A R I A

"Can either of you explain why you're sitting in my office?" Jenkins grunts, leaning back on his chair. Cockroach stands off to the side, watching us.

I clear my throat. "Well, you see, there was this really, really massive peacock in the cafeteria."

"A headless peacock," Miles chimes in.

"Yes, that's right. A headless peacock just suddenly appeared in the middle of the cafeteria and um, started chasing us around. It was crazy, let me tell you." I say, trying to become more creative.

Mr. Jenkins doesn't look convinced one bit, so Miles continues where I left off.

"And uh, this headless peacock stole our food, so naturally, we starting chasing after it instead. Then it transformed into a dragon, and there was like, fire everywhere. Then there was a boom! and a crash! and all those really weird sounds that you can hear in movies. Right, Shortcake?" He waves his hands in the air, his face cringing at his terrible lie. Cockroach lifts a brow at me.

I nod. "Exactly! Then we were all like, 'what the f*ck?' but we had to—"

"Language!" Jenkins scolds.

"Hey, you wanted to know why we're sitting here. If you want to know, don't interrupt my story!" I snarl. Jenkins glares back, but I continue on with the tale. "Anyways, we had to get out of there before we were burnt to a crisp. And that's how we ended up here."

"Liar." Cockroach snorts.

"No one asked you, Cockroach. Why are you still here, anyway? Don't you have a class to teach?" Miles asks.

She grits her teeth. "I have prep."

"Interesting story," Jenkins says to me, rolling his eyes. "Both of you have an after school detention with me. If I don't see you here, you'll earn yourself one more, and so on. Am I clear?"

"Seriously? I already have two this week!" Miles sighs.

"Yes, seriously. Now, am I clear?" Jenkins repeats.

I mockingly salut him. "Yes, sir! You are clear!"

Miles laughs. "Well, he's not clear of that acne. They're like little, round, pink stars all over your face."

Jenkins flushes a deep red as I try to contain my laughter. Finally, he orders us out of the room and back to our next class. Though there's no point in going because there's only about seven minutes left of the period. We have Cockroach's class next, so we just follow her to the room and wait outside while she gets prepared.

Once we're alone, Miles and I burst out in laughter. The sound bounces off the walls, echoing throughout the empty hallway. We laugh until our stomachs hurt, but it's almost impossible to stop.

"'Headless peacock'? Really?" I shake my head, chuckling.

He grins. "What else was I supposed to say? Throw in a gorilla, too?"

"That was by far the stupidest thing I've ever said." I admit, still smiling like a lunatic.

"Me too," He laughs. But then Mile lifts his gaze from the floor and looks at me. "You know, you should smile more often. It's pretty."

I freeze and feel myself growing red. What the heck? "But I already do smile."

"Not as much as you think," he frowns. "Most of the time it's always forced. And it's not hard to see that. For me, at least."

I tear my eyes away from his, feeling awkward. Thankfully, the bell saves the day. I don't reply to Miles and take my seat at the back of the class while he goes to History. What does Cockroach even teach, again? Oh, right. Math. The worst subject with the worst teacher.

Students start piling in just as the late bell rings. Zoe sits beside me, ranting on and on about how much of a snob Marley is. The only word I manage to get out of it is 'cheeseburger' because I'm zoning out.

If Miles' brother is somehow connected to the murder of my parents, I want to know why and how.  Did he kill them himself? Are there other people involved? I have a million questions I'd like the answer to. Is Mike really psychotic? How did he manage to escape the asylum multiple times? If he did kill them, why? Did they do something?

Suddenly I'm transported back into the forest. The ground I walk on is slippery because of the mud, so I pray my clumsiness doesn't act up now. Leaves rustle in the distance, adding more creepiness to the eerie October night. I move slowly and cautiously, until a scream startles me and I stumble, sucking in a breath when a sharp rock slices my palm. I hiss, my hand throbbing as the blood spills. I watch it trail down my arm, drip onto my shoes. 

The strong smell reminds me of everything I saw when I found Mom and Dad, and then I'm in a pool. But it isn't like any other pool. Instead of water, it's blood. I'm swimming in a pool of blood, then drowning and choking on it. All I see is red. The colour used to be my favourite. I try reaching the surface when I sink, but it's like I'm being pulled to the floor of the pool. Red. Red. Red. It surrounds me, it engulfs me, it swallows me. I can't scream. I wish I could. This is it. This is the end.

"Earth to Aria." Zoe slaps my face lightly.

My eyes snap open and my breathing is hard. Sweat trickles down my neck and forehead. I sigh loudly. It wasn't real.

Zoe is holding my hand, squeezing it tightly as she tries to calm me. "Are you okay?"

No. I'm anything but okay. I don't even remember what that feels like.

I look up to see the entire class watching me. My gaze lands on Maya. She's wearing her usual evil smirk. No surprise there. Marley's gnawing at her lip while she looks at me nervously. Mrs. Cockroach barks at the class to pay attention to the lesson, and even though I know she couldn't care less about the embarrassment I endured, I can't help but feel a little thankful.

I turn back to Zoe and nod slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." I tell her. She presses her lips into a thin line, but eventually she leaves me alone.

Cockroach's words play over and over again in my head for the rest of the class. Liar. Liar. Liar. How many more times do I have to deal with these daydreams that turn into nightmares?

___

I am proud of myself. I updated two days in a row!! Where's my chocolate?

Anyways, I think this chapter was a little short, but I really gotta go do my homework. What do you think?

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Chloe ❤