2| Midnight Memories

No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things.

~Demi Lovato, pop star and actress

I trudged home, feeling incredibly annoyed by what had happened. First of all, I'd broken up with my boyfriend and we'd been going strong for a little over two years now. Second of all, I realized I should have broken up with him at least a year ago thanks to some random kid I'd never spoken to before, who wasn't renowned for being psychologically superior. And he'd also commented on my underwear, which I'd not really wanted anyone to know about. I mean, come on, who wants some random person commenting on your Disney print undergarments?

I remembered Jamie telling me that I needed to pick up some food on the way home, and I pulled out my credit card from my purse. Of course, Ruby always wormed her way out of taking any responsibility. It was just in her nature. She was lazy, while I was... Cecilia. Need I say more?

I'd had volleyball practice and tennis coaching today, so I was absolutely exhausted. Obviously, because of my oh-so-amazing luck, my car was busted and Ruby was too young to drive yet. I stared at the sky and wondered why I had to face all these strenuous activities in life.

Sometimes, I'd ask Renée what it was like to be her. To not live every breathing moment packed with as many things as I could cram into my college applications and resumes. I'd just ask her what it was like to be Renée Martins and not Cecilia Archer. She'd just smile and shrug a little. "I guess I'll never know what it's like to be you, and you'll never know what it's like to be me. It's just the way life works, I guess. You've just gotta accept that you can't find yourself in someone else's skin."

A rock sized lump formed in my throat as I thought about what had happened over the summer. And to think I was so close to making sure it hadn't happened...

"Hey, Pascal!" yelled a voice, and a van drove past me. I groaned audibly, and I saw Todd's face as he stuck it out of the window. "Need a lift?"

I shook my head, my ego getting the better of me. "Just because we spoke for like fifteen minutes today does not mean I want to be seen around you in public," I replied, as he stopped it right by me and allowed a heap of smoke to bellow onto me.

He placed a hand on his heart, before he winked a little. "Aw, your words do wound me so. I can see you're barely walking, why don't I just give you a ride to wherever you're going so that you don't have to slither all the way home?"

I pondered over his option before grumbling a little and attempting to open the door. Attempting being the keyword of that sentence.

"Open up, then!" I yelled, but he just gave me an annoyingly wide smile. God, I'd heard so much about his moodiness and his anger management issues. Why was he saving all these dumb smiles for me? His teeth were flawless no doubt, but so were mine.

"Not until you say the magic words," he said, wickedly.

"You can't offer someone something and then bribe them into fulfilling it! There has to be some sort of law against this treason!" I yelled, indignantly. I was being flat out bullied by this asshole.

He smirked. "Arguing is just going to make things stretch out for longer, Pascal. I'm not budging."

I huffed, impatient to get a move on. I knew he would probably run me over with his car if I ran away, so I weighed out my probability of living. If I got into that car, there was a 60% chance of life. If I ran away, there was a 40% chance. So, after a lot of internal debating as to whether climbing up a tree would be probable, I said, "Todd Fletcher you absolute beast of a man, you brute of a human, you sexy beast, please let this lowly pheasant climb into your lovely carriage." 

He burst out laughing and winked at me. "I got that all on tape, sweetheart. And for the record, I just wanted a simple please. But the latter works, too. Anyway, where to, babe?"

My face was aflame as he opened the car door, and I buried my face into my hands. "Why are you so hell bent on seeing me cringe, you sadist?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "I've only ever had proper conversations with Ashton from all the other guys at school before, and no other guys, but he was always buttering me up. You... you seem to find a perverse joy in seeing me squirm. And I need to go to Safeway, thanks."

He grinned wider at that. Him and his dumb smiley-ness. He could star in the next Little Miss Sunshine book. "So, you got buttered up by the Ash-hole? Wow, am I definitely feeling bad about teasing you when that gift of God made you feel like a Queen."

His pure, unadulterated sarcasm didn't go past me, and I flicked his arm, not really knowing what else to do. Usually, a lot of girls had sass up their sleeves when it came to annoying people being, well, annoying. The thing is, no one had ever outright been mean to me before. Except for Renée, but her words were always teasing. So I'd never felt the need to equip myself with that trait to begin with. I was definitely facing the brunt of that, obviously.

"You suck. One hundred, thousand percent," I grumbled, feeling stupid.

"Of course. Me, being the kind hearted being that I am, picking you up and making sure your legs didn't go all sore, am the suckiest human being alive. Pardon me for thinking otherwise." He said this all very plainly and simply, his shoulders rolling out as he spoke. He was still a little sweaty, but not in an I drenched myself in a bucket of sweat way but an I'm just kind of ruffled after exercising way.

Not that I cared about what his sweatiness indicated, but still.

"You can stop helping me, then," I said, rolling my eyes. "No one ever has, I don't see why you need to be the aberration."

His eyes softened a little bit, before he turned to me and gave me a pretty warm smile that made my heart- or whatever was left of it- melt a little bit. "That's why I was. No one's ever been there for me, either. I just don't want someone else falling under the same gloom of injustice."

I shook my head, my brown hair spraying across my shoulders. "So this is what you do? Go around helping just about everyone who needs it?"

We'd arrived, and he stopped in front of the supermarket with an odd look in his eyes. He shook his head, and his usually unnerving green eyes seemed less intimidating for some reason. "That's the thing, isn't it? Cecilia Archer, you aren't just about everyone. And I'm going to find out what makes you tick." My jaw dropped at this, feeling really insecure that he was viewing me like I was some sort of puzzle rather than a person. "Anyway, seeing that I've left you speechless again, I'm going to head out because I have some work to do. I'll catch you later, Pascal," he said, before driving away with a wink.

Feeling a little dumbfounded, I walked into the store. I'll catch you later. What if I was to catch him spray painting the walls of the school tonight? We'll see who had the last laugh then.

***

"Hey, Cece," Ruby said, raiding the shopping bag as I collapsed onto the sofa. "I told you to get Honey Roasted peanut butter, not plain chunky!" she whined, after scouring through. I rolled my eyes. My sister was such a spoilt brat. "And where's my Nutella? I told you to get the dippy ones with the biscuit sticks, not just the jar. Jeez, you can't remember anything, can you?"

Normally, sisters would blow up at their sisters like this if they showed them the same kind of attitude that she gave me. But I knew that Ruby meant well, because she was occasionally buying me things and making me cards and printing out posters just because I was such a wonderful sister.

"Ugh, God," I said, extremely loudly so that Ruby could hear. "I asked for a nice sister who went and did her own dirty work, not this whiny brat I'm forced to spend my day with!" I complained, and Ruby stuck her tongue out at me before walking towards the kitchen.

"Cee!" yelled Jamie, my aunt. Ruby and I lived with her- or rather, she lived with us because our parents were always travelling. My mom had been gone for five months now, to cater to some homeless kids in Libya, and my dad was on a business trip in Singapore.

And me, being Cecilia Archer and all, was in charge of all the work. Obviously.

"Yeah?" I asked, hugging my aunt. This was mainly because she smelt like a divine mixture of coffee and cinnamon. Jamie's real name is Jamilette, as extravagant as that was. She was fair skinned and lean, her face ovular and her cheekbones high. Her eyes were hazel flecked with brown and her hair was pin straight and light brown. She was very pretty and in her early thirties. "What's up?"

"Thank you so much for being such a doll. You're always doing such sweet things for me, I'm going to buy you an ice cream," she said, her eyes twinkling. Ice cream was my weakness, so I always crumbled. "Also, Henry is coming over in five, so can you set the table?"

I groaned audibly but did it anyway. "Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day it's Cinderelly," I muttered, earning a snort from Ruby.

I set the table and heard the doorbell ring, and I ran to get the door. My house was beautiful, there was no light way of putting that across. There was a waterfall cascading as soon as you entered our house and there were plants in an airy setting. The TV was the size of a flattened refrigerator and we had five large couches. My own room looked like someplace a princess would live in. That's the only plus point of having parents who are never around.

My mom's a celebrity social activist and my dad's the CEO of a large company called Kress. Both of them left my mom's sister in charge because she wasn't married or anything.

"Hey, Henry," I said, opening the door for him. He smiled warmly and there was a questioning look in his eyes. This was probably to check whether I'd told Jamie about my little escapade that would be taking place later tonight. "No, I haven't told your girlfriend yet," I said, shaking my head. He looked visibly troubled by this, for obvious reasons. If Jamie wasn't okay with it, there would be no Plan B.

"Henry!" yelled Jamie, flinging her arms over him. At first, it had been odd to see the principal and my aunt date. I've just gotten used to it now. "How's my favorite guy?" she asked, kissing him lightly.

Ruby hollered, "I thought I was your favorite guy, you traitor!" I giggled at this.

"Henry asked me to sneak around in his school in the middle of the night to catch a midnight graffiti artist," I blurted, and Jamie turned to me.

"What, honey?" she asked, looking confused. I repeated it again, slower, and the color drained out of her face. "And you said yes!?" she asked, yelping.

"Blame your Prince Charming over there," I said, pointing at Henry who looked very scared that I'd thrown him under the bus. Jamie could get pretty scary.

"What is wrong with you!?" she rounded on him. "Just because she's my niece doesn't mean she can do all your dirty work!"

He looked scared, and apologetic. "Sorry, Jamie," he said, his voice quiet. "She's the only one competent enough to do it."

"It's okay, I agreed," I said, shrugging. "In fact, I'm going to eat dinner now and change, because I want to feel all badass and kick some psychos," I said, laughing lightly.

Jamie bit her lip, and Ruby stood by me. "Are you sure it's safe?" she demanded. Ruby was fiercely protective of me, even though she was a bit of a pain.

"There will be guards everywhere. All we need her to do is take some pictures so that we have enough evidence to get this student to face penalization. That's all." Henry was biting his lip so hard there was a spot of blood.

Jamie huffed and caved. "Fine. But if anything happens to her, you will regret ever getting to know me in the first place," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Agreed," Ruby said, her hands on her hips.

Dinner was rather peaceful after that, but I couldn't get a certain boy out of my head. What if it was him? What would I do?

***

"You look really hot," Ruby commented as I slipped over a black beanie to cover my brown hair. "But the kohl was unnecessary. You're supposed to be blending in, not bringing out your light brown eyes."

I shrugged, slipping over a black ribbed tee and black jeans, and slinging my camera over my head. I felt very dark. I looked like a criminal.

I walked down, and Jamie smiled a little unsurely at me. "You're not eating enough," she finally said, after scanning my outfit. "That shirt was tight for you two months ago. Now it seems pretty loose."

Well. Only Jamie was capable of commenting on my eating when I was walking into the danger zone.

"I'm fine," I said, with an eye roll. Although what she'd said was true, I hadn't been eating very much. Food used to be my go to place when anything was wrong. Renée and I would always grab an ice cream and binge while watching some random movies whenever either of us broke up with someone or didn't do that well in a test. Now, I couldn't even bring myself to go to the parlor that we always went to. I couldn't eat without wanting to throw up.

"Thanks so much for doing this, Cee," Henry said, smiling. "Extra credit is due, I promise."

Ah, the life I led.

I hauled out my bicycle with a lump in my throat. Again, riding across the countryside was something Renée and I'd done before the Summer Incident. We'd both wear flimsy helmets and laugh while our hair whipped in the wind, joking around about the most random of things.

I shook my head, and my hair sprayed across my back as I cycled through the night. The school wasn't very far from my house, so it took me barely any time to reach. I then hopped off my bike and ran into the premises, making sure my shoes didn't make too much noise against the pavement.

Then, I found the place Henry had said there were spray paintings near. There was a pretty grassy area by it, so I flattened myself down and positioned my camera to get good photos.

Suddenly, a boy came in. He had this level of grace as he slid towards the same wall. He had a hood over his head and I could see his muscles through the back of his shirt. So he was an athlete.

To my surprise, another person started talking, and I whipped my head to see another boy with visible blond hair. "Hey, man, how much longer are you going to waste here?"

The boy turned. I couldn't see his face, but I kept snapping the pictures. I couldn't use flash for obvious reasons, but still.

"Until I avenge everything this place did, Matt. You're my ride, so stay that way." This guy was seemingly in control of the situation.

My eyes widened, and I pushed myself further into the ground, hoping I could just become two dimensional. My pulse was wild, and I could barely hold my camera straight.

"Yeah, but aren't you done with your little artist's claim now? Give it a rest, man," Matt whined. He pushed his blond hair out of his face tiredly. "I need to get some sleep. I bailed on a date for this, man. You'd better be worth it."

"Oh, but I am," whispered the other voice, cheekily.

Suddenly, something whooshed past my ear and I let out a strangled squeak. I looked up slightly, only to see that it was a bat that had just flown by. I also saw that the two boys were looking straight at me.

I quickly sprang up as they began walking closer. I was the head of my athletics team, I could probably outrun them. I began sprinting really fast, but then I realized I had no way to go. They'd blocked my path back to my cycle.

There was a fence that separated our school from a forest outside, so I immediately began climbing it, my feet slipping ever so slightly. I jumped to the bottom, feeling the sting of rocks against my flats. My camera bounced against my chest and stomach, still hanging onto the sling. I began blindly running, and turned around to see whether they'd given up.

Bad decision.

The head boy- not the ride- had literally hoisted himself up above the fence and fallen down in such a feline way, he could have almost been a cat. I gasped audibly and began running, only to feel a sharp jab on my back. I cried out in pain and fell to the floor, my breath deep and my legs sore. I saved my camera in my hand, and felt my head get snapped towards my assaulter.

His green eyes glowed in the dark, and his perfectly carved smile made my breath hitch. "Well, look what we have here. Fancy seeing you here tonight, Pascal."

what's the craziest thing you've ever done?