Chapter 3: Secret Place

The final bell rings, and I rush out of class, ready to get to the parking lot and head home. I went back to the nurse a bit later in the day and got more headache pills so I should be good for another few hours.

But as soon as I get outside, someone calls to me. "Clumsy!" they say, and I look over to see Drake leaning on the wall outside of the school. I forgot I was meeting him.

I walk over to him and look into his eyes with a smug look. "So, why did you want me here?" I ask, words full of curiosity.

"I'm taking you somewhere. Don't question it, you'll know when we get there." He says, but all I feel is unsure.

"How are we getting there?" I ask awkwardly, my heart dropping at the thought of riding in a car.

"We're walking." He says and I sigh happily. At least we aren't riding in any type of vehicle, they still terrify me.

He looks at me confusingly but shrugs it off. We start walking towards the exit of the school grounds and to the sidewalk. We walk side by side, silent for a while, until he speaks a question I wish I didn't hear. "Why did you look happy when I said we were walking?" He asks and my breath hitches in my throat.

"I just-like walking." I lie, talking a bit too quickly.

"Alright then, whatever you say, Clumsy." He says, smiling lightly. Please tell me, why am I hanging out with a guy?

"It's still Londyn to you." I say, huffing, yet not forgetting about the question he previously asked me.

"Nah." He repeats his old words from when I first said that to him.

I start walking a little faster and decide to just ignore him, then take a turn at a random street until he stops me. "Wrong way." He says annoyingly, and I turn around to see him cross-eyed with his tongue out.

I start giggling until I snort accidentally. Then he starts laughing at me and I end up falling onto my butt on the sidewalk while doubling over in laughter. It seems so easy for me to laugh with him, like I'm free from all of my worries.

Drake laughs at me again and it takes a few minutes for us to calm down and for me to get up from the ground, but I eventually start walking again, allowing us to actually get to the destination.

There's something about the way he smiles at me, almost as if the smile is sympathetic. But why would the smile be sympathetic? The only complete and utter tragedy that's ever happened to me was my father's death. I watched him die. But no one knows that, do they?

I'm snapped out of my thoughts- literally- when Drake starts snapping his fingers in my face. "Hello? Earth to Londyn!" He says loudly, making me look at my surroundings and leading me to realize I've just stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Oh-uh, sorry, I was lost in my thoughts." I say apologetically.

He just smiles at me blindly. "Alright, come on, we're almost there." He says, the smile never leaving his face. I'm starting to get weirded out. No one smiles that much.

"You sure smile a lot." I say bluntly, but slap my hand over my mouth when I realize what I've just said. He laughs and my face goes red in embarrassment.

"Only for you." he says quietly. Why is he acting this way towards me? This definitely isn't helping the butterflies that continue to swarm in my stomach.

I pretend to not hear it, and start walking again. "How much farther away is the place you're taking me?"

"Probably only another minute or two." He says calmly.

I nod and we continue walking again. But I just can't stop thinking back to his words. Only for you. Why do I all of a sudden trust this stranger to take me somewhere that he could definitely kill me?

What does he mean by "only for you" though?

"Why do you pretend to care?" I ask him quietly, staring at the ground as we walk.

"What do you mean?" He asks, clearly confused.

"You just suddenly started pretending like you care what happens to me." I whisper, my eyes trained on a ladybug crawling across the sidewalk.

He's quiet for a minute, and the ladybug decides to fly off, tired of our conversation. If you could call it that. I wish I could just do that, just fly away from my problems. Unfortunately, I'm not a ladybug, and I'll never have wings.

"I'm not pretending." He mumbles. I still continue walking, utterly confused.

"Then why are you suddenly so nice to me?" I say, louder than before. "Why would someone just- care?" I ask, mostly to myself.

"Because I know what it's like to lose someone I loved too." He says, causing me to stop walking.

I look at him with shock and confusion. "Wha-" I start asking him what he means but he cuts me off.

"Let's not talk about it. We're here." He mumbles, the mood obviously ruined.

I look up to see we're somewhere I don't recognize. The sidewalk seems to have run off onto a thin road-like path, running far into the woods.

Drake starts taking steps into the woods and I start following after. "You better not be a  murderer, or I just might have to kill you first." I say jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, and some of the tension lifts. I can practically hear Drake smirking.

"Maybe I did take you here to kill you, y'know. You've seemed pretty oblivious while I was taking my backpack off the ground. That's my secret. I take girls into the woods and kill them for fun. Yeah, totally sounds a lot like me." He says and laughs.

"Well, I wouldn't know that, would I?" I challenge him, giving him a questioning look. I really don't know him. I met him this morning.

He nods and looks away, so I quickly hide behind a tree, ready to scare him when he goes to look for me. I watch around the side to see him looking at where I was in confusion.

"Londyn?" He calls out. "Where are you?" He starts looking behind trees, but as he creeps up on my tree, I jump around it and scream 'boo!' at him and he jumps a mile in the air and stumbles backwards.

He then trips over a branch that was laying on the ground, landing on his butt. I laugh at him but when he gets up, I notice a cut on his hand, and drops of blood are falling to the leaf-covered ground, but he doesn't seem to notice it.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" I ask, staring at his hand in astonishment.

He looks down at his hand, and his eyes widen. "Oh. Yeah, I didn't even notice that." He says.

I walk over to a tree stump and motion for him to follow. "Come here." I say and he does as I say. "Sit down." I order, in full medical mode. Once again he does as I say and I crouch down, putting my backpack on the ground and searching through it for something.

I sigh in relief as I find what I was looking for. "Yes!" I whisper in triumph.

I open up the first-aid kit and pull out ointment and bandages, like the kind you'd use on a sprain. It'll have to do for now. I also pull out a bottle of water to clean the cut. I motion for Drake to give me his hand, and he holds it out for me to fix. It feels weird hanging out with a person who is almost a complete stranger to you. Now I'm cleaning a stranger's cut in the middle of the woods and it's starting to get dark.

Smart, Londyn, smart. But for some reason, I just feel safe here, like nothing could hurt me.

I first pour some water on the cut to clean it out and he hisses as the cut stings. I turn back to my bag and grab a small towel out of it to dry his hand off. The cut goes diagonally across the back of his hand. I dab the water off around it, getting some blood on it in the process, but at the moment I really don't care. I then grab the ointment a put some of it on the cut, then unwravel the bandages, carefully wrapping them around his hand and cut. The cut should be healed in a week or two.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him staring at me. I'm not sure what emotion his eyes are holding. "How do you know how to do all this?" Drake speaks up, motioning to all of the medical stuff I grabbed. I stiffen, and he notices. "You don't have to talk about it if-" He says quickly, but I cut him off.

"It's okay." I say, ready to tell him something big, and I notice him staring into my eyes, and I quickly look away, hoping he didn't notice my pain.

It feels wrong to be telling this to a complete stranger, but it also feels right.

"I had a twin sister. She was always the clumsy one between us two, and I would always watch my dad clean up her wounds when we were younger. I always felt as if I wasn't emotional, because I never felt sad while she was in pain or crying. I'd just stand there, watching her face contort in pain. But I would also watch my dad's hands, quickly working on making her feel better by fixing her wounds and making her feel special. When we turned four, I found out she was sick, and a week after we turned five, I realized what it meant. She had a brain tumor, and it was growing at a rapid pace. I'd visit her after school every day, and bring her toys or markers and pencils every now and then because she was an amazing artist and could never keep still for very long. Her hair started falling out when we were two months five but I kept telling her that no matter what-" I pause, realizing I had tears streaming down my cheeks, and Drake wiped them from under my eyes. "She was beautiful inside and out, and that I believed in her and that she could be anything she wanted. I'm not even sure if she died or not because she was taken away to another country to live with another family and I don't know why." I pause again, sort of sobbing into my hand. "We weren't given an address or phone number, email, nothing. I just wish I could see her again." I finish.

Drake wraps his arms around me and sighs. "If that's what you want, then I'm gonna do my best to make that happen." He says and I pull back.

"Wha- why? You barely even know me." I say, ignoring my tear-stained cheeks and look at him in confusion.

"Because you're special, Londyn. I can feel it." He says and I pull him in for another hug.

"Thank you." I mumble gratefully into his shoulder.

He just hums in agreement and we stay like that for a minute before we both finally pull away.

"We should probably head back. It's getting dark." Drake suggests.

"Yeah." I say, nodding.

"I'll take you where I was actually taking you some other time. For now, we have to get home." He says and stands up from the tree stump and I do the same. We start walking out to the path in the woods, the leaves crunching under our feet being the only sound heard.

After a few minutes of walking, I realize something. "Oh my gosh. My mom's gonna kill me. What do I say when I get home?" I say, starting to freak out.

"Just tell her you were studying with one of your friends and you forgot to text her." He suggests.

I smile slightly. "Yeah, sure. That could work. Thanks." I say, my smile slowly becoming larger. I just hope my mom doesn't ground me.

We get to a road leading into a development and Drake stops walking. "This is my stop. I'll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?" He asks casually.

"Yeah." I say, nodding, "See you at school tomorrow. Goodnight, Drake." I say in the almost dark.

"Goodnight, Clumsy." He says, and turns around to walk to his house and I continue walking to mine.

I get there in a matter of minutes and notice that there isn't a car in the driveway, usually indicating my mom isn't even home. I pull out my keys and walk to the front door, opening it.

I walk into the house with caution, seeing if my mom is home after all, but she doesn't seem to be. I walk into the kitchen and notice a note on the kitchen table and pick it up, reading it.

I won't be home until Friday. Business trip. Call me when you get this.

Love, Mom

Welp, I'm officially home alone for the rest of the week. I think, sighing.

I pull my phone out of the side pocket of my bag and call my mom.

"Hey mom." I say casually.

"Londyn where have you been?!" She nearly screeches into the phone.

"I was studying at Prem's house sorry I didn't text you it won't happen again!" I say quickly, apologizing and mostly trying not to get grounded. I hope she believes my lie.

"Alright. Just make sure to text me next time. Oh- and Londyn!" She says, pausing.

"Yeah?" I ask her.

"I have a boyfriend." My mom says, and I become stiff. This is her first boyfriend after my dad died.

"O-ok." I say, mentally facepalming myself for stuttering.

"He will be coming over the house tomorrow and he's taking you out for dinner tomorrow night, so get something nice out. Be ready by 6pm. Sorry I can't be there. Love you Londyn! Bye." She says and hangs up before I can respond. I'm frozen in my spot.

I feel like slamming my head into a brick wall for not getting Drake's number, because I could really use someone to spill everything to. He already knows more than Prem and Landon. I guess I'll tell him at school tomorrow.