A R I A

"Wait, let me get this straight. You and Miles got stuck in a basement together, and then in a closet?" Zoe waves her hands around like a maniac.

"That's what I just said happened, yes." I say.

"With a killer?" Lizzy gasps.

"Maybe," I shrug.

"Your life just keeps getting crazier and crazier." Zoe digs her fingers into her fries. She doesn't look very ladylike, and if her mom were here to see, Zoe would be six feet under by now.

"Tell me about it," I say. But then I remember the paint war Miles and I had and smile to myself. I had intentionally made him look like a carrot. From his head all the way to his feet, he was covered in orange paint. His hair was soaked with a bright green, and he had told me it took forever to wash out. Unlike last time when we had our second encounter, he made no threats and instead made me look like a blueberry. "But I think we've . . . bonded. I mean, we don't hate each other anymore."

Liz rolls her eyes. "You never did."

Before I can throw a reply back at her, someone squishes themselves between me and Zoe, throwing their arms over our shoulders.

"Hello, ladies." Hunter says with a grin. "What kind of trouble shall we cause today?"

"I wouldn't mind stuffing Cockroach's purse with cow dung." Zoe suggests.

Miles plops himself down beside me. I look at him suspiciously with his hood pulled all the way over his eyes. He leans over and grabs a handful of Zoe's fries, which makes her sneer at him.

"Uh, why are you acting so strange?" I ask, lifting his hood a bit so that I can make eye contact with him.

"I'm hiding," He says, pulling the hood back down.

"From who?"

"The psychotic chicks standing behind us." Miles whispers, keeping his head down low. He taps Hunter's shoulder and jerks his chin in the direction where Marley and Maya are, scanning the cafeteria.

"Oh, shit." Hunter groans and pulls his own hood up. "Why are they everywhere we are?"

Liz gives them both an are-you-serious? look. "They're obsessed with you, obviously. Like Leo is with Ria."

"He is not obsessed with me!" I exclaim. Why does everyone think that?

Miles scoffs and slams his hand on the table, making us all jump. "Yes, he is. And it's not in a good way, either!"

"Whoa, dude. Calm down." Hunter says, his dark eyes widened in surprise.

Miles shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair. "Sorry. I'm just . . . in a bad mood today."

I narrow my eyes at him but don't say anything. Instead, I turn to Hunter and ask, "Where's Ryan?"

"Lunch detention with Cockroach."

Ah. She is best known for those, so I'm not surprised.

"Shit," Miles says.

"Wha—"

I'm cut off by none other than Maya and her sidekick. "Aria, what a surprise. After what happened yesterday, at your house, I didn't think you would show up."

I grit my teeth and turn to look at Maya, who almost resemembles a clown with all that make-up on her face. "How do you even know about that?"

Maya smirks. "The whole city knows, Aria. It was on the news. Was that blood on the walls? So gross."

Of course it was on the news. How did I not know? That explains all the strange looks everyone's been giving me.

Well, everyone except for my friends. Liz and Zoe don't watch the news so I had told them what happened already, while Hunter probably got the information from Miles.

"Okay, Pennywise, I think it's best you scram and return to the sewers." Hunter comments. Maya gasps. He soon realizes his mistake and clamps his hands over his mouth.

"Hunter? There you are!" Marley sqeauls, pulling his hood off.

"Shit, I blew my cover." He whines.

"Idiot," Zoe says, throwing a fry at his face. He grins at her and catches the fry in his mouth.

"Did you just call him an idiot? Why don't you be respectful once in a while, huh?" Marley glowers at Zoe.

"Don't you have any respect for yourself? I mean, seriously! All you do is throw yourself at every guy you lay your eyes upon." Zoe fires back.

"Oooooh," Liz laughs, pointing at Marley. All of us shoot her a look. "What? She speaks the truth!"

Marley fumes and shoves Zoe. "I'm going to kill you and your stupid fish!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, keep Bobo out of this! You can kill Zoe, but not Bobo. He's a good man." Hunter stands up. "Wait, I mean, he is a good fish."

Zoe arches a brow and says, "Really, Hunt?"

He shrugs.

Maya rolls her eyes and suddenly grabs Miles' arm, pulling him up to his feet while he pleads for my help.

Where are my goddamn emergency water balloons?

Maya wraps her arms around his neck and dives in for a kiss, but even though Miles stands frozen in horror, he manages to lean his head back, buying me more time when I finally find one water balloon in my pocket and fill it up with what I assume is water in Lizzy's bottle.

Aiming for Maya's blood red puckering lips, I throw the balloon. Miles jumps away just in time so as not to get hit and gives me a high five.

Maya's ear piercing scream silences the entire cafeteria. She wipes the liquid off her face and spits some of it out. She stalks towards me, her claws ready to rip my throat out.

"You threw bleach at my face!" She shrieks. I wince. That was bleach? How the hell did I not smell it?

She deserves it anyways.

Miles grabs my hand and we bolt for the doors when the lunch ladies start to surround us, but we're too late.

Cockroach catches us as soon as the bell rings. Ryan stands behind her, giving us a quizzled look. His gaze travels to our interlocked fingers and wiggled his eyebrows. Miles sighs and drops my hand. I surprise myself when I find my lips twisting into a frown, missing the warmth from his hand already.

"Get to class, Ryan," Cockroach barks. She glares at us. "You two are coming with me to the principal's office."

Well, isn't Mr. Jenkins going to be just delighted when he sees me in his office for the twentieth time this month.

___

HAI!

It's a lame chapter, I know. But I promise the next one will be a little bit more entertaining.

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Chloe ❤