Falling For Your Antics (Editing)

Chapter 30- You Act So Innocent, and Yet You're Not

The first week of March had begun, which meant I was at school again. However, I found that I couldn't focus a lot since Carter and I had done it. I couldn't help it! I just felt like I always needed to be around him, he made me feel so calm and happy.

Oh, and guess what? The seating plan hadn't changed in my English lesson, so I was stuck with River. We had just been giving a verbal task to do with our partner, and he was being agitating again.

"Jekyll and Hyde is based around the good and evil in people's natures, and Stevenson went against the social standards of the Victorian era by conveying the idea that evil existed in people, but we just repressed it."

"Some people hide it better than others." He scoffed.

I ignored him and continued. "This is what made the novella so gothic- the fact that it opposed many of the religious beliefs in that time period. And since it was so heavily expected of people to act polite and mannered-"

"Branwen, I don't care." He cut me off.

I was shocked. How could he be so blunt, and why was he so hung up on the whole Carter thing still?

"What is your problem?" I hissed at him. "It's unhealthy to be so obsessed with someone."

A sneer took over his face. "Unhealthy? What's unhealthy is the fact you went into the relationship blind."

I slammed my hand down on the table, and it made him jump. "You know what? I'm so sick of your shit. If you have something to tell me, fucking tell me!"

People turned to stare at me, and Rowan cast a worrying look over me. Even she had no idea what was up River's backside.

"Fine then, I fucking will." He spat at me.

I sat there with my arms crossed, waiting for him to talk. When he didn't open his mouth for several minutes, I wrote something down on a piece of paper and slammed it in front of him.

"If you want to talk? Talk. Meet me in the parking lot of Susie's Smoothies after my shift."

The bell suddenly went, so I snatched my things and stormed out.

--

Luckily it was the end of the day, so I got in my car and drove off to Carter's. Right now I needed to calm down, and he was the only one who could get me to. Rowan asked me if I was okay, of course, but I just told her I would call her later.

So many thoughts were running through my head, but it just made me angry. What was taking River so long to tell me? It had been over three months now, for god sake!

I got to Carter's quicker than I thought I would, and as I walked up the pavement I could have sworn I saw movement to the left of my vision. I swung my head around, but nobody was there.

He had a half day, so he was home when I arrived.

"Hey Raisin Bran-" his face fell. "Woah, what's wrong?"

I brushed past him and threw myself back onto the couch in his living room. He came to my side a few minutes later with a glass of water for me.

"River is messing with me again." I blew a hair strand out my face. "He gets me so mad! I can't believe the nerve of him, he's so obsessed with hating you."

A serious look took over Carter's face. "Okay, I don't exactly like the guy, but he's just taking it to the extreme now." He clenched his jaw. "Do you want me to sort him out?"

I shook my head and put a hand on my forehead. "No, it's okay, I can handle it."

What I didn't tell him was that I was meeting him tonight to talk about it, because knowing Carter, he would try to stop me.

He helped me calm down by giving me a shoulder massage, before telling me I looked hot in a uniform. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not having sex with you when your parents are in the house." I whispered to him. He smirked.

"Who says they are?"

--

Afterwards, I lay in his arms while he played with my hair.

"Who was your first?" I asked, blinking up to him.

He tensed up, then relaxed. "Do you really want to know?"

I nodded yes, but a feeling of dread built in my stomach.

He sighed, then let go of me to lie on his back.

"So, I was fifteen, and there was this girl I found hot." He paused, then continued. "We had a casual fling, and one night we just...did it."

There was that bitter feeling of dread and jealousy again. "Was it..."

He looked away from me. "Yeah, it was Leslie."

I know it was stupid, but hurt shot through me. "Oh."

He rolled back on his side to face me, and pulled me to him. "But she means nothing to me, I promise."

I looked away. "Were you in love?"

He lifted my chin so I met his eyes. "When I was fifteen? No. I thought I was, but now I know it was just a crush. But what I feel for you? That is raw, solid love. What I feel for you is something I have never experienced before."

We left it at that, before I got dressed into some spare clothes I'd left at Carter's before and headed for my shift. But, as I walked outside, another note was tucked under my window wiper. My blood ran cold.

I picked it up, hands shaking, then unfolded it.

You act so innocent, and yet you're not. Hurry up sweetie, before the devil gets you caught.

I whipped my head around in fright, wondering who the hell was threatening me. Then, I quickly got into my car and sped off to my shift.

Whatever River had to say to me, it had better be good.