The Trouble with Love

❝ it's better that i see it through your eyes ❞

(unedited)

Now I'm on my own side,
It's better than being on your side.
It's my fault when you're blamed,
It's better that I see it through your eyes.
All these thoughts locked inside,
Now you're the first to know.

"It Ends Tonight" -All American Rejects

I found out about Daniel's arrest before his brother did.

Lunch felt like a strained affair, at least to me. I could feel and sometimes see Jacen's heavy stare from across the table and Ashton's slight moodiness. Skylar, Vanessa and Nathan all seemed pretty oblivious. If they noticed the bit of tension, they chalked it up to a normal argument or didn't mention it if they believed it was something else. I wasn't sure if Keira knew, she didn't show it, but I could t see Keira being clueless about anything, really.

It wasn't until the cafeteria fell unnaturally silent that I noticed someone walked towards us. More specifically, a teacher coming towards us. Even more specifically, Skylar's secret boyfriend.

"Miss. Blaire, may I have a word with you, please?" He didn't show it, but there was a tightness in his voice that made me guess that Cameron had just found out about his brother's arrest.

I met Ashton's eyes from across the table for a brief second, but he didn't say anything or show any emotion so I did the same.

"Of course, Mr. Sullivan," Skylar said. She grabbed her bag and stood up, following him out of the now silent cafeteria.

Jacen broke the silence first by clearing his throat, which I guess to the rest of the students was a signal to turn around and mind their own business again. The cafeteria filled with incessant chatter that was a bit faker than it had been before.

"I'm not sure if I can eat knowing Skylar's making out with our English teacher right now," Jacen remarked.

Keira rolled her eyes. "It's not like it's new."

"I don't know," Nathan said. "He looked kind of worried."

I caught Ashton's eye again and this time he gave me the smallest shake of his head. I wasn't sure if it meant he hadn't told Nathan or if he was telling me not to say anything.

Jacen snorted. "He was probably worried about whether people that he has a word with Miss. Blaire at least once a week."

Vanessa giggled, and opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by bell.

Thank god.

I wanted to talk to Ashton, but he was gone as soon as the bell rang, so I headed to my locker to grab my stuff. Except I remembered I had left all of my things in the Elite's lounge when Vanessa dragged me there this morning. I retraced my steps to the cafeteria and walked past it until I got to the unmarked door.

I reached out to turn the knob, but froze at the sound of voices.

"-want to," Skylar was saying. "But..." I couldn't hear much after that since she lowered her voice. There were a couple murmurs before I heard Cameron's raised voice.

"Please," he said. "Your families have kept people out of jail before, I know you have."

What? The Elite had kept someone out of jail before? Who? And for what? Was it the same person who Ashton and Kaden were trying to expose?

"You know it wasn't the same!" Skylar exclaimed. Then she lowered her voice again and not matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch anything else.