Chapter 4

I woke, two days later, to the sun shining in my eyes. I stared out at the half of the room I could see, through squinted eyes. I hadn’t moved an inch and I was planning on going back to sleep when I felt an arm slink around my waist. Out of instinct, I started to struggle to get loose.

“Mercury, it’s just me,” I heard Anton whisper in my ear.

Relaxing, I rolled over onto my back and smiled over at him.

“Hey,” I greeted, stretching my arms. He leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“Hey,” He answered as he sat back, propped up on his elbow, watching me.

“What time is it?” I asked, sitting up so that I was leaning against the headboard.

“About 6:30,” Anton replied.

“Why exactly are we up this early?” I half complained as I moved to lay back down.

“Because we’re going back to school,” Anton said, his eyes scanning my face for any reaction.

“Really?” I asked hopeful, almost falling off the bed.

“Yep,” Anton confirmed as he got up. “Come on, we need to drop Josh off at the middle school today.”

“Josh is still in middle school?” I questioned as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and started toward the bathroom to shower.

“Yeah, he’s pretending to be fourteen,” Anton explained. “He’s really fifteen so it’s not that hard for him.”

“oh, I’ll see you in the kitchen,” I said before closing the bathroom door and starting the water.

Ten minutes later I walked into the kitchen, my hair still wet, dressed in a Jean skirt that came to about halfway down my thigh and a black T shirt with a red and a white tank-top underneath.

“Hey,” I greeted Claire and Lucy as I walked over to the fridge.

“You’re happy today,” Claire remarked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy to go to school.” I smiled at her, over the top of the fridge door, before searching the fridge for something to eat.

“There’s milk and cereal on the counter, you know,” Anton answered, coming up behind me, his arms around my waist. I stood up straight and glanced over at the island, where a gallon of milk and a box of cereal sat. I glanced over at Claire to find her examining something, very closely, on the wall facing away from us. What a good friend. I turned my attention to Lucy, who was openly staring at us.

“Lucy d-don’t you have t-to get ready for s-school?” I stammered, a pink sheen growing darker on my cheeks. She shook her head no, still staring. I sighed as Anton let go of me. I closed the refrigerator and made my way over to the open stool, standing by the island.

“Here,” Anton said, sliding a bowl and spoon across the counter top, to me.

Twenty minutes later, Anton, Josh and I sat in the black suburban, driving down the mountain.

“I hate this car,” Anton complained. “It’s too big.”

“I can drive,” Josh offered. Anton shook his head no. The car ride was silent for about an hour.

“What are we doing?” I asked as we pulled onto the mansion’s driveway.

“Getting my car,” Anton said as he parked the car at the end of the driveway. He got out of the car and walked around to my door, putting his arm around my shoulders as soon as I was out of the car.

We walked into the garage and over to Anton’s white mustang. Anton kept his arm around me until I was inside the car.

The white mustang pulled into the middle schools parking lot, receiving stares from most of the kids, and a lot of the teachers.

After dropping Josh off we sped toward the high school.

We met Claire and Anders in the school parking lot.

“How’d you get Lucy to school?” I asked, seeing the motorcycle behind them.

“She stayed home,” Anders said. I stared at him for a second, shocked that he’d leave a five-year-old home alone.

“She’ll be fine, Mercury,” Anton assured, wrapping his arms around me.

Inside the hallways of the school I could feel people watching us. I glanced around but everything looked normal.

“Claire!” a girl, whose name I think was Faye or something, called, waving.

“I’ll be right back,” Claire said stepping away from Anders and walking over to her friend. I watched them talk for a couple minutes before Claire came back.

“What did she want?” I asked, as we started to walk toward Claire’s locker.

“Just… you know… stuff,” Claire replied.

“She wanted to know if we were dating,” Anton clarified.

“How did you know…”

“See,” Anton said triumphantly, grinning down at me. “We’ll see you guys later,” Anton said before he started to lead me toward my locker.

Through out the day I felt the increasing feeling that someone was watching us, or that everyone was watching us. I was relieved when sixth period came, knowing I only had an hour left.

Mr. Froid walked into the classroom, instantly spotting Anton with his arm around me.

“Miss Carmichaul, please move to this open seat at the front of the class,” Mr. Froid instructed. Neither Anton, nor I, moved. We just stared up at him blankly. “Miss Carmichaul, move.” I didn’t move, not an inch, didn’t even blink. Mr. Froid stalked back to me. He grabbed hold of my arm and yanked me out of my chair, just as the principal walked into the room. Mr. Froid didn’t notice and started to drag me toward the front of the room.

“Mr. Froid!” the principal, Ms. Chambers, scolded as she stormed over to him, causing his grip to loosen on my arm and eventually drop. “Out! I never want to see you near this school again!” Ms. Chambers cared a lot about the children at the school.

Mr. Froid stood still, trying to come up with an argument. I glanced over my shoulder at Anton, seconds later he was up walking toward me. Anton enclosed me in his arms as soon as he was close enough.

“You okay?” Anton asked softly, worry ringing in his voice. I glanced up at his eyes to see him staring at Mr. Froid, the look in his eyes seamed murderous with fury.

“Yeah,” I answered, rubbing my hand on his chest, trying to calm him down a little. “I’m okay.”

“But she wouldn’t…”

“There is no excuse,” Ms. Chambers cut Mr. Froid off, “As of now you’re fire. Now go before I call the police.” With that Mr. Froid turned and walked out of the classroom. “You two, come with me,” Ms. Froid addressed Anton and me before she started out of the room. Anton and I followed close behind her.

Ms. Chambers released us from school early, after having us explain why we had missed almost two weeks of school, which Anton made up some excuse about visiting his aunt Clarisa.