Chapter 2 ~TWO~

I don't know why I thought school the next day would be any different. I was greeted with the same whispers and stink eyes as I'd been for the past month now.

"Hey, Veronica." Nathan walked up to me in the hallways.

I froze. Nathan and I were not in the same league so him talking to me in the hallways would warrant suspicion from everyone, especially his girlfriend and then they'd find out what I tried to do. And somehow, they would manage to make death more pleasant than my life.

"Don't ignore me, Veronica." He said, finally reaching me at my locker.

"Oh my God, Nathan. What are you doing?" I said and shut my locker.

"I just want to talk. Is that a crime?"

"We've been classmates since third grade, Nathan. So yes, talking to me now after all these years, is a crime."

I heard him sigh and thought he stopped following me but he pulled me back and I was facing him.

I looked at him and waited for him to speak but he said nothing. "If you have nothing to say," I swallowed as I saw people staring, including Mia, "then let me go."

Nathan looked at me for a moment then let me go and just as I turned to scurry back into the comfortable shadows of Gregory High, I stumbled into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I apologised and went straight to my class.

Talk about a great way to start the day.

I got to class and settled down at my seat in the back.

"Good morning class." Our History teacher, Mr. Fitz walked in.

"Good morning sir." The class chorused in response.

Just then, a boy walked into the class and headed to find a seat

"Oh, right. We have a new student. Um, why don't you introduce yourself." Mr. Fitz said.

The boy froze in his steps and turned to face the class.

"Kieran. My name is Kieran." He said then proceeded to sit beside me.

Yay.

"Okay, guys please make sure Kieran feels welcome here." Mr. Fitz said.

"Oh, with pleasure." Mia said and toyed with her hair and the class laughed.

Mr. Fitz started teaching but I couldn't focus on anything because I felt Kieran's eyes burning holes into the side of my head.

Finally, I gave in and looked at him but he wasn't looking at me.

That was weird, I could have sworn he was.

Few minutes into the lesson and I felt him staring at me again, I turned to look at him but he was looking at Mr. Fitz and intently so.

Then he looked at me and smiled, "Hi."

I smiled back but didn't respond.

"Why were you staring?" He asked and my brows rose.

"Me? You were the one staring at me." I defended.

"Well, did you catch me staring at you? Because I caught you staring at me." He smirked.

I narrowed my eyes at him and knew immediately that Kieran was trouble.

I tried to focus on Mr. Fitz's lesson. It was pointless though because all I could think of was the two eyes opposite me that just couldn't find anything else more interesting than my head.

Finally, the bell rang and the silent torture was over.

I turned to Kieran to give him a piece of my mind but he was already gone.

Good for me.

As I walked to my locker to get my books for my second class, Mia bounced towards me.

"Hey, you." She said.

I rolled my eyes because I knew exactly what she wanted to talk about.

"What's up?" I asked her without looking, knowing she will follow me.

"Honestly, I don't know what is up but I sure as hell know what will never go up - Nathan's dick in your ass."

"Woah." I choked on my saliva. I couldn't help but laugh. "You think I'm into Nathan? Girl, I can never come in between y'all's plastic love. I'm allergic."

I slammed my locker and walked away.

"I'm serious. Stay away from him." She yelled and caught everyone's attention.

I just walked away from the scene as the whispers continued.

For the rest of the day, I avoided Nathan and the weird new guy and all was well until my meeting with Ms. Jenna.

Ms. Jenna is my neighbour slash therapist and I visited her almost every day.

I knocked on the door and instead of Ms. Jenna's warm smile, I was greeted by a smiling Kieran.

"And we meet again, darling." He smiled. He didn't seem even slightly surprised at my presence.

"Come in." He gestures.

"What are you doing here?" I say and make myself comfortable in the parlour.

"I would ask you the same thing but Jenna talks about you a lot, so."

He shrugs.

I was about to point it out to him that that didn't answer my question when Ms. Jenna walked in.

"Veronica! I knew it'd be you at the door. How was school today?"

I tilted my head in confusion.

Only Ms. Jenna knew about my suicide mission and only Nathan knew I didn't go through with it. So, I kind of expected a more surprised reaction to my presence.

"Um, school was like every other day. Probably even worse. But, Ms. Jenna, aren't you forgetting something?" I raised a brow in an attempt to kickstart her memory.

"Right, the quesadilla in the microwave. Be right back!" And she bolted to the kitchen.

Kieran, who was still standing by the door, raised a brow at me.

"What?" I asked him.

He shrugged and walked over to the chair I was sitting on.

"Nothing, it's just that something tells me it wasn't the quesadilla in the microwave you were reminding Auntie Jenna about. Am I right?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I'll take that as a yes. So, if you don't mind me asking, what were you reminding her about?" He folded his arms across his chest and sat beside me.

I stood up and moved to another chair, "Well, I do mind you asking so don't."

"Oh, I'm sorry darling. I didn't mean to pry."

"I'm not your darling."

Before he could say anything else, Ms. Jenna walked in with two plates of quesadillas.

"Kieran, you can help yourself with what's left in the kitchen. These are for me and Veronica."

Kieran rolled his eyes and went upstairs.

"Ms. Jenna, thanks but I already ate on my way here." I gave her a small smile.

"Oh okay, more for me then." We laughed.

I heard a door close upstairs and knew Kieran was out of hearing.

"Ms. Jenna," but I whispered anyway, "I didn't go through with it."

"Yeah, that's amazing."

"Yeah, Nathan intervened. He probably thinks he helped but I really wanted to end my life right then and there."

"That would've been a bummer, you're a great girl. Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you."

Usually, I felt relaxed, sometimes even more at home than I did at my actual home, with Ms. Jenna. But at that moment, she really didn't seem like the shoulder to lean on.

"Hey, I'll be going now." I smiled at her.

"Oh okay. You didn't taste my quesadillas though." She pouted.

"Some other time, I promise." I chuckled.

"Going so soon?" I heard Kieran say.

I froze, I thought he was locked away in some room upstairs. That meant, he probably heard me and Ms. Jenna.

Crap.

"Yeah." I said and rushed to open the door but it was locked.

Weird. The door was never locked.

I heard Kieran slowly walk up to me and placed his hand on the knob.

"So, see you around?" He whispered, looking into my eyes.

For a moment, I got lost in his peculiarly silver eyes, but I shook out of it.

"Yeah, see you around." I cleared my throat and nodded towards the door.

He nodded then opened the door for me.

"Thanks." I smiled and waved.

"Sure thing, darling."

I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

When I got to the house, Judy wasn't home and the door was locked.

Worst of all, the spare key wasn't under the garden gnome as usual.

I cursed and instinctively headed back to Ms. Jenna's house.

"Hey, sorry to barge in again but Judy's not home and I can't find the spare key." I said as I walked into the living room.

"Oh, that's too sad." I heard Kieran say from the kitchen and clenched my fist, remembering he was still here.

"Yeah. Where is Ms. Jenna?" I asked.

"In her room taking a nap."

My brows furrowed. I turned to ask Kieran if Ms. Jenna was okay but then I bumped into him.

"Wow. This is the second time you've bumped into me today. Do you need glasses or something?" He said.

"Second time today?" I asked, massaging my temple.

"Yeah, the hallway. Remember?" He said, eating his quesadilla.

My eyes widened and I felt my cheeks heat up. I was so busy running from Nathan's attention that I didn't realise I had accidentally captured Kieran's. Great.

"Oh, no need to be embarrassed. Think nothing of it." Kieran smiled reassuringly and I looked away to hide my face from him.

"Sorry about that. I didn't see you there."

"It's okay, darling." He chuckled and waved his hand at me dismissively.

"Anyways," I shook my head and put myself back together. "Ms. Jenna was fine just before I left, why is she taking a nap now?"

"Oh, I don't know. The lady is too crazy to be understood." Kieran shrugged and turned on the TV.

I could attest to that fact but it still didn't make sense to me. I let it go after a few minutes and decided to focus on the channel that Kieran had tuned into but it was even more boring than staying at home alone.

I brought out the novel I was currently reading.

"Nice choice." Kieran commented.

"What?"

"The novel. It's a good read."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I bought it." I deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes and continued his quesadilla.

"Why do you eat so slow?"

He smirked, "I found out that eating slowly makes people jealous and hungry and wonder what your food tastes like. Is it working?"

"Not even slightly." I murmured and refocused on my book.