Dawn of a Kiss (On hold)

Chapter 7: Mysterious Figure

“Are you sure you’re okay, Valerie?” Naumi asked me with worry in her eyes.

“I’m fine.” I replied and when I looked over to Francheska, she glared, turning to Jonah and flipping her hair out, batting her long eye lashes at him.

“So, Jonah. How was your day?” She asked him, grinning flirtatiously, but he just ignored her completely and walked over to me.

“Are you okay, Val? What happened?” He asked and I smiled slightly at the nickname.

I mentally slapped myself as I allowed myself be happy at a moment like this.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Nothing happened.” I lied, not wanting to cause any more trouble with Francheska than there already was.

“Are you sure?” Both Jonah and Naumi looked as if they didn’t believe I was being honest.

I glanced over to Francheska again, only to meet her ice-cold stare, along with all the glares of the girls surrounding her.

“Yeah. Nothing happened.” I stared down at my feet.

“Well, maybe we should walk you home?” Naumi questioned.

Francheska piped up at that moment saying, “Actually, don’t you have to stay for a class project, Jonah?”

“No, actually I don’t.” He replied and I saw the faintest hint of anger show in his eyes.

“What about the project you promised you would help me with?” Francheska asked him, batting her long eye lashes again.

“How about another time?” Jonah responded, clearly not wanting to spend time with Francheska at the moment.

“But, I may fail the class if I don’t do this project really well, Jonah. It’s worth half my grade.” She just kept batting her eyelashes at him. It kind of made her appear as if she were twitching.

He seemed to think about it for several long moments and then sighing he said, “Fine. I’ll help you, if it it’s worth half your grade.”

“Thank you.” She responded, grinning triumphantly.

“Naumi, could you walk Valerie home?”

“Yeah. I could do that.” She replied politely.

“Thank you. I’m sorry I can’t walk you home, Valerie.” Jonah told me, frowning sadly.

“Really, it’s fine. You nor, Naumi don’t need to bother with walking me home. I will be fine.” I kept telling them over and over again, but they insisted.

That brings me to now. I was walking down the street towards Aunt Syrina’s house, with Naumi walking beside me.

“What really happened back there?” Naumi asked me, catching me off guard.

“Hmm?”

“With Francheska and those girls. What happened?”

“Nothing.” I lied, fiddling with my thumbs.

“Valerie, I may not know you all that well, but I can tell when you’re lying.” Naumi gave me a look that said I-know-you’re-hiding-something-and-you’re-going-to-tell-me-whether-you-want-to-or-not.

“Fine.” I sighed and then told her what happened. “Francheska was telling all of those girls that I just couldn’t stand the thought of Jonah even being with another girl besides myself. Then, she said that I stole Jonah from her. Which, first off they aren’t in a relationship so I couldn’t have stolen him from her and secondly I didn’t steal him from anyone. Well, I told her this and then she told me to stop interfering with their relationship and those girls then called me pathetic and a slut. Francheska threatened me and then you guys showed up.”

“Wow. Francheska sure knows how to turn people against someone. Those girls don’t even know you and she already has them labeling you as a slut just because you talked to Jonah. If you ask me, she’s the pathetic one.” Naumi responded.

“Yeah.” I stared down at my feet, frowning unhappily. Then sadly, I said, “I see why they would think I was a slut. I mean, when I first bumped into Jonah my milk had spilled on his lap and I did try to help clean it up without even thinking about it. I bet that looked pretty bad.”

“Hey, don’t listen to them. You aren’t even remotely close to being a slut. You were just trying to help clean up the mess. Whoever would think you’re a slut because of that should be slapped.“ Naumi explained. “Besides, you aren’t the one who is practically throwing yourself at Jonah like Francheska is. Sure, she’s pretty and popular and every girl wants to be her, but she’s kind of a tramp.”

“Thank you, Naumi. That actually cheered me up some.” I giggled.

“No problem. That’s what friends are for.” She responded, smiling. Then, once we reached Aunt Syrina’s house she said, “Well, here we are.”

“Yep. Thanks for walking me, Naumi.” I told her and then feeling optimistic I asked, “Naumi, would you like to come in and meet Aunt Syrina and maybe have some tea or something?”

“I would love to.” She replied, following me into the house.

“Aunt Syrina? I’m home and I’ve brought a friend.” I called as I sat my bag down on the hall table.

Upstairs I could hear a shuffling of footsteps and then a loud thud, followed by a blood-curling scream.

“Aunt Syrina?” I was up the stairs in a flash, Naumi following quickly behind.

I rushed forwards to the master bedroom just in time to see a dark figure standing over Aunt Syrina, who was laying unconscious on the floor.

“Who are you?” I shouted at the figure.

“In due time. . .” The figure spoke in a vaguely familiar melodic voice. “Bye bye now.”

The figure walked towards the large double window in the bedroom, slowing fading away as it did so.

Naumi rushed towards the window, opening it and looking outside for any signs of the mysterious figure.

Closing the window, she walked over to where I was knelt beside my aunt.

“Is your aunt okay?” Naumi asked, worried.

“I think.” I replied, checking her pulse. “Her heart is beating a little quickly, but I think she’s okay.”

“What happened?” Aunt Syrina mumbled, regaining consciousness.

“We were hoping you could tell us that.” I answered, a serious expression on my face.