Chapter 4

For the rest of the class, Asmodeus and I remained silent, occasionally rolling our eyes and glaring around the room. A couple of minutes before the bell rang, Asmodeus suddenly turned his gaze towards me.

"Carla... right?" he asked, and I looked at him.

"What do you want?" I asked, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"Listen, I know you're new here. You obviously don't know me, but I'm just letting you know that I'm not someone to mess with." He stared directly into my eyes, and after a few seconds, I couldn't help it—I burst out laughing. He looked at me, confused, as I continued to laugh.

"Wow, that's cute," I said, my laughter subsiding as I shoved my books back into my bag.

"What?" he asked, probably wondering why I wasn’t shaking in fear after his ridiculous statement.

"You actually think I care," I said, giggling again. "Clearly, you don't know me," I added, starting to walk away. But then he reached out, spinning me around by my shoulder, and annoyance started to creep through my veins.

"Do you think you're special or something?" he glared, and I held back another eye roll.

"Does it matter? I mean, you clearly do," I pointed out.

"Why are you so, like, weird?" he asked, and I have to admit, his blunt words caught me off guard.

"Oh, you mean why I’m not blushing because you just touched my shoulder, or why I haven’t begged for your forgiveness yet?" I retorted sarcastically.

"Well... kinda," he replied, and I scoffed at him. What an asshol*e. I turned to leave but faced him again before walking out.

"Maybe the universe thought it was about time someone informed you of how much of a dingus you are." I stopped myself before launching into a full rant.

"Dingus?" He raised an eyebrow, unfamiliar with the term.

"Yeah," I confirmed, "dingus." He watched me as I turned on my heel and briskly walked away.

I shook my head to clear all thoughts of him as I opened my car door. Sliding into the driver’s seat, I closed the door behind me and relaxed, relieved that my day in hell had ended.

My peace was short-lived, though, as I remembered I had to go home. I probably needed to head back out to the store once I got there, too.

As I turned the key in the ignition, I felt the car rumble and heard the engine growl. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.

Exhaling, I tried to imagine breathing out all the bad things that had happened to me over the past year. This was another strategy my therapist had taught me: breathe in skies of blue, and out skies of grey.

Whatever the hell that meant...

I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving toward my house.

When I walked through the door, I spotted a piece of paper on the counter. I tossed my keys onto the counter and picked up the note. At the top, it read, "Shopping List," followed by a list of 14 items. Sighing, I grabbed my keys again and headed back out the door.

I only had about three items left on the shopping list when I decided to treat myself with some chocolate. I walked into the candy aisle and grabbed a pack of Kit Kats from the bottom shelf. As I stood up straight again, I heard someone yell, "Carla!!!!"

Startled by the sudden outburst, I quickly turned my head toward the end of the aisle. There, I saw an extremely excited Kade waving at me like a five-year-old. I couldn't help but chuckle as I watched him.

It really is hard not to like this guy, no matter how much you try. I shoved the chocolate into my basket and approached him. Just as I reached him, Jessica and Milo rounded the corner toward us.

"Dude, what the hell was that?" Jessica asked, I believe, referring to Kade's loud holler. His shout had definitely been loud enough to fill the entire store.

When they saw me, they looked confused for a moment, but then big smiles spread across their faces.

"Hey, you're the girl who told off Asmodeus! That was awesome, by the way," he told me, and I have to admit, I was surprised.

"Um, thanks? I mean, I didn't really do anything special. I just stood my ground," I replied.

"Well, it got to him somehow. Seeing him all flustered was amazing," Kade chimed in, chuckling as he recalled the moment. I glanced back at him.

Damn, he was hot. They all were...

Pushing aside my teenage hormones, I was about to ask them why people were afraid to stand up to Asmodeus when Milo interrupted.

"He's not that bad of a guy," his voice a bit deeper and more serious than the others'.

"Yeah, he isn't. In fact, once you get to know him, he's like a big teddy bear," Kade added, and I gave him a skeptical look.

"Okay, maybe not the teddy bear part, but once you get to know him, he's actually a pretty good dude," Kade insisted, and this time he seemed sincere.

Suddenly, his face lit up as if he just remembered something important.

"OH MY GOD, I almost forgot! Carla, this is Jessica and Milo. Jessica, Milo, this is Carla." I stifled a laugh as he slung his arm around my shoulders.

Jessica and Milo smiled back at me. They didn’t seem so bad either...

"Well, sorry to be a buzzkill, but we've got to go," Jessica said, and Kade made a sad face.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Kade said as he started walking away with the others. "See ya!"

"Bye," I replied, and continued with my shopping. I saw them walk out the door and into the parking lot as I finished up.

Once I was done, I walked through the parking lot and made my way to my car. Opening the trunk, I stuffed the groceries inside.

By the time I got home, it was starting to get dark outside. I entered the house, placed the groceries on the kitchen island, and went around closing all the window shades.

After turning on the lights, I put away all the food. Finally, I headed upstairs, closed the shades in my room, and collapsed onto my bed.

Since it was the first day of school, I didn’t have any homework. So, I turned on Netflix and spent the rest of the evening watching The Vampire Diaries before falling asleep.