Only One Cup of Coffee

chapter 13

Harper's fingers were wrapped tightly around my wrist as he dragged me out of the hallway and into the cafeteria.

"Harper let go! It's okay now."

"Who is he, Caroun? I'm sorry if the fact that I was listening in to your conversation bothers you, but from what I heard, this isn't just any guy you just met. Who is he and what's your relation with this guy?" Harper prodded with his multiple questions.

"Okay I get that you have loads of questions but mine need to be answered too! You weren't there in the bus today and there were multiple things I wanted to ask you about regarding yesterday..." I said, looking down at my feet.

"What? What questions?"

"Is it not obvious? I want to know exactly how you got to know about the 'attack'. You came the second it happened and that is absolutely ridiculous. How did you know where I would be?" I looked at him in a demanding manner.

"Oh... That's what you're worried about..."

"What?!" I asked furiously. "I'd be dumb or completely ignorant if I wasn't bothered by that. Whatever Harper. If you can't give me a direct answer then don't bother me again." I whipped around and stormed off.

"Hey! Wait Runa!" He called out but I wasn't bothered to listen.

--

Home felt like a very lonely place back then. With my brother busy at college and my parents doing whatever they do, I felt unsafe, unwelcome and uncomfortable in my own home.

I'd say that these feelings had good reason though. My parents have told me that they don't care about my well being. The one thing that always troubled me was, why did they still keep me in their home?

They could easily put me up for adoption, or throw me out of the house. They could even shamelessly hand me over to my relatives!

There was clearly no reason to keep me here if they found me so distasteful. These thoughts were so annoying I couldn't stand them.

I couldn't focus on my studies or doing what I should've done. All I could do was sit on my tablet or computer all day and I would end up feeling guilty and frustrated by the end of every day.

The doorbell rang really loudly from downstairs.
I had taken the stairs two at a time to answer the door, knowing that my parents had gone for work and that nobody else would open the door on behalf of my lethargic self so I swung the door open to see a wicked boy grinning evilly. Okay, its Calum. But he is technically wicked.

Let's just consider the fact that it's so messed up that we used to be inseparable. I literally feel like puking every time I think about the days when I giddily greeted him into my abode and dragged him into my room to hang out.

Oh my piteously, piteously naive young self... How sorry I feel for you.

"McDonald's. What can I get you today." I asked sarcastically with a roll of my eyes.

"How bout a date?" He grinned cheekily.

"Excuse me?!" I said, flabbergasted.

"Hurry up now. I'll take it to go. Maintenant, s'il vous plait. I'm running short of time."

I rushed to bang the door on his face but his darn foot was wedged between me and peace.

"Woah there! Not so fast, sugar. You're coming with me."

"And who told you that?"

"Nobody can deny me of anything I want."

"Well, prepare to feel the burn of disappointment."

--

After a hearty shove, I made sure he was way back in the driveway before I slammed my door shut and sauntered into my bedroom. Flipping onto my bed, I picked up my laptop and opened up Netflix.

You honestly can't blame me for feeling like not doing anything.

That guy makes my day feel like being dumped with a bucket of acidic fertilizers. Particularly not good for plants and apparently not good for me either.

The front door flew off its hinges as I flinched.

"Gosh... did he break the front door down?" I said softly as I carefully got to my feet.

The Calum disaster had occurred 20 minutes before.

Why would he still even be around?

I quietly peeped into the hallway and took my home flip flops off. If it was a burglar, any additional sounds would be a very bad giveaway to my current position.

I leaned over the threshold and into my parents bedroom to grab dad's trusty shiny blue baseball bat.

Nothing like some good ol' defense mechanisms.

hoisting the bat over my shoulder and creeping towards the stairwell, I slowly began my descent.

Hearing a hint of a noise from the kitchen, I padded cautiously towards it, a hum of light whispering drifting towards my ears.

As soon as the kitchen came into view, I lifted up my giant bat and gave a loud scream.

The two males in front of me screamed in terror as well.