CHAPTER 24
I left Mila shortly after the confusion. She told me, “This isn’t the end for the two of us.” Which crept me out because she’s still a stranger to me. What if she was imagining things that didn’t happen. That the Alpha of the pack in this town wasn’t the one who killed her parents. I don’t know what to believe anymore because that woman was going to mess up my mental health if I thought of her more.
What if it was true? That she’s just pretending to be crazy to save her life. That she’s somehow connected to the Alpha because he’s the one who killed her family. I somehow relate to her. If we join forces, we’ll be able to find out who killed my parents as well.
She’d been living her life in this town for at least thirty-five years, based on how I see her age though she looked like she’s in her late forties because of her whisky hair. But my brothers wouldn’t let me cooperate with a person I didn’t know. As far as I’m concerned, humans, especially crazy ones, made up most of the serial killers in the world. I won’t get baited by what she said. But who told her about the death of my parents?
“What took you so long, Catherine?” Felix asked. His eyes were crossed, hungry.
“The line at the store was too long,” I lied. He didn’t know about the store and it’s a bit of truth since there are times wherein the store would fill up with people.
“We’re already hungry.”
“I do too.”
He grabbed the paper bag from me. I sat with Jay on the couch and watched cartoons while waiting for our scrumptious lunch.
…
The next day we had a surprise quiz on one of our Math subjects. Gwen was so frustrated with the score she got. She almost failed but she did great.
“You had a good score,” Aki commented. “I got lower than you and I’m fine. Don’t be frustrated.”
They must be best friends for a lot of time. They relate to each other because of similar personalities and family statuses. I wonder why they didn’t have a romantic connection between them. My mind’s been exhausted lately because of Mila and I’m thinking of unimportant things.
“For you, it’s a good score. My mom wouldn’t let me watch Netflix if she finds out about this.”
“She’s strict?”
Gwen nodded. “She’s a terror.” She took a bite of the strawberry-filled doughnut she bought earlier, then she gazed at Aki. “Do you know what happened yesterday?”
Aki frowned in confusion. He wasn’t at the store yesterday, of course, he did not. “Why?”
“Marvel almost attacked Cath at our store, but she was saved by Railey,” she said.
“Railey didn’t save me. He stopped Marvel from his anger issues,” I clarified. I don’t want to make Railey the superstar of this story. He’s kind of doing that to me but he was no hero.
“Railey’s kind to me, unlike Akisha. He’s a good one.”
“Aki, we’re not talking about Railey being a good person in this town or to you. He’s still a child of beta and dangerous. Don’t make his image looks good in the eyes of our friend. My point is that our friend is constantly attacked by Marvel.”
“I was only attacked by him twice. That’s not always.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. Air brushed her bangs. “Fine. Whatever. But that ‘twice’ was also the two encounters of you on him.” She made sense. If Marvel attacked me again, he has the motive to hurt me. I don’t have to think about him that much. I can avoid him, but the thought circling in my mind about Mila and the possible truth about the death of Mom and Dad was inevitable to distance myself away from.
…
I was surprised that after my last class, Gelo was waiting for me outside our classroom. Gwen teasingly smiled because of that.
“Hope everyone has someone who’s waiting for them outside,” she said as if she’s looking for a boyfriend. We parted ways when I got to meet with Gelo, who smiled at me pleasantly.
I smiled back. A genuine and not a fake smile. “I was surprised to see you here.”
“We’re technically neighbors and I haven’t seen you in a while. You’re locking yourself inside your room all day?”
I raised a brow. “Aren’t you the one who’s locking yourself inside your room? Last Sunday, I walked to the store to fetch ingredients for our lunch.”
“You walk alone?” he asked as if that was an impossible thing. I’m not a girl anymore, a woman to be exact, who can go on her own to buy simple things listed in her brother’s recipe.
“Yes.” Memories of Mila pushed through my mind. Should I tell Gelo about that? I trusted him and if he know something about her, he should tell me the truth right away. “I have to tell you something, but I’m not going to tell it here.”
A handsome and striking smirk drew a line on his lips. “Is it that private? That you’re afraid to tell that to me here?”
“No, it isn’t. But it’s dangerous to tell that here, knowing how the way you react.”
He surrendered. “Fine. Give me your backpack.”
“Why?”
“This is me being a gentleman, Cath. Just give me until we got home.”
I removed the strap of my backpack from my back and gave it to him. “I brought a hardback book for lunch, which I didn’t read at all since Gwen talked to me during our break.”
“Yeah, this is a bit heavy.”
We started walking, Gelo greeting some of the boys who were passing by. I thought he didn’t have a friend in this town. Maybe they were his classmates or should I say his acquaintances? People usually call people they’re close with but not exactly their friends as colleagues. Maybe that’s the connection Gelo has with those guys.
When we got out from the gate of the school, where there are fewer to no students, Gelo faced me. He covered his eyes from the striking UV rays of the sun. “You can tell me now.”
I let out a sigh. Gelo would trust me on this, I believed. “I talked to Mila.”
Shit! All of the red blood cells on his face disappeared. Did I say something bad?