Polaroid // Reggie Mantle (2)

Chapter Fourty-Four

"There we go," Sweet Pea exclaimed, snipping the thread from off the needle. "All patched up."

Caia raised her hand to her forehead to touch the stitches her friend had just given her, but Sweet Pea grabbed her wrist before she could. He shook his head at her and she lowered her arm.

"So," She began. "When did you become such a doctor?"

Sweet Pea shrugged. "The Serpents get hurt all the time. Somebody's gotta patch them all up." He put his supplies back into his first aid kit and stood up. As he took the kit to the bathroom to put it away, Caia pulled out her phone.

For the first time, Caia noticed how many notifications she had. She gulped when she saw the name. Reggie. He must be so worried.

Sweet Pea had re-entered the room, glancing over Caia's shoulder at her phone as he walked back to the couch. He rolled his eyes at the name, wondering why Caia was still with Reggie.

"Have fun explaining this to him," Sweet Pea remarked, flopping onto the brown leather sofa.

Caia sighed, locking her phone and throwing it on the coffee table. "God, I know," she mused. "He's probably gonna freak out and go all protective mode," she stated. "Which I guess he has a right to because, in all fairness, I did get kidnapped."

Sweet Pea shrugged. "Fair enough." He paused for a moment. "You sure you don't want to stay here tonight?" He inquired, glancing at the nasty cut on Caia's head once again.

Caia nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Plus, I've seen worse."

Sweet Pea bit his lip at what Caia was referring to. "Alright," he relented. "Just don't get yourself kidnapped again, please."

*

Caia shut her locker and was immediately met with the face of her boyfriend. She jumped back, having been taken by surprise and subsequently dropped her book.

"Where have you been?" Reggie asked, genuinely concerned. "And why haven't you been answering my calls or texts?"

Caia leaned down and picked up the book before straightening her skirt and turning to walk down the hallway. Reggie followed close beside, his eyes trained on Caia's face.

"I've been-" Caia paused, in search of the right word. "Preoccupied."

Reggie sighed. "You know I don't care if you do stuff without me but with a new killer on the loose I would at least like to know that you haven't been kidnapped and tied up in a warehouse somewhere."

Caia gulped at the irony in her boyfriend's statement. "Sorry, Reg. I didn't mean to freak you out." It was true. She hadn't meant to freak the boy out, it had just happened.

She turned to enter her English class, but Reggie grabbed the sleeve of her sweater before she could. "Hey, I'm just worried about you is all," he stated, his voice laced with caring.

Caia nodded. "I know."

At this moment, Reggie got the first good look at Caia's face. His eyebrows knit together as he spied the two inch long gash on her forehead. "What the hell is that?" He muttered, tracing his finger over the stitches. The wheels began turning in his head and he put two and two together, if a bit irrationally.

"Oh my god," he exclaimed, straightening up to his full height. "Did the Serpents do that to you? Is that why you wouldn't answer my calls?"

"Reggie, of course not!" Caia scolded, glancing around to see if anyone had been disturbed by her boyfriend's outburst. She grabbed him by the wrist and drug him to a more secluded spot by the water fountain. Letting go, she began explaining. "I followed Archie when he was doing some investigating, to keep him out of trouble, and Nick St. Claire showed up with his goonies and kidnapped us." Reggie's expression became shocked and confused, with just a hint of anger. "It was all fine, Archie busted us out, but when they took us, some guy shoved me into the side of a house and hence," she motioned to her head.