Chapter Fifteen

Someone gently shakes my shoulder, waking me up.

"Millie." My twin sister says, quietly. "It's time to get up."

My eyes barely open and I groan. I roll over and sleep takes over me, once again. It last for about five seconds before Lily orders for me to get up again.

"Wake up" She demands. "We have to leave early if we want to make it to school on time."

Huffing, I throw the cover off me and fling my legs over the edge of the bed. I head to the bathroom and slap cold water on face.

I look at my reflection and regret not going to sleep. The skin under my eyes can tell you that I didn't sleep much.

This is all his fault. I'm losing sleep because of him. He's always on my mind and he shouldn't be. I laugh at the fact that he wanted us to be friends.

I could never be friends with a manipulating, untrustworthy, back stabbing person like him. I should've gave up on him when he gave up on me five weeks ago. Weeks of trying to convince him to be with me when in reality he should be begging me to be with him.

After throwing my hair up, I put on my school uniform and try to conceal the bags under my eyes.

Lily comes in my room to check if I'm still up. Lucky for me, I am. No telling what she might do to me if I wasn't. She wants to get back to Lucas.

I look at her in the mirror. "Yeah. I'm up."

She sits on my bed. "Just making sure. I don't want to be late for school."

I roll my eyes. "You don't have to lie." I say as I fix my hair. "We all know the real reason why you're in a rush to get back to school. You want to see Lucas."

She blushes slightly, proving my point. "Am I that obvious?"

"Not really. I just know you."

She laughs. "I find it ironic that we didn't even know each other existed for thirteen years and now we're closer than ever."

"Yeah it is pretty ironic." I agree.

"I wonder what we would be doing if I haven't found you?" She asks. "I'll probably be in art class with Reid drawing some deep meaning picture."

"I'll probably be with-" I stop.

I would be with Hayes and he would be telling me lies and I would believe him.

"I would be with Teri and we would be at some party." I finish, placing the brush down.

If she noticed my lie, she doesn't say anything.

"You like to party?"

"Teri likes to party." I correct her.

Talking about Teri makes me wonder what's she doing. What does she thinks happened to me? I hope she doesn't think I'm dead. Although, Daire would be happy to hear I died.

"Are you guys ready?" Reid asks.

I nod my head. "Yeah." I say, grabbing my backpack and the notebook off the floor. Abe is walking out the living room, when we reach the bottom step. He gives us a hug.

"Be good and learn something." He tells us. "I'll see you soon."

For some reason those words sound familiar. Where have I heard them before? Memories of Lily and I getting into trouble when we were younger race through my head. It could be as simple as telling us to be quiet or separating us into two different corners.

I smile at the memories as I look at Lily. She remembers too.

"Hey, we haven't got in trouble yet." She tells our dad, grinning. "Well expect for the time Millie got detention."

"Millian." Abe says with disappointment, shaking his head as he smiles.

"Stan shouldn't have gave me detention over something stupid." I defend myself.

Abe doesn't press the subject. He looks at our protectors. "Be careful." He orders them. "It's suppose to rain heading towards the school."

Hayes nods his head as he grabs the keys and walks out the door to pull the car up. Abe walks outside with us when the car pulls up. We say goodbye again before descenting the stone stairs. We pile into the car and Hayes drives to the metal gate. They let us through and we pull onto the highway.

Hayes zooms through the fallen leaves, leaving a swirling patten behind us. Lily opens her backpack and pulls out her English work.

I glance at her. "You know that's due today, right?"

"I forgot." She admits. "The day I saw you writing yours, I was drawing that horrible picture."

That was also the day we overheard Monica and Nathan's conversation. I still wondered why they need our necklaces for and why Lily's picture had to do with any of this?

"So can you help me?" Lily asks.

"I don't even know what the quote means." I tell her. "I just wrote something."

She rolls her eyes. "You're such a lair." She says. "At least tell me what you wrote."

"Mrs. Garner said to write what you think is means." I remind her.

"That's the problem I don't know what it means"

Before I can say anything, Hayes beats me.

"What's the quote?" He ask, looking through the mirror.

"It's from Romeo and Juilet." Lily says.

"Okay so what's the quote?" Hayes repeats.

"It's: These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph dies, like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume" Lily tells him.

"He's talking about passion and how quickly Romeo and Juilet rushes into their love. He's telling Romeo that they will eventually die out." Hayes explains, effortlessly.

"Oh it makes sense now." Lily says. "Thank you." She begins writing her essay.

We continue to drive and it starts to rain as Abe has predicted. Hayes turns on the windshield wipers and drives a little slower as it begins to rain harder.

A flashback hits me. I begin to remember the last time it rained while I was in a car. We crashed and I lost my family. The awful memory fills my mind. Cold voices haunts my thoughts and I hear the pickup truck slam into our car. Before I know it I'm crying. I try to wipe the tears off my cheeks before they notice but I'm too late Hayes sees me.

"Mille, what's wrong?" He asks, concern.

I cover my face as Reid turns around in his seat to face me. I sob into my hands.

"Hey" Reid says. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head motioning it's nothing but they don't buy it. Lily scoots closer to me.

"Is it Hayes?" She whispers.

I shake my head again. I hope Hayes doesn't think I'm crying over him.

"My family" I choke out, clarifying.

Lily is confused. "Your family?" She repeats.

She doesn't know I lost my adopted family five months ago.

I hear Hayes soft sighs. "Millie-"

I stop him. "I'm fine." I tell them, using the sleeves of my shirt to wipe the rest of my tears away.

I look out the window, but I can feel their eyes on me. The drive to Arsyn High is silent. Lily doesn't even complain about the radio not being on and for once, I wanted it on to fill the silence.

Why did I have to cry? Why couldn't I be strong? I don't want the numbing to come back but it's too late it's here. I don't feel the hurtness of losing them anymore. I feel nothing. Even when we finally pull up onto the hidden school and I see my best friend, heading towards us with a bright smile. Lily returns one when I didn't. Lucas looks at me but I stare through him. Here we go again. I'm falling back into the dark waters just as they started to clear up and I climbed out.

I don't remember walking to Mrs. Garner's class but here I am, sitting in my assigned seat. Mrs. Garner begins talking about the essay and I listen as my mind wonders to the dark headed, grey eyed boy.

"The essay is talking about young, rushed love." She starts before reciting the quote. "Which means the couple's fiery and aggressive passion would end just as savagely as it had begun. The great desire for each other would sudden die like fire and powder."

She stops and I think about mine and Hayes' relationship. Did we rush into it? Is that why we burnt out? Were we two perfectly matched fires?

No. That's not what happened. Don't compare your relationship to theirs. The voice returns. He did this, not you. He's the reason you're feeling this way.

She's right but I had to defend him. He isn't to blame, not entirely. I had a part in it too. I led him on. I gave him a chance to use me.

"In other words" Mrs. Garners' voice brings me out of my thoughts. "don't rush into anything that will end up dying."

This is my fault. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself it's not, it is. I'm the one who allowed him to rip my heart out. I'm the one who fell for his act and I'm the one who has to pay for it.

I don't know if it's from listening to the tragic love story and my own life or if it's from remembering my family's death or maybe both but for whatever reason, I bolt from my seat and out the class before the tears comes.

Hayes' P.O.V.

I stand in the very back, close against the white wall, with Reid. My arms are behind me as I stand straight up. I'm use to the girls who always look back to steal a glance at me, I hardly notice them. Normally, I might give them a second look but I didn't feel for them. What I'm not use to is the girl who can be furious and stubbon as hell in a numbing state. She's quiet. Her hazel eyes are focused on the mid aged teacher but her mind is else where.

It's probably on her first protector's family. David was her fill in guardian until I got old enough to watch her but I didn't fully enter her life until three months ago. Abe was mad that I wasn't in her life to prevent her heart breaking and losing her family but what was I suppose to do? Be her friend? This is a girl I couldn't stand as a kid. So being a friend to her was out the question even if it was pretending.

I didn't want to be her friend much less date her but I didn't have a choice. She was hurting and she needed someone. As a protector I was suppose to keep her safe. But Abe said otherwise. He wanted me to make her happy.

The only way I knew how to make her happy was to date her. I was used to making girls feel good about themselves. Love to me didn't exist until I met her and she changed my whole perspective. I never loved anyone and it scared me. Abe didn't know I dated Millie because it's forbidden.

I didn't care if he found out but Millie has a hard time keeping things a secret. She probably told her group of friends about us. If she did, it's no clue, why Sophie keeps smiling at me.

I told her we were a fling of many reason but the main one was of being in love. I thought that if she hated me, these feelings would go away. I tried to be a jerk to her but she was determined to prove me wrong. Eventually, I couldn't cut her off. I needed her. I tried being her friend but she doesn't want that. I don't even want that.

My thoughts are interrupted as Millie rushed out her seat and the classroom. Her twin sister is about to stand, no doubt to follow her, but I stop her.

"No." I say, making my way to the door. "Stay."

I head out the class and into the empty hallway. She couldn't have disappeared that quickly. We're the last class on this hall. I hear a door close loudly and I immediately know she's outside. I run down the hall and out the main door. It's still raining. My hair falls onto my face and I push it out the way.

My eyes sweep across the campus and they stop when they see a small figure running.

"Millie!" I yell over the pounding rain.

If she heard me, she didn't bother to stop. I chase after her. She's fast but I'm faster. I grab her arm and I stop, tugging her back. She slams into my chest and I spin her around, gripping her arm lightly to not hurt but firm enough she couldn't run away.

"What's wrong?" I ask, looking at her sad eyes. "Why did you run?"

She turns her head, looking away from me. She's crying but it mixed with the rain. Her dark hair changes to a darker shade as it sticks to her face and her soaked clothes clings to her body. If this wasn't such a serious moment and I didn't hurt her, I would tell her how hot she looked. Wait hot isn't the right word to describe her. She's beautiful.

I grab her chin and gently tilt it so she's facing me.

"Look at me." I order, softly.

She doesn't do it right away but when she does, I can clearly see how hurt she is. Her eyes doesn't lit up like they use to.

My eyes darts to her pink, plush wet lips. I remember how they felt against mine. They were soft and gentle but could change to rough and fiery in a heartbeat. The water drips from them and unto the grass.

I notice she's shaking from the cold rain.

"Come on." I tell her, grabbing her small hand.

She doesn't protest when I lead her out of the rain.

Her dorm is too far away and I can't take her back to school. I could use the SUV to take her to her room but the state she's in, she shouldn't be left alone.

Call me selfish but I want to be the one to watch her and not her strict, annoying, dorm protector, Mrs. Davis, or whatever her name is. She's so uptight and it's obvious she needs to get laid one good time.
I lead her to the building most of the guardians, on campus, stays in. I shake my head, moving a strand of my hair out the way.

I walk down the hall and turn left before arriving to my room. I unlocked the door and push it open. Millie walks in as I flick the lights on.

She crosses her arms around her body. She's still shivering. I walk over to my dresser and pull out the top drawer. I grab a shirt and sweatpants.

"Here" I tell her, holding out the clothes. "The bathroom is behind you."

"Thanks" She mutters taking the clothes and disappearing into the bathroom.

This is all my fault. She's in pain because of me. I'm the one who hurt her. I'm the one who wasn't there for her when she needed me.

My fist connects with the wall, putting a hole in it.

"Fuck!" I say.

Why did I have to be a screw up? I drop my arm and sit on the edge of my bed. I don't care if I'm soaked.

I rest my elbows on my knee and place my head in my cold hands. I'm the one to blame. Every time she gives love a chance, it stabs her in the back. I had no problem sticking a knife in her weakest area and twisting it.

I hear her soft hum and I know she's singing. Music was always her ecsape place when she was a kid. Everytime she needed a place to go, she would turn to music.

When I heard she gave music up, all together, I knew something terrible happened. I was determined to get her singing again because I loved it when she sung.

Even when we were kids, I would listen to her and tell her I hated her screeching voice but secretly I loved it.

Right now, she's in her own world, singing her problems away. All the problems, I have created. How can I make it up to her when she barely wants to talk to me much less look at me.

I lift my head up when I hear the bathroom door open. Millie walks out, carrying her wet clothes. Her hair is almost dry and my clothes hides her perfect body but she still manage to look good.

"What happened to your hand?"

Her hazel eyes glance up from my bloody knuckles. I forgot about my hand and the hole I made mere minutes ago.

I stand up. "Don't worry about me." I tell her. "Are you okay?"

"I don't want to go back to school." She says. "I'm sleepy."

I nod my head. "You can sleep here." I say, taking her clothes from her. "I'm going to call Reid."

She nods as she heads to my bed and lay down. Her eyeslids close immediately as her head hits the pillow. I place her clothes on my dresser before calling Reid.

"Is everything okay?" He asks after the phone rings three times.

"Yeah. She's sleeping." I glance at her sleeping form. "Tell Lily not to worry." I say when I hear her voice in the background.

Reid relies the message before saying.

"Whatever got to her, you need to fix it."

He hangs up and I stare at the phone. What the hell is that's supposed to me? Whatever got to her, I need to fix it. Is he blaming me? Reid isn't as stupid as everyone makes him out to be. He knows about us. I know exactly what he meant, too. He's suppose to be on my side. I thought he was on my side.

I know I messed up. I messed up badly. I just don't know how to fix it. She was so innocent. She still is and somehow I managed to break her fragile heart and suck every ounce of light from her.

The same fucking question goes through my mind.

Why?

Millie P.O.V.

She faces the long mirror and stares at her unrecognizable reflection. Her eyes shines, brightly, as they scan the rest of her feature. She looks amazing and she feels beautiful. She is happy and her full smile can confirm it. Her long dark hair is curled and pinned up, revealing her bare shoulders. Her hands travels down her black and white dress.

Where is she going?

She's dressed for a reason. Her arm shoots up, fixing her mask. The mask! She forgot about the party. How could she forget about it? How could she forget him?

Even though she couldn't see his face, he was handsome. She closes her eyes and thinks back to the time she danced with him. The way his hands felt against her body filled her mind before she remembers his eyes. His eyes were so beautiful. They never wavered from hers and her eyes never left his. They were in their own world. They forgot about everything and everyone as they danced, gracefully, in the filled yet empty room. They were in total bliss until the clock struck twelve, breaking their wonderful spell.

She pulled away from him and picked her long dress up, running. She didn't know why she needed to leave but she did. She didn't want to leave him. She wanted to stay with him and finish their dance.

He called for her and she spares him one last glance before disappearing. She opens her eyes when she feels strong hands on her waist and smiles when she hears his voice. For some reason she knows she can never truly disappear from him and she had hoped he would never stop looking for her, wishing he,too, would want to finish their dance.

Now he had found her.

"Did you really think you could vanish from me, Princess?" He mutters against her neck.

Her heart pounds as his hand trails up her thigh. She turns around to face the mysterious man and her smile drops. His black mask no longer concealed his face that she knows would be dead handsome.

"I will always find you." He promise as she backs away from him.

Hayes. How did he find her? He was supposed to be with Millie. He was supposed to be making her happy and whispering private things to her. So what was he doing here with her? A nobody.

"Look in the mirror, Boo" He orders her, smirking.

She turns to the mirror and her eyes widen.
The mask no longer covers her face. Instead it is placed in her hand and she drops it. This girl is Millie.

This girl is me.

My eyes flies open and I sigh in relief. It was just a dream. I ignore the way my heart racing out its cage and the butterflies in my stomach.

Even in my sleep, he still haunts me. My heart sink as I realize as much I wanted that dream to be true. I want to be happy and to be loved instead of being sad and hurt. I look around the room and it's empty. Hayes is no where in sight. I climb out the bed and grab my wet clothes off the dresser. I need to leave before Hayes gets back.

I slide my feet into my shoes and walk over to the door.

As soon as my hand wraps around the door knob, he stops me.