THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[56.1] THE PENDENT

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"I have Luca exactly where I want him to be."

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I FROZE IN the middle of the hallway, boys looking my way as they walked past, others, glancing at me with their eyebrows creased.

I glanced at my watch seeing that the time was only 30 minutes after 6 am. Looking back up at the guys that were staring at me I tried to avoid each look but ended up freezing when I spotted Lucas Bowne coming the other way, talking to Andrew Myers just as he too raised his head.

He stopped in his tracks, eyebrows drawing together, causing Andrew to stop too.

My eyes shifted from the two of them noticing how they were also staring behind me. I slightly turned to see Harvest standing in his doorway, his gaze above mine, right at Lucas.

I had never been so embarrassed in my life. As fast as I could, I lowered my head speed walking past Lucas and Andrew, trying to get to the girls crossing.

When I finally arrived, I sprinted to my room almost knocking down a few other girls who were walking down the hallway. I fidgeted my hand in my pocket searching for my room keys but when I couldn't find them, I groaned, resting my forehead on the door as I grunted, my hand roughly jiggling the doorway in complete frustration now shaking my head at the misfortune life was handing to me.

I simply wished the door would just frickin open and swallow me whole so I could wallow in my stupidity, for the love of everything good!

The door opened and I almost fell headfirst into the room but I managed to maintain my balance. I picked myself up into the firm stance I was taught to hold all my life, turning to close the door behind me, giving a shy composed smile to a couple of girls who had been passing by and witnessed my almost accident, throwing me funny looks.

Closing the door to the room, I turned placing my back against the door, eyes trailing around the empty room breathing out in relief.

Daya must have left the door open because I distinctly remember locking it before leaving. I was hoping she hadn't yet come back to the room and was still, wherever she snuck off at night, but that seemed to not be the case. I turned to my wardrobe quickly throwing off the clothes that I had been wearing.

There was no time to shower, Claire would be here at the exact time she always came and that was a bare ten minutes to pick me up for class, I could only guess she had gone to breakfast without me.

Putting on my uniform and trying my best to do what I could with my hair which had been soaked in water and was now a tangy ball of fur. After five full minutes of struggling, I abandoned the mission, focusing on looking for my tie, wrapping it around my neck when the door opened accompanied by girly chatter, Daya walking in, accompanied by a face I didn't want to see, Ellie.

I froze with the tie in my hand about to loop as Daya looked at me, seemingly surprised too, "You haven't left yet," she stated plainly as her fingers left the door, Ellie closing it for her.

"Hey nerdy red," Ellie greeted me with a smug grin thrown my way before walking in and collapsing on the bed I had laid before my midnight adventure yesterday. She folded her long legs sighing as Daya walked to the table, seeming like she was searching for something,

"Are you going to keep waiting for him?" Ellie grumbled, folding her arms and I tried my best to find the right shoes and get out of here by Claire's first knuckle on my door.

It was not ideal staying in the same room as either one of these guys.

"He just needs a little time, El," Daya gritted out, before trashing her bed as she spilled all the books from her bag on it, muttering, 'Where is it?" under her breath.

"Lucas is right there D, why are you so adamant about waiting for him? Give one of us a shot already," Ellie mumbled grabbing a book and pointlessly flipping through it.

At this point in their conversation, my ears were perked up on high alert, my heart thudding, turning slightly to get a glimpse as discretely as I could.

Daya turned around to face Ellie her face dark, "because I want HIM." she gritted out each word, "and as long as I do, there are no chances EL." She spat Ellie's nickname with a deep warning that not even I dared to cross whatever it was she owned and I liked nicknames.

"Relax, Eish," Ellie rolled her eyes, "it's not like he walks around with your name on his shirt or something-"

"Don't you have Thandi to piss off?" Daya frowned, folding her arms as she looked down at Ellie.

Ellie put the book down her eyes trailing to the ceiling, "For fucks sake Daya, all I'm saying is Harvest is in his own world and he doesn't see you, you'd be better off with Lucas-" she grumbled, pushing herself to her feet.

I stared back down at the ground after this, my heart sinking.

This was worse than I thought.

So Daya had a thing for Harvest and from the looks of it, she wasn't keen on sharing even with a girl who really wouldn't like to be in this situation at all.

My hands were shaking momentarily as Lira's voice resounded in my head, warning me about Daya's bad side.

I shook my head trying to block out any negative thoughts. I was probably just overreacting. This was all in my head. Lira clearly said lots of people liked Harvest, so it wasn't so much of a big deal.

"I have Luca exactly where I want him to be," Daya fired back, a green spark in her forest eyes, giving me creepy vibes much like the sirens had yesterday.

I rubbed my throat at the memory. I didn't like the way this conversation was going but I did spot the difference, noting that Ellie called him Lucas and Daya called him Luca.

Ellie sighed but didn't say a word. Daya breathed out turning back to her bed, "He'll come around, soon enough," she grunted before taking a shiny metal trinket from her bag, and holding it up for Ellie who took it from her, examining it for a moment with a smile and they both laughed along.

I couldn't see what it was from this angle but frankly, I didn't care, turning as a knock came from the door.

I could feel all eyes on my back as I moved to open it.

Claire's eyes lit up in relief when she saw me.

"Good, you're here!" she huffed her arms falling from the straps of her backpack seemingly exasperated as she walked in, "Is this going to happen often now, are you suddenly going to go missing every time I look away? Where were you this morning? You missed breakfast.' she huffed pausing in the middle of the room, staring between Daya and Ellie, as Daya slipped the trinket into her blazer pocket.

"Oh- h-hi" Claire stuttered, clearly not expecting to see the two of them.

Ellie only gave her an eye roll but Daya didn't reply, her eyebrows slightly creasing for a moment and my heart pounded realizing what was probably going on through her head.

The reason she hadn't questioned me was probably because she thought I had been with Clair, but since Claire quickly cleared that right up the question remained- where had I been?

That was not a question I was ready to answer just yet. I grabbed my books, took Claire's hand, and dragged her out the door.

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Close call..🙄
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