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"We accept the love we think we deserve."— The Perks of Being A Wallflower
(favorite film of all time 👆)
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Chapter 25
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I shut my locker door after the books were placed neatly inside. It was only the middle of the school day, but it felt like I could drop dead right now if given the opportunity.

Raven bumped into my shoulder with a smile. "He can barely stop looking at you, you know."

I glanced at Kade, who was standing at the end of the hallway by his own locker. The back of Levi's brown head faced me, but Kade's gaze was undeniable.

I blushed, letting my head fall. "Can we not talk about it?"

"Mhm," she hummed, tapping her nails along the locker. "How about we talk about it?"

I rolled my eyes, tightening my grip around the backpack, which seemed to grow heavier by the second. "See you at lunch, Raven."

She was too busy staring at the back of Levi's head. I smirked at her obvious affection toward him, walking off toward my next period.

I was rounding the corner of my class when a familiar, voice that belonged to Amber made me pause, "God. Just look at you."

"Aw." I heard the familiarity of Maggie's chuckle. "Amazed by how good I look too, huh?"

I didn't even have to see Natasha to know she was scowling "The exact opposite, really. The only thing I'm amazed at is thinking all along that the ugly duckling was fiction, but looking at you now, I know I definitely was mistaken."

Fuck no. Hurriedly, I went to get to Maggie's side, but there was truly no need.

"Goddamn, I like that one." Maggie, arms crossed, flicked her head at either girl with a chuckle. "But, you wanna know what I always thought?"

I stared at her in shock. She was new, innocent to their torment and their insults.

Natasha scoffed. "Why not?"

"I always thought yeast infections were in between your legs, not on your face," Maggie laughed. "But looking at you both now? I definitely was mistaken."

I expected shock to come first, but instead, my chuckle did. I never expected her to clap back at them both, but it seemed she was definitely fine on her own.

Both of their smug expressions fell in a heartbeat.

"What the fuck?" Natasha spat. "You stupid—"

"I'm fine with just being labeled a bitch, thanks," Maggie interrupted, waving her off. "No adjectives. Too much of a mouthful." Her eyes trailed over them both, her lip tipping into a smirk. "But I bet you're both used to those, aren't you?"

Their attitudes were smashed as Maggie's words tormented them. I couldn't stop myself from chuckling, again. I hadn't known Maggie long enough to know her humor, but I knew I already loved it.

Ambers' eyes weren't concentrated on Maggie, as Natasha's were. Instead, her own were glued on me.

Hatred was sprinkled into her gaze, all for me. Her pink lips were now turned into an angry frown, small fists tightened on either side of her. She resembled every single synonym for hatred.

Growing uncomfortable, I averted my eyes back down to the floor. Her gaze still weighed heavily on my frightened stature, pulling me down by the second. Something about this girl was deranged.

Amber lifted an arm, entangling it with her friend. "C'mon, Nat. We have no time for trash."

Maggie copied her, linking our arms as she scoffed at them. "We didn't ask you to repeat your dad's last words to you before he booked it, bitch."

Natasha face was covered with makeup, yes. But, her red cheeks could be seen right through the foundation. It was as if she were reaching her breaking point the longer this continued.

With a middle finger raised in the highest form of cockiness created, Maggie turned us away then and pushed open the door to our classroom.

Rounds of laughter fell from her as soon as were in our seats. "Fuck, those two were fun to mess with. Like little spoiled ass chihuahuas."

I nodded in agreement. "How did you do that?"

"Argue?" She gave me a weird look.

"Yes, but..." My cheeks fell into a red pit. "How did you get that courage?"

Maggie shrugged, flipping her pencil in between her fingers. "The same way they did. They tried to find my weakness and use it against me, so I did it too. Except they couldn't take it back."

At my expression, she smiled a bit softer, bumping into my shoulder. "I'm serious, girl. Bullying is the weakest shit girls can do. It doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon, so don't ever be ashamed in fighting back. You take every single insecurity like they did you, and throw that shit right back until they're on their asses." She shook her finger at me. "But don't ever feel bad about calling me up to do it for you, if you need it. I promise I'll always be willing."

I giggled at her words, my cheeks flushed as I took note of her words. They made sense.

She was a fiery one though, I give her that. Raven would definitely love her, and I knew I was already starting to.

As soon as our teacher came into the room, she called Maggie to her desk. Everyone was far too busy on their phones, or listening to their music to notice anything else. Thank god.

"Where's Jax?" I asked once she was dismissed back to her seat.

Maggie lifted one shoulder. "On a corner."

I laughed. "Wow."

"Yeah, but no, he's still in the principals office. They're trying to figure his schedule out."

I nodded, watching as she dug around in her bag. "Don't worry about this class, by the way," I offered. "The teacher sleeps through it and gives everyone a passing grade so that we don't snitch on him."

Maggie chuckled, leaning back up with her phone out.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Feeding my addiction," she smiled and offered out the left earbud to me. "If the teachers going to sleep, I'm sure as hell getting something out of it."

I took it, smiling in return. It was still weird being this physically close with other girls that were my age and a friend, but luckily, Raven had started to change that for me and I was sure Maggie would too.

As we waited for her show to load, I scanned over her appearance for the day. She wore a black, long-sleeved shirt along with black jeans that were complimented with silver rings around her dark blue nail polish-tipped fingers.

I felt the words glide out. "You look really pretty."

"What?" Her pixie-cut strands smacked at her as she swung her head to me in shock. "That's a gift coming from you."

I looked back at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes widened slightly, tilting her head. "Have you looked in the mirror lately? You're literally hot. If I were into girls, I'd fuck you." At my red cheeks, she chuckled, bumping into my shoulder. "I'm serious though. You're beautiful."

Ha!

"I wish," I snorted, running my palms along my jeans.

"Oh, suck a 12-inch fish. You know you are."

I rolled my eyes, and concentrated on her phone as it loaded up.

***

Maggie cursed as her fork sunk right through a slice of pizza. "How can this school afford such a large football field, but no good food?"

I laughed at her, nodding in agreement. "I agree." If I didn't bring my own sack for lunch, I simply wouldn't eat.

She looked up to Jax, who was just now sitting down with his tray. "You smell like a sock that's been up an ogres ass," she said to her very sweaty brother, scrunching her nose in disgust.

Jax flicked a couple damp strands away from his eyes, tapping Maggie's nose. "And, you look like you're related to Pennywise, my love."   Pressing one kiss to her cheek, Maggie shoved him away.

Her eyes squinted at her twin. "I'm related to you, dingus," she shot back.

I shook my head at their precious argument. then pushed my fork against the thin slice of soggy pizza.

My mind was in another dimension, and it seemed all I could think about was that brown-eyed mystery named Kade. I hadn't seen him walk into the cafeteria yet, though it seemed my frantic heart was far more aware than my mind was.

I tried to keep everything neutral. My expression was glazed over, eyes focused solely on the twins.

"I hate the human race," Raven huffed as she plopped down into a seat next to me.

A smile drifted past my lips as I faced her. "You're a human though."

Her eyes rolled as she placed her bag down. "Don't remind me."

Finally, her attention fell to the silent twins in front of us. She stared for a couple moments before averting her gaze to mine. "Who are they?" She pointed a finger straight to them, with absolutely no remorse.

The twins didn't seem to mind. Maggie began to offer her hand. "I'm—" Jax cut her off with an introduction of himself, slapping her wrist down. "I'm Jax, and this is my lovely twin baby sister, Maggie."

Raven smiled, glancing between the two. "I'm Raven, nice to meet you guys."

All three continued with a nice introduction. My head bobbed on it's own as they all continued to talk about their similarities and the controversy of cafeteria food.

I began to cut into the pizza as a form of distraction. I could feel my head stirring up a war, bringing out a pounding in my skull.

"Can I steal her for a minute?"

I froze, the fork going slack in my hand. The three people in front of me all died down, their eyes falling right behind me. My heartbeat thumped as his voice echoed all the way to my toes. 

Raven was the first to speak up,"Uh..." her wide eyes flickered to me, nodding urgently. "Yeah, get out of here, Kimberly."

I turned around, my brain trying to come into contact with the situation. Caramel drop eyes stared me down before flickering back to my friends.

My body caught up with reality after what seemed like forever. I stood up on wobbly legs, and nearly forgot my bag on the way out.

We walked out the main door of the school, his strides confident while mine were clumsy and unthought of. I pinched myself, but nope. This wasn't a dream.

"Kade," I squeaked out.

He was as silent as a mouse.

We stopped at his sports car. I bit my lip as he pulled my door open then motioned for me to get inside.

Is he planning to kill me? It was possible.

I got in, my arms instantly clouded by heat. "What are you doing?" I asked before he shut the door behind me.

I looked down at his cup holder to see it covered with a large plastic plate. I turned to the sound of his door shutting. Cautious, I raised my eyes to his face.

He nodded toward the plate. "I didn't know what you wanted, so I just got the regular," he said to me.

I stared down at the writing on top of the plastic. It was obviously Shay's signature, meaning that he had went to their diner. He went to my diner.

"Why did you do this?" I asked slowly.

He made sure to keep his gaze on his window, his expression entirely glazed over. "This was the only way I would be able to talk to you."

I tilted my head at him. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Nothing."

I frowned in utter confusion. "Then, why did you need to—"

"I like speaking to you, is that a good enough reason for you?" he said sharply.

I stared down at the clean cut fries. My cheeks flooded with color as I sighed.

"I can't tell," the words fell out of me.

He moved his hard look to me. "We wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Instead of pushing the argument, I bit into a fry. His gaze lingered on me the longer the silence continued.

"Who was he?" he broke first.

At his voice, I raised my eyes to him. "Who?"

"The guy that was at the table with you," he said distastefully.

I thought about it for a moment before I got it. "Jax."

"Why was he with you?"

"He's my friend."

"Who's a guy," he argued.

I shrugged. "So what?"

"Guys aren't just friends with girls like you," he about spat at me. I wanted to ask what he meant but I had to finalize something first.

I glared at him. "Jax doesn't like me."

A scoff traveled from his mouth, and right to my ears. ". Trust me, sweetheart. Guys always—"

"He likes guys," I snapped over him.

Brown eyes flickered to my upset stature. "Oh."

Serves him right. "Yeah," I rolled my eyes, biting into my burger. As I chewed, I felt the onlookers glancing at Kade's car. Even though the windows were tinted, I knew word got out quickly at his little kidnapping in the cafeteria.

"You know, you probably shouldn't be seen with me," I said as a staring couple passed the car.

He shook his head, as if he were just now shaking back to reality. "What?"

"Your cool demeanor wavers when you're with me," I said.

His eyebrows about reached his hairline. "My 'cool' demeanor?" I saw his mouth twitch as he eyed me. "What the fuck is that?"

I nodded. "You know, like you hear about those cool guys in the movies?"

"High School Musical is a great example, but I guess we don't go around singing to each other," I offered.

He laughed. For a moment, I glanced right at him and watched the beautiful act. The laugh sounded genuine and real, so I held it close.

I bit my cheek to conceal a grin. "I hate that movie," I confessed as I drenched my fry in ketchup.

A visible smile was pressed onto his lips at my words. "Why talk about it, then?"

"Because, even though I don't like it, I can still admit it was a beautiful movie," I said truthfully.  "What's ugly to some might be treasure to others'."

I felt his eyes weigh heavily on my face. I looked back up at him, my nerves following.

The school bell rung out through the campus, breaking our silent conversation.

Slowly, I peeled my eyes from his. "That's my cue to leave."

Kade leaned back against his seat. "Yeah," he blew the single word out as if it were under strain, hands shoving through his black hair.

"Thank you for this," I smiled as I stepped out of his car.

My legs were as wobbly as jello by the time I made it to the entrance. Turning around, I caught eyes with him at the same time the tardy bell rang out.

***

I rubbed my aching feet as Celeste closed up the diner for the night. Tonight had been a busy night, but the others' had as well so it wasn't too shocking.

The diner's golden bell sung as the door opened again. I held back a groan as I stood up to greet them.

I gasped as I rounded the corner. "Uncle Dylan!" I shouted once I caught look of his face.

Immediately, a large grin sprouted about his lips. He quickly came behind the table to hug me, and I returned it wholeheartedly.

He smelled of cigarettes, and a good amount of cologne—just as I remembered. "Kimberly, how you have grown! You're nearly taller than me."

I smiled, even though that was definitely not true. "Thank you."

I stared at his appearance, comparing them to the similarities of our last meet.

His eyes were still as blue as the day sky, adding along to his dirty blonde hair that was trapped in a small ponytail behind him. Uncle Dylan had always been muscular in his structure, so I wasn't surprised at his large appearance anymore.

He turned to Celeste, who was too busy stuck in tears to hug him. She was far smaller than him, but neither of them let that become a deter.

His hand stroked at the back of her head, but clenched her closer nonetheless. "I've only been gone for a bit, darling," he comforted her small figure.

Her face was hidden in his leather coat now. She said nothing as she continued to hug him to her, and he never even thought of letting her go.

Lucky lovebirds.

I nearly clapped with joy at Raven's car. "My ride is here," I declared, yanking the apron right off.

Celeste and Dylan were too wrapped in each other to notice me walking out.

"Hey, make sure to put your jacket on!" I heard Griff call out to me as I walked out of the diner.

Raven waited for me to get inside of her car, before she assaulted me endlessly with questions.

I told her what had happened in his car today, and she sat silent the entire time, though I knew she wanted to speak. I watched her face for any flicker of advice, but there was none offered.

"And, that's the end of it," I finished before glancing to her. "What should I do?"

Without a response, Raven jerked the wheel to the side. I jumped as the car whipped in another direction.

My fingers gripped the seatbelt for dear life. "What are you doing?" I nearly screamed at her.

The engine roared from under us as she dug her heel into the floor. "Taking the short way to his house," she said so casually, her speed increasing.

"Wait, what?" I yelled.

A large grin was on her face in seconds. "Fear is a psychological thing that just tricks your mind to hold you back."

"And, your point is?" I questioned as we passed a familiar house.

We were getting closer.

Raven waved her hand around as she spoke. "Well, my point is that the attraction is pretty obvious between you two, but you're both just too stubborn to admit it. And, that your fear is a trick," her grin continued to build despite my scowl.

I gulped as she pulled into his driveway.

"I'll be back in an hour and a half," she said, practically pushing me out of the car. "Now go get him."

In that moment, I terribly regretted telling Raven. The girl was persistent in everything she did, so she wasn't giving this up.

I stared at Raven's bumper longingly as she began to put the car in reverse. I clutched my bag to my chest as it began to ache.

A devious grin grew on her face as she waved. "I want a bun in the oven in an hour and a half, babe!" she shouted at me.

I glared after her car.

My journey to the front door was as slow as a snail trying to travel the Sahara desert. I was more than afraid, but I needed a answer since I was here.

Curiosity killed the cat.

Earlier, I had heard my father on the phone. With who, I didn't know. But, by the way he had talked about Kade, I knew he knew something about him.

Something that I didn't know. But, I was planning to find out.

I shoved out one good puff of confidence. I rapped my fingers on his front door, and awaited my answer.

The door was pulled open by his mother, who was dressed in a night gown. Her black hair hung down either side of her face, adding onto the porcelain glow.

"Oh, hi, Kimberly," her warm smile contradicted the redness in my cheeks.

Suddenly, I felt a thousand of pricks against my skin. "Hi, Mrs. Rider."

"What can I help you with?"

I tried to form a good enough explanation without sounding like a desperate whore. "I was just wondering if Kade was here."

"I'm sorry, but I think he's out with a few of his friends tonight," she sighed tiredly.

I looked down to my sneakers. "Oh, well sorry for interrupting your night." Now, I had to call Raven and possibly curse her—

"You can come in if you would like," she offered.

Taken aback, I shook my head. "No thank you, I wouldn't want to intrude your home."

I sort of did already, though.

"You're not intruding anything, honey. I was just cooking some dinner," she said softly, pushing a black strand out of her face. "It would be nice to have someone join me for once."

I smiled, and decided that I might as well stay. Raven wasn't going to be back for a while, so I might as well use this time.

I walked into her house, trying my hardest to hide my discomfort.

"I was just watching a movie," Susie said, motioning toward the pile.

I stared at the tv, and the familiarity hit quickly. "I love this movie."

"Really? Most kids your age have never even heard of it," she said in a surprised tone.

"It's my dad's favorite, and one of mine too," I explained. "Classic." I chuckled at the joke in the background.

"Your father has great taste." She walked to the kitchen, and the delicious smell soon marked my senses. "I cooked lemon pepper chicken, with ranch potatoes. Would you like any?"

I smiled and nodded. She piled the appealing looking food onto my plate as we continued to talk.

As the time carried on, my discomfort soon disappeared. She was easy to talk to, and only seemed interested in my comfort. It was odd to be around an older woman, but I soon found it easy to carry the conversation with her.

How was Kade her child?

I pushed the question in the back of my head as we continued to eat.

Susie wiped her mouth with the napkin, before crumbling it in one hand. "Dear, we should talk."

I looked at her. "Yes ma'am?"

"It's about Kade," she said softly as she scooted her plate to the side.

I awaited her response, but by the worried look in her eyes, I knew this wouldn't be a good conversation.