Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen

Skylar's POV:

My mouth fell open in surprise as I eyed him.

Caden?

He was probably the last person I was expecting to see here, especially threatening that girl with a freaking gun. On cue, my eyes trailed down to the gun in his hand and I gulped heavily.

Judging by his barely masked surprise, he hadn't been expecting to see me here either.

That was an enough distraction for the girl to roll over and stand up on her feet. It took her mere seconds to run away in the darkness. Caden frowned at the way she had disappeared off to but surprisingly, didn't go after her. Almost as if he was deciding whether to confront her first, or me.

Confrontation with him when he looked murderous, not to forget the gun in his hand, seemed like the worst option at the moment. Before he could turn back towards me, I stumbled back and ran the way I just came from.

He was just about to kill someone.

Caden was just about to kill someone on the school grounds!

I wasn't just surprised, I was horrified. When he told me about that gang thing, I hadn't really expected to see a gun in his hand. Maybe I would've. Maybe this whole gang thing was really serious.

However, I was left even more horrified when I came to an abrupt halt near the school wall, where I had left Alex. Except this time, there was no Alex there.

"Oh God." A whisper escaped my lips as I frantically looked around. Where the hell did he go off to? He was drunk, for God's sake. And I had no time left to stay here and search around for him once again.

I didn't get the chance to look for him either, because right then, someone gripped my arm from behind and turned me around quite harshly. My heart started thudding loudly in my chest when I saw a furious Caden right in front of me.

"What the hell, Skylar?" I didn't even try struggling out of his grasp, I was frozen in fear. "What the hell are you doing here?"

I blinked rapidly and my eyes involuntarily traveled down to his hand, the same hand in which I had seen a gun before. But thankfully, he was holding no such gun now. It still bothered me though, so much so that I finally came back to my senses and tried to pull my arm away from his grip.

"Caden, let me go. I swear..." I trailed off and looked into his cold, hard gaze. "I swear I won't tell anyone about this." I really didn't like how much scared I sounded at that moment, almost as if I didn't even know him.

I would've known. Alex had been right.

His frown deepened and I noticed that he was clenching his jaw angrily. He pulled me closer by my arm and I flinched a little. "I don't fucking care about that, Skylar. I'm asking you why you're here?"

The mere fact that he was calling me by my actual name right now told me that this really was serious, and I should really be scared right now.

I swallowed and looked up into his piercing gaze. Even though I tried, I couldn't make myself push him away. So I just forced out the words from my mouth, "I-I don't know."

He was scaring me. I hadn't ever seen him so furious. Heck, I had only ever listened about his anger issues, glamours that flew in our school hallways. I hadn't known it was this bad.

This all had happened because of my eavesdropping. I wouldn't have gotten trapped into this situation if I hadn't felt the need to listen onto their conversation. And now I didn't even know where Alex was.

Darn my habit of eavesdropping.

"Dammit!" He growled in frustration, dragging a hand through his hair and letting go of my arm. I exhaled the breath I was holding onto and stumbled back away from him. I was almost about to run away when I heard a deep voice from behind him, "Frustrated, aren't you, brother?"

Caden turned around abruptly, blocking my view. I slowly peeked over his shoulder to see a blond boy standing few feet away from us, near the school gates.

I furrowed my brows at the smirk on his face, almost as if he was enjoying this all. For a second, I thought I had seen him before in our school, but the sense of familiarity was gone just as quick. The fact that he just called Caden 'brother' did bother me a bit. Even Caden himself seemed to tense at that word.

I shouldn't be here. I really shouldn't be here.

"I knew you were into this." Caden muttered, looking at him, and the hint of anger lacing his voice didn't go unnoticed by me.

I looked back at the blond boy and noticed the girl standing beside him, the same girl who Caden was about to kill earlier. She was tall, but the blond boy was taller; both of them dressed in the same black gear.

"And oh, the beauty is here too." The blond boy spoke again, this time looking at me. I didn't fail to notice how his smirk widened at that, as if he knew how much confused I actually was right now.

A small shudder escaped my lips and I stepped behind Caden. Caden seemed to tense up even more at that.

I didn't know what this was, but whatever it was, it seemed wrong. It seemed dangerous. Besides, it wasn't usual that people complimented me. Something about that blond guy was totally wrong, and I think Caden realized that I was officially Creed out, because right then, he looked at me from over his shoulder.

"Just runaway when I say. Don't look back. And for once, just listen." He told me in a whisper. I was grateful that he mentioned that.

But there was also a part inside me that wondered why he was asking me to run away. Did he really think that I wouldn't tell this to anyone? Did he not care that he might get caught?

When Caden pulled out the gun from inside his jacket once again, I realized that he really didn't care. This all, whatever this was, was way more concerning than getting caught by a teacher.

At least for him it was.

With one final glance towards me, he faced the blond boy once again and raked a hand through his midnight-black hair, pushing them back. I was still frozen behind him, waiting, as the silence fell around us.

Two tense seconds.

"Run."

I didn't waste a single second before turning around and running inside the school hallway once again. I had no idea where I was going, all I knew was that I had to find Alex at any cost.

For some reason, the hallways were getting crowded by the students and the staff. It almost felt like some sort of chaos was forming as I pushed past the people. The moment I reached the parking lot, I could hear faint gunshots around the school grounds. The same sound of gunshots I had ended up in between, at that creepy street. Chris wood Street.

Maybe this all was really connected to that night, and the letter I got.

I was highly relieved when I saw Alex's form standing by his car. I rushed towards him and saw few of his football friends standing with him too, looking smothered.

"Alex!" I stopped behind him and grabbed his arm.

He turned around the next instant and looked at me with wide eyes. "Sky, where...where did you go?" Even though he looked a bit more sober now, he was still drunk.

I looked behind him at his friends who were too busy laughing and chatting to pay us any attention. I didn't even think they knew anything about what was happening in the school grounds.

Caden.

He was alone. He could’ve asked me to call someone for help. He could’ve told me to call the police or something. But he hadn't.

Why hadn't he?

"Alex, you need to leave, okay?" I looked at him, mentally weighing my options. "I don't think you should be here."

"What?" He looked confused, his brows furrowed. Almost as if he suddenly real something, he shook his head and gripped my hand too. "No, I-I think we both should leave. Look, Sky, this is not—"

"Alex, I need to help someone." I pulled away from him and mentally cringed at what I was about to do. Why did I even care what happened to Caden? Why did I even care that he was all alone there, between those booming sounds of gunshots?

"Sean!" I recognized one of his friends and gave him a pleading look. "Do me a favor, please. Just drop Alex over to his house, will you?"

I realized why everyone else in the school hallway was panicking then. Because something felt incredibly wrong about this all, and I was starting to panic a bit too. I could still hear the faint gunshots in the background.

What if someone got hurt?

Sean, who looked a bit confused, looked over at Alex and draped an arm around his shoulder. "Yeah, sure. You need a ride back home too?"

I gritted my teeth anxiously and shook my head, taking another step away from Alex's car.

He nodded again before shouting a goodbye to the rest of his friends and dragging Alex inside the car. I saw Alex giving me a last glance, something unreadable flashing in his eyes. And once the same car was pulling out of the parking lot, I started to realize how stupid this was.

Breathing heavily, I pushed back my hair away from my face, pulling my hood on. I could’ve left the school too, walked back home since the only chance of a ride back was totally gone now. But I didn't, something didn't let me.

What if Caden died?

"I don't care." I shook my head, pacing a little within the parking lot. "You don't actually care, Sky. You don't."

But hadn't Caden helped me when I was about to die too, back at the Chris wood Street, with those gunshots firing around me? He hadn't left me. He had helped me.

I pressed my palms on either side of my face and let out a small groan. I hated this selfless part of me. And I'd hate myself more if I went back home right now.

Although Caden had told me to leave, I still found myself walking back towards the spot I had last seen him at. He wouldn't like the idea of me interfering again, I was sure of that. But how was he supposed to fight off those two people? Maybe that blond guy had more people with him? How would he fight off all of them? What if the school staff caught up to him? What if they called the police?

Why did I even care at all?

Once again finding myself in the hallways, I could see people running around now. Some teachers were even shouting loudly to calm everyone. They mustn't either seen the whole chaos going on in the school grounds, or they mustn't heard the gunshots. I'm sure the police would be coming any second now.

Before anyone could stopped me, I rushed back to the school grounds and stopped at the spot where I had last seen Caden. And that blond boy. As I looked around the darkness, I realized that no one was here now. I couldn't exactly hear the gunshots either.

What happened?

"Blake was right. You did come back."

I turned around and staggered back a little when I saw that other girl standing way too close, in front of me. She smirked just like that blond boy and my eyes widened a little.

Standing few inches taller than me, there was something wild about her that told me she loved to fight. With her dark black hair cascading down her black jacket, and her sharp black eyes, I really couldn't think of a way I could actually harm her.

What could a girl like me, in pajamas, do anything to a girl like her?

And who was Blake anyway?

"Look, I'm not—" I stopped abruptly and took another step away from her. Her eyes didn't leave my face but the smirk did widen a bit, telling me that she definitely noticed that little action of mine. "Where's Caden?"

She raised her brows and let out a small laugh, looking a bit evil under the moonlight. "In hell, I hope. Let's just get to the real business, yeah?"

I really hoped he wasn't dead.

She took a slow step towards me and the moonlight shone right on her face, making her look even paler, and more beautiful. She took out a small knife from her back pocket and my eyes widened a bit more, especially because now I could find myself thinking about that break-in in my house.

The gash on my hand.

"The rules are really simple, sweetie." She announced. "You get to die, and I get to win."

What kind of shitty rules were they even? I didn't ask her that though, I wasn't really looking forward to that first rule.

"I don't know why you would want that." I spoke up, forcing my voice to come out stronger than I felt from the inside. The mere sight of that sharp knife was twisting my stomach into horrible knots. "I didn't do anything. I even saved your life!"

I had saved her life before Caden could’ve killed her. Was this her way of showing the gratitude? I really wished I hadn't distracted Caden back then.

"That was your mistake, not mine." She shrugged.

I took another step back and glanced behind my shoulder. It seemed like I had only one choice left, something you do when you're trapped.

"Some stupid mistakes I make, huh?" She eyed me with a blank expression this time and I inhaled deeply before turning around. Then I ran.

Good thing I was in my cozy pajamas, that way I ran faster. I could hear her footsteps catching up behind me and that made me run even faster. I really didn't want to die, not right now especially.

What kind of person even died at the night of their high school homecoming?

After what felt like ages, I finally stopped hearing her footsteps behind me, meaning that she had probably lost me. I stopped near one of the back hallways of the school when I saw a figure hunched over another figure and throwing violent punches on his face. Squinting my eyes, I realized it was Caden almost about to kill the blond boy with his fists.

All of a sudden, I was glad to see him alive.

I licked my chapped lips and looked around once again, not being able to spot that girl. However, when I looked back towards Caden and that blond boy, I saw her creeping up behind Caden with the same sharp knife raised up in her hand.

My eyes widened in horror and I started frantically looking around for something, anything to distract her from. The only thing I saw was a broken metal rod lying below one of the wild bushes around me. I picked it up gingerly and frowned a bit.

Even though the thought of fighting someone always produced this sense of exhilaration within me, I wasn't exactly loving the idea of bashing that girl's head with this metal rod. However, when I saw her lunging towards Caden with that knife and thrusting it in his arm, I forgot every other thing.

My heart pounded loudly in my ears when I saw Caden rolling away from the blond boy, clutching his now bleeding arm in pain. I didn't realize when I actually crept up behind that girl until I hit her with the metal rod, on the head.

I almost winced at the impact, especially when she hissed out loud and fell down on the ground. I gulped in horror and stepped away from her limp body, the metal rod falling down from my hands.

I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her.

Oh God, did I actually kill her?

Caden looked up at me in surprise, his features contorted with pain and confusion. Maybe because he couldn't believe that I had stayed even after he had told me not to.

It was a bit too late when I noticed the blond boy getting up, his face messed up with blood and bruises, before he punched Caden right in the stomach.

This time, I did wince.

Thankfully the exact moment, we all heard the sound of police cars rounding up the corner, outside the school gates. The blond boy –who was probably Blake– stood up with a grunt and looked around in alarm. I stepped away from the way when he pulled up the black-haired girl, supporting her by his arm, and ran away just like that.

I frowned at his retreating form before looking back at Caden, who was leaning back against the school wall, not looking fine at all. I rushed towards him and keeled down in front of him. Now that I looked closely, the wound on his arm looked way worse than the one I had gotten on my palm.

"Oh my God, Caden." I looked up at him with panic. I think I was panicking more than he actually was. The wound on his arm was bleeding really badly, and I was scared that he might die. "You need help. You definitely need help."

I started looking around for someone but knew that was of no use. If someone even came and saw us, we both would be in a lot of trouble.

"It's nothing. We...need to get out of here." He muttered, clenching his jaw in pain.

I looked at him in disbelief. But at the same time, I knew he was right. We needed to get out of here before the police or the staff found us. And the only place I could think of, outside the school, was my own house.

I bit my lip anxiously and found myself looking back at his messed-up state.

So, I did the only thing I could think at that moment.

The only choice I had.