Awake by Nightfall by Emilia Sherman (well read books .TXT) 📕

Chapter 09: Grounded by Strangers
Marina

I waved good-bye to Veronica, with the newspaper in my hand. She gave it to me, so I can read what happened to the plane. Her attempt to be helpful and nice. She even told me that I didn’t need to tell my side of the story to her, because she was only in the newspaper to get the counselor off her back about joining a club. I’m glad I met her. I watched her helmet, now on, disappear down the road. I climbed the steps to my apartment, digging for my keys. I stepped on the last step, and rounded the corner. My mind was stuck on the newspaper. And the reality was, I did want to know everything that happened on that night but I was also trying to move on with my life.

Am I not allowed to complain of still being alive?

I stood by our door, fiddling with the keys. I had two sets of keys. One for the mailbox, and the other for the door. I also had tons of key chains that my aunt just happened to have. They all had a variety of quotes on them. My favorite was “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” I wasn’t quite sure why this one appealed to me but it felt right to keep it with me. Deep down, I wanted to believe that my parents and I knew a secret. But now they’re dead, and I’m left to find that secret.

But then again, I was just fooling myself.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside. Surprise, surprise, Gabriel was already home. Knowing this, I would have been pissed off. I would have yelled at him for forgetting me. I would probably even snitch on him, but I didn’t do any of that. For one, we weren’t alone; I didn’t want to make myself look like a complete jerk in front of stranger. Then two, it looked like my Aunt Cassie wasn’t mad that I was walking in late. Alone.

God, how I wished I was alone.

It wasn’t just Gabe and Aunt Cassie. There was someone else in the living room, who had their back to me at the moment. He was wearing a hoodie and neat, ironed jeans. In his hands, he was holding a newspaper. Right away, my mind went to the article in the newspaper. News reporters. Since they found out that I was out, they probably wanted an interview. They didn’t even give me a chance to relax. How could my aunt just invite them in? She knew perfectly well that I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the accident.

“Gabe, Cassie, what’s going on?”

The guy turned around. Nope, definitely not reporters. Did not see that coming. I was relieved to see him and not reporters.

It was Darien. In the faint glow from outside light, he looked more freakishly pale. His appearance looked frightening and I saw nothing interesting of the boy. He looked a lot different in school. Cute almost but now in the dark, he was nothing but abnormal.

“Oh.” I was beyond shock now. I felt as my mouth dropped and opens a crack. I was loss for words. I mean I barely met this person and he was already in my house. Why?

“Well, look who just decided to drop by?” Gabe said sarcastically.

“WH-What?” I spitted out. I pointed a trembling finger at him. “You p-p-purposely left without me.”

“What? No, I didn’t. I sent a note to your class, saying I was leaving early.”

“Liar.” Finally, I found my voice. “So what have you been doing? Just hanging out?” I looked around the room.

Everyone fell silent. Darien’s eyes were fixedly on Cassie. Cassie was looking at Gabriel, sorrowfully, while twirling a strand of hair in her finger. Gabriel was glaring at Darien, noticeably mad about something. It was like they were at an unspoken battle amongst themselves. Each of them was blaming each other.

I stared at them, perplexed. “Okay, what’s really going on?

“Marina, how was your first day?” Cassie asked.
I searched my mind for the right word. “It was good.” I chose the one word that everyone understood and accepted. The room went silent again.

“We heard about the party.” Gabe blurted out.
All eyes went to him.

“Yeah, so?”

“We don’t think you should go.” Aunt Cassie answered before anyone else could say anything.

“When you say we. . .” I paused.

“I mean everyone in this room.”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, except Darien. His eyes staring at me, hard, like he was examining me. His brown eyes were intensifying. I broke away from his gaze and looked instead at Cassie.

“But I hardly know any of you.”

“We were concerned.” Cassie replied.

“Concerned about what? It’s just one party. I’ve been to plenty of parties before.” At least, I think I have. Not really sure about my past life. “How do you guys even know each other?” I pointed at Darien and Gabe.

“We’re friends from school.” He said but with a hint of annoyance. Even Darien finally shifted his weight when Gabe said friends.

“Yeah, I can feel the love.” I muttered.

“Gabriel has mentioned to us about your conditions.” Darien said in a very stern tone.

Gabe hit Darien’s shoulder, which I noticed, didn’t have any effect on him. “What the hell, man? Conditions. You’re making her sound like some kind of mental psycho.”

“She does have mental health conditions.” Darien pointed to his head. “This party could cause more drama in there.”

“It could be too much for her to handle.” Cassie agreed.

“I still don’t think it’s a big of a thing.” Gabriel said. I was glad to have one person on my side. “She wants to have fun. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll just go with her.”

“Gabriel, we already spoke about this. The answer is no.”

“You’re going to believe him?” Gabriel raised his arms up angrily.

“You heard your mother. The answer is no.” Darien spoke as if he was talking to a little kid. I saw the side of his mouth curled up.
That’s it.

“Will you all stop speaking about me like I’m not here?!” I stomped my heel. They looked back at me. “What right do any of you have to decide what I do in my free time? This is a beach party. One party. If I am correct, people make mistakes and things happen. Well, let this be my mistake.”

“But what if it’s the wrong mistake? Are you actually willing to risk your life?” Darien steps toward me. Really close to me.

He was invading my space, but he didn’t seem to care. In the back of my mind, something was telling me to flee or back down. Our bodies were inches apart, I was afraid to breathe. I pressed my lips together, feeling nervous and anxious. His eyes staring straight down into mine. They curved up on the sides. I finally understood. He was making fun of me. He let a silent laugh. His breath was warm against my forehead. His scent crashed with mine, sweet and inviting. What was going on?

“You are not going.” He said.

“Are you going?” I blurted out. His eyes had me in a trance, that he was making me say things without thinking.

“That’s not any of your concern.” He smirked and stepped away from me, breaking the trance.

I took a step back, confused. Aunt Cassie came by me and hugged my shoulder. I was defeated. In a few seconds, couple of sentences, the strange boy beat me. How was that even fair?

~~~~~

Aunt Cassie and Gabe left the house with Darien. That is after I promised not to go to the party. But with every promise there is a loophole. I promised I wouldn’t go to the party. But no one said anything about going to a beach. And if I happened to meet someone at the beach and they want to go to the party, then I will accompany them so they don’t have to go alone. Safety first, right?

I picked up the phone and dialed the phone number on my hand. It was smeared so I ended up dialing two numbers before I got the right number.

“Hey, this is V.” The voice that came from the other end sounded bossy, and bored. This sounded like the right one.

“Veronica?”

“Yes?”

“Veronica, it’s Marina, umm, from Chemistry.”
“Oh, yeah. So you changed your mind about the party?” She guessed right away.

“Yeah.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Well, my aunt, cousin, and some guy.”

“Who’s the guy? Is he cute? Does he have a friend that I can take?”

“I don’t know if you know him. He goes to our school. He’s name is Darien.”

“Darien… Darien?” I can hear her clicking her tongue as she was going through her mind of people. “I only know one Darien at our school and he’s really hot, but also known as the creepy guy. He used to hang out with some of the jocks but he became distant. Now, he only hangs out with some weird girls, that don’t even seem to notice how hot he is.”

She must have got turned down by him. I would never consider him hot but creepy fitted the description. “I think that’s him and well, I don’t really know him.”

“But you’re going to the party with him?”

“No. He doesn’t want me to go.”

There was a moment of pause. “Wait, I’m confused.”

“My cousin, aunt, and Darien don’t want me to go.”

“That’s weird.” She paused. “Did they ground you?” I could hear a smile behind the question.

“Yes.”

“But you want to go? So, is breaking the law something you do? Something that puts you on the edge?” She laughed.

“Will you help me sneak out?”

“Do I look, or sound, like a bad girl to you?”

Yes

.

She continued. “Of course, I will help. Just tell them you’re coming to my house. I live near the address on the invitation anyways, so it doesn’t matter. It’s not like they’re going to stalk you and supervise your every move.”

“Ok, thanks a lot.”

“No problem. Just have someone drop you off, in the afternoon around one. If you can come around early, it won’t look that suspicious.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll come up with more ideas to help you. We can talk about it tomorrow in