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

school. Kay bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone, feeling satisfied with my decision. I opened the bedroom door and peeked out. No one had come back. I checked the clock in the living room. It was only five. I may as well check the mail for Cassie. Even if I was mad at her, I wasn’t going to ignore my responsibilities.

I felt on the edge and yet, kind of disappointed with myself that I was disobeying rules. However, I wasn’t about to let someone tell me I can’t go to a party to meet more people. Because that’s all I was going to do. Meet more people. I stepped out the front door, smiling for my latest accomplishment.

“What are you so happy about?”

My heart began to pound, as I look and saw Darien standing against the hallway window. I hurried and made sure my face didn’t look completely scared to death and said calmly. “That’s none of your business.”

“Ok.”He shrugged and looked back out the window.

“What are you doing here anyway? What, did Cassie put you on guard duty?”

“I was waiting for my ride.” He gave me a strange look.

Okay so maybe, me suggesting that he was a kind of a stalker was a little too much. But he did interfere with my life, telling me I couldn’t go to the party. I hardly knew him. He shouldn’t put his nose in other people’s lives. Who does that?

“Should I be watching you?” He said jokingly. “Are you about to rob a bank or something that… deceitful?” He let the last word roll off his tongue.

“If I was doing something devious, I wouldn’t let you know.”

He moved away from the window, and came over to me. He didn’t say anything. He was just standing there, staring at me.

“Why did you come anyways, you know, to ground me?”

“I am a…” He paused. “A family friend. Concerned for your well being.”

“Whatever.” I turned away from him and rushed inside. Before I closed the door on him, he took the hint and headed for the stairs. I shut the door. I locked the door and checked that I locked it.

I can’t believe Cassie and Gabe told people about what happened to me. That was supposed to be a family secret.

I went into the room, and slammed my body onto Cassie’s bed. I stared up the ceiling, creating images that weren’t even there. I tried as hard as I could but couldn’t get comfortable. The last hours of memories were burning inside my head. I left the room and I tried the living room but it was just too dark. I finally got up. I wanted to be outside but didn’t want to see Darien. God, this whole day has become so complicated.

I went to the back door and opened it. There was a small balcony that overlooked the nearby street. We were on the second floor of the apartment building. The balcony could hold maybe a small dresser, but the balcony wasn’t the spot where I wanted to hang out. Gabe showed me, yesterday, how to get up onto the roof.

There was a tree growing so close to the balcony. Its branches covered some of the railing. The last branch was pretty far from the ground. It was almost impossible to climb the tree that way. I stepped onto to the railing and reached for the gutter. I took a grasp of the metal and pulled myself up. I used the tree branches for footing to push the rest of my body up.

I sat on the roof and started picking at the gray roof tiling. This was a good place to relax. On the other side of the street, was an telephone company which has one those big satellite towers right next to it. I watched some big ravens circling it, settling on its metal bars. Bored of watching them, I stood up and looked over the parking lot. It looked like everyone was already inside their own apartment buildings. It also looked like Darien finally left. I felt a breeze against my back bringing a fresh smell towards me.

I breathed in the new air.

“If you’re going to jump, you might want to hurry.”

I turned around too quickly and slipped on the roof tiling. I could feel my body falling, my heart racing. Darien grasped my arm before I fell off the edge, and pulled me up. I watched as the tile I was picking at, fall to the ground. I looked up at Darien. He smiled.

“I didn’t mean it literally.” He snickered and helped me stand up. Holding me close to him. My eyes went to his body and I noticed he was shirtless. His body filling mine with warmth. “You shouldn’t be up here, alone, you know.”

“Where in the…” I couldn’t think straight. My heart was thumping against my chest. I was positive he could feel it against his chest. “How did you get up here?”

“I was checking up on you. You left pretty quickly you know.” He forced a sad face.

“How did you get up here though?” I looked his body over and noticed his defined body and muscular arms.

“I climbed the tree.” He finally let me go. He bends down and picked up his shirt from the rooftop and pulled it over his head.

“You… Why were you shirtless?”

“That’s really none of your business.”

“Yeah it is. You were invading my space and you came up here. And…and this is my house.”

“Not up here.”

He had me there. But nobody comes up here. That’s why I picked it.

“What were you doing up here, anyways?” He asked.

“I was thinking.”

“Thinking? Dangerous spot to think.” His lips curved up on the right side. “Are you still mad about not going to the party? Get over it already.”

I ignored him and didn’t let him see my burning face. I slid to the edge of the roof and stretched my foot to the tree branch. He stopped me by grabbing my shoulder.

“Let me help you down.”

“I can do it myself.”

“Stop being a selfish human and let me help.” He jumped to the tree like a monkey and turned around holding out his hands. “Jump.”

“Yeah right.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“I dare you.”

“I’m not a kid. I don’t believe in the whole dare game.” I looked hesitant at how he was standing on the tree. Why wasn’t he scared that he was going to fall? With my body weight, plus his, the tree branch was either going to break or snapped, which would cause him to drop me or, both of us will fall and hurt ourselves.

“Do you trust me?”

“Not in particular. I kind of hate you.”

He laughed. “I don’t like you in particular either.” He looked up at me, holding my stare with his eyes. “Just shut up and jump.”

I don’t know what made me do it but I did just that. I jumped feeling the wind brush up against my hair and skin. My body, seconds later, crushed against his arms, and he brought me closed to his chest. His arms tightened against my back and legs. My stomach filled with butterflies as he blew my hair away from my face. His warm breath made my eyes fluttered as the hair moved away. His eyes looked like a deeper green, and were now twinkling. He smiled a crooked smile.

“Do you trust me now?”

“No.” I said breathlessly.

“Are you still going to go to that party?” He placed me down and watched from the branch as I stepped down onto the balcony.

“No.” I repeated pathetically, only knowing that I was going to go no matter what he says.

“We’ll see.”He climbed down the tree, and jumped from the last branch onto the ground. I watch him disappeared around the corner.

My stomach was doing flips but I didn’t care. I made my way back to the balcony. I went back inside and walked right up to the front door. I checked all the locks. Both of them were still locked. I wonder how he got up there.

He must be amazing at high jump.

Chapter 10: Free
Marina

Sometimes you have to break the rules, just to get some control over your life.

I thought while I was sitting in the truck with Gabriel, heading over to Veronica’s house.

I kept fidgeting in my seat, staring out, hoping that Gabe didn’t notice my nervousness. Today was hot and humid, typical Florida weather. I had my window opened wide and had my head resting on my arm. I enjoyed the warm breeze every passing car would bring towards my way. I watched cars pass us heading over to their busy schedules. Saturday was a busy day. Everyone had plans today. Even I had a plan and it went down amazingly perfect.

Veronica couldn’t have been more convincing. She convinced Cassie that we be hanging out at the mall, then going home to do schoolwork. She wasn’t really lying to Cassie. She was just bending the truth. Cassie took it all in and said I could go. I think it’s only because Cassie thinks Veronica is my only new friend I made at the high school which is partially true. I mean besides Darien’s group.

Even though I tried to distract my mind from thinking about Darien, I just couldn’t stop thinking about him. It’s his fault, because Darien wasn’t at school for the past two days. I mean it’s hard to ignore someone when you are wondering where the hell they are. I heard his name pop up in my English class and of course, I had him in History. I looked desperately around to see if he was there. But nothing. He simply disappeared.

I just wanted to talk to him about the roof situation on Wednesday. He seemed to enjoy messing with my mind. In elementary the boys would just make fun of you and that meant they like you. Middle school, the boys would get their friends to ask you out. Now, high school was different of course and it was becoming more difficult to understand the male mind.

Aria and Tamara never talked about Darien. Like him missing school wasn’t out of the ordinary. Instead, they kept asking me if I wanted to hang out this weekend. I know, they knew that I was grounded from the party. They were Darien’s only friends so, I assumed that conversation had to come up. I was planning on asking them where Darien was but decided against it. I didn’t want them to think that I cared about him. Which is true, I didn’t have enough energy in my body to worry about him.

Finally, Gabe pulled up into Veronica’s driveway, and we both got out of the car. Her house was nice, better looking than an old apartment building. Her house was a faded blue with a white trimming, looking like it needed an update on the house paint. Most of the windows were big and opened. The front lawn had some green plants growing but was covered by a lot of sand. Not unusual around here since, the city is near a beach. The house part was small compared to the garage that was attached to it. Not a big surprise, I recalled V saying