The Stare Games (editing)

9

Seth's POV

After spending a night at the hospital, it was time to bring Aeryn home. I helped her get into the car while her parents settled the bills, without a word. After she was all done, I leaned over the door, hoping I could memorize the colours in her eyes just before I had to say goodbye.

"Seth," she spoke up first, breaking the ice between us. "How did you find me?"

"I-I, um, Nyler came up to the team and said you hadn't come back for a long time and that he was worried so, during halftime, we split up and went searching for you. I guess I was the lucky one that found you."

God, I hated lying to her.

Why can't you say the truth, Axel? Tell her you love her!

She nodded her head, slowly absorbing the information.

"So, I'll see you in school?" I said, giving a weak smile.

I didn't want to leave her.

She smiled back. "Yeah, I'll see you."

"By the way, next time you see me, try not to hide, please? I'd really like to see that face of yours." I teased, mentally saluting Isa for all my flirting classes.

Her dimples automatically dipped while her cheeks glowed a faint tint of cherry red. A view I'd love to see every single day of my life. Then, she groaned before tilting her head back. I laughed at her reaction.

Now, for the dramatic exit...

As I turned to leave, she suddenly grabbed my hand. Memories of when we first touched at Shane's party flooded back into my mind.

"Thank you."

I looked back at her. "For what?"

"For rescuing me."

***

Aeryn's POV

The first thing I did when I came back home was take a deep hot shower. After everything that happened, the water helped revive my body and give it back its strength. Something I desperately needed after all of yesterday's endeavours and today's horrifying scene of my parents crouching next to my bed. I didn't know when or why they flew in but it was a haunting memory I didn't want to remember.

Speaking of giving back strengths, I also went to charge my phone, knowing I had more than a dozen messages from Nyler. I climbed under my duvet and scrolled through.

37 messages.

35 from Nyler.

1 from Nate.

1 from an unknown number.

Like the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat', I opened the text from the unknown number. It read:

That's what you get for stealing OUR guys. Watch your back, bitch.

- SC

"Shit." I whispered to myself.

Whoever sent me this must've been the one who drugged and locked me in a room.

Our guys? Did she mean Seth and Nate? At least, I thought it was a girl.

If this girl can harbour drugs and use it guilt-free ok people, who knows what else she had in the bag?

I never thought doing something I wasn't even doing would turn out to be this bad but this was very, very bad.

I was in a lot of deep shit.

***

"What the actual fuck." Nyler swored, leaning his head back while making sure it wasn't going to mess up his gelled hair.

As soon as I read the message, I dialed his number and asked him to come over ASAP so I could show him my phone.

I didn't want to go through this alone.

"Yeah... what should I do, N?" I whispered. "I'm so scared. Should we call the police or something? My parents did say they'd handle it but God knows what that means."

"I think," he paused. "It's probably just some high-schooler who got a little bit too jealous of you so the cops don't have to get involved yet. But you should probably lay low for now just in case she plans to do anything but, as your best friend and personal assistant, I'll look into it and find out who SC is. And for your parents, trust them."

I let his plan process, ignoring the last bit, before I knew I had to protest. "I don't want you involved. What if she finds out you know and something happens to you?"

Nyler shushed me with a finger. He replied in a stern voice, "Aeryn Mikaela Smith, it is my duty to protect you from all the dementors, dragons and demons that roam our world between muggles and-"

"We aren't in a Harry Potter film."

"I know, sadly. But you get it, right? I'll be your Ron Weasley."

I laughed at his cuteness. "Does that make me Harry or Hermione?"

"Hm, good question." he replied, rubbing his chin. "How about a bit of both?"

We burst out laughing, clutching onto our stomachs at the very thought of me having Hermione's head and Harry's hairy legs. (See what I did there?)

Just like that, I had forgotten about the mysterious and potentially killer stalker of mine and everything else that had already occurred in the first week of a new school year.

"In all seriousness, though, we have to catch this girl and stop her." Nyler suddenly said in a serious tone.

"Will this be like catching Voldemort?" I asked with a clever smirk.

Alarmed, he jumped over to clamp a hand over my mouth. "Shush! It's SHe-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"

***