𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 • 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤

ten

"How is it Monday again?" I asked Emilia as we wandered through the halls, both a little early in school.

"Crazy, right? Time flies," she replied. "Anyways, are you coming to the football game on Friday?"

I snorted. "Am I coming to the football game? I'm pretty much part of the team, my brother would have me beheaded if I didn't show up."

"Fair," she laughed back. "So I'll see you there, then. Jenny asked me if I wanted to come with her, I think she has a secret thing for one of the guys."

"Ooh," I wiggled my eyebrows. "Which one? I know pretty much all of them."

"The tall blonde one," she replied. "Black eye guy. He's a friend of your brother's."

I stopped walking and sighed. "Tell me it's not Liam."

"Is that his name?" she chuckled. "Well, yeah, it's probably Liam then."

I shook my head and continued walking. "That guy is a fucking joke."

Emilia shrugged. "He's got a pretty face when it's not beaten up and I think that's where Jenny's interests are."

I chuckled. "Yeah, his black eye was pretty nasty. Delivered personally by Colby Brock."

"So I've heard," she nodded. "It's probably got to do with what happened last year."

"Yeah, about that, what did happen last year?" I asked her, looking over at her face.

She turned to look at me as well. "I can't tell you."

I groaned. "Seriously? You too?"

"No, really, I can't tell you. I have no idea of what went down, no one does. Well, except for Brock and your brother and his friends, I suppose. It's the fucking school mystery. We're all dying to know, but we probably won't ever find out," she explained. "If anything, I kinda hoped you could tell me but apparently they've even been keeping it from you."

We turned into the classroom that was still completely empty, apart from mister Williams sitting at his desk, going through papers. "Good morning," he nodded at us. "You're early."

"Good morning," both of us replied, and I continued our conversation.

"There must be something you know," I spoke as we sat down in our usual seats.

I watched her as she shuffled her chair closer to me, our tones now quieter. "I know there was this one girl at our school that Colby used to talk to, and then one day she just... never came back. Up and left."

I frowned. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," she confirmed. "And that's all I know. That's all everyone knows."

As other students started coming into class, I turned my head to look out the window. The gears in my head were turning at full speed, all of them quite puzzled by this newly acquired information. Hero never kept anything from me, which is why I found it all the more suspicious that this was the first time I heard about this girl. Obviously something happened, something that caused Colby's hatred for my brother and his friends - especially Liam - and I was bound to find out about it.

I was shaken from my thoughts as Colby sat down in his usual chair in front of me. I stared at the back of his head, through the bigger part of this stupid math class. How I wished I could peer inside his head for a moment and find out what this school's big mystery is all about. How I wished I wasn't so much of a curious, drama-loving individual.

During lunch break, I was determined to try and find out what Hero had been hiding from me. And not just Hero, Tyler as well.

"Boys," I announced as I plopped down on the seat in front of Hero at the cafeteria, who was seated next to Tyler.

Hero looked up at me questioningly, before turning to Tyler. "That's her interrogation face, Ty, we should run while we still can."

I shook my head. "You're not going anywhere, and neither are you, Marshall."

"Oh," Tyler smiled at my use of his last name. "So you're serious, huh?"

"Absolutely," I replied and crossed my arms, leaning on the table. "Now, you're going to tell me about this big secret you're hiding from me. And been hiding for a year."

Tyler's facial expressions turned around, suddenly not cheery anymore. Hero tilted his head. "What big secret, sis?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't play dumb, bro. You know damned well what I'm speaking of. In case you do need some sort of memory support, however, his name is Colby Brock and you have beef with the guy. Serious beef. You're telling me why."

"Listen, Ara," Tyler started, his voice soft. "There's a reason Hero hasn't told you about this. I know what kind of person you are so I know you're always eager to learn everything about everyone, but some things are better left alone."

I shook my head, but before I could speak up again, Hero did. "Tyler's right, as always. Stay out of this before you make it worse. I am not putting me or my friends in jeopardy for your childish curiosity, there's no chance in Hell."

Tyler sighed, knowing as well as I did that if Hero had wanted to have any effect on me, he should have not worded his point like that. Against all of my instincts though, I swallowed my words and decided not to reply. I stood up from my chair and left the cafeteria, ignoring Tyler as he called out my name.

I pushed past several people as I made my way towards the school's entrance, earning the occasional glare. I won't say I didn't deserve it - I would have glared at me too. I pressed my palms against the door and pushed, leaping out into the cold air.

"So eager to see me again, Arabella?" Colby asked as he was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.

"Not really," I replied, leaning against the rail fence on the right side of the door, in front of him.

"Well, you do know I come out here to smoke my usual cigarette during lunch break," he shrugged. "So what do you need?"

"God, not everything's about you!" I near-to snapped at the guy, crossing my arms.

He raised his eyebrows, his eyes not leaving me as he took another drag. "You seem to be in a bad mood."

"Clever observation, Sherlock," I huffed. "You would be too if it seemed like the entire school was conspiring against you."

"The entire school is conspiring against me," he chuckled. "You're not special, Arabella. Suck it up."

I shook my head. "You're laughing now but you won't be once I find out."

He rolled his eyes. "What could you possibly find out that'd bother me so much I'd stop laughing at you?"

"Your little secret. The one my brother and his friends are hiding from me. I will find out, one way or another," I spoke, watching his reaction.

It was his turn to shake his head, taking a last drag from his cigarette before letting it fall to the ground and stepping on it. "You've got no business in that and you'll never find out anyways."

"What makes you so certain I won't?" I scoffed, taking a step closer to him, but he didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated.

Instead, he let out a small chuckle. "Well, I sure as Hell don't plan on telling you and your brother wouldn't want his perfect appearance smeared. Definitely not with his precious sister. Don't you see, Arabella? I have nothing to fear. Nothing."

As I did before, he took an intimidating step closer to me. The only difference was that his attempt actually worked, where mine didn't. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I told you before I'm not scared of you."

"Oh, Arabella," he sighed and lifted my chin with his thumb and pointer finger so I had to look up into his eyes. Whereas sometimes they were a bright blue and amused, they were now dark and brooding. His teasing smile from earlier was gone and left his face expressionless, leaving me to decide for my own what he was thinking. I just knew it wasn't good. "You definitely should be."