Haven

At 2:20pm, the final bell of the day rang.

Ari and I gathered our chemistry books and quickly made our way to our lockers.

"Alright," I huffed, shifting my book from one arm to the other. "I'll go with you."

"To where?"

"The gym. My arms are killing me, and the only thing I did today was carry my textbooks."

"You're a weak ass girl, you know that?" She laughed.

"I know," I acknowledged with a sigh.

We stayed silent for a while as we organized our lockers and exchanged our books for our backpacks.

"I'm literally shaking," I said as I let out a long, slow breath.

"I know. We've already established that you're weak."

"No. I mean, I'm afraid to go to the bleachers to meet whoever left me the note. What if it isn't Reeve?"

It took her a minute to respond. "What if it is?"

"I don't even know him. What if he's secretly a stalker who just got out of a mental institution? What if he's a rapist and that's why he has a reputation as a bad boy? What if he spent two years in jail? And that's the reason why he was held back for two years? What if -"

"Haven. Chill. You're starting to act like those drama queens we hung out with last year."

I took out the note from my back pocket and read it for the nineteenth time today. The paper was crinkled and had been creased so many times that the words on it were beginning to fade slightly.

Haven,
Meet me after school near the bleachers. I'll be waiting.

I had been worried about the meeting all day, and now I was doubting whether or not I really wanted to go.

Almost as if she could read my thoughts, Ari raised her eyebrows and said, "You better head over there, girl. School's been out for eight minutes already. What if he thinks you're not coming?" She widened her eyes as she gave me an incredulous look. "Then you'll never find out who it is!"

I let out a sigh. "I don't know if I should go."

"Why not?"

"I just don't have a good feeling about this..."

"Haven, sweetie. I love you, but I'm just about ready to smack you."

"What? You're the one who warned me to stay away from him!"

"Yeah, but now I'm curious. You should at least go to see what he wants. And like you said, it might not even be him who sent the note. Just go see who it is, and if it's some stranger, you can always just walk away and pretend you never saw the note."

I sighed again, and then said, "You're right."

"Of course. I'm like an answer key, girl. I'm always right."

I ignored her comment. "I guess I'll head over now, then..."

"Wait. Aren't you grounded? You need me to cover for you with your mom?"

"Nah, it's okay. She went to visit her friend for the day so she won't even know I'm not home."

"Alright, girlie. You got this!" she whispered enthusiastically while slapping my butt.

I checked my hair and appearance in the small black mirror hanging on my locker door, which was located next to the Polaroid picture of Ari and me from junior high. Satisfied with my otherwise mediocre looks, I fixed my bun one last time and shut my locker.

"I forgot to ask - do you want back up?"

I arched my eyebrows and looked to Ari to see if she was serious. She was.

"Nah, I should be okay. But if I don't text you in thirty minutes, just call me and make sure I'm not dead, okay?"

"Sure thing, booboo," she said with a grin as she pinched my cheeks. Her face turned serious as she added, "Just remember to be careful, okay? Guard your heart. Don't let the bad boys in."

Too late.

But I just nodded.

Ari and I parted ways after she forced me to promise that I would call her tonight with all the details. I hurriedly ran outside to the bleachers, almost knocking a girl with glasses down in the process.

"Hey, use your eyes and watch where you're going!" she yelled at me, huffing hard enough to make her glasses fog up.

"Oops, sorry," I apologized quickly. I needed to stop running into people.

I took deep breaths and tried to calm down. I didn't want to show up with sweaty, clammy hands and a flushed face.

I walked closer to the bleachers and looked around. I was alone.

Then I heard it. A feminine laugh.

Turning the corner, I saw blonde hair cascading down a girls' yellow blouse. The girl flipped her hair, laughing again. Then, she turned to the side, and I saw her face.

Priscilla.

What?

Priscilla was the one who sent me the note? Was she going to threaten me to stay away from 'her boy' one more time?

Then I heard that familiar, deep, husky voice again. "I'll see you later, alright?" it said.

"Always," Priscilla said while batting her eyelashes in a sickening, cute way. She winked and turned around.

"Oh. It's you," she snarled as she came closer to me.

"Yes, hi. I'm a human being. What are you?" I asked.

I heard Reeve's musical laugh.

"Don't do anything you're gonna regret," Priscilla warned as she looked over her shoulder at Reeve to blow him a kiss. She leaned in closer to my face as she warned, "Remember, he's mine."

"Easy on the makeup, girl. I've seen clowns that look more natural than you do." I smiled sweetly as she walked away.

Ari would be proud of me.

I took a few steps towards Reeve.

"So... It was you, huh?" I asked while trying to calm down my frantic heartbeat. It felt as if my heart was going to pop out of my chest, and I was scared that Reeve would be able to hear it.

That would be embarrassing.

"Haven," he said with a smile, filling in the majority of the gap between us in just two long strides. "I'm so glad you came."

His smooth voice was like warm, melted caramel. The words gently rolled off his tongue, and his voice was captivating, mesmerizing, and charming.

The dimples appeared on his face again as he smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. His blue eyes took my boring, brown eyes as their captives and I was unable to look away.

He blinked, and his eyes looked at me questioningly.

Oh, God. I wasn't paying attention. What did he just say? Shoot, I don't know. But--

"Are you the one who broke my dad's nose a few days ago?" I blurted out quickly, unable to control what came out of my mouth for the second time today.

"Oops, sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his neck with the palm of his hand and kept it there for a few seconds. His smile disappeared and his brows came together in a worried expression. "Is he alright?"

"I don't know. He hasn't come back yet."

"Good," he said, smiling again.

"Why'd you do it?" I asked, curious to hear his reason.

His eyes twinkled as he answered, "I couldn't stand to watch you be afraid again."

Again?

How many times had he seen me be afraid?

I don't know how long I stood there in silence with a confused look on my face. Thoughts were entering and leaving my mind at a hundred miles per hour, and I was having difficulty trying to process everything. I didn't know whether to be flattered or weirded out by the fact that he had been watching me.

"Hello? Earth to Haven?" Reeve waved his hand in front of my face.

"Huh?"

He stared at me with a quizzical smile.

His smile was so genuine - the way his lips just naturally lifted up ever so slightly, the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when the smile traveled up to them, the way his dimples dug deep holes in his cheeks and above his lips... Every feature on his face screamed perfection.

Wow.

The longer I stared, the more I felt my knees growing weaker. I suddenly felt very vulnerable as his deep, blue eyes pierced holes into the depths of my soul with just one glance. I could feel his eyes on me, studying me to see what I was thinking.

Jeez. What was this boy doing to me?

"I know you're probably confused," I heard him saying.

That was an understatement.

I stopped drooling over his eyes and tried to focus on the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Trust me," he reassured. "I'll explain everything soon."

After my family had fallen apart, I learned not to trust anyone. In the end, no matter who they were, every person ended up hurting and betraying me. Even my own family. The only person who was able to get past my barriers was Ari, but that was only because I had spent the last ten years of my life with her by my side.

And now, here in front of me, was this incredibly handsome guy... who had watched me and broken my dad's nose. I didn't know anything about him. And yet, I did trust him.

Utterly, completely, and unconditionally.

Maybe it was the way I felt so comforted by his eyes, the way his voice soothed me to my inner core, or the way everything about him just felt so familiar. For whatever reason, I completely trusted this stranger.

I felt a little piece of every wall I had carefully and painstakingly built for the past ten years slowly breaking down.

And this scared me to no end.

Why was I so ready to trust this boy who I had barely known for five minutes?

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"I do," I whispered. And I meant it.

"I know you," he continued while raising his eyebrow and lifting the corners of his mouth in a smile. "You might not remember me, but I remember you." His eyes twinkled in mystery and mischief, and I wondered whether or not I should be afraid.

But somehow, it sounded so... right coming from him.

Reeve's blue eyes traveled from my face to my body. They lingered at the base of my arm, and I silently cursed at myself for not wearing sleeves. The bruises that my dad had given me two nights ago were faint, but still there.

He traced over the marks gently, silently hissing in anger.

"He hurt you." It wasn't a question - it was a statement.

Still confused, I just stared at him. A million questions were going through my mind, screaming to be let out and asked, but I couldn't seem to make my lips move.

"You were always beautiful, even when you looked confused," he murmured softly while looking deep into my eyes.

He took two steps forward to close the already short distance between us, and my heart skipped a beat at how close our bodies were.

Before I could say anything, he leaned in, cupped his hand under my chin, and placed a gentle kiss on my lips.