Freezing Bonds that Tie our Hearts (Blood and Water #2)

12. Nova

Something bad was about to happen.

I knew it as soon as I opened my eyes this morning. There was this energy in the air, this feeling that made me want to hide under my covers. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking, and an ache in my chest made me want to stay home in the comfort and security it provided.

But I knew I had to get up. I knew not all gut feelings were good to follow. I knew not all thoughts were true.

You see, it happened to me a lot.

Foreboding feelings, strange thoughts, bad energy. I felt them often.

And I had to learn over the years not to put my trust in them.

So I woke up, took my medication, got dressed, and ate breakfast with my family. I drove myself to school and went through the motions, trying not to let the intensifying ache in my gut get to me. I smiled when people smiled at me, laughed when they did, and acted like everything was fine when, in reality, bad thoughts were quickly plaguing my brain.

The worst thing was, I didn’t know why I was feeling this way. I just was.

I spent the first half of the day waiting for the other shoe to drop, watching on edge as people peacefully went on about their day.

But nothing happened.

Because that’s the thing about gut feelings. More often than not, they’re unreliable. That’s why I refused to go with them. I refused to be unreliable.

“What’s up with you?”

Zee’s voice startled me out of my thoughts. Thick, dark eyebrows were pulled together, creasing her forehead and a look of anguish marred her beautiful face.

Sometimes, I got stuck in my head, and although usually no one really noticed, today it seemed Zainab had.

“Nothing.” I plastered a reassuring smile, lacing our arms together and walking down the hall to our next class. “Just thinking about getting back home and taking a warm bath tonight. The girls and I are having a movie night, wanna join?” I quickly changed the subject, knowing Zee wouldn’t be able to say no to movie night.

“Duh, do you even need to ask?” She rolled her eyes and I smiled, more genuinely this time. Zee was like my third sister sometimes. “You sure you’re good? Your mood wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain boy who’s been missing classes for a week now, would it?”

My throat closed up at the mention of Aiden. Did it hurt when he stood me up after kissing the lights out of me and giving me my first orgasm in a janitor’s closet? Yes. Was I mad at first, thinking he’d just been playing with me? Also yes.

But after a week of him not showing up for school, I was more worried than anything. I had thought about asking Julian or Matt about him but resisted. I didn’t want to make things weird or for him to think that I was getting clingy after a few kisses. Memorable kisses, yes, kisses that made my panties wet and had my legs trembling too, but just kisses nonetheless.

I didn’t know what the protocol was for our situation. We weren’t exactly friends, but I did enjoy his company the few times we’d met up outside of school. He seemed to be the only person able to drive me up the wall and make me almost angry, but at the same time, his presence made me feel safe. I had started to rethink the way I’d treated him in the past, like his mere presence was irking me. Maybe I had jumped to conclusion too soon after seeing him interact with Sebastian three years ago.

I slipped my hand into my bag to check I had everything I needed for Mrs. Diaz’s class, but couldn’t feel my copy of Pride and Prejudice.

“Shoot, I forgot my book in my locker. Go, I’ll join you in class!” Not waiting for an answer, I jogged through the hall until I reached my locker. Digging inside, I put everything I needed in my bag when movement from the other side of the room caught my eye.

All I could see was his dark hair from where he stood with his back to me. He wore one of his signature black t-shirts that let his tattooed arms on display and some jeans with combat boots. Warmth settled in the pit of my stomach, as always when I saw him. I never understood why, really. Sure, Aiden was attractive, I couldn’t deny that, but so were many guys in this school and I never had any physical reaction to them the way I did with Aiden. I hated how clammy my hands felt and how out of breath I seemed to become whenever he was near.

Seeing him seemed to bring back memories of his hands on me, his tongue parting my lips and brushing against my own.

There was just something about him that quietened my thoughts while still making it hard for me to breath.

One of his arms moved as he pinned something onto the giant pin board where students usually put in small ads for babysitting or lawn mowing jobs. I couldn’t see what it was from a distance, but I had a feeling it wasn’t a job he was looking for. I knew for a fact he worked at the local car shop, I’d seen him twice over the summer when my car needed a checkup.

He seemed tense from where I stood, his shoulders were tight and his back was ramrod straight. And whatever it was he pinned onto the board, he did it with a bit more force than necessary.

That shouldn’t have surprised me given what I knew about him, but it did. He was a boxer so violence was quite a big part of his life, I guess. Plus, Aiden had a naturally angry face, he walked around school like he was ready to kill anyone who dared look at him the wrong way. But even then, there was something about the way he was currently holding himself that made me believe I was missing something. He seemed so strung up… like he couldn’t stand the simple fact of being here, in school today.

Gone was the confident, carefree guy that dragged me to a small closet to kiss the daylights out of me. No, right then, the only word that would describe him was angry. He was lost in thoughts, and didn’t even notice how we seemed to be the only two students left in the hall because everyone else had gone to class.

After he pinned his sheet of paper to the board, he stared at it for a few seconds before sighing, his shoulders sagging a little bit. He made his way towards his next class and my eyes followed him until he disappeared in the corridor.

I let out a breath I didn’t even know I had been holding, relieved he hadn’t noticed me staring. His mere presence made me nervous, but whenever his eyes found mine, it made everything ten times worse. Not to mention, seeing him here, all safe and sound, after he missed out on a week of school and dodged my texts asking if he was okay made me angry. I couldn’t stand the whiplash, him being hot one second and cold the next. It was messing with my brain

Still, the nagging curiosity inside me was dying to see what was written on the paper he left behind.

Gulping, I turned back to my locker and slammed the door, ready to jog down to where he had been and discover what it was he pinned to the wall.

I yelped, my heart nearly leaping out of my chest when I saw the person standing next to me, a little too close for comfort. The smell of sweat and weed wafted to my nostrils and that’s how I knew he hadn’t been standing there for very long. I’d always been really sensitive to smells and even though I was pretty lost in thoughts while looking at Aiden earlier, I doubted I could ever be out of it enough to ignore a stench as bad as this one.

“Sebastian. Hi.” I forced a smile, an uneasy feeling making its way down my back.

Sebastian was one of those guys who wasn’t really popular, quite the opposite, actually. I’d seen the football team take jabs at him several times, pushing him around and knocking his books over. His long, unkempt hair was sticking to his forehead, and the headphones hanging around his neck were blasting a familiar song. I just couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.

“Hey, Nova.” He answered, his eyes perusing my body.

I wanted nothing else than to fold back into myself. I left the house liking my outfit this morning, it was a cute dress I had made a few days ago, coming down slightly above my knee. The color was a light sage green and of course, my signature embroidered red heart sat on the collar. I loved that dress, yet seeing the look in Sebastian’s eyes as he looked me up and down made me feel naked and I got the urge to pull on the material to make it cover more of my legs.

No matter how hard I tried to pay attention to whatever he was saying, I found myself drawn to the song blasting through his headphones, for some reason. It was just so loud, it nearly drowned down my thoughts. I couldn’t fathom how someone could listen to music that loud without getting a killer migraine.

“So, you in?” I blinked, quickly realizing I had been hyper focusing on the song. That happened to me sometimes. Sebastian was staring expectantly at me, visibly waiting for an answer to a question I hadn’t heard in the first place.

“I– sorry, what?”

“I said,” he leaned closer to me, the nauseating smell of sweat and weed wafting to my nostrils and making me want to recoil. “Do you wanna ditch Diaz’s next class and hang with me in the back of the school?”

I frowned, where did that come from? Even if I had always been cordial towards him, same as I was to anyone, really, Sebastian and I were not and had never been friends. Certainly not the type of friends who ditched school together. I didn’t understand why he was suddenly asking me this, it made no sense to me.

“Uh, no. Thanks, but I need to go. I’m already late as it is.”

I tried side-stepping him but, out of nowhere, his hand sprung up and he grabbed my arm with way more force that was necessary.

Eyes wide, I immediately pushed him away, my hand itching to slap him in the face. It turned out I didn’t have to because he pulled his hands up, palms facing me in a sign of peace.

“Sorry, sorry.” He drawled, clearly high as a kite. “No need to be so jumpy, Nova-girl. It’s too bad you don’t wanna come with me. Have fun in Diaz’s class.” He smiled like he knew something I didn’t but I didn’t linger to find out what, hurrying to class instead.

I was out of breath when I barged into the room and the distraught look on my face seemed to surprise the teacher who didn’t even comment on my tardiness.

“Nova. Are you okay?” When I hurriedly nodded, Diaz motioned to my usual seat and said, “Take your place, dear.”

My hands had a slight tremble to them so I gripped the edges of my desk in an effort to stop it. I worked on my breathing, ignoring Zainab’s worried gaze on me.

I hated that I was overreacting. After all, Sebastian hadn’t done anything wrong per se. I didn’t like the way he tried to manhandle me and the way his eyes roamed my body like he wanted to see through my clothes but again, what woman in this day and age never had this type of altercation with a man who thought he had a right to her?

The thing was, this, added to the fact that I had already been feeling weird things all day… let’s just say it made my head louder.

I couldn’t wait for this day to end already.

Diaz went on about classics and their place in today’s literature for most of the class. By then, I had managed to calm myself down somehow, my heart beating the way it normally did and my hands no longer clutching the desk until my knuckles turned white.

“Have you guys started to work on your projects yet?” She asked, rubbing her pregnant stomach with a hand and using the other to brace herself on her desk while leaning her hip against it too.

Mostly everyone nodded, breaking into chatter about the way they’d chosen to present, ideas fusing, but I stayed silent. Aiden’s disappearance this week made it hard to continue where we’d left off, especially since I’ve been busy on my part too.

I chanced a look over my shoulder at him but he was too busy looking at his phone to pay me any mind. For some reason, that upset me a little. First he didn’t answer any of my texts, didn’t even seem to notice me in the hall and now he hadn’t looked up from his phone, not even when I barged inside the classroom earlier.

Who’s he talking to that’s so important that he can’t even be bothered to look at me anymore?

The sudden thought gave me pause because it sounded a lot like jealousy and I was not a jealous person. Never had been.

So what if he’d suddenly decided I didn’t exist anymore? I had spent the first eighteen years of my life not knowing what being cordial with Aiden Walker was like and I could spend the next eighteen like that too.

“I’ll give you guys the rest of the class to go to the library and continue your research. Mrs Lockett will call roll once you’re there so don’t even think about ditching, you hooligans.” She smiled playfully as some student groaned jokingly, “See you guys tomorrow.”

I did have half a mind to cut the rest of my afternoon classes to get back home and sleep. The churning in my stomach had not lessened, I still felt uncomfortable to be here for some reason.

Gathering my stuff, ready to follow the rest of my class to the library with Zainab by my side, Mrs Diaz’s voice interrupted me.

“Nova, Aiden, a word please.”

I inwardly groaned, my nails digging into the palm of my hand as it clenched in a fist. Zee sent me a look before following her project partner, a girl named Salita, out of the room.

It took all of me not to look at Aiden while I joined him at the front of the class to Mrs Diaz’s desk. He seemed to finally have realized that I existed and his gaze zeroed on me.

“Is something wrong?” I asked our teacher, my hands clutching the strap of my bag nervously.

Kind brown eyes met mine and she smiled reassuringly, “Of course not. I just wanted to know if everything was alright with your project. I know you guys didn’t have the best start but when I talked to Aiden the other day he assured me you’d been working well together.” Her gaze then settled on him and an air of pity took over her features, “With everything that’s happened last week—”

Aiden cut her off harshly, “We’ll be fine. You’ll have your stupid assignment by the end of the semester like you asked.” He spat.

Surprise had me whipping my head in his direction, lips parting in a silent gasp. I could feel my annoyance flaring. Not paying attention to me or during the class was something, speaking like that to a professor that had always been kind to us was another.

Especially since I vividly remembered him getting into a fight with a Southie who had disrespected her last year. I knew Aiden liked Mrs Diaz, so why the heck was he acting like that?

To my shock, Mrs Diaz didn’t even bat an eye or seem mad about it. The pity on her face only deepened as she sighed, her hand finding her stomach again, like she needed the support her little baby would be giving her, “Aiden, I know—”

“You don’t. You don’t know shit. You’re not one of us. Not anymore, so don’t act like you care.”

The vehemence in his voice, the anger leaking out of it made my eyes widen. What kind of jerk would speak like that to someone that was only trying to be nice to them? A pregnant woman at that? Clearly, he and Mrs Diaz had history I was not familiar with, but I refused to stay silent when he was being so undeservedly rude.

“Don’t speak to her like that.” I griped, “It’s not her fault you’ve pulled a disappearing act all week and care so little about your education that you wouldn’t even bother paying attention today after missing so many classes.”

His deep green eyes flew to me, narrowing as they settled on my face. Where was the guy who blushed? Who kissed me on his bed and was nervous about having me over to his house? Heck, I’d even take his stupid smirks over the death glare he was tossing my way right then.

“Stay out of it.” He spat and I was taken aback.

In the three years since I’d known him, Aiden had never been mean to me— I realized it now that I saw what he actually was like when angry. He was annoying and overly confident sometimes, yes, but never mean.

“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered, frowning as I looked at him—really, looked at him— for the first time today.

He had bags under his eyes, his usually combed and gelled hair was falling over them, like he hadn’t had time to style it this morning or simply couldn’t be bothered. He seemed so incredibly tired, like he’d aged in the week since I last saw him.

But the most startling thing was the pain in his eyes. He looked like something was eating him up from the inside, slowly killing him.

At that moment, I remember thinking maybe he was sick. Maybe he’d lost someone in the last week— a family member, a friend, heck, even a pet.

“Don’t fucking put your nose where it doesn’t be—” but his harsh words were cut off by something even harsher.

A deafening noise resonated from the great hall outside our classroom and it was quickly followed by screams.

All three of us tensed, my heart stopped beating as fear and dread washed over me. Aiden’s hand immediately sprung to clutch my own and he put me behind him so that he could stand between me and the closed door where the sound came from.

We didn’t even need to talk, we had all heard the same thing and we all knew what it was.

Someone was shooting up the school.