Chapter 3: Alora Rivers
Everything was black. I could hear distant voices echoing in the vast emptiness of the space I was in. I couldn't see much, anything. I tried to open my eyes but they seemed very hesitant to fling open. I heard my name floating in the abyss like a distant memory. Something cold hit my face and I felt my body shoot up with force. My eyes flung open, I shut them as light flooded past my eyelids. I opened them again and stared into a pair of green eyes. Justin was leaning over me a concerned look on his face and his lips drawn into a thin line of worry. He was still in his cop's outfit meaning they'd called him out from work the moment I hit the ground.
"Are you alright?" he asked his voice low and soft. It was unlike the one I heard this morning when he was giving Kaden a piece of his mind. I nodded my head solemnly, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment as I remembered the fact that I had fainted in front of the entire school, in front of Fletcher Eden. I wished the ground would open and swallow me up because there was no way I could show my face ever again. "You fainted, why?" Justin inquired; his eyes narrowed slightly like I was one of those petty criminals he interrogated back at the station.
I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out of my dry, patched throat. "Give the kid a break, at least she's fine and alive" Jordan, whom I didn't notice was standing behind Justin, clapping his hand on his elder brother's back. Justin sent him an unimpressed glare but made no further move to interrogate me. they knew. fainting on my part was almost a natural occurrence, anytime I was met with any form of unusual confrontation or attention. maybe Justin thought one of the kids had said something to hence my fainting, but it was far from that. way worse. Jordan shoved Justin to the side a bit and stared down at me, a wide grin on his face. " I leave you for a few hours and I get a call about how you almost died".
I pushed my glasses up my face and looked at him "Technically fainting is not dying".
"It wouldn't be if you didn't hit your head," I noticed the dull ache at the back of my head. ah fuck. I'd hit my head on the desk behind me, I winced as my hand grazed the bandage at the back of my head.
"she'll be fine, she has to be she's been chosen to draw the face of the school this year for the raven fest" Talk about blabbing. Justin and Jordan looked at me their eyebrows arched in surprise. They knew about my love for art, but they also knew how much I hated people seeing my work hence I never submitted any work for any competition.
"It wasn't me that submitted the work," I told them. they exchanged looks. so, I knew it was none of them and no one else had access to my work except. Kaden. shit. I was so going to strangle him the moment I got my hands on him. he was the one that got me into this mess like he did every other time. the nurse finally let me go, and we headed out of school, my brothers on either side of me in case I decided by any chance to faint again. Justin had to return to work, so he gave me a short kiss on the head promising to be back early before getting into his car and driving away so I was stuck with the responsible one in our family. Jordan.
Jordan drove me home making sure to keep his eyes on me, I wouldn't say I liked the attention. he looked at me like any moment I was going to fall to the ground and die. the nurse had confirmed I didn't get a concussion, so I was fine basically apart from the small cut at the back of my head. Kaden wasn't home, or else I would have murdered him already. I headed to my room ignoring Jordan who'd asked me to come take some painkillers. I hated painkillers they made me sick. I threw my bag into a lone chair the moment I walked into the room and fell face flat into the bed. I hated my fainting spells; they made me feel weak and stupid. not to mention that I'd embarrassed myself in front of the entire class.
"Stop beating yourself up, it's something out of your control," Jordan said from the door. I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to the store, be back in a few". I heard him walk away and shut the door behind him. I heard the engine of his car rev and leave our driveway. almost 15 minutes later there was a knock on the door. I cursed every living thing as I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the door. I was so sure it was Kaden who just wanted to annoy the hell out of me. I flung open the door and froze. it wasn't Kaden and most definitely not anyone I was expecting.
it was Fletcher, Fletcher Eden, Fletcher was standing on my fucking porch. he opened his mouth to say something but then I could remember slamming the door in his face and leaning against it trying to catch myself. Don't faint. don't faint. I opened the door again and he was looking at me with a confused expression. with a deep breath and misted eyes, I spoke.
"hi".