Chapter 9

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Aurora's POV

My eyes snapped open in realization I was having a nightmare, only to be met with complete darkness. I never liked the darkness. Before I knew it, silent sobs racked my entire body while hot tears rained down my cheeks in the reliving in my dream. The tears were dead silent, and the silent ones were the worst ones. I reached my left arm out for my medication to help me fall back asleep on my bedside table, but there was no medication bottle there.

In realization that I wasn't in my room, I sprung up on the foreign bed, panting. A manly scent wrapped around me, along with a heavy blanket. Deep breathes could be heard from the floor next to the unfamiliar bed I was on. Like I was splashed with cold water, terror and anxiety filled every ounce of my body. I couldn't let that happen again without a fight. I wouldn't just freeze up again. Before I even had a chance to think, I screamed.

I screamed the loudest, shattering scream. My trembling body curled in a ball as I shut my eyes and covered my face with my unstable hands, unprepared for what's to come.

The form on the floor leaped off the floor and ran over to me. I scrunched my eyes, and thrashed everywhere. A light switch was heard, but I refused to open my eyes and uncurl from my fetal position.

The figure was leaned over to me, whispering something, trying to say something, still I refused to stop my yelling. I kicked everywhere like my life depended on this moment. I would not, and I could not let it happen all over again. I made it through it once, and god knows that I won't be the same after a second.

I didn't stop until a calloused, but soft, hand smoothly covered my mouth, forcing me to bite it, unwilling to give up now.

"Stop now!" I yelled with every speck of resistance left in me, and scorching tears falling from my eyes. "I f*cking dare you! Then, we'll see what happens!"

"Shh, shh, baby," a voice softed came in between one of my cries as the calloused, but soft, hands cupped my face. "It's just me, okay?"

I opened my eyes briskly, this time to a lighted room and relief washing over me. "X-Xandy." A whimper escaped my lips.

He nodded, eyebrows crunched and his lips turned downward. I looked downward to notice that I was still wearing the sweatshirt and yoga pants from yesterday. His thumb stroked my cheek, wiping away remaining tears while I took in a deep breath to gain back my composure.

"You fell asleep as the library last night," he whispered, holding my face as if it were a piece of glass. "And Olivia didn't answer your door, so I brought you here for the night."

"Holy shit," I panted. "I- I am so sorry." I hid my face in my hands, feeling guilty for waking him up.

"Don't worry about it," he spoke in a hushed tone as his hands were removed from my face, the warmth making its escape. "You're just lucky I don't have a roommate."

"Wait, what time is it?" I whispered, not wanting to break the hushed atmosphere.

He took over at the clock pinned on his wall before turning back to me and sighing. "One in the morning."

"I can just go back to my dorm to let you sleep. I'm okay now."

"No way," he shook his head. "You're staying here for tonight. Now, I don't expect you to pour your entire heart out to me, but what was that, gem?"

I shook my head, not wanting to explain.

"I can fix it, I swear," he spoke louder, his persistence shining through as he sat down on his bed next to me. "I can fix anything for you. Whatever you need-"

"It was just a nightmare. And I didn't take my sleeping pills yesterday, so it was hard to stay asleep," I interrupted his rambling. Technically, I wasn't lying. I did wake up from a nightmare, and I didn't take my medication, but I wasn't freaking out from it. "No biggie."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, obviously not believing it. "Anyways," he changed the topic, aware that I wasn't comfortable with it, "I doubt I'll be able to sleep again, and we have another five hours until we have to get ready for school. So since you can't run at practice, how does training now sound?"

I breathed in the scent of him that was hovering in the air. "What do you mean?" I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes. He could not be serious right now.

"I mean that we go to the laps right now," he started, getting up and turning the doorknob with his everlasting smirk, "and run."

♛ ♛ ♛

"This is so not allowed!" I exclaimed. It was still one in the morning, and we were on our way to the tracks. The night air engulfed me, but didn't cause goosebumps since Xander made me put on his hoodie to prevent getting a cold.

"Sure it is!" he laughed as he opened the brass gate. "Why would it be against the rules? We're on campus, and the tracks are always open. It's not like we're sneaking in."

"It just feels wrong, I don't know." I shrugged, dropping my duffle bag and backpack down on the bottom bleacher, Xander doing the same. "We also have practice in literally five hours, and you got and I got four hours of sleep, so I don't know why you're so persistent on running now." We both decided to just hang around the tracks and practice until we had school, so we brought our schoolwork.

"Eh," he looked around at the abandoned field with his hands on his hips. "We'll see what happens."

"Whatever you say." I shook my head.

"Well, I think we have some laps to run." A smirk was sent my way before we both raced towards the tracks, both wanting to beat each others times.

So, we ran, and we ran. Some part of me was just running as a distraction from my problems; from my grades, my family, my past, even from the smallest of things like my nightmares. We inevitably got tired of running, and took breaks to finish our homework that we never finished from last night. Most of the time, we were just fooling around like when I found a rotten apple on the ground and threw it at him because he said I ran like a chipmunk, whatever that means. It was 10 minutes until practice began, and both Xander and I were tired, but adrenaline kept us awake as we kept our banter alive.

"You're so annoying!" I rolled my eyes, hitting his shoulder as we sat on the highest bleacher. "If I run like a chipmunk, then you run like a squirrel!"

"How would a squirrel even run?"

"You tell me!" I scoffed as he turned away from me and towards the orange sky. "You're the one who said I ran like a freaking chipmu-"

"Now would you look at that," he nodded his head towards the sun that was now rising. Orange and pink hues dusted the clouds while the golden ball of rays could be seen rising. "I like when the sun rises. Haven't seen a sun rise in years."

"What's so special about sunrises?"

"The sun rises, after a night of darkness," he shifted his eyes towards me, the atmosphere suddenly becoming heavy but in a good way. "It claims its righteous spot for 12 hours and provides us with light from the darkness."

"Well it's still dark when the sun's not there."

He shook his head, chuckling. "The point is that there is always some source of light." He turned his body towards me. "Even when there's no sun, stars still twinkle."

"You make no sense." I shook my head, standing up and making my way towards the tracks. "Practice is starting soon. Get your lazy ass over here, Kings." I shouted to his spot on the bleachers from my spot on the track.

He got up from his spot and ran down the silvery stairs towards me when the rusted gate opened, and in walked none other than Coach Segal, his daughter Mckenna, Cooper, and Joey.

"Well, I see you two got here earlier than usual," Coach looked down at his watch then averted his eyes to Xander and I.

"That, my dear coach, is because Aurora here couldn't sleep so she woke me up," Xander smoothly voiced.

I scoffed. He was trying to blame this on me. "And who's idea was it to run in the dark at 1 in the morning? You."

"And who didn't disagree?" He narrowed his eyes, and a teasing smirk slipped on his face. "You."

"But who-" I started, but Cooper's contagious laugh cut me off.

"You two are a married couple, I swear!" Cooper joked as he ran his hand through his disheveled hair. He always was a neat-freak with his hair, so seeing his hair messed up was odd.

"Tell me," Joey started, sobering up from a laughing fit, "who's the one on top?"

While my face turned beet-red while Xander's only comeback was a snort at the innuendo. The fact I was wearing Xander's hoodie didn't help the situation either.

"Please!" I heard Mckenna tune in on our conversation. "If he wanted an expert, he'd have me."

"And where'd you learn?" I snarled. "The national school of prostitution?" An eruption of "ooh's" echoed throughout the group of teenaged boys, the entire team here now.

"Let's not forget who the real slut was back in eighth grade," Mckenna came back, smirking. "Remember, before this boarding school, I went to middle school with you and Cooper." Every ounce of hatred and evil dripped from her every word, making the entire team surrounding going silent, clueless of what she meant.

During the summer after eighth grade, after that happened, word got around about it in our small town. I mean, who would believe the little eighth grade girl when she cries rape? Especially if she says that the offender was the "golden-boy" of the sophomore class. So, he twisted it, making it seem as though I begged him to take me at that party, although the circumstance was the complete opposite.

All eyes were on me now, prodding to see my reaction. I felt the familiar lump in my throat, tears on the verge of falling from my emotionless eyes.

Thankfully, Cooper sensed what was going on inside my head, aware of what Mckenna meant and spoke up for me. "Mckenna," he started, his protective voice making its first appearance since years ago. "I suggest you start running now before word gets out about you in eighth grade. After all, everybody's in this boarding school for a reason."

With the heavy atmosphere falling over us like a blanket, I kept my eyes emotionless. I couldn't even find it in myself to glare at her. Even the smallest emotion would send a crack up the dam I built up.

Sensing my discomfort, Xander stepped slightly in front of me, glaring lasers at Mckenna before the loud voice of Coach Segal interrupted the tension.

"I can feel the tension from a mile away," Coach shook his head, interrupting the deafening silence. "Seriously? I go to use the bathroom for two seconds and a fight breaks out?" He scolded the team, but mainly Mckenna since he knew she was usually the source of arguments.

Nobody had the guts to respond to him. He was always an approachable coach, but when he actually took on a strict role, nobody dared to mess with him.

"What are you guys waiting for?" He shouted, breaking the momentary silence. "Get running! Now!" And with that, he blew his screeching whistle, and the team began running laps while I retreated back to the highest bleacher.


And that's chapter 9! I made it a little more tense just to contrast it from regular chapters. Also, for any confused readers, Aurora is not stupid, she's just denying the fact that Tommy might like her. You'll see in upcoming chapters that she denies a lot of things. I try to make my characters have depth, and they have their own minds that you won't entirely see. It just makes it more interesting lol.

Where do you guys think Olivia was since she didn't answer the door for Aurora last chapter?

So, if y'all liked this chapter, go vote and/or comment!

I literally love you so so so much,
-sophia

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