Chapter 2: Our Deal

So there she was, Catherine sleeping right in front of me, while I stood there watching her from a distance. I had no idea what to do. Should I wake her up and ask her what hell she’s doing her? Or walk away and never return pretending I’ve never seen her? But I love this place! How could I just up and leave after spending the last 2 years napping here! This is the last quiet place in this school were I could hide and no one could bother me! Who would have guessed Catherine was the one who found me sleeping here yesterday. Not only that but she’s also Emma’s little sister. She looked really beautiful sleeping on the bench, her hair covered most of her face as she laid on her side. I sat down on the grass looking at her intensely. Maybe when she wakes up I can strike a deal with her by asking her to keep this place a secret? From what Emma said yesterday, Catherine struggles making friends. Even if she could tell people about this place who would she even tell? My eyes were feeling heavy, I barely got any sleep last night, I just couldn’t stop thinking about yesterday which made me stay up way later than usual. Not just that but my body has gotten so use to this peace…. I…. Must…

I yawned and tried to stay awake as much as possible but my body being used to the peace in this area caused me to lay on my back. Must…not…sleep…

Ring

My phones notification was loud enough it quickly woke me back up. I was sitting looking straight at Catherine who looked to be half asleep. Maybe I could run away quickly before she fully wakes up and notices me! Right as I tried to get up she fully opened both her eyes and stared at me.

“Hey Catherine…” I nervously said, she looked completely emotionless then out of nowhere she quickly got up from the bench and hid behind it.

“Did you do something to me while I was sleeping!?” It was weird, even though her body showed fair her face showed zero emotion towards the situation, meanwhile her voice gave off a furious and embarrassed tone.

“NO! NO I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

“LIAR!”

“Why would you ask me that if you’re just going to assume then?” Her face changed and she started laughing. I awkwardly smiled at her, why did she just start laughing out of nowhere?

“Well it’s only fair since I found you here yesterday.” She stoped laughing and went back to not showing any emotions, “But honestly I didn’t expect to see a loser like you yesterday with my older sister.” For someone who has trouble making friends she sure is making it easier to hate her this quickly.

“Hey I know this is sudden but I have a favor to ask you!” I got on my knees and bent my body down in a plead. “Can you please keep this place a secret.” I begged and closed my eyes.

“Hmmm.” I looked up, she placed her finger on her chin. “What’s in it for me?”

“I uhh, I don’t have much… this place is just special to me, nobody but us knows about it, if you were to tell anyone else about this place it’ll get super popular to the point the school might restrict this area!” Even with my begging she still looked at me emotionless.

“So you just don’t want me to say anything about this place right?”

“Yes exactly!”

“Hmmm.” Don’t just hit me with that again! “Alright but I have one condition you must accept.”

“What is it?” She sat back down on the bench looking comfy, she yawned and looked straight at me.

“I want sixty percent of this place towards myself.”

“Huh?”

“You saw me sleeping here, I need someplace where I can nap during my breaks, somewhere I can relax or just be at peace from everyone else at this school.”

“So you just want to spend time here is that it?”

“Nope! That’s not just it, when I say sixty percent of this place I mean I want to come in here and automatically have the bench to sleep on, if you’re here when I’m here I want you to make no noise, if I hear even a small noise from your phone while I sleep you must leave and not return until the next day. I want more than half this area but with you following the rules I make.” She had an evil grin on her face as I slouched.

“Ok…” I muttered with my head down, feeling defeated.

“What was that I couldn’t hear you just now?” No wonder she doesn’t have any friends.

“This area is too important to me, I accept your conditions.” I stared at the ground clenching my fists still kneeling.

“Hmm sounds like a deal, you have no idea how I felt finding you sleeping on this bench yesterday, you looked like a troll sleeping in peace, it was so quite I knew I had to come back. Then you just had to ruin my sleep and wake me up just now. ”

“I was startled by you yesterday! How do you think I felt when I saw a random girl run away after watching me sleep you creep!” I responded in a angry tone.

“You were watched me sleep today, I say it makes us even now, when your phone woke me up I found you on the ground, how bold of you to sleep near me.” She gave a sadistic laugh, I felt so embarrassed at that moment. So when she doesn’t look like a robot she turns into a sadist?

“I didn’t get much sleep and you took the bench! Where else was I supposed to sleep?”

“Maybe not here, you watched your friends younger sister sleeping and decided to sleep close to her? I don’t know man it sounds like you’re the real creep here.” She wore a cat face while making fun of me.

“I wouldn’t call us friends, we’re just classmates.” I turned away from her.

“I’m not sure Emi just sees you as a classmate but whatever man.” She yawned and pulled out her smartphone. “Man you made me miss out on so much sleep, I have to get back in six minutes.”

“So you expected me to just abandon this place when you found me sleeping here yesterday? You didn’t think I’d come back the next day?”

“I thought this area was well known and that it’s first come first serve but now that you’ve told me nobody else knows about it I knew I had to make this bench mine.” She put her phone away and rubbed her eyes. Even though I was still mad at her she looked so damn cute when she did that. “So what’s your name again Emi’s classmate?”

“It’s Ezra.” I tried distancing myself from her.

“Aww cmon don’t be like that I mean you do own less than half of what I own now.” She made that point really clear…

“You know you were way more quite yesterday! I miss that version of Catherine! Where did she go?” I had a smug face. Who does she think she is? More than half of what she owns! NO YOU’RE JUST BLACKMAILING ME

“Aww still angry with me now? I don’t usually like people ya know, maybe since we both watched each other sleep and now slept near each other I’ve gotten comfortable with you. Not only that but you’ve made me laugh today! I almost never do that. But I believe the main reason why.” She got up and walked towards me, I was still kneeling on the ground, she put her face in front of mine. “Is simply because I hold something you want.” She had a sadistic grin on her face again. She went back to the bench to grab her belongings, my heart began to beat faster, my eyes were wide open as I watched her walk away. “Anyways come back here tomorrow or don’t!” I could no longer hear her footsteps, only the first school alarm start to ring. It felt hard getting up but I managed.

I grabbed my bag and walked to my english class. My favorite spot has been compromised by a demon, I sighed while walking, my face looked so depressing knowing I won’t be able to spend my breaks in peace anymore. When I sat down on my desk I put my face on top and closed my eyes.

“Ezra why do you look so depressed today?” Emma asked.

“Oh hey Emma.” EMMA!? I quickly put my head up and looked at her. She was in her seat with her body turned to look at me. “Don’t mind me that’s just how I usually look haha.” I nervously sounded.

“Really? You didn’t look like this yesterday when we were all together.” I CAN’T JUST TELL YOU YOU’RE SISTER’S BLACKMAILING ME! I cried on the inside.

“I barely got any sleep last night, I had so much fun my body just wouldn’t let me you know.” I gave a half lie. She smiled and nodded.

“I know what you mean I stayed up an extra hour I think! Yesterday was so much fun! I had so many nice people helping me get to know the area!” She looked so cute. NOT FALLING FOR HER… but I can appreciate how pretty she is. “Since you helped me out yesterday I wanted to try and help you feel better, you looked all gloomy but if it’s just sleep then!” She put her hand on top of my head. “You need to stop sleeping in so late Ezra.” She smiled, it’s weird how I went from feeling depressed, to nervous, to now flustered.

“Thank you.” I smiled back her. “Were you able to find the billboard yesterday?”

“I did and it looked so funny and weird at the same time, you were also right about Ms. Berns.”

“Of course I was right.” I snapped my finger at her then realized exactly how cringy that looked, I sat there quietly reflecting on my action…

“I was late by three minutes but she didn’t even care, she introduced me to the class and when I stood up there were so many others on their phones using them.” She looked surprised saying that.

“Don’t you think Mr. Denzel is taking awhile to get here?” I asked her, then I spotted Daniel making several kissing faces towards me. The nerve of that guy I swear.

“Hmm you’re right it has been awhile.” She turned around and saw Daniel humming while waking towards his seat.

“You lovebirds seem to be getting along well!” He sat next to me with a grin on his face.

“Don’t mind him.” I say to her as she nods.

“Not only Mr. Denzel but I don’t see Kristy anywhere, do you think something might have happen?”

“OH NO!” Daniel shot up from his seat as everyone turned towards him realizing the same thing. “CRAP WE’RE SCREWED EZRA!” He grabbed my shirt shouting in my ear. Any other day I would have yelled back but it had just hit me exactly how screwed we all were.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.

“YOU’RE NEW HERE SO YOU WOULDN’T KNOW BUT WHEN MR. DENZEL IS LATE BY A FEW MINUTES IT ALWAYS MEANS HE’S COMING IN WITH A REALLY LONG POP QUIZ!” Daniel put his hands on his head in anguish. “His pop quizzes are extremely long and hard for stupid people like me and Ezra!”

“Hey!” I said knowing he was right.

“Since this is your second day Emma he might not have you take it but the moment he gets here most of us in this classroom are going to have our grades knocked a letter!” She turned and looked at me, I had a nervous smile.

“Alright everyone sit down and get ready for this pop quiz!” Everyone sat down in shock by how many packets Mr. Denzel dropped on a students desk. “Pass one complete pack around and thank you again Kristy for helping me bring these packets here.” Kristy walked in with another set of packets that were taller than her and placed them right onto Daniel’s desk. Daniel smiled in fear with his eyes closed.

“Mr. Denzel it seems like you’ve printed out more than enough copies for all your classes!” Daniel said.

“Nope Daniel you’re wrong this is just for this class.”

“Oh Mr. Denzel then you must have made six dozen extra copies!”

“Nope Daniel each copy is 56 pages long you have until the end of class to complete it all.”

“WHAT TYPE OF TEACHER ARE YOU!? IN WHAT WORLD ARE THERE ENOUGH QUESTIONS TO FILL UP 56 PAGES FROM JUST CHAPTER 4-7 OF Blind and Trust!” Mr. Denzel ignored Daniel and turned towards Kristy.

“Thank you Kristy I’ll add your 5 points of extra credit to your packet after I grade it.”

“You made her carry all that just for 5 extra credit points?” Daniel muttered as he passed around the packets.

“You weren’t kidding these pop quizzes look really long.” Emma flipped through her packet.

“Oh Emma you get a pass from all assignments for the rest of this week, spend this time however you like, you’re free to leave if you want.” She nodded and grabbed all her stuff.

“I’ll see you later Ezra, good luck!” Her smile brought me a bit of comfort.

“Thank you.” I smiled back, “Later then!”

“Lovebirds.” Daniel muttered, I stomped on his foot.

“Good luck to you too Daniel.” She said to him.

“Thanks.” He got silent and smiled as he turned his packet to page one and started taking the quiz. I sighed and began mine once I saw Emma leave the classroom. She made me forget about Catherine even just for a bit. Sure I have to complete a 56… holy crap a 56 page pop quiz… anyways let’s just get these done.

After the quiz Daniel laid back on his chair looking dead. Kristy looked as if at any moment she’d pass out. I patted his shoulder with my hand but each pat felt like my arm would break off at any moment. I walked out into the hallway, just a few more classes left until I get to go home and forget all about school. I began to smile again just thinking about it. Walking towards my math period I spotted Catherine standing alone waiting for a chance to walk through the schools traffic. She looked emotionless again, she just wanted to get to class but so many people were in her way. That’s when she spotted me and signaled me to come over.

I groaned and gave her a displeased face, she kept staring at me as a reminder that I was under her control. I walked through the traffic and stood in front of her panting from all the people I had to push away.

“Give me your number.” She said so casually I didn’t have a second to blush.

“Huh?”

“Your number now, what is it?” She asked.

“Why do you need it?” Yeah why!? And isn’t it weird to have your classmates younger sisters number before even having hers!?

“You’re the only person I know here besides Emi, you seem useful to use.” OH YOU JUST WANT TO USE ME HUH?”

“Yeah I don’t think I want to give my number to someone like you.” I turned wanting to walk away.

“I guess I’ll just make new friends by inviting them to this secret place I know of.” OH THIS DEMON! I turned around and grabbed her phone quickly inserting my number into her contacts.

“Is that all?” I asked furiously.

“No I need your help getting to my next class before I’m late, I’m not able to push others like you are.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand, “HEY!” she cutely yelled as I pushed those around me getting us into the middle of traffic, I let go of her hand.

“What class are you in, I’ll help you halfway.” I realized what I had done and looked away from her, my heart started beating faster. I JUST HELD HER HAND!

“Class 302.” She said embarrassed. I had her follow me this time towards the direction of her class, I pointed to her classroom and didn’t look back at her, I turned to a different hallway to get to class when I heard my phone receive a call, without thinking I answered it. “Thank you.” Catherine had called just to thank me then ended the call. I stood there staring at my phone as others behind me yelled and pushed me for standing still. I have no idea what type of person Catherine is, she confuses me. She makes me go from anger to depression and then straight to being flustered. I have no idea what exactly I feel towards her but one thing is for sure. She controls me at school and now whenever she wants now that she has my phone number.

At any moment she can call me to ask for something, at any moment she can text me just to ask me to do something for her. I saw Emma from across the hall wave at me with a smile on her face. I wave back as I watch her fade into traffic on the way to Ms. Berns class. I wonder what she’s been doing while I was taking the quiz. After school I walked straight through the entrance of building B. I didn’t have to worry about Daniel trying to have me hang out with him since that quiz took out all his life energy.

Ring Ring Ring

Man I can’t wait just to get home and go straight to sleep from this long and exhausted day!

RING RING RING

I just have to get on my bus and head straight home and there’s NOTHING that can stop me from doing that

RING RING RING PICK UP

I yelled internally and checked my phone, of course it was Catherine who was calling I mean WHO ELSE!?

“HELLO! What do you need!” I changed my voice in the middle of yelling.

“I need your help with something tomorrow, make sure to get plenty of sleep tonight.” She then hung up the call. I stood there looking at my phone wanting to throw it on the ground in a fit of rage. DAMMIT!