I swiveled my head to make sure that what I was hearing was actually reality.

It was.

I didn’t hear a peep out of anyone about Lukas. JJ and Bella were talking about whatever, and Lukas was being left alone.

“Hey, Lukas!” I called, speeding up my steps. Lukas halted and turned to watch as I approached him. “How was your day yesterday?”

“It was good,” Lukas replied, eyes meeting mine. He smiled, except his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I actually started one of the books you talked about- ah, Percy Jackson.”

“What’d you think?” I asked quietly, looking at the feeling of terror residing in his dark green eyes, the bags under his eyes skillfully hidden with concealer.

“What I’ve read so far is pretty good, actually,” Lukas laughed. He and I began walking slowly down the hallway. “I borrowed it from my sister.”

“Your sister has good taste,” I said. The first bell rang, causing me to jump. Lukas waved at me and walked off without another word.

Lukas’s fear-filled eyes haunted me for the rest of the day. Every time I zoned out during a lesson, my mind brought me back to his eyes. Not only were they full of terror, they were also simply… empty.

Why is he scared; what is he scared of?

Why does he run?

I stepped onto the bus and immediately spotted Mitchell, who was grabbing the collar of Lukas’s shirt and pushing him against the window. I walked back there, furious, and pulled on the back of Mitchell’s collar.

“What the heck, Kayla?” Braden demanded, grabbing my wrist. I turned and looked at him, darkness swirling in my eyes. He took a step back, then shook his head and grabbed my wrist again.

“Don’t touch me,” I growled, whipping my head back towards Mitchell, who still hadn’t let go of Lukas.

“Mitch, let go of him!” Ryan hissed, tapping his friend’s shoulder. Mitchell dropped Lukas and I let go of his collar, giving him the ability to turn around and clutch the top of my hoodie.

“What is wrong with you?” He demanded, shaking my body. I shrugged and yanked his arm towards my body, then shoved him down to the ground.

“I told you to leave Lukas alone, didn’t I?” I questioned, pinning Mitchell down with a foot to his chest.

“You’re insane,” Mitchell spat. I smirked and nodded, running a hand through my hair.

“That I am, darling,” I said. “That I am.”

I sat down next to Lukas and opened up Dracula.

“Did you finish War and Peace?” Lukas asked, touching the top of the open book. I nodded, flipping the page. “What’d you think?”

“It was pretty good, but really drawn out,” I explained. “Probably could’ve been condensed into less pages, but that’s just my opinion.”

“Well, I’ve heard that it’s long, so-”

“Lukas, what happened?” I asked, grabbing his left wrist and pulling it towards me. I rolled up his hoodie sleeve to reveal a long, but shallow, cut. It ran along his inner arm, where the blood was yesterday.

“I- got mugged,” Lukas muttered, pulling his arm out of my grasp. He turned and looked out the window, effectively ignoring me until his stop.

“Lukas, that’s not a cut from a mugging,” I said, refusing to move.

“Kayla, move,” Lukas demanded frantically, tapping one foot. I slowly got to my feet and moved into the aisle, letting Lukas pass by me.

“You’re explaining tomorrow!” I shouted as he sped down the aisle. Lukas broke into a full-out sprint the second both feet had hit the asphalt.

“Kayla, do you know what kind of cut that was?” JJ asked, taking a seat right next to me and trapping me between him and the window. I looked out the window, and JJ put a hand on my cheek and turned me back towards him.

“Don’t touch me!” I exclaimed, going to pull his hand off my cheek, when he put his other hand over my mouth and stared into my eyes.

“That was a cut from a razor blade, Kayla,” JJ hissed. I felt my eyes go wide, and JJ moved both of his hands away from me, knowing that he had my full attention.

“How do you know that?” I questioned. JJ rolled up one of his jacket sleeves and held it out to me. I could barely see faint lines-scars- running up the length of his arm.

“Because I’ve done it before,” JJ whispered, tugging his sleeve back down. I blinked, and his body was suddenly on top of mine, his hands pressed against the window behind me. I looked at a smirking Braden and growled.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Well, my former friend is a suicidal freak, so what better thing to do then give him over to the other suicidal freak!” Braden exclaimed. I felt my eyes widen, and JJ turned around and nailed Braden right in the nose.

How does he know?

I sat and zoned out, my mind running through every possibility of how Braden would know.

“Kayla, don’t worry about Braden,” Danny said, sitting in the seat across from mine. “He’s a jerk. Now, go home, girl. Take a nap.”

I nodded and made my way off of the bus, waving goodbye to Danny before walking inside and nearly being tackled to the ground.