Loving The Bad Boy

Starstruck on Stage

I paced back and forth in front of Reed's locker, anxiously glancing at the clock for the umpteenth time that morning. Sleep had eluded me entirely the night before, and I'd walked to school an hour early in the hopes that Reed might have done the same if he had, in fact, managed to avoid being captured by the police.

To my dismay, however, I had found the school hallways barren, except for a few students and teachers roaming the hallways. Scanning the school parking lot, I confirmed my haunting suspicion that Reed had, in fact, not yet arrived at school.

As time had passed, however, I'd only become increasingly worried as the time in which he usually arrived came and went. There was about five minutes left before school started, and Reed still had not arrived.

Every scenario running through my head that would explain his absence seemed to always leave me frantic, wishing I'd ran with Reed instead of staying in my hiding place behind the bushes. Whether he'd eluded capture and gone into hiding or been taken into custody and delivered by the cops to his father, either way, the end result would eventually be the same. The cops would report his behavior to his father if they hadn't been able to catch him, and undoubtedly provide his father with an excuse to exercise his abusive behavior.

"Hey, Liz!"

Turning on my heels, I frowned deeply as Kristen jogged up to me, a small, carefully folded note in her hand.

"Hello Kristen." I said hurriedly, narrowing my eyes at her. "Would you happen to know where Reed is-"

"Yeah, about that..." Krisen said, her voice trailing off slightly. "Reed told me what happened. Which is kinda why I'm here, actually. Don't worry, Reed's alright, he's kinda hiding out right now. See, him and his band, they have this gig tonight, and he knows if he's in deep shit with his father, he won't be able to go. So, he's trying to keep himself under the radar till his little concert tonight. He's worried if he comes to school himself, the cops'll track him down, or his dad will beat them to it after he didn't come home last night. He's going to head home after the concert and stuff, but he doesn't want to get locked up and grounded or whatever until tonight's over. So, instead, he sent me here to deliver this to you." She added chipperly, handing me the note.

Eyeing the folded piece of paper warily, I carefully unfolded it, glancing up at Kristen momentarily.

"Wait, don't you have class today too?"

Kristen shrugged, sticking out her tongue a little and shaking her head. "I like to give myself a day off at least once a week to just chilax and do my own thing, you know."

I nodded, trying to hide my disapproval as I unfolded the note. I had no right to pass judgment on my new friend, especially seeing as she'd been so kind as to not judge me. Besides, there were more important, pressing matters that I had to see to at the moment, like my predicament with Reed.

Looking down at the note, I read the brief message scribbled on the lined piece of paper, immediately recognizing Reed's handwriting.

Tonight. Tully's Coffeehouse. 9 p.m.

Glancing back up at Kristen, I handed her the note, hoping that showing her would give her enough information to help me make sense of what exactly Reed had written.

Kristen, however, looked down at the note, than back up at me, before letting out a loud snort.

"C'mon, Liz. Do you really think I came all this way to deliver the note to you and didn't bother snooping? Yeah, right. There's a reason Reed made that so brief. He knew I'd read it before it even got to you."

For a second, I stared over at Kristen, unable to hide my disbelief at how shameless she was. It was beyond my comprehension how she could invade someone's privacy as she had and openly admit to doing so without even blinking.