Vital

"Cayden Conner!" An officer called out. Everyone looked around wondering who the hell that was. I, on the hand, knew. I glanced at Connect as he slowly collected his stuff. He smiled at me then left the room with the officer.

"Alright everyone stop gawking," our teacher scolded with a shake of her head.

Why were they even investigating? Chelsea was mugged. Let it go. Hours passed by and it wasn't until lunch time that I actually got to speak to Connect.

"So, how did it go?" I rose a brow, biting my bottom lip. He came over and kissed my cheek.

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head with a smile. I just playfully rolled my eyes.
"Gabriella, are you okay?" He turned to her, at which she over dramatically jumped.

"Yeah," she stammered gathering her things. "See you guys around." Then she was gone.

"You don't think she thinks we had anything to do with Chelsea, do you?" He questioned, watching her as she quickly walked away.

"Didn't you?" I whispered as we walked.

"No, I'm actually a bit upset about it." He let out a deep breath. My conscious was cleared.

"Wow," I muttered. "This whole time I thought it was you."

"Of course not." He winked, then saw his two main guys. "See you, Monique."

"Peace." I let out a deep breath and started walking alone when I was yanked into an empty class room. "I wondered when you'd be questioning me."

"You're a bitch," David spat.

"Glad we established this," I agreed, trying to open the door. However, he jumped in front of me.

"No, really you are a bitch," He snarled.

"But, I didn't do anything," I defended.

"Lies. You told me how she was going to get what was coming to her," He hissed.

"Yeah, she was going to from someone that looks after me. Not by the random people that mugged her or some shit. I would've preferred my guys to have done it," I answered. "They wouldn't have been that brutal."

"What?" He paused, furrowing his brows and stared into my eyes completely.

"I found out that no one I knew did it. I asked around," I dryly inform with a simple shrug.

"Really?" He choked out. Probably feeling stupid. He straightened his posture then looked me over with disgust, the bridge of his nose squishing up. "Least that's one less thing on your conscious then."

"Yeah," I whisper as he shoved past me. "David."

"What?" He stopped, his hand barely touching the door knob.

"Do you really think I'd do something like that?" I questioned, intensely staring at him.

"I don't know," he quietly answered then left. I watched as he pushed past a few students and continued his journey, knocking some freshmen over. Usually David would turn around, laugh and have John some where near by to make fun of the poor kid. Even Pete. The three of them are jerks.

"Stop!" As if on cue I heard a kid cry out. I followed the cries and watched a horrific scene in action. John and Pete were dangling a little freshmen over a trashcan. Everyone gathered around like vultures, chanting David's name. David appeared with his famous half smile on his face.

"Really, you guys?" David mused, standing in front of the Freshmen. "They're too easy."

"It's Freshmen day, Dave. Next week is Sophomore," John enthused. Pete simply nodded repeatedly like a chump. David shrugged then yanked the kid's sweater and shirt off, tossing it in the mud. They dunked the kid in the trash then put the lid on it.

"See-ya!" Pete howled, David kicked the can over and the three walked off. David in the middle, John to his right, and Pete to the left. All stepping at the same time. All laughing the same way. All the same kind of assholes. Everyone else, they just laughed, wishing they could be apart of that little trio.

...

After the events of lunch, and the gossip I had to deal with in my other classes. I was actually happy to be in sixth period. Until that is the stupid officer that escorted Conner out of our other class came into mine.

"Monique Jensen." God, I can't escape. I slowly gathered my things. Ignored the gazes and questions people were muttering and followed the officer out of the class room.

"Do you know why you're in here?" An old man with a tired expression asked as I took a seat.

"Not really." I shrugged, leaning my back pack against my legs on the floor.

"Does Chelsea Gemings sound familiar to you?" He inquired, slightly leaning forward for emphasis or something.

"Who doesn't know that name?" I replied.

"How would you describe Chelsea?" He turned to a fresh page in his notebook and glanced up at me.

"She's popular. An athletic cheerleader. Loud." I listed a few then stopped.

"Would you say she's a good friend?" What were the point of these stupid ass questions?

"Wouldn't know." I leaned back in my chair and stared at him.

"You say she's popular. Did that bother you?"

"Better her than me."

"Really now? Why is that?"

"I don't like how everyone is in everyone's business. Being popular meant everyone was waiting for you to screw up some how. Hell they didn't even wait, they'd make crap up just to have something to talk about. Not my kind of life style," I explained, causing him to slightly sit back as well in shock.

"Did you have anything against her?" He composed himself and continued the standard questions, I assumed.

"Nope." I popped the P and smiled.

"I heard she teased you though?" He quirked a brow, writing down a few notes.

"She teased everyone, sir. Even her own friends. So her teasing me didn't mean much," I answered, then glanced at the clock. School would be over in ten minutes and I'm missing out on my favorite class.

"In a hurry? Nervous?" He continued listing out a few symptoms of what a guilty person would be feeling.

"Not exactly. You can check my grades, I love my English class. It's my favorite. I mean, it's unfortunate what happened to Chelsea really. I hope she's not dead, that'd suck. But I've answered questions and I'm not much help to your case, officer. I have a report that I am working on and need Mr D to further explain to me. So, I was checking the time to see if by any chance I'd at least have five minutes to talk to Mr D before going home," I rambled.

"Ugh. Of course. That will be all." He nodded to the officers that are standing at his sides. One came over and escorted me out, while the other lead another student that I recognized as Chelsea's best friend into the room. I rose my brows at her, as we slowly passed like it were slow motion, then went back to my sixth period.

"Mr D!" I called when the bell rang. Great.

"Can it wait til tomorrow?" He questioned, collecting his things while all of his students filed out.

"Yeah," I muttered, chewing the inside my cheek. "I guess."

"Monique." I heard my name, glancing to see Nathan.

"See you Mr D," I called over my shoulder, walking to Nathan and soon positioned myself at his side while we walked.

"Did you want to-" Nathan started but of course Gabriella's loud voice cut in.

"Monique!" She yelled, quickly rushing over to us.

"Hey." I nodded, a small smile on my face.

"So what did they ask you? Anything I should be worried about?" She whispered, ignoring the fact that Nathan is there.

"They asked me simple questions. And what would you have to worry about?" I rose a brow, confused. I forgot that she wasn't there when Connect said they weren't the cause of Chelsea's unfortunate events.

"You know," she muttered through half closed lips.

"He said he wasn't the reason," I assured.

"Yeah, right." She pfft'd with a roll of her eyes.

"No, really Gaby. He doesn't lie. He said he was actually sad that his guys didn't do it." I explained, which gained Nathan's attention.

"Who? Did what?" Nathan questioned. Gabriella finally noticed then looked away.

"I have to go. See-ya!" She waved and ran off. I let out a deep breath and walked towards the dirt parking lot.

"Don't worry about it," I answered Nathan's question. He kept giving me looks like 'answer me' and jerking his head and shoulders. It was like a little kid and made me smile.

"Monique," he said my name with such emphasis, like for me to quit and just tell him.

"The whole Chelsea thing, Nathan. People thought it was me or something," I explained like he was the dumbest guy on earth. Nathan chuckled and walked with a stride to him.

"I knew it wasn't you. You wouldn't be capable of allowing such a thing," he confessed. At which I snorted. Shows how much he knows me.

"Yeah." I trailed off, looking away.

"So, dinner. My place?" How awkward of him. I rose a brow and shifted my eyes to his.
"I mean it's nothing fancy, and kinda embarrassing but."

"But sounds good." I smiled, biting my bottom lip in the process.

"Really?" He smiled that crooked smile.

"Yeah, why not?" I shrugged. "Is this a date?"

"Huh?" He almost tripped over himself, then regained composure.
"Pssh. N-no."

"Okay." I nonchalantly sang, skipping through my gate and turned around.
"What time do you want me over?"

"I'll come knock on your door." He winked then hurried off. I sucked in my bottom lip and rested my teeth on it. The corner of my cheeks hurt from me smiling so hard, and I'd imagine I wouldn't look so attractive right now. None the less, I skipped inside and locked the door behind me.

Homework, check. Eyeliner, check. Dressed with my rain coat on as well, check. Now to wait.

As if on cue there was a knock at the door. I opened it with a smile, until I saw David. "What do you want?" I growled, slightly closing the door.

"I just, it's eating me inside. Did you have anything to do with Chelsea? This time no bitching, or name calling, or anything." He was frantic. Even took his beanie off and ran a hand tightly through his short hair.

"I didn't," I honestly answered. "My people were a little upset that someone beat them to it."

"Really?" His facial expression went flat. "Because earlier, I was-" He stopped and pushed past me.

"Sure come on inside," I sarcastically hissed, closing the door and locked it.

"Earlier I was really thinking you did," he whispered, shifting his eyes to mine. We both stared at each other for a moment. My whiskey eyes staring into his blue marble ones. They were so dark around the rims, then light gray and sky blue flickers around the pupil like a marble.

"I think a lot of people suspected me." I frowned. "That's why I got interrogated."

"Damn," he mumbled. "They questioned me too."

"Yeah." I took a seat on the couch and stared at my hands. "At first I thought I was the reason too, wont lie. I felt guilty, like damn did she deserve all that? She did piss me off, and hurt me. But to be hurt that severe. Fuck. But when Connect told me that it wasn't our fault. I eased up. Not that it still doesn't suck, I'm just glad it's not mine to bare."

"Connect?" David was slightly outraged. "You are with him?!"

"You know him?" I asked, highly doubting he did.

"I don't know him, I've heard of him," he corrected, taking a seat next to me.
"Why do you run around with those kinds of people?"

"I haven't ran around with them in a while," I remind, which he laughed.

"That's only because you had to run from the cops once," he brought up.

"Yeah, yeah." I laughed. "Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Pete saw you two years ago," he snickered.

"And the school didn't find out? I'm surprised," I sarcastically mused.

"Have you noticed they don't really find out your business?" He questioned.

"Just how I keep it." I roughly nodded.

"Oh yeah, because you totally knew that Pete was a witness that day." David winked. I hadn't noticed that he moved closer and closer to me during this conversation.

"Well then why else would my business not be out there?" I demand.

"The same reason people think some foreign exchange student was killed by a certain group of druggies." He smirked. My facial expression dropped and I just stared at him. Why would he look after me? Of all people. David's face became a few inches away from mine. "We may hate each other, Monique. But that doesn't change the fact that we grew up together and I once played barbies with you." I couldn't help but smile at that memory. When his lips almost touched mine that's when someone slammed on my door.

"Monique!" Nathan yelled. I jumped back and tried to calm my breathing. I got up, and slowly answered the door. Not opening it fully.

"Nathan," I whisper, shifting my eyes to David.

"Who's here?" Nathan asked, knowing full well that David's truck is outside.

"Me." David appeared, zipping his hood up. When did he take that off?
"I was just leaving."

"What were you doing here?" Nathan scoffed.

"My mom asked me to come by, check up on Monique. The usual shit, newbie." David patted Nathan's head, then smirked at me before leaving. I stared after him then shifted my eyes to Nathan.

"That wasn't awkward at all," Nathan chuckled, staring at me.

"Tell me about it." I laughed also. "You're all soaked."

"More for the reason to hurry our asses up," Nathan stated and we both ran to his house.
"Also I apologize about my mom. She can be a bit much."

"I can handle," I assured. She can't be worse than my mom.

"You must be Monique! Oh it's so good to finally meet you," His mom immediately greeted as soon as I walked in the door. "Nathan has done nothing but talk about you these past few days, ever since his first day. You left quite the impression." She winked and headed back towards the kitchen.

"She can be a bit over dramatic with stories as well," Nathan whispered with a wink and took a seat at their little table.

"Oh hush, Nathaniel. You know it's true," his mom giggled. Then she turned to me with a serious expression. "I hope you don't mind vegetarian food, I forgot to buy meat for you."

"I'm a veggie too," I admitted with a smile. She looked at Nathan with a huge grin and took a seat.

"How lovely." She smacked her lips together and placed her napkin in her lap.
"Are you ready for this lovely meal?"

"It smells delicious," I complimented. My eyes scanning over the freshly cooked vegetables and flour tortillas. "Looks good too."

"Oh it is," Nathan quietly chuckled, it almost sounded like a hiss.

"Say grace," his mom ordered and so we all bowed our heads and Nathan quickly said their Grace. I muttered an amen as well and started to eat. "So, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope." I shook my head, wiping my mouth as I fully chewed my food.

"Why not?" She asked, obviously doing the dirty work for Nathan.

"Too much drama," I answer after swallowing my food. I took a drink of the wine that she set out for us.

"Yes, Nathan told me how you prefer to keep to yourself. But you do know, honey, that isn't healthy. You have to go through the bad to fully appreciate the good," she advised, a warm smile on her lips. Now I see where Nathan gets his wisdom.

"Yeah," I whisper, glancing around. "So, where's your father?"

"War," Nathan dryly answered.

"I thought you said you had a family business?" I furrowed my brows.

"Goodness Nathan, you still keep that story?" His mom laughed, then turned her attention to me. "No, we don't have a family business and it didn't go out of business neither. Nathan's father is in the military and currently the government is trying to screw us so we moved here. We're planning on moving on a base soon though."

"Nice," I commented, figuring the scolding of Nathan lying to me will be saved for a more appropriate time.

"Indeed." She gave Nathan a 'can't believe you lied look' then continued to eat her food. I, myself, gave Nathan a look that meant 'we'll talk later' and continued to eat my food. Here he thought his mom would be too much for me. She is such a nice lady. I think I might really get along with Mrs Phelps.