Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series

by Daniele Lanzarotta

  I couldn’t even put Andrew’s expression into words… the closer I came to describing it was as beyond furious, and even that was not enough.

  He stood there, frozen in place, staring at Hunter in a way that made me scared for his life.

  Then he finally snapped. “We don’t have time for this right now. Kayla, I’m taking Kelly to the hospital, she thinks there is something wrong, so let’s go.”

  “But, we weren’t…”

  “Don’t care. I mean… I do care and we will talk about it. Whatever excuse you have is the part I don’t care about. Now, I said, LET’S GO.” Andrew then looked at Hunter, who sat there, speechless, probably wishing he could disappear without having the consequences of having to explain it later. “YOU!’ he said as he came closer to Hunter, pointing his index finger right at his face. “I want you gone by the time we get back, and make sure to leave your parents’ address and phone number on the kitchen table. And trust me, if it’s not there, I will find it one way or another.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Hunter said in a way that by looking at Andrew’s expression almost seemed to have calmed him down. It was just weird how Hunter had that effect on Kelly and Andrew.

  I went downstairs, pajamas and all. Kelly was already waiting in the car and Andrew said she was feeling a lot of pain, but didn’t go into it.

  Before we got in the car, he leaned toward me, and whispered. “Not a word about this to your mother… she doesn’t need the stress. Understood?”

  I nodded.

  Kelly seemed to be okay overall, she looked at me surprised and then at Andrew.

  “I thought you were just going to leave a note on her desk, honey.” She said in a questionable tone, looking for an explanation.

  Andrew kept looking forward as if he was really focused on his driving. I knew he was avoiding Kelly’s gaze, as she would see right through him. “She was up anyway,” he said.

  Well, it wasn’t technically a lie.

  ***

  It turned out that Kelly just had heartburn.

  It was already dawn when we got back home. Andrew avoided talking to me and I knew it was because him being mad would reflect in his tone. Either way, Kelly knew something was up and even though she was tired and needed rest, she told Andrew she wouldn’t be able to relax until we told her what was going on.

  So, he told her… everything!

  Kelly gave me that disappointed look that was worse than anything else.

  Andrew walked to the kitchen table, grabbing the piece of paper that Hunter had left, ensuring Kelly that he would call his parents and make sure there were consequences, but I just couldn’t allow Hunter to get in trouble when he was doing me a favor.

  I looked at Kelly, “Mom, it is really not what it seemed.”

  “Well, what was it then, Kayla?!” Andrew asked in a frustrated tone; knowing that it was exactly as he had seen.

  I really had to choose my words carefully not to get into any more trouble.

  “I’ve been having these really bad dreams and I’ve been having trouble sleeping again.” I looked down, avoiding their gaze, feeling awful for lying. “I didn’t want to worry you. I was afraid of staying up again; afraid that would lead me to see things like last time and I just thought if I had someone in my room while I slept I would be okay.”

  “So, for how many nights has this been happening?” Kelly asked.

  “Just last night, I swear! And the kiss, I don’t know how that happened. I don-don’t even like him like that!” My voice was breaking as I said that, surprising even myself that I couldn’t even say that in a convincing tone.

  Kelly sighed. “Look, Kayla, I’m going to trust you that nothing besides that kiss ever happened before—“

  “Honey!” Andrew interrupted.

  Kelly put her hand up for him to allow her to finish.

  “Hunter really seems like a good kid, responsible… but Kayla, you need to come to us when you have problems like that. I want you to see Dr. Moulder again.”

  Great!

  “Maybe get some distance from Hunter as well.”

  “But—“

  “Don’t push it, Kayla!” Andrew said.

  “Fine!” I got up and went to my room, got dressed and went back downstairs.

  “Where are you going?” Kelly asked. “We’ve kept you up all night; you will probably fall asleep in class.”

  “No. I’m good,” I assured them.

  I got in my car, and having sometime before school started, I drove to Hunter’s house.

  TWENTY-THREE

  I knocked on the door for quite a while before Hunter’s mom answered it. She held a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and a full glass on the other.

  “Come on in!” she said without even asking who I was.

  “Umm… It’s okay, Mrs. Chambers. Is Hunter home?” I asked without taking a step further. Truth was, she smelled like alcohol and I just didn’t feel like being around her for some reason.

  She didn’t say anything. She turned and walked toward the couch, barely able to make her way there.

  I took one step inside, and stopped. Again, hesitating to go in any further.

  Mrs. Chambers met my gaze. “He is in the shower. Just wait wherever you want to.”

  In a polite tone which I was sure she wouldn’t care less whether I was being polite or not, I said “Okay. I will just wait outside, Mrs. Chambers. Thank you.”

  I walked out and got in my car where I waited, and it only took a few minutes before Hunter opened the front door and rushed to my car, getting in the passenger seat.

  “Hey!” I said in a surprisingly cheerful tone that I wanted to take back, considering the circumstances the night before.

  He looked and sounded embarrassed. “I’m so sorry about my mom!”

  “It’s fine. You have nothing to feel sorry about. Guess we are just having bad luck with parents lately…”

  “To say the least… how did it go with your mom and dad? Is your mom okay?”

  I told him that Kelly was fine and the story that I made up about me not being able to sleep, which in a way was the truth. If it weren’t for Hunter being there, I would have been up all night.

  “Sorry you are stuck seeing that shrink again,” he said.

  I looked down, avoiding his gaze, wishing that I didn’t have to tell him the rest. “Yeah, and they also think we need some distance…”

  He shrugged. “That is actually not a bad idea.”

  I looked at him in shock, wondering why he would say that… feeling hurt. I wasn’t even able to hide my emotions because he went on to explain what he meant by that.

  “No, not like that! It’s not that I don’t enjoy your company or anything like that. I’m just thinking that I need time to figure out this Benjamin situation, you know… I have someone ready to help me, but I just need to find out Benjamin’s relation to your dad.”

  “Oh.”

  “And the kiss, I umm, it shouldn’t have happened. I was out of line and I should have stopped it from happening,” he said, looking as uncomfortable as I felt.

  Now I really felt pathetic. So, that kiss meant more to me than to him.

  After an awkward silence, I ignored how I felt about that kiss and moved on to something else that was on my mind.

  “What if he comes back? You know, at night?”

  He sighed. “I will be there, even if you can’t see me.”

  “So technically, you are not really staying away? I thought you doing that took too much energy from you.”

  “Well, yes, but we can’t risk last night’s situation again.”

  “Not a chance! I don’t want to put you through that. I will be fine.”

  “Are you going to at least call me if you are not fine? If you think he may be back, or even if you can’t sleep?” he asked in a concerned tone. I wondered if there was the slightest chance that he wasn’t doing this just because he knew what it felt like to be able to see things like Benjamin, but because he ac
tually cared about me.

  “Yes, I will call you,” I assured him, being well aware that would have been a worst-case scenario call.

  “Look, I can’t be late for school today. Kelly and Andrew know that I left early enough to be there on time. So, do you need a ride?”

  “Nah, I’m taking my mom’s car today. I have to get some things done after school.”

  “Okay. I will see you at school then,” I said in a cold tone.

  Before getting out of my car he stopped and looked back. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” I snapped.

  He just rolled his eyes, turned around and walked away.

  Guys! Ugh.

  ***

  I got to school early and it felt weird walking to class without Hunter around. Even with Emily and Jess there, keeping me up to date on the Ashley gossip, didn’t take the feeling away that something was off.

  To be honest, I wasn’t even listening to what they were saying. I knew it had something to do with Ashley deciding to give the baby up for adoption and that she still wouldn’t say who the dad was, other than guaranteeing that it was not Justin.

  Talking about Justin… ugh. He clearly noticed that Hunter was not around, because as soon as he saw me he came in my direction.

  I looked at Jessica and Emily and knew they were definitely not going anywhere.

  “Can we please talk?” he asked politely and sounding nothing like the stuck up Justin that I knew.

  I looked at my watch and rushing him, I said I only had a few minutes before I had to be in class and that I couldn’t afford to be late.

  Justin looked at Jessica and Emily. They were both smiling and clearly curious about what he had to say. “You know… this was a bad idea, I’m just gonna go,” he said as he started to walk away.

  Knowing Justin, whatever he had to say was just some unnecessary drama and I sure didn’t need anymore of that.

  Still, watching him walk away made me feel sorry for him, and just like that I had the most stupid idea ever.

  I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t clear as to whether I was doing this to get back at Kelly and Andrew about Hunter, or just to make Hunter jealous, but I left Jessica and Emily standing there speechless and went after Justin.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  I really didn’t want to be late for class, so I had agreed to talk to Justin during lunch.

  He met me right at the entrance of the cafeteria. By that time, I had told Emily that I was going to give Justin a chance… to at least hear what he had to say. When she asked about Hunter, I shrugged and told her that nothing ever happened and that we were just friends. She didn’t look like she believed me, and although I could tell she thought talking to Justin was a bad idea, she didn’t stop me. In their own way, Emily and Jessica were good friends, but they were also the most curious friends I had ever had. Whether talking to Justin was bad or not, they wanted to know what he had to say even more than I did.

  Justin walked me to a table in the back of the cafeteria where it was somewhat quieter.

  We sat there, staring at our food, not sure what to say.

  I finally broke the silence. “So, what did you want to say earlier today?”

  Justin still avoided my gaze. “Not important.”

  “Oookay….”

  His attitude changed when Hunter entered the cafeteria.

  He looked up, meeting my gaze, and put his hand over mine.

  “Look, I was just wondering if I could have another chance.” He started to rush what he had to say before Hunter got to our table, almost as if he was afraid or as if he knew that he wouldn’t be able to finish what he had to say once Hunter reached us. “I know what I did, going out with Ashley behind your back was wrong, but she practically threw herself at me, and… well, I’m sorry and—“

  He stopped once Hunter approached.

  “Just how many times do you need to be told to leave her alone?” Hunter hissed.

  I met Hunter’s gaze. “It’s fine. We were just talking.”

  Justin’s cocky smile was a sign that he was still the same conceited jerk.

  “Dude, she doesn’t need your ‘bodyguard’ services anymore… Just go stalk someone else!”

  At that moment the cafeteria went completely silent. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching us, eagerly waiting for Hunter’s reaction.

  He looked at me.

  “We are just talking.” I told him.

  Hunter turned around and left the cafeteria.

  “Look, Justin… If you want to be friends, great, but that is as far as we will go.”

  He agreed, clearly hopeful that friendship would lead to something else.

  I still had a few minutes before my next class, so I left the cafeteria and walked to the restroom. Honestly, I just wanted to be alone. I felt horrible for letting Hunter go like that, but some things I knew for sure. We were nothing but friends and that sure didn’t bind him to protecting me from everything and everyone.

  I just needed to get that ‘kiss’ out of my head and move forward… no, not with Justin. It might have been stupid to talk to him, but I wasn’t that stupid.

  Hunter had said the kiss was a mistake and there was no way that dating Justin again would make him jealous. Maybe Andrew and Kelly were right… a little distance couldn’t hurt.

  ***

  That afternoon I decided to stop by Ashley’s house. I don’t know why, I just felt sorry for her, I guess. I didn’t even tell Emily or Jessica that I was going because they would want me to get whatever gossip material I could.

  Ashley opened the door.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, immediately looking past me to see whether I was alone.

  I shrugged. “Just wanted to talk.”

  “Huh.” She looked puzzled, but motioned for me to follow her in. No one was there but us, and the house was nothing like I remembered.

  Ashley’s house used to be spotless clean, well organized, and overall, just a comfortable place to hang out. Now there were clothes, mail, and newspapers, scattered all over the living room. There were dirty cups on the coffee table. The house had gone from cozy to dark and cold.

  I was sure she noticed my reaction at that complete mess, but she didn’t care.

  She said she had been chatting with someone on her computer so we went to her room, which was no different than the rest of the house.

  I managed to find a spot on her bed so I could sit and wait until she was done, but I was so close to her desk that I couldn’t help but to look over her shoulder to see who she was chatting with. And no, I had no intentions of sharing my findings with anyone.

  I really did start to feel sorry for Ashley.

  TeenCounsel23, that was the person’s screen name. I was glad that the font in the chat room wasn’t small, because I had no trouble in reading through the rest of it. I didn’t even mean to actually read the entire thing, but I just couldn’t look away, and Ashley didn’t seen to even notice.

  She had been trying to deal with the fact that she didn’t know who her baby’s father was. “No, I do not and have never done drugs, or been drunk, or have some sort of medical condition that would cause me not to remember it.” I noticed her breathing getting heavier as she typed, as if she was getting frustrated, and it seemed like she might have forgotten that I was even there.

  TeenCounsel23 offered to get her the phone number for a local office where she could go in and speak to someone about it. That was when she closed the screen on the computer.

  “Once again, waste of my freaking time!” she said to herself before she turned and faced me.

  She was still infuriated.

  “Fine, you want to talk? Here it is… I fell for Justin, couldn’t help myself. He kept telling me that he was going to break it off with you and I believed him so we kept dating… Was I wrong? YES! I should have told you myself.”

  “Okay…” I was honestly startled by the sudden sharing of emoti
ons and events, especially considering how long it had been since we said a word to each other.

  “So, what do want?” she asked

  “I just came by to see if… if you needed someone to talk to.”

  Ashley started laughing, shaking her head. “Jessica and Emily stop at nothing to get ahead on the gossip.”

  “They didn’t –” I froze in place, mid-sentence at the sight of Benjamin, standing in the corner of her room, with that stupid evil grin that I had not missed at all.

  “Like I thought!” She said. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m leaving next week to live with my grandma.”

  I tried to ignore Benjamin and focus on her, but I could sense he was still there. Getting no reaction from me, she continued. “They want gossip, just give it to them… mom and dad split up because of me. Grandma wants me to keep the baby and I decided that I want to as well, so I’m moving to Utah to live with her.”

  Benjamin’s grin grew wider and he started to walk toward her.