When Night Falls

What Do I Do - Jisun
It would be good if you would listen to this while reading this chapter. (: Thanks

-Christine’s POV-

I trudged through the empty hallways, yawning as I stopped in front of my locker. I picked out the stuff that I needed for Biology, shivering slightly. It was a chilly morning. I pushed open the door of the dark classroom, making it a point not to switch on the lights, before heading towards the seat in front. I was early, so I was alone in the classroom.

I stared at the teacher’s table, enjoying the feeling of the darkness of the room against my swollen eyes. I rubbed my eyes wearily before closing them, thankful for the greater relief that came. The continuous nights of insomnia, plus the alternate days in which I worked at the music store was slowly killing me from the inside out.

I didn’t know how long I could go on like this.

I avoided Ryan most of the time. I wanted to keep my promise to him, the promise that I wasn’t going to be a burden to him anymore.

It didn’t help that he was persistent though.

Fortunately, we only had Biology together.

Though deep now, I knew I had to face Ryan soon.

But for now, I was just content to avoid him as much as I could.

I threw myself into schoolwork, into work at the music store… Every time I was alone at home, I would find something to distract myself from thinking. Schoolwork was what I turned to. I kept myself going all the time, forcing myself not to think…not to think of those words he said again.

I was most afraid of the night. I couldn’t sleep. The words he spoke would resonate in my head, when I lay in bed, till my pillow was thoroughly wet with tears. And finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I would crawl out of bed and desperately bury myself in homework, or start revising for the finals which was still many months away, till the morning came. School was both a liberation and a torture at the same time… it distracted me from my thoughts, but it also meant that I had to think of ways to avoid Ryan.

One good point of this was that I was finally catching up on my schoolwork. And the teachers who used to pick on me all the time began to leave me alone – For I finally knew how to answer most of their questions. In fact, if I started to sleep during their lessons, they would probably let me be. Not that I could even sleep in the first place.

I heard the sound of the lights being switched on one by one, and I blearily opened my eyes. It was Amanda. Her back was facing me as she turned on the lights. She turned around, jumping backwards in shock when she spotted me.

“Christine! You gave me a shock! Why didn’t you turn on the lights?”

I smiled wearily at her, but made no attempt to answer her question.

She came towards me, taking Michael’s seat as she spoke again.

“Hey, Christine, when are you going to swop back our seats again?”

I straightened up, biting my lip, frowning in response.

“I’m sorry… But I was hoping that this could be permanent.” I said.

She raised her eyebrows in response, and then she frowned.

“Christine, I don’t mean to pry, but… I don’t think avoiding Ryan is going to solve anything.” Her brown eyes were wide.

I nodded wearily, biting my lip.

“I know, Amanda. It’s just that… it’s hard.” I was grateful for her concern. She seemed like a really nice person, a really good friend.

She patted my head.

“Give him a chance to explain. He’s been trying so hard. Everyone deserves a second chance. Who knows, you may find that it’s not as bad as it seems. He’s been really upset. I think he prefers his old partner.” She winked at me. I laughed.

She got up, heading towards the back.

“Hey, Amanda?”

She turned around, her brown eyes questioning.

“Thanks.” I smiled gratefully at her.

“No problem.”

I sat alone in the cafeteria. I kept my eyes closed; opening them quickly for awhile and closing them again as I reached out for the packet of cold apple juice that I had bought from the cafeteria lady. I took a swig from it, sighing as the cold liquid trickled down my sore throat. The sleepless nights were slowly sapping my health away.

“…He’s fucking gorgeous…” I heard someone sigh across the cafeteria, before she began to giggle.

“The girl he was with was so beautiful too… I swear, they should be on magazine covers! I heard they are siblings, you know, and they are related to Ryan Black. Cousins or something.”

My eyes popped open as I turned, curiosity aroused.

“Ooh, no wonder! Hot-ness seems to run in their blood! Did you hear where they moved from?”

“Planet Hot-ness.” The two girls went into a fit of giggles.

I rolled my eyes at their immatureness before I began to ponder over their conversation.

Weird, I never heard Ryan mention anything about that.

Not that I gave him any chance to talk to me…

I felt a twinge of guilt as I sighed again, closing my eyes. Refusing to think any further, I let my mind go blank.

I felt a strange hush fall on the cafeteria, and it was suddenly quiet. A sudden, shocked silence. A small part at the back of my head was curious as to what could have brought about this sudden change but the sudden calm in the usually chaotic cafeteria didn’t succeed in distracting me from my dream-like state. I was aware of my surroundings, but my mind was wonderfully blank. It was a relief, and I didn’t intend to give up that rare moment of relief to fulfill my curiosity.

I heard the soft tread of footsteps, quick and graceful. One, two, three… Three sets of footsteps, echoing through the room. I ignored them, as they grew closer towards me. I expected them to pass by me, but…

“Can we sit here?” A sweet, musical voice rang out, a little note of amusement.

My eyes flew open in shock and my mouth widened in shock. I stared, stunned, as Sarah, Jamier and Ryan stood before me. Sarah’s grin seemed to widen as I stared at them, and Jamier’s smile was soft as his midnight blue eyes sparkled, amused. Ryan was smiling too, his dimple dancing on his right cheek.

“We missed you!” Sarah bent slightly, throwing her arms around me. She whispered into my ear, quickly and softly, so that none of the humans in the room would be able to hear us, “We’re taking on the identities of Sarah Jessica Reeves and Jamier Taylor Reeves, we’re siblings; your ex-secondary school friends from Singapore. We moved from Singapore. So we don’t have to pretend that we don’t know each other. We’re Ryan’s cousins.”

I nodded. It would probably be wiser for Sarah to assume another new identity, for she hardly looked the same as before.

I grinned, before exclaiming in a louder voice, “Oh god, I haven’t seen you guys in ages!!” Sarah winked at me, before stepping away. Jamier came closer, grinning slightly as he pulled me up to my feet. What surprised me was that he wrapped me in a hug, a hug that was more than friendly. It was strange, for I hardly knew him. But I hugged him back awkwardly, trying to look as natural as possible, knowing that he probably was trying to keep up the act. He smelled good, in a way. I let him go quickly, for the entire school population was staring at us, and his hug seemed to have caused an adverse reaction, especially among the girls.

“She toyed with Black and now she’s already got another guy twined around her finger! What a WHORE. ” I heard a low hiss that was obviously not meant for my ears. I stiffened. Sarah’s eyes grew wide, and she turned, glaring at the girl at the far end of the room who had made the comment. She made a slight movement, too small for any normal human to notice but I held her by the arm, muttering under my breath.

“You’re not supposed to be able to hear that. Calm down.” With a moment of panic, I realized that both Jamier and Ryan looked tense too. “All of you! Calm down.” I began to tug them towards the table, forcing them to sit down. I pulled Jamier down beside me, before reaching out to pull Sarah first, and then Ryan towards me… I withdrew my hand in shock as I felt electricity humming through me, and I realized, to my horror, that I had grabbed Ryan by his hand. It wasn’t his ice-cold touch that shocked me, but the sensation of his skin against mine… I went red as he sat down, his eyes fixed on me…

I looked at Ryan as he suddenly grimaced, turning around to stare angrily at a guy seated behind us. The guy’s curious, friendly expression changed, as he shrank back, bemused by Ryan’s hostility. I had heard nothing from him, so it must have been something that he was thinking about. I was suddenly glad that I wasn’t able to hear the thoughts of others.

I spoke softly, so that only the three of them would be able to hear me.

“Act normal…” I added after an afterthought, “Please.”

“I’m sorry, Christine. I shouldn’t have done that.” Jamier’s sad midnight blue eyes were filled with guilt, as the cafeteria began to buzz with conversation again.

“It’s ok.” I shook my head. I reached out, patting the top of his head. “I guess the fact that the introvert is good friends with the three hottest people in school tends to make people react like that.” I grinned, despite the ugly comments that were still flying around the cafeteria.

“You think that WE are hot?” Sarah asked, amused. “Look at you!!”

“Thanks for that, Sarah,” I rolled my eyes, “But best friends aren’t supposed to lie to each other.”

“It’s true!!” She insisted.

“You’re blind, really.” Ryan chuckled.

Jamier nodded in agreement.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I rolled my eyes. It felt weird, carrying out a conversation with Ryan. Well, it wasn’t exactly a conversation with HIM, but still… At least, Jamier and Sarah were present, so it wasn’t so bad.

I cleared my throat awkwardly.

“So… What classes are the both of you taking?”

“I’m taking the same classes as you,” Jamier murmured shyly. He clutched my packet of apple juice in his hands, which was already empty, turning it around and around. “Sarah’s taking the same classes as Ryan.” My eyes shot up, and I gazed at Sarah and Ryan... they were smiling at each other.

I felt my heart clench in response, and I could feel my jaw stiffen.

“That’s great.” I forced out the words.

Ryan caught my gaze, and I looked away, but not before I saw the look of confusion on his face. What exactly did I look like just now? Had I given away my jealousy?

“I thought that it would be best this way,” Ryan explained. I stared at the table, trying to memorize the little imperfections on it. “I’ll be able to help Sarah, and you’ll be able to help Jamier.”

I nodded, my heart sinking.