I still can't believe that the doorman was so dumb and let us go.

I almost passed out when I was showing him my permission. He just nodded and that was it.

With Jake, we agreed that he will go a few minutes after me, so it won't be too suspicious, and he told me to go first so I will be free even if he won't.

I was supposed to wait for him at the corner of the street, and if he wouldn't show up after 10 minutes, he told me to go home.

Fortunately, he did show up with a huge smile on his face.

"Well, I don't know how about you, but I could eat a horse, so our first stop will be McDonalds," he announced when he was closer to me.

"Okay. Oh, and wasn't the doorman suspicious? Didn't he have questions?"

"No, he never cares, as long as you have permission. I just like to wait for a while. Just for sure, you know?" As a response, I just nodded.

We decided for take away again, then we took the same path and yesterday and soon we were sitting in the lair.

Now we were sitting next to each other, our legs resting on the other 2 chairs.

"This place is so calm," I said while munching on my fries.

"Yeah, that' s why I come here so often. Almost every day, actually."

"So, did you bring all the stuff here yourself?"

"Yup, I didn't want anyone to know about this place."

"Ou. Then why do I know? Should I feel flattered?" I joked, but when I looked at him he didn't seem to understand my joke.

"You're different than other girls. Probably even different than other people-" He said, but I interrupted him.

"Do you even know how shitty that sounds? It's the most cliché sentence. Like ever!"

"I know that, and I would explain if you left me to finish. I was about to say that it probably sounds extremely cheesy, but you just give that vibe. Like you're here physically, but mentally you're somewhere else, but you don't care. You also look like you don't give a damn about what people think, but deep down you care. You're strange but in a good way. Cool way. "

" Okay, you saved it, but only because of that 'cool way', " I teased and bumped him with my shoulder.

" Great, because if I weren't forgiven, you wouldn't be allowed to come here again," He said and winked at me.

" Ou, there's one more thing that I wanted to ask. Yesterday you called my dad 'baby', but you didn't know it was my dad. Why would you call me baby? "

He was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Then he smirked at me and said: "Maybe because I wanna be your daddy?"

"Oh, so you want to change my diapers and wipe my butt?" I shot back at him, and of course that he was shocked.

"Come on, you were supposed to start blushing! It's not fair that you said that!" he pouted.

"This game doesn't have rules, so nothing is unfair," this time I winked at him.

"Well, I like to call random people pet names, just to see their reaction. Not gonna lie, it caused me some trouble in the past..." he said and scratched the back of his head. He told me some stories about it. We laughed a lot. We were so careless. Just two teenagers enjoying that for a while they don't have to pretend to be responsible and act like adults.

It felt so nice.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, and I don't even know how, but I fell asleep.

"Aila, it's probably time to go." someone whispered to my ear. I opened my eyes and noticed that I wasn't in my bed. That surprised me and caused me to jump a little. And then I fell on the hard ground. And suddenly I remembered where I was.

"Shit, are you okay?" Jake asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Yes, totally fine. Just chilling here..." I stood up and put the chair back in place.

"Why would you do that?"

"I don't know, I forgot where I was, and because I was sleeping I assumed I was in my bed, but then you surprised me," I said.

"Well, sorry. But it's really time to go," he said and handed me my backpack.

"What time is it?"

"Just a little past 4, but I'm sure you have homework, and I don't think your parents would be happy if you got home late at night. I probably should have woken you up sooner, but you looked tired,"

"Yeah, didn't get much sleep last night."

"Weeb?" he asked with a smile on his lips. 

"More like overthinker."

"I almost forgot! I wanted to ask you about Candice. That's also the reason why you couldn't sleep, right?"

"Yes, I don't know what I' m gonna do. She obviously hates me, and Mary said that her parents are sponsors, so even the principal would be on her side..." I signed.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry about it. You'll figure this out. I'll help you, and I'm sure that Mary will help you too," he reassured me.

"I just... I just don't get her. Who does she think she is? Queen? Well, with that overbite she kind of looks like Freddie Mercury..." I chuckled.

"That's right, but she definitely doesn't sound like Freddie. Once she sang at school. I almost lost the sense of hearing!" he said and we both laughed.

* * *

"Where have you been! I was fucking worried!" That's how my dad welcomed me when I got home.

"Me too! What has gotten into you?" mum joined.

This was bad. She didn't lecture dad about swearing in my presence, meaning that she was just as pissed as a dad.

"I hung out with a friend after school," I lied. 

"That doesn't change the situation. You should have let us know!" mum shouted.

"Okay! I should have called you, but I forgot and I m sorry! There, are you happy now? Can you stop screaming now? Because in case you haven't noticed, I am not 10 anymore, and shouting at me isn't doing its effect. I admit, I made mistake, but couldn't you just tell me that in a normal tone?" I barked back at them and then I run upstairs to my room.

Tears were pricking in my eyes, but I refused to let them run down my cheeks.

I didn't want to cry again.

I've cried so much, that tears lost meaning to me.

I've learned that tears were useless because they can't fix what can not be fixed.

Deep breaths.

That's all it takes.

That's what they've taught me.

After a while, I was better. Not OK, but at least better.

My phone ringed. Mary was calling me. At first, I was a bit scared to pick up, because I didn't want to tear up, but after making sure my breaths were calm and even, I picked up.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you for hours, but you just disappeared! You should have told me you were leaving. And why did you leave in the first place?" She said, and just like that, I started panicking again.

I felt like I was suffering. Like I couldn't breathe, and she was the one who was holding my head underwater.

" I'm sorry, I'll... I'll call you later... " I bite my lip until I could feel blood on my tongue. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that..." She didn't have a chance to finish, because I hang up.

I was just staring at the screen, and I noticed I got another message from the unknown. It was a link to status.  Status about me. Status about how mean I am, written by the rainbow girl...

Unknown: Do you still refuse my help?

I didn't respond. I couldn't. My eyes were so flooded with tears that I couldn't recognize letters on the screen. Funny, how little does a person need to break down...

_________________________________________

A/N - Funny, how little does person need to break down... Also, I'm alive (after ghosting this story for a fest months 👀)