Chapter Four

It had been almost a week since the hellish events of Saturday night. I was sitting in my last period bio class, staring gloomily down at my desk, because even though Saturday night had sucked, it was the last time I had seen or heard from Gauge. I felt my heart tug at the thought of him. I was going to go to the cafe tonight, hopefully he would be there.

I was tapping my pen on my text book and letting my thoughts roam, when I heard the rumble of an exhaust. I recognized the sound, and quickly directed my attention to the window. The student parking lot was in plain sight, and my heart threatened to break through my ribcage as I watched a black Mustang pulling in.

Gauge.

My pulse was irregular and I could hear it pounding in my ears, as I waited impatiently for the class to be over. The bell sounded, and I jumped out of my seat ready to bolt, knocking my text book on the ground in my haste. I sighed, annoyed with how crazy I was getting over this boy, and forced myself to bend over slowly to pick it up. Just as I was getting ready to straighten up, somebody bumped into me full force, knocking me completely off balance. I fell forward too fast to even try and put my hands out to stop it, instead my forehead broke my fall... and yes, it hurt like a mother.

"Oh, sorry Lacey I guess I didn't see you down there." Stephanie smiled down at me, looking awfully smug.

"It's fine." I said through clenched teeth while rubbing at my forehead where a nice lump was already forming.

"Were you in a hurry? I saw you practically jump out of your seat!" She had on her perkiest smile, as she spoke.

"Yeah, I kind of want to get out of here." I shrugged trying to sound indifferent.

"Oh me too." Now she was just down right sneering at me "I can't keep my ride waiting." She added pointedly, before sauntering down the hall. At this point I had come to the conclusion, that the most popular girl at school was going to be my enemy.

I walked with my head down, and my hood up, all the way through the student parking lot. I avoided looking up even once, until I reached my car. As I got behind the steering wheel I tried to keep my eyes from tearing up, but my head felt like it was trapped in a vice, and I was also more than a little disappointed that Gauge seemed to be picking Stephanie up from school. Again. But what had I expected?

I got home a little faster than normal, from speeding out of anger. A horrible habbit that I should probably break, before I got myself killed.

Once inside, I went straight for my room. I still hadn't had a real conversation with my mom since Saturday, and today wasn't going to be the day I tried. I threw all my stuff down on my bed and walked over to my bureau, taking a look at myself in the mirror above.

Oh yeah, my forehead had a nice bump on it, and it could just be me but it looked a little bruised already.

"Awesome." I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose and reaching for the bottle of Tylenol in front of me.

I lounged around until about six, when my mom finished cooking dinner, and I heard her coming up the stairs. For the past six days she had come to my bedroom door and told me dinner was ready, and for the past six days I ignored her. This time I heard her stop outside my door and pause to let out a sigh, before giving up and walking back downstairs.

Once I heard the scraping and clinking of silverware I decided it was time for me to leave. I grabbed my belongings and left with out so much as a goodbye.

The whole drive there, I told myself I wouldn't care if Gauge was there with Stephanie. I would just go to the cafe and eat, maybe try to make some friends. Yup, that's what I told myself but for some reason in the back of my mind, I was hoping that Gauge would want to join me. Gah! Why was I torturing myself?
Before I knew it I was pulling into the parking lot, and my eyes automatically fell on the black Mustang. It was parked at the edge of the lot, in a dark spot by the woods. I circled around until I found a parking space.

I was so anxious.

I walked quickly toward the entrance, wiping my palms on my jeans before opening  the door, and as soon as I walked in I saw him.

He was sitting at the same table, with the same people, as the first time I had gone there. I had to mentally scream at myself to breathe, and stay calm. He was sitting there with his arm around Stephanie, and I really just wanted to slap the cocky grin right off his face. Why was I so shocked? Now I knew he was a player, and I was just someone new for him to mess with. He probably had no intention of being my friend, I was just a shiny new toy in his eyes, and now that I shut him down I was worthless.

Bastard.

I decided not to let him see how much he was getting to me, so I went up to the counter to place my order. I tried to smile and be polite as the boy at the register rang me out, but I probably  looked more like a schizo than anything.

I gave up on the whole act, and waited for my food in silence, when suddenly I could sense him behind me. Well really it was more that I could smell him, I could never forget such an amazing and unique scent. I was fighting a battle, my mind against my body. My mind screaming at my body to stay facing forward, but there was that magnetic pull again. I could practically feel every molecule in my body betraying my mind, forcing me to turn towards him.

"Hey Gauge." I mumbled in defeat.

He wore a smug grin, but his mouth turned down quickly as he stared at my forehead. "What the hell happened to you?" He sounded really concerned.

I rubbed at the lump on my head self consciously.

"Lace?" He sounded, I don't know, upset?

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" I hissed.

He flinched and I smiled at him, all sunshine and rainbows, before turning to grab my food from the boy at the counter.

I headed towards the booths on the other side of the cafe, and I could sense him right on my heels still. I spun around, and with as much venom as I could conjure, I tore into him."What do you want Gauge? I told you I don't want to play this game with you." I scowled at him, practically boring into his skull with my eyes. I'm sure the glare would have been a lot more effective without the egg shaped lump on my head, but what the hey?

"What game?! You said you just wanted to be friends!" He snarled, shaking his head. "What is wrong with you?" The question sounded a little more than rhetorical. (I really did act pretty crazy around him.)

"YOU!" I yelled in response, being the mature girl that I am.

"What did I do? Maybe you bumped your head a little too hard there." He suggested shrugging at me, his cocky grin back in place.

"I thought you said you didn't want to be with Stephanie." I whispered now staring up at him, begging him with my eyes, to tell me that he wasn't with her.

He stared down at me long and hard before responding. "It's like you said, she's more my type, and why do you care pal?"

The last word vibrated through my head, as if he had actually planted it inside my mind. Maybe I really was going crazy! He smiled his mischievous grin and walked away, leaving me standing there with my mouth slightly open.

"Yeah he has that effect on almost everyone." A small red headed girl said from beside me, pulling me out of my trance.

I shut my mouth and then opened it again to speak, just to end up shutting it again. I tried shaking my head to clear it, because I couldn't seem to remember how to do anything but stand there like a complete moron.

"I'm Krystal by the way." She smiled sympathetically at me, but her voice was cheery.

I turned to face her fully. She looked really stylish, in an artsy sort of way, her hair was the color of a penny and fell to her shoulders in a tousled fashion.

"I'm Lacey." I said, my brain finally working enough to form a sentence. I was holding my tray of food haphazardly, still dumbfounded by what had just happened.

"Come sit with me." She gestured to a table that was in the corner, far away from Gauge.

I nodded in response, following her like a lost puppy. I placed my tray down and sat, staring at the food on my plate, my appetite nowhere to be found.

"Oh no, you actually like him!" Krystal sounded apologetic.

I looked up, startled. "NO, he's a cocky bastard." I tried to say with meaning.

The truth was that he could be extremely cocky, but I knew there was something more to him than he was showing. I saw it lingering there underneath the surface at times, and he proved to be extremely caring as well. I suppose that could just go along with trying to get in my pants, but for some reason I didn't think that was why. I sat there contemplating this for a bit.

Oh man, you got it bad." She said shaking her head laughing at me.

I sighed, and stabbed at the my food with a fork to avoid answering her. I was just about to shove a bite in my mouth, when I heard his voice in my head again, clear as day.

Don't eat it, it's been tampered with.

I sucked in a startled breath and looked up quickly. Gauge's amazing eyes held mine from across the room for a split second, and then as quickly as it happened he looked away. Now I knew I had definitely gone off the deep end, I was hearing voices- no correction- I was hearing a voice. The voice of a guy who was literally driving me crazy! Maybe I really did hit my head too hard, maybe I had a concussion, either way I wasn't going to become one of those delusional people who actually listen to the voices in their head. I picked up my fork and attempted to eat again.

I'm serious Lace. His husky voice rumbled through my head again.

I looked up slowly this time, he was listening to Stephanie talk about something (probably something complex like tomorrow's outfit), but his eyes slid past her and over to me. He gave me a firm nod keeping his strange eyes connected with mine for a full second, before looking down at Stephanie and laughing, about something that I'm sure was just ever so witty.

"Are you okay?" Krystal asked as I pushed my tray away untouched.

"No, I feel like I'm going to be sick, I hit my head earlier." I said pointing at my forehead.

"Well if you feel sick, eating that probably isn't the best idea." She said, nodding at my full tray of food.

"Yeah you're right, I think I'm going to go home." I mumbled as I picked up the tray to dump it in the trash.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, hopefully I'll see you around school." She smiled pleasantly at me.

I was already walking away, but her words made me stop and turn. "You go to Londonderry High?" I asked.

"Yup, see you Monday!" She winked at me.

"Yeah, I'll look for you." I said trying to return the smile, and act like I wasn't just hearing voices.

As I walked toward the door I stole a glance at Gauge, but he was staring down at the strange bottle of blue liquid in front of him.

Strange.

Once outside I felt the urge to run, to run as far from this crappy town as possible. I knew I couldn't, that I was somehow involved in something more than my mind could even process. I didn't know what was going on with me- but I knew one thing- I had heard a voice, Gauge's voice,  in my mind. Now whether or not it was me going completely insane, or really his voice was what I needed to figure out.

I avoided looking at the large front window of the cafe as I pulled out of the parking lot. Not with out much effort either, because the Gauge-like voice cut through my thoughts again, sending shivers down my spine.

I will explain later, please don't freak out.

"Yep, totally freaking out." I said out loud to the phantom voice.

Just so you know, talking to voices inside of your head is not healthy. I was seriously contemplating setting up an appointment with a psychiatrist in the morning. So I was hearing a voice, at least it wasn't multiple voices. I'm sure they could give me something to fix it. Plenty of people were on meds these days, right?

I tried to calm myself with reassuring thoughts, but my right foot shook on the gas pedal the whole way home.