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25. Bruised

I seriously debated not going to school seeing as how I got little to no sleep. I tossed and turned all night, my mind filled with the events of last night.

I couldn't remember the last time that I went to bed without Paige's small body wound around me.

But that was just it, wasn't it? I had become so dependent on her being here that I now can't function without her.

I reluctantly climbed out of bed and lazily got dressed, not bothering to make myself breakfast or check my reflection in the mirror.

When I pulled into the school parking lot, I noticed that Paige's silver car wasn't parked in its normal spot. Maybe she parked somewhere else to avoid me- good idea.

"Collins! Where is that fine piece of ass that you call a girlfriend?" The guy with tattoos shouted towards me as I walked into the locker room.

"Far away from you, that's for sure," I mumbled under my breath as I opened my locker to retrieve my gym clothes, a blue slip of paper fell to the ground as I did so.

LANDON COLLINS: REPORT TO FRONT OFFICE FOR CHECK OUT

What the hell? Who gets checked out in high school?

I shoved my clothes back into the small locker and made my way out of the locker room, hoping that nobody noticed me.

Ms. Donovan was seated at the desk in the office and greeted me with a big grin when I entered the stuffy room.

"Hi, Landon." She smiled at me and looked down at her computer screen, "What do you need?"

"This was in my locker, it says I'm being checked out?" I handed her the slip of paper and she took it from my hand.

"Yep," She lifted her hand to point a finger behind me towards the lounge area.

When I turned around, expecting to see- well, I don't know who I expected to see, but I certainly didn't imagine seeing Diane's red hair as she faced the wall away from me.

"Diane?" I spoke as I walked closer to her.

She turned in her chair and relief flooded over her features. She stood from her seat and walked over to me to wrap her frail arms around my shoulders.

"This is proably so strange, sorry," She muttered as she pulled away from me and bent to pick her purse up from the ground.

"Yeah," I whispered and looked down at my tattered shoes.

"There's a reason for me coming here though, that's probably what you're thinking." She called out after a few moments of awkward silence.

I lifted my head to meet her eyes and noticed some concern laced in them.

"And what might that be?" I sighed. What did she need? This is so weird to be standing in the office with her. Can't I just get back to class?

"Paige," She spoke clearly, her hands wrapping tightly around the handle of her purse.

Diane definitely had my attention now.

"Why? What's wrong? Is she not here? Is everything okay?" I started firing questions towards the red head, demanding answers then and there.

"No, she's at home. I think it would be better if you would just come with me," Diane turned on her heel and walked around me to the front door.

"I drove here," I raised my voice so that it carried to the other side of the room.

"Then just meet me there," She replied and walked out the the open door.

I practically jogged to the senior lot and sped out of there as fast as I could, thankfully it was early enough in the day that nobody had shut the gate.