Trouble in Paradise?
Chapter Eight

They were all wearing black. They were laughing and pushing each other around.

I, very gracefully, dived off the swing and ran behind the slide. I peaked out, watching them.

This is when I actually took notice of their appearances.

Xavier was the tallest, having broad shoulders and his muscles bulging underneath his thin jumper. His dark brown hair stood out against his skin.

Blake was the second tallest, but also being the least muscular one, even though he was still pretty built. His blonde hair stood out against the black hoodie that he was wearing.

Ethan and Jordan both had light brown hair which was harder to notice in the light. They were built the same, both muscular and lean. Ethan was a bit taller, making Jordan the shortest one.

And all four of them were really, really, hot.

Unfair.

Never mind that, why are they in the park at this time anyway?

I didn’t know the answer to that, I was just pretty much praying that they didn’t see me. I’ll probably be branded as ‘stalker’.

I momentarily panicked when I realised that they were walking this way, obviously walking past the playground. Would they see me in the dark?

I had no idea.

I could bolt, but they’d probably see me.

While I was contemplating life or death, the worst possible thing happened.

My phone started to ring.

The phone screen lit up brightly, showing Kaitlyn’s face. I cursed. The brightness was all the way up, illuminating the dark around me.

And the boys had stopped talking, looking over here. I quickly turned the brightness down and sent Kaitlyn a text, telling her that I would call her later.

I peeked around the slide, only to replace that the boys had gotten a lot closer.

A lot closer.

As in they were standing around three metres away from me.

I awkwardly got out from behind the slide to meet two amused expressions and two hard looks.

I chuckled awkwardly. “Hey.. nice night out tonight isn’t it?”

“Are you stalking us?” Ethan said in a harsh tone.

I scoffed. “I was here first, so it’s not stalking. And no, one because I actually have a life and two because even if you guys had lives, I would have no interest in them,” I raised an eyebrow. I could feel Xavier’s blue eyes staring at me, narrowing his eyes, but I ignored him.

“Nice talking to ya, bye,” I said, confidently walking in the opposite direction. I opened up my phone and checked Google Maps, which pointed me in the right direction towards my house. I didn’t look back to see whether the boys had left or not.

When I opened the door to my house, I gasped.

The place was trashed.

Broken glasses littered the floor along with beer and alcohol bottles. I could smell the alcohol in the air along with smoke. But not fire smoke. drugs smoke.

Music was playing, but not too loudly. I saw my idiotic cousin sitting on the cousin, a girl on his lap that he was currently sucking the face off. More girls were sitting around him, nearly naked. I had to avert my eyes to save my innocence.

I saw guys also sitting on the couches, talking with the girls and drinking. Smoke was all around me, cigarettes and joints littered the floor as well.

What.

The.

Fuck.

No one had noticed me yet, thank god, so I was debating on whether or not I should yell at Christen or tell my mother.

If I told my mother, she would just give him a warning and leave again, leaving Christen to do whatever he wants to get back at me for telling on him.

If I yelled at him, I would probably end up getting hit or punched, which I didn’t want. I don’t need a black eye at the moment.

I quickly slipped up stairs, coughing a little from the smoke. I sighed and put my head in my hands. I can’t live with Christen, I literally just can’t deal with the idea of him in general.

I ended up just spending the rest of my evening doing homework. Occasionally, I would still hear the boom of laughter and giggles that erupted from downstairs. I heard crashing and thudding, no doubt the effect of being completely wasted.

Finally, I heard the front door close and the music stop. It was around eleven at night now, and I sighed with relief. I heard Christen walk upstairs, without cleaning up, and head into his room, slamming the door.

Then, I got a call from Kaitlyn. Crap! I forgot to call her back.

I picked up. “How was your evening with The Devil?” I said straight away, making her laugh.

“We just worked on choreo. Dude, her house is literally huge,” Kaitlyn replied.

“Stereotypical rich girl,” I rolled my eyes. “Was it horrible? Was it fun?”

“I hate to admit it but… it was actually pretty fun.”

“How?”

“I don’t even know, we were just laughing for most of the time. At worst, it was awkward but then we kind of got to know each other a little more, making it more fun,” she replied.

“Is she… nicer when you get to know her?”

“She actually is, well to me anyway. And let me tell you, she knows everything. She’s like a real life version of Regina George,” Kaitlyn snorted.

“That’s unfortunate. I would rather not be a part of the third Mean Girls movie,” I joked.

“Same, don’t need that in my life right now,” she sighed, exasperated. “I’m tired, I’m going to bed. Night.”

“Goodnight.” We hung up on each other and I packed my books and stationery away, changing into my pajamas. I got into bed and fell asleep almost immediately, worn out from the day.

At school the next day, things were pretty normal.

Of course, I was still branded as the ‘new girl’ but I expected that to happen.

When lunchtime rolled around, I was beyond relieved. The classes that I had before lunch were pretty boring and tiring, making me want to literally fall asleep in class. I needed food to fuel me and get my through the rest of the day.

I walked to the cafeteria, searching for Kaitlyn. I couldn’t replace her. I shrugged and went into the line, buying a small plastic container of hot pasta with sauce.

When I eventually just sat down at one of the empty tables, Kaitlyn came in and sat down.

“Sorry, English teacher wanted something. What’s up?” she said as she sat down.

“Not much, I was bored out of my mind for the whole day.”

“Oh yeah, same,” she said, taking a sip from the small carton of chocolate milk that she bought.

“But I have to tell you something,” she said, leaning in closer to whisper. “It’s about my-“

“Hey Kaitlyn,” I heard an annoyingly high pitched voice ask from behind me. I turned around to see a fake smiling Veronica, obviously having borrowed her clothes from her three year old baby cousin. I rolled my eyes and put a lovely scowl on my face.

Kaitlyn blinked. “Hey.. Veronica,” she said, a little awkwardly.

“Why are you sitting with this loser? You should totally come sit with us,” she said, flipping her hair and inclining her head towards the table that was currently full of her little minions.

I ignored the comment, clenching my fists and staring into the nearly empty container of pasta, debating on whether or not I should throw it behind me or eat it.

I still hadn’t made up my decision when Kaitlyn answered, “Um, sure okay.”

My mouth opened a little in shock but I quickly closed it. She muttered a quiet ‘sorry’ to me before gathering her lunch and standing up, following Veronica as they walked to the table. The girls already sitting there greeted Kaitlyn as if they had been best friends since they were toddlers. I rolled my eyes and got up, chucking the rest of my lunch in the bin.

Before I left, I glanced up to see the table again. What was weird was, the four boys weren’t sitting with the girls like they usually did. They weren’t in the cafeteria at all. Weird.

But when I looked towards the door, starting to make my move to the exit, I saw the boys watching the cafeteria with observing eyes. Their gazes locked on me and I looked down, walking to the exit. They moved when I walked past but I could feel their stares burning into the back of my head.

I walked down the hallway, sighing.