Chapter 9: "Agent Smith strikes again"

The next day, I was the most alert person in school. Not because I was interested in the classes, nor was it because I had too much coffee in the morning (which I did).

It was because I was spying on Jayden Williams.

Everyone had secrets. There must something that he was deathly afraid of the world finding out. I made it my mission to find out what it was. Thus, I followed him everywhere he went (except the bathroom, jeez, who wants to see that?), with my phone poised in my hand, ready to take an embarrassing picture to blackmail him with.

For a guy who used to be pretty popular once, he was now way down on the social ladder. Our classmates paid no attention to him; teachers didn't choose him to answer questions in class. In fact, I never knew that he was in all my classes. Ever since we came into high school, it's like he just became...invisible. I wondered what caused him to change so drastically. A part of me felt kind of sorry for him. Didn't he ever get lonely?

"You know, you're being way too obvious," a voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked towards my right where Sally was sitting. She wasn't even looking at me; her eyes were scanning the large textbook in front of her.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Staring at Jayden, you idiot," she said. "You look like you're falling for him."

"No! It's not that!" I exclaimed. "I'm spying on him," I told her in a whisper.

Sally finally looked up from her book. "Why on earth are you doing that?" she asked.

"Well...um..." I started as I uncomfortably wringed my hands. "He has some information that could, um, compromise me and I want to know something about him that would help me keep his mouth shut," I finished.

Sally raised an eyebrow. "What information?"

Even though I didn't know her that well, I trusted Sally. There was no reason she would go blabbing to Hayden about my feelings for him. Which was why I told her about it all. When I finished, she simply raised an eyebrow.

"So...that's it?" she said.

I gaped at her. "What do you mean 'that's it'? Don't you see that if Hayden finds out, I'd have to move to China and sweep the Great Wall?"

"Why would you have to sweep – never mind," Sally said, waving her hand to dismiss my random rhetorical question. "Hayden isn't a high-school student, Sasha. He's a man who probably thinks of you as a kid sister. So, if he finds out, he'd just laugh it off."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "And then I'll have to move to China and -"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Sally interrupted, rolling her eyes behind her glasses. "He isn't the only guy in the world."

"He is for me," I sighed.

Sally didn't bother gracing me with a retort. She merely rolled her eyes again and went back to her book. When the lunch bell rang, I hastily gathered up my books and made to scramble after Jayden who had already disappeared from the class.

"Break a leg," I heard Sally say sarcastically to me as I dashed out of the classroom.

That was literally what I did.

Jayden didn't go into the cafeteria like everyone else. Making sure to stick to the walls and trying to keep my presence as imperceptible as possible, I followed him outside. I hid behind a trash bin (note to self: never do that again) and watched him expertly climb a tree. I couldn't see anything from my vantage point; the leaves were hiding him too well. So, I decided to climb the tree next to his and find out what he was up to.

I had climbed trees before so I could noiselessly make my way up and onto a branch. The tree Jayden was in was a few feet away from mine and I could easily see what he was up to.

He was smoking.

It was a bit anticlimactic, but I was really desperate to find any dirt on him. Smoking on school grounds was prohibited, so if I took a picture of him doing it, he'd be in big trouble with the administration. Grinning, I carefully pulled out my phone and snapped a picture.

However, in all my excitement, I had completely forgotten to mute my phone and turn the flash off. The noise and light alerted Jayden of my presence and he snapped his head in my direction.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed, hastily putting out his cigarette. "What're you doing over there?"

He looked absolutely livid and started to climb down his tree. I panicked. What if he climbs up my tree, takes my phone and deletes the picture? I couldn't let him do that!

So, I tried to climb down my tree and make my escape. In my haste, I lost my footing and fell down to the ground with a screech. I heard a crack as soon as I made contact with the hard, grassy ground. Pain immediately shot up my left leg and tears sprung to my eyes.

Jayden dropped down beside me. "Shit, Sasha, are you okay?"

I would've been surprised by the concern in his voice but at that moment I was too engrossed by the pain in my foot. I shook my head at him and let out a whimper. "I think I broke my ankle," I murmured.

Jayden didn't say anything else. He gently put one arm underneath my legs and the other under my back and easily lifted me up. I gasped and gripped his white t-shirt with my right hand and threw my left arm around his neck automatically.

"What – what're you doing?" I stammered, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Taking you to the hospital," he muttered.

"We have a school nurse -"

"A nurse can't fix a broken ankle. You need a doctor."

I didn't argue with him anymore as he walked over to the parking lot towards an old-looking blue truck. He didn't look like the type to be driving a truck, but I made no comment on that.

Jayden slowly opened the car door and gently settled me down into the passenger seat. He leaned towards me and for a second I thought he was going to kiss – wait a minute, why the hell would I even think that? Must be the damn pain getting to my head. All he did was fasten my seat belt and make sure my foot was comfortable. He then jogged over to the driver's side and drove out of the school parking lot towards the nearest hospital.

When we reached the hospital, he again picked me up into his arms and this time I didn't complain. The throbbing pain in my foot would've made it impossible for me to walk and he looked like he wouldn't listen to me anyway. He cried for a doctor as soon as we went into the emergency room and a nurse ushered us into the emergency ward where he put me down on the bed. A doctor came pretty quickly to examine me.

"It's nothing too serious. You'll just need to wear a cast for a month," the doctor told me after examining my foot.

"I can't walk for a month?" I asked.

"You'll need bed rest for a few days after which you'll need crutches before it heals," the doctor informed me. "I just need you to fill in some information before proceeding," he said, and then ushered the nurse towards us. He then left to see his other patients, telling us he'd be back in a few minutes.

The young, brown-haired nurse came towards us with a pen and clipboard. "Are you family?" she asked Jayden. He shook his head to that. "Boyfriend, then? It was quite admirable how you carried her into the emergency room," she rambled.

Jayden coughed. "No, no, nothing like that," he said. "I'm just a...friend."

"Oh, well you two would make a nice couple!" the nurse chirped happily.

"Could you just please tell us what information you need before plastering my foot?" I interrupted her before she could blurt out any other awkward observations.

The nurse nodded and asked to me to call up a guardian because I wasn't an adult yet. I called Rebecca because my mother would just freak out and I really didn't want to be scolded in a hospital full of people.

I expected my sister to be calm, since she's in medical school and was probably used to these things, but I was wrong. As soon as she entered the ward, she spouted off questions, looking very flustered.

"How did you break your ankle? Do you need surgery? Are you in too much pain? What -"

"Calm down, sis. The doc says it's just a dislocation," I said.

Rebecca sighed in relief. She then finally noticed Jayden standing beside my bed and frowned. "Did you break her ankle?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips to appear menacing.

"I'm the one who brought her here!" Jayden exclaimed.

"No, he didn't break my -" I started.

"You could've done it out of guilt," my sister interrupted me.

"Then I wouldn't go out of my way to carry her here. Trust me when I say your sister weighs a lot," scoffed Jayden.

I gasped. Neither of them paid any attention to me though.

"You've played a lot of pranks on her before. Maybe you went a bit too far this time," said Rebecca.

"Hey!" I cried out before Jayden could open his mouth. "Jayden didn't break my ankle. I fell off a tree."

Rebecca finally turned her head to look at me. "Why the hell would you climb a tree?" she asked.

"I was...um...looking for monkeys," I blurted out before thinking. Well, I technically didn't lie. Jayden did behave like a monkey.

Rebecca sighed in exasperation. "Seriously, Sasha?"

"What? Seriously I was looking for monkeys or seriously I fell down a tree?" I asked.

"Never mind," she sighed.

It was weird wearing a cast. It felt too heavy and I was irritated that I couldn't scratch my foot for it was kind of itchy. I expected Jayden to leave once my sister arrived but he didn't. Maybe it was because he knew I took a picture of him smoking and he needed to retrieve my phone.

"Thanks for bringing my sister to the hospital, Jayden," Rebecca said as I was being steered into the parking lot on a wheelchair. "It's good to see that you two aren't at each other's necks anymore."

Jayden shared a look with me but my sister didn't notice that. "Yeah, sure," he said. "Get well soon, Sasha," he told me before making his way to his blue truck.

I stared wide-eyed at his retreating back. Get well soon... And then delete my hard-earned evidence and kill me?

"He's grown up into a nice, young man," my sister commented.

"You sound like mom," I told her, grimacing.

"Well, he has, hasn't he?" she said. "He took you to the hospital, stayed throughout the time it took to plaster your foot and - you know what? I think he likes you," she finished, throwing me a smile.

I didn't bother correcting her. I knew Jayden's actions didn't really show him to be an evil murderer, but I knew better. He would easily ruin my life without a second thought. Though, now, I had something to stop him from doing so. Mwahahaha.

"Sasha, why did you just cackle evilly?" my sister asked worriedly. "Are the painkillers messing up your head?"

A/N: Thank you everyone who has read, reviewed or added this story to their favourites! You have no idea how encouraging that is! Every time I see a review I open up Microsoft Word and just start typing away. x)

Lady Tora: Ah, a fellow lady! *curtsies* XD I too felt the same way and wanted to change the name but then it got stuck. X( Thank you! My story runs on dialogues so it's a relief to hear that. x)

funnechick: Haha, yeah. I kinda forgot about them for a bit. =P

Tears and Music: You're welcome! More updates to come! XD

Review, please? *big puppy dog eyes* O.O