Behind Your Walls

bonus • 02 [CARTER'S POV]

the following events take place between the events of chapter 2-chapter 4

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C A R T E R

The nib of the pen breaks as I put the force of all my fingers into writing to escape the visions of Amaya Sommers as they dance in front of my eyes. Every time I try to focus, the feel of her hand under mine pulls me back to our moment on the bus today.

She was so close, so fucking close to me.

I let out an exasperated breath, looking at the third pen I have broken in the last half hour. In need of another one, I turn around to find Cherry Mariana sitting behind me. She has her amber eyes on the ceiling, looking dreamily while a smile plays on her lips.

Her expensive perfume makes me scrunch my nose in disgust at the strong smell. Her dark skin glimmers with a polished look as she twirls a strand of her brown hair around a finger, making me rethink my decision to approach her.

But the person sitting before me is Jamie and asking her for a pen would lead to considerable Lucy-like disaster. Half of the students here already think of me as the rebirth of Lucifer.

"Hey, do you have a pen?" I ask Cherry and she shakes her head as if snapped back into attention.

Her eyes move to me and as she blinks, a little grin replaces the innocent smile.

"Hey, Carter Bell," she says, reaching for her bag and taking out a pen.

"Thank you."

I am about to take it from her when she moves it away. I raise an eyebrow and see a cunning look in her eyes.

"You punched Kyle Dickson." She crosses her arms over the desk and leans her body down so that Miss. Bennet doesn't see her. Knowing that she is about to start prying about my life, I turn to face our teacher instead who is explaining the basics of economic theories.

"If you don't wanna give me the pen, just say it, Cherry," I murmur to her. "I'll ask someone else."

"The last time you did that Lucy screamed so loud she disturbed the whole class."

"Yeah, I remember." I rub the center of my forehead with the heel of my hand. "For the last time, I didn't do anything to scare her."

"She had a nightmare," Cherry begins, the humor in her voice as clear as day. "She saw you chasing her through the woods with a knife. You're in your hideous red converses, just like you're today."

She lets out a low laugh and the sound prickles my ear.

"It's not funny, Cher," I groan. "Will you give me the pen now? I need to write down this shit."

"I'll if you tell me what you and Sommers talked about on the bus today."

I turn to her, leaning down on my desk to hide behind Jamie's big head. "Why is that such a big deal? We just sat together, that's it!" I open my palm to her. "Pen, please?"

Her grin widens and she doesn't give me the pen. "I'm just keeping the coast clean for Brandon. He plans to ask Amaya out."

My ears ring with her words, the words repeating themselves in my brain. I part my lips, my throat drying up as I look at Cherry.

No, no, no, not Amaya Sommers.

A sick feeling grabs my chest as Cherry narrows her eyes at me. I run my fingers through my hair, rubbing my mouth to distract her from my quite evident hesitation.