm here!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Aunt El-" Suddenly, the door was pulled open and the person standing in front of me was.. none other than Aunt Elda herself.
"Where did you go last night I was so worri-" I pulled her in for a tight hug before she could finish her sentence. The familiar scent of vanilla enveloped me. Her hair felt soft against my cheek. My body went limp as I leaned against her. Tears were streaming down my face. I was so relieved.
"What's wrong, darling?" Aunt Elda looked down at me with concern as she pat my back gently. I didn't say anything and just hugged her. A few minutes later, I finally let go and stepped back, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand.
She looked at me worriedly, her brows deeply furrowed, "Did something happen, Seline? What's wrong, my dear? Did someone bully you? You can tell Aunt Elda."
"I.. I thought something happened to you." I sniffed out the words. "Dylan told me you fell down. I thought you were badly hurt. I.. I thought I couldn't see you again." I barely got out the words before I started sobbing again.
Aunt Elda came forward and caressed my head gently. "Oh, silly girl. I'm perfectly alright, see. I'm doing all good. I don't know why Dylan told you that. I never fell down."
Wait, what? "You didn't?" I looked up at Aunt Elda, confused. She nodded in response. I furrowed my brows. Then why did Dylan call me to tell me that last night? I'm pretty sure I didn't hear him wrongly.
"Seline! What happened to your leg?!" Aunt Elda noticed my injured leg just then and exclaimed in shock, right before Skye appeared in the doorway, with his wounds and all. Perfect timing. "And who's this?!" Aunt Elda's shriek only became louder, echoing off the bare walls of the house. Her eyes were as big as golf balls by now.
"Relax, Aunt Elda. I'll tell you everything." I told her as I led her inside to sit down.
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"So you're saying, someone sent you a message to meet at a storeroom, then proceeded to lock you both inside during the party? Why will they do that? Do they have nothing better to do?" Aunt Elda was enraged. "If I find the one responsible for this.." I could literally see smoke coming out from her ears. Okay no, but really. She was hopping mad. "Then how did he end up in there too? Did he receive a message too?" Aunt Elda pointed at Skye.
"Um.." I turned to Skye. I actually didn't know why he was there too.
"Yeah, I did." Skye replied and looked away. I wonder what message he got. Must have been something pretty important for him to go all the way there. The storeroom wasn't that accessible a place.
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"I hope your wounds are okay. We don't have much at home, but Aunt Elda takes care of wounds well. I used to fall down a lot when I was younger." Skye and I ended up taking a walk in the park after we managed to assure Aunt Elda that everything was alright. The sky was a clear blue, and flowers were blooming all around us. All that drama from last night seemed so surreal now. I was so glad Aunt Elda was okay. I still didn't know who was behind it though. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"
Skye kicked a small stone to the side of the pavement. "Yeah, don't worry about it."
"If you say so." I took in a big gulp of air. Mmm. This feels nice. I opened my eyes and see Skye still kicking stones off the ground.
"It's funny how things have changed since we first met in this same park, huh." Our first encounter wasn't exactly.. pleasant. I remembered the ice cream.
"The fact that we happened to get locked inside the same storeroom doesn't make us friends, you know." I rolled my eyes. There he goes again. Trying to act all high and mighty.
"Well, at least you don't seem like that much of a jerk as you were before."
"Though you still are one." I added quickly.
"Glad to know that." I thought I saw him smile, but he quickly turned away and resumed kicking his stones. I smiled to myself. Somehow, I feel like there's something deeper, something he's hiding away. Somehow I feel like he's acting like this on purpose, putting up a tough front, acting like a jerk. Somehow, I feel like maybe, just maybe, he isn't that bad of a person after all.
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YOU ARE READING
The New Girl
JugendliteraturSeline, a girl whose parents left when she was still a baby, was left in custody with her aunt. They led a life of poverty, until she got accepted into Twins Academy, a college she would never have expected to be associated with all her life, includ...
