Chapter 2. School

Blake

“Bye Ricky!” I shouted, slamming the door behind me while still munching on the cookie I stole earlier from the kitchen and hurried towards Leila’s car as we were already late to school.

I was such in a good mood today after that late night debate, knowing that I won. I finally had it my way! I was finally going to a frat party, for the first time in my life!

I opened the passenger seat door and hopped in, almost instantly assaulted by a squealing, extremely excited Leila.

Guess she was just as excited as I was, after two years of being kept in my own house like a damn prisoner, I was finally able to hang out with my one and only best friend, and have a little fun.

Want to know what was the reason behind my captivity?

Well, let’s just say we went on a double date that didn’t end up too well, the guys being killed on spot for trying to kidnap and rape the both of us, courtesy of my brother’s various enemies, of course, that damned day being also the day Leila found out who my brother really was, and not just a “business man” like he pretended to be. And on the very same day, he forced her to swear an oath, mostly consisting in keeping her mouth shut for the rest of her life, the other option being a bullet in her skull.

“B, oh my god, I’m so happy I think my head is going to pop!” She yelled in a high-pitched tone, clapping her hands together in excitement.

“Whoa, easy there, we wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we?” I teased, chuckling. But somehow, she managed to pick up the faint hint of sadness laced in my tone, her next question clearly confirming it.

“B, you okay girl?”

Only one question, and my words quickly came out on their own.

“Why do you keep on being friends with me?”

After all this time, I kept asking myself the same question; why on earth would she deliberately choose to be friends with someone as dangerous as I was?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I didn’t want her to, but knowing that danger was following me almost everywhere, due to my brother’s antics, it was kind of hard not to think about it...

However, she clearly also knew the real meaning behind my words, her answer being always the same,

“You already know why.”

She winked, giving me a warm smile, her hand finding my own, giving it a light squeeze.

I smiled back, sighing, feeling so grateful for being blessed with her sincere friendship.

“It’s ok B, you know I got you.”

I nodded, leaning back in my seat, straightening myself up.

“Anyway, I still can’t believe your brother actually accepted to let you out of the house this weekend!” She quickly changed that sensitive subject, chirping more excited, lighting up the mood.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe that either but however, you know that we’ll have to endure having Kieran on our tail most of the time...” I said, bringing down her excitement a little, rolling my eyes in annoyance.

Kieran was the head of our security staff, but most of all, he was my brother’s best friend and advisor, so this meant he would follow us everywhere and literally shoot anyone who tries to get too close for comfort.

“Yeah yeah, I know, but hey, at least we get to go to the party.”

Yeah, at least we are...

---

I removed my cashmere white sweater and threw it in the backseat, feeling already hot as hell since it was almost summer, but I had no other choice. I had to cover myself up...At least until I had disappeared from my brother’s or Kieran’s sight. If they ever would've seen the small, revealing tank top I was wearing today, they would've gone absolutely ballistic.

God knows I wouldn’t want that...Unless I was willing to spend another day skipping school, locked in that stupid house.

God, I so hate them...but hey, at least they let me wear shorts, thank goodness...

So after a quick re-check of our make-up in the mirror, we got out of the car and went towards finance building, to our first classes.

Now I have to admit, finance and economy wasn’t my first choice, but since my “sweet” big bro insisted that I should get a degree in this domain, because he wanted me to become his smart, trustworthy accountant in order to make sure no one dares to steal or trick him, I had to make a compromise.

So here I am, second year already, making my way towards those boring stupid classes.

“Hey, guys!” A small, feminine voice shouted from behind us, making us turn around, both at the same time, facing a petite blonde girl half running half bouncing towards us.

“Hey Kitty,” We greeted back our friend and classmate, who now stopped right in front of us, looking weirdly distressed.

“Guys, did you hear what happened a few days ago?” She asked, maybe a little bit too alarmed even though she kept her voice down, seeming like she was about to share a little secret.

Now I knew gossiping wasn’t her thing, so I thought this should be interesting.

“No, what happened?” I quickly replied leaning closer, already curious as hell.

She took a quick glance around us, making sure no one was eavesdropping for some reason, then took a step closer, warily looking at the both of us.

“Look, I don’t know if it’s entirely true or not,” She started,

“But I heard that someone was murdered right here, in our campus,” She whispered, making us both stare at her in disbelief.

“What-”

“Hold up, hold up, I’m just getting to the interesting part,” She quickly interrupted Leila, making us both become even more intrigued.

“What? I thought that that was the interesting part!” I incredulously half-whispered.

“Well then, prepare to have your minds blown.

Seems like that person wasn’t just simply murdered in the old fashioned ways...

Instead, the rumor has it that his eyes were literally burned in his skull and guess what, that’s not all!”

“It’s not??”

“Goddamnit Kitty just say it already!” Leila pressed her, just as eager as I was to hear the whole story.

“Okay okay! Jeez...” She rolled her eyes, then started speaking again,

“Okay, like I said, I don’t know if it’s entirely true or not, but I also heard that his heart was literally ripped out of his chest cavity!”

“Whaaaat??” We both shouted in unison, gaping at her.

“What kind of sick bastard would do such thing? I mean, is it even possible to do that?” I shouted in disbelief, staring at her, utterly shocked.

I knew that murders happened all around me, frankly quite often, mostly of them courtesy of my fucked-up brother, but this... this sounded just borderline crazy, even for my brother’s twisted mind.

“Beats me...like I said, I just heard about it. It’s not like I was there to witness it or something,” She shrugged.

“I know! Maybe it was a vampire, or even better, a werewolf!” Leila shouted, maybe a little too excited, jumping like a little kid, earning a disapproving look from me.

Though she was my one and only best friend, she could act really stupid sometimes.

“Wow, chill your titties, Elena Gilbert,” I joked, laughing at her childish words, earning a frown from her and a giggle from Kitty.

“Anyway, whoever that was, if all that is true, I hope they find the bastard as soon as possible and lock his ass up in the highest security prison.

I definitely wouldn’t want to cross paths with a lunatic like that,” I muttered, tangling my arm with hers,

“Now let’s go to class, we’re already late,” I quickly checked the time on my phone, dragging them with me afterwards.

---

We entered the building and made our way through the crowded hallway towards Ms. Kelley’s class, suddenly noticing how every single female student passing by occasionally stopped and took a glance, some of them even gathered and made a little crowd, blocking the entrance, obviously staring at something interesting inside that class.

“What the fuck is going on in there?” I curiously asked, raising one eyebrow as I looked at Leila for a brief moment, right before I felt a hand grabbing my arm, hurriedly dragging me towards that classroom.

“Hurry up, bitchees, you surely wouldn’t want to miss this one!” A girl whose name was Darcy, I think, was now dragging the both of us -Leila and I- straight towards that classroom’s entrance, squeezing herself in between the female bodies, forcing us to do the same.

“Yum yum!”

“Oh my god, look at that sexy ass!”

“Oh yeah baby!”

I heard some of them hollering like a bunch of horny dogs, making me even more curious.

Seriously, what the fuck is going on here?

And there it was. Or more like, there he was.