Chapter 4

      When I left my house the next morning, I found Kay outside my door, leaning against the fence. My skin crawled for a moment, but I hurriedly disguised my reaction. “Well, hello there, beautiful. You come here often?”

      She gives me a small smile and nods in response. Scratching my cheek, I ask if she was here to walk to school with me. “Yes. I missed yesterday. Can I cook that dinner tonight?”

      I feel my eye twitch. “I guess.”

      In class, I could feel her staring at me, and the way my skin frizzled, I was reminded of a burrowing critter - small, and subtle, but capable of monumental destruction. Between each period of class, ordinarily, I would remain in the classroom to chat, but I had to get away from that oppressive feeling, and instead, I made my way to the rooftop.

      With nothing but the sky above me, I grab hold of the railing and lean forward into the view before me. As far as the eye can see, sprawls my beautiful city, the city in which I’ve had so many wonderful adventures. It’s so unlike me to be on edge, and yet, I couldn’t figure out why. Was it because of Kay? No. She was a sweet - if weird - girl.

      I lean further into the railing and spread my arms wide. The wind snaps my hair into the air and it flairs majestically. My light-blonde hair was always a treasure of mine. I felt a small bump force, likely from the wind.

      Oh, how it flies freely as I fall. It’s so… wait, falling? I was falling! 

      The ground rushed to meet me, and I hit it with a sickening thud. All at once, classmates and teachers were clambering over me, rushing me to the nurse’s office. Mere moments after I’d been laid on the sticky, brown leather cot, the door slams and Kay rushes to my side.

      “Rose!” The nurse begins to speak up, but I wave her away. “Oh god, are you okay?” Kay takes hold of my hand. The nurse raises an eyebrow at this, but nothing more. Seeing Kay wasn’t going to tackle me, she made herself scarce.

      “I’m okay, Kay. I promise.”

      She squeezes my hand harder. “How? I heard you fell or something.”

      “The worst injury I’m going to get is my fingers if you don’t let up. Geez.” I rubbed my hand for a moment before I placed it on top of hers. She gave me a little smile and looked me over.

      “Are you sure you’re okay? How?”

      I pull her closer and cup her cheek. “There were bushes that softened my fall. Other than a few bruises, I’m fine.” I kiss her on the lips.

      “Please, let me make you dinner tonight. I’ll treat you like a queen.”

      “Aye. That’s fine.” On the inside, though, I thought if she wanted to treat me like a queen - one who had been injured, no less - she would let me go home and rest.

      We moved slowly as we made our way to Kay’s house, a residence not nearly as impressive as mine. Actually, I would have called it rather rundown. But of course, I wouldn’t have told her that. I found it odd that the nameplate read “Glifford,” but I assumed it must have been a relative’s place.

      She positioned me in the living room, telling me to make myself comfortable while she cooked. The first thing that stood out was how not lived in the house was. The walls were an awkward shade of green and pink, kind of like my house. What were the chances?

      I hobbled down to the floor, sitting on the old floor mats. With nothing else to do, I let my eyes wander around the room. It truly seemed barely lived in. There wasn’t much in the way of clutter. Besides the table, the only other furnishings were a couple of dressers. The chink of glass on the table drew my attention, and I embarrassingly thanked Kay for it, feeling like I got caught doing something I shouldn’t have.

      “How does your family live in such a small place?” Shit, that was rude, wasn’t it? “Oh. I’m sorry. Forget I asked. I’m an idiot with no manners sometimes.”

“It’s okay. I don’t have a family. I live here alone, on my inheritance. It’s enough for just me.”

      “Oh.” I scooped up some pasta she laid down. It smelled fine enough.

      Well, that’s bizarre. But who was I to question someone else's life? Plus, I really didn’t want to get into her personal affairs. I ate some of the pasta and found it bland. She wasn’t an amazing cook by any means, but it was food, and it satisfied my hunger.

      After refusing my help to take the dishes to the kitchen, she returned and came around the table. Behind me, she started to give me a massage, something I quickly decided more than compensated for her lackluster culinary skills. It felt so wonderful that I barely noticed that I was dozing off, despite how early it was. My phone going off brought me back to reality. Before I could grab it, Kay handed it to me. But the screen was lit up along with the first few lines of the text I received, visible on my lock screen. “Heard you went home with that crazy…” 

      I turned around and received nothing except a smile from Kay. Quickly telling her I needed to use the restroom, I made my way inside and locked the door. I scrolled through several texts I must have missed, all from Mimi, all bad-mouthing Kay.

      I replied, telling her I was going to leave soon if she wanted to come over for the night because my parents were out of town. Flushing the toilet to make it seem like I really did have to go, I turned on the water and washed my face. I wondered how Kay was going to respond to that text? She definitely saw it. Then again, she’s so quiet, maybe she wouldn’t even bring it up.

      Sighing, I opened the door and walked out, immediately bumping into Kay. “Oh. Uh, sorry… What were you-” She hands me a towel. “Ah. Thank you.”

      “You pee very quietly.”

      “What? Dude, Kay, that is creepy as hell.” She hangs her head and informs me she was joking. But she hadn’t been, had she? She was standing at the door and I ran into her. She must have been right up against it, listening in. The thought of that causes my heartbeat to speed up and twists a knot in my stomach. Once again, looking at this woman makes my hair stand on end. 

      I needed to go home.

      “Thank you for the food, Kay. It was yummy, but I have to go now.” I made my way to the door and slipped my shoes on. As I opened the door, I felt her grabbing my shirt from behind. “What is it?”

      “Are you leaving to…” She let her words hang for a moment before deciding to continue on. “You’re leaving to go be with that Mimi girl, aren’t you?”

      I turned to face her fully, my brow was furrowed. “Well, honestly, yes. I’ve spent time with you today. Now I need to make time for her.”

      “But we didn’t even have sex.”

      I should really go. Like, really, really go. This is getting out of control.

      “Do you not want to taste my innocent body again?” She cooed up to me and kissed the crook of my neck. Fucking hormones. But… I reach down and pull her up by the ass, and snake my tongue into her mouth.

      A couple of hours passed before I was getting dressed and telling her I needed to go. “After all that, you’re still going to go fuck Mimi?”

      "Hey, you gotta get it while the gettin's good, as they say." I gently closed the door behind me.