Chapter 40: Bad Influence

"Ow," Chrissie exclaimed.

"You ok?" I asked, trying to project my voice through the brick walls of the shower I was in.

"No, the water's too hot," she complained.

I giggled quietly to myself. But she did have a point, my neck was bright red where the water from the shower had hit it.

"Umm, Maddie?" Chrissie asked.

"Yeah."

"Did you bring a towel?" I could tell she was biting her lip, trying to keep herself from laughing. And when she couldn't take it anymore, she burst into fits of giggles.

"I guess we're going to be dripping all over the classroom floors," I replied, only half joking.

"Or we could just finish the school's supply of toilet paper," she suggested, swallowing to stop her laughter.

"Good idea." I replied, turning the water off.

We climbed out of the showers in sync and absorbed the water that clung to our bodies, with toilet paper; and dried our hair with the hand-dryer. It was still early so nobody was in the locker rooms, except us.

The locker-room was very basic with only three showers and three toilet cubicles, but it had over ten sinks. Either more showers and toilets were expected, but the budget was too low, or this portion of the school was very poorly thought out.

Chrissie and I waited in first period English for the bell to ring. We were so early that the only other people in the school were the janitors.

"Is it just me or is there something seriously creepy about Mr. Ward?" Chrissie asked, shivering dramatically.

"It's just you," I replied, as Mr. Ward walked past the classroom window. I gave him a friendly wave. Instead of waving back he glared at us out of the corner of his eye. "Never mind, he's creepy," I corrected myself. Mr. Ward look liked the 'butler' of the school. If anything went wrong, it looked like the blame would be pinned on him, for no other reason than he just acted dodgy.

"Told you." Chrissie started laughing again. I was getting worried, it looked like she was laughing as a coping mechanism so that's she wouldn't have to think about Shawn. She looked like she was high, and I would have assumed she was if I hadn't been with her all morning.

"You ok?" I asked her. "You know, with Shawn."

Chrissie immediately sobered down at the mention of his name. She played with the button on her, well my, floral shirt. "Yeah, I'm good," she mumbled, so softly I had to tilt my ear towards her to know what she was saying.

"You're here early," Ms. Embly said, causing both Chrissie and I to jump.

"You know what they say about snoozing and losing," I told her.

She looked at me from under her glasses, clearly not finding my joke funny. It seemed like she was trying to see if I was lying, trying to find out if we had a hidden agenda.

"Very well then." She set her books down on her table. "You can stay, as long as you remain silent."

Chrissie nodded her head, probably wishing we had sought refuge at the cafeteria instead of here.

Chrissie and I sat in silence, trying to communicate with eye contact and obviously not getting very far. Neither of us was psychic, and we had never been close enough to actually know what the other was thinking.

"Hi." Caspian walked into the classroom, not seeing Ms. Embly sitting by her desk.

I waved and gestured towards the teacher who craved silence above anything else.

"Oh," Caspian mouthed and made a quick retreat to the back of the classroom.

"We need to talk," he whispered in my ear as he shuffled past me, with his backpack thrown over one of his shoulders.

I subtly nodded my head.

"What did you want to talk about?" I stopped outside Caspian's locker as he stuffed all his books in, before slamming the door and pressing the lock closed.

"Don't you need some of those?" I put my hand on the cold metal of the locker.

"Nope," he shook his head, his blond hair falling into his hands. "We're bunking," he clarified.

"You mean you're bunking," I protested, making an effort to move past him.

He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back towards him. "We're bunking," he repeated smirking. My back was against the locker and his hands were on either side of my head, trapping me in. I shook my head, trying to stand my ground. I was in a difficult position since his light blue eyes gazed into mine, making me want to agree to whatever he said. His lips travelled down my cheek and stopped just above my mouth. "What'll it take to convince you?" he whispered, without removing his lips from my skin. I shook my head and pushed against his hard chest. I might as well have been trying to move a ten-ton elephant. He didn't budge even one inch.

I opened my mouth to tell him I really needed to attend class, but was stopped by his lips lightly brushing against mine. "Please," he pleaded, his lips hovering inches away from mine.

"Why?" I asked.

"More information about Victoria," Caspian replied.

"You're such a bad influence," I pouted, knowing arguing was no use. I was going to end up going with him in any event.

"I knew you'd succumb to my charisma," Caspian teased, stroking my cheek with the tip of his index finger.

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