The Secrets We Keep

Chapter 7

The period before the pep assembly was slightly more eventful than I had hoped it would be. We walked to homeroom and Syl caught us as we were going in, wasting no time telling Danny about her night with Nick. She glanced back at me and shot a glare in my direction, which didn't go unnoticed by Danny, who snapped her fingers in Sylvie's face.

"Hey uncalled for b***h! Move on from Mathias, you have Nick, remember!" Danny seemed really bothered by the way Sylvie was acting all of a sudden. Syl rolled her eyes at Danny and got up from her seat and moved to where Tyler and Reyna were sitting. I'm pretty sure Danny was not expecting her sidekick to ditch her for people they normally don't associate with. She turned around to face me and pulled out her phone. She was typing a message with such force I half expected her phone to break.

"Danny, chill! What was that about?" I grabbed her hand and stopped her from finishing her text.

"Ugh, she had a thing with Mat for a bit, but after his 17th birthday she pretty much screwed him over and started to sleep around with almost every guy in our class," she shot Syl a glare, and Syl shot an eye roll back. I couldn't help but laugh at their petty spat.

"Anyway, she's mad because Mat is interested in you and paying her no mind anymore. Which is good because he was such a mope when she did it." Just when I was about to ask more about them, we heard the band in the hall letting us know it was time to head to the pep assembly. It was the first one the cheer team didn't have to perform for. Tyler and Reyna stayed staring at me as Syl stormed out of the class with such an attitude that I questioned what was said. Instead of Danny going to find Syl, she waited for me to get my bag and start walking with her. I didn't notice until we were almost to the gym, but Tyler and Reyna weren't letting me out of their line of sight.

I was about to go to them and figure out what Syl told them to make them want to stalk me, but Danny hooked her arm into mine and we walked up to the balcony.

We found a place to sit and were joined by Alana, who had a huge smile on her face. She had been excited about today's assembly since we woke up. The assembly was a fun time but we grew bored quickly and decided to take our leave. Danny thought our absence would go unnoticed but before we got to the parking lot where my car was, Tyler and Reyna cut us off.

"Where do you think you're going, Danae?" Tyler's face was pretty stern and Reyna looked pretty set on us not leaving.

"None of your business, if I'm being honest. What's it to you?" She never answered anything without attitude.

"Well I don't think your dad, brother or my dad would be ok with you leaving and running off with your friend." I glared at them and scoffed.

"Lets go Danny." I hooked my arm in hers and pushed past them as Alana followed laughing. Before I knew it, Tyler pulled Danny back and over his shoulder and headed to the front of the school. Danny, of course, wasn't going without a fight. Me and Alana followed them to try and help Danny come back with us. But as we turned the corner there was a large man, dressed in a business suit.

Tyler placed Danny down in front of him gently. As he did that, him and Reyna bowed their heads to him and left back inside. I couldn't make out everything they said since they were so far away, but I caught most of their conversation. He scolded her for trying to leave. Especially since it was with me and let her know he was disappointed in her for following my bad influence. Alana must have heard that part too, because she grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the student parking lot. As we were getting to my car, the release bell went off, signaling the end of the day. The first one out of the building was Zeric, running faster than normal, shouting as he ran toward us.

"Start the car! Start the car!" Just after we heard that we saw an angry Tyler and one other guy we didn't know chasing him covered in what appeared to be yellow paint. Even though he was being chased down, he had the biggest smile. I pulled out of my parking spot and unlocked the doors and he jumped in. We peeled out and headed for the exit. I heard Tyler and the other guy yelling as I noticed Mathias walking up to them laughing.

"What did you do?" I couldn't help but laugh as I questioned him.

"Ty is an ass and so is Scott. I figured we should brighten up his day with some sunshine." Me and Alana were speechless as we laughed the whole way to pick up Uriah. Of course, picking up Uriah laughing, instantly peaked his curiosity. When we explained what happened, he told us about a video someone got of it and sent to him. When he showed it to us, it made us all laugh even harder. It was the exact moment the paint fell on Tyler and Scott. When we pulled up to our house, I saw a black SUV parked in the front. We didn't pay too much mind to it until we got out and Mat stepped out of it. Zeric's smile disappeared instantly when he saw him.

"What do you want, man? I made sure you were out of the way before I dropped the bomb on Ty and Scott."

"Zeric!" I scolded him as I smacked his arm. He looked at me and scoffed as he made his way inside.

"You're Mathias?" Uriah recognized him from chem and kind of chuckled, "okay makes sense now."

"Okay bye!" I yelled at him as I walked over to Mat, "sorry about my brothers."

"Oh no need. I'm glad they're protective. At least I know you're kept safe." We picked up where we left off last night and today trying to plan a date. Our schedules did everything but have free time at the same time. He finally decided he was going to cancel plans he had with Tyler so we could go out tomorrow night. I agreed and decided to skip practice so we could finally go out. He decided to take me to a drive in movie, and I was actually excited about it. I went to school the next day and I was hardly able to contain myself during the last period of school.

When school was finally out, I found Alana and Zeric and rushed home so I could get ready for my night out with Mat. I took forever trying to find an outfit that I felt accentuated my curves but I was still comfortable in. I didn't ever notice before how simple my clothes were and it frustrated me to no end. As I was finishing up getting ready, the air in my room grew thick with a familiar scent. I turned around to see none other than Anthony standing beside my open window staring at me.

"Hello my beautiful Moom," his voice calmed me instantly, "are you okay?"

"Anthony, why are you here?"

"I heard about the attack from Danny." He said in a worried tone. "You, my beautiful love, are the only friend she has that I would be worried about."

"Well I'm fine. There were other wolves that it got in a fight with. It gave me enough time to get away."

"Yes, but now some... uh things have come up. I don't feel like its safe for you to be going out right now." I couldn't help the feeling of anger that was threatening to break through. He had some nerve acting like he cared for me after everything.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Because despite what you think, I do love you, Erika!" His words stopped once we heard the door bell ring.

"Who is that?" He asked me like he had the right to know anything about my life.

"None of your business!" I smirked at him as I made my way out of my room.

"Ricky, it is right now! Do you know why I'm here?"

"No and I don't care." I said to him, cold as ice. The door bell rang again. So I started my way down stairs to meet my date.

"Erika! Damn it! Stop for a second and listen to me!"

"Geeze Anthony what?!" I finally yelled.

"There are some bad people here and now you're on their radar for your incident with the wolves last night!"

"Really? You think I took off away from that wolf like that to show off?" He knew he would get a reaction from me, using those few words I hated, that described me as an attention-grabbing brat. "I'm done with you! Don't come back here. And while you're at it, go back home so you can boss people around there." Before more words could be exchanged, I jumped to the bottom of the stairs before he could stop me. When I opened the door I saw Mat's face lit up with his killer smile.

"Wow, you look amazing," he said softly. His smile was short-lived. When I noticed that he looked up the stairs, it was like he could tell Anthony was just there. "Umm I'm sorry could I use your restroom for a second?"

"Yeah, umm, up the stairs third door to your right." I watched him head up the stairs and paused for a second right where Anthony stood before he disappeared.

"Hey, you OK?" I asked him when he didn't continue down the hall.

"Yeah sorry," he turned back to me with a smile again, "I was going to try and fix my contact but it seems to have adjusted itself."

I could see his lie showing on his face again. Maybe he thought I wouldn't pick up on it. I smiled and headed for the door and I noticed he was looking around, his eyes filled with questions.

"It looks like one of those display houses in here." He chuckled.

"Yeah, my mom always hires someone to decorate the interior of our house when we move to a new place."

He made an "O" shape with his mouth. "Well, miss fancy pants, let's get going, we are late!" He grabbed my hand and rushed me out the door with him. He opened the door to his truck and helped me in.

"So before we go to the movie, I have a detour I wanted to take you on. I wanted to show you my favorite spot where I go to think." He headed down the road to where I went the day I ran. It was the tree that I climbed so I could calm myself. We got out of the truck and he walked right over to it. I paused for a second as I was looking at Mathias smiling at me. I couldn't stop the smile that crept across my face.

"I come here sometimes to clear my head." His smile was apparent in his voice and I felt everything in me tingle. I couldn't place what it was about him but he made everything better.

"I came here after the first day of school." I smiled at him as I walked closer to the base of the tree. "Last one up has to take a swim in the river!" I yelled as I got a headstart on climbing up the tree.

"You cheated!" He yelled at me, as he giggled while he climbed up after me. I got to the thick branch I had been going for and as I did so did Mat. We were face to face and I felt my face flush as we made eye contact. He started to lean in closer and I felt my body grow hot, but before he reached my face I lost my footing and slipped. Before I fell, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back up to the branch. I was terrified, I felt my heart almost pounding out of my chest.

"I got you." He pulled me closer to him and smiled. "We should get going though beautiful, I don't want us to miss the movie."

We climbed down the tree and we walked back to the truck in silence. I'm not sure how I felt about it after I almost fell to a sudden death. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at my self-pity, it was pathetic. This silence is almost painful, at this point. I was trying to figure out something to say so that we weren't stuck feeling the tension between us, but I couldn't think of anything. After what felt like an eternity we pulled into the theater.