Chapter 40

Chapter 9 That smirk. The smirk I had seen too many times on him. The smirk that tried taking my life and nearly took my boyfriend's. I never thought I would see that smirk again. Devon Burke. He walked into the school when I was at my locker. He looked at me, sending me that smirk before walking into the office. Belle was at my locker with me and saw him, her eyes immediately narrowing at him. "He's back," she hissed. "How is it possible?" I asked. "It's... It hasn't... He..." I had to admit, I was a bit terrified of him. After what he did, I hate seeing him. I thought I wouldn't have to for a long time. "He didn't pull the trigger," Belle said. "But why would the let him come back to this school where Grayson is?" "What about me?" Grayson said from behind me. I turned around, seeing the bags under his eyes. He was back to having a hard time sleeping once again. He wouldn't tell me why because he assured it was nothing. I knew him, though. I knew something was preventing him from sleeping. I didn't want to tell Grayson who was back because it would make him extremely angry. However, if Devon was in any of Grayson's classes, it would be worse if he found out that way. "Let's just say it must be National Bastard Out of Prison Week," Belle said, her voice seething in anger. Grayson furrowed his eyebrows, not catching what Belle was saying. "Devon," I said. "He's out of prison and here." Grayson's confusion turned to pure rage, his fists clenching so hard that his knuckles were turning white. "What?" "Don't be mad," I told him. "You'll add too much stress." "I'm not mad," Grayson said, though the anger was still showing. "Nope. Not mad." "Grayson..." I began. "Nope," he said, turning around and walking to his locker. I sighed, rubbing my forehead at his lie. He needed to stop lying to me because I always knew when he was lying or not. "Poppy, what's going on with him?" Belle asked. "I know he hates me, but I do care about him. Is he okay?" "I can't say," I said. "It's between him and, well, him." The bell rang for first period, so I grabbed my biology notebook and textbook before walking with Belle to our class. Grayson was already there, his head rested on his desk. I sat down beside him, moving my desk closer to his. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Mhmm." "Are you sure?" I asked. "Grayson, I know you better than anyone. I know when you lie. This isn't about Devon." I moved closer, lowering my voice so nobody would hear. "Why haven't you been sleeping?" Grayson sat up, rubbing his eyes to look at me. "It's a side effect. I promise." "Oh, okay," I said. "You know, if you're ever having trouble sleeping, you can call me for a talk or we can video chat." Grayson shook his head. "No," he muttered. "It won't be fair to stop you from sleeping." I scooted my chair even closer, hooking my arm in his and resting my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you're going through this. I wish there was something I could do." "Flower, don't apologize," Grayson said, resting his head on mine. "There's nothing you can do except be there for me. That's all I need." I smiled, but it immediately faded when Devon walked in the room. Instantly, the class quieted down. The whole school knew that Devon was involved in a shooting a few months ago that sent Grayson to the hospital. Little did everyone know that Grayson wasn't the target. Tony, who didn't know what Devon and his cousin did, sent him to sit on the other side of Grayson. How come we were getting all of the new students? First Thalia, now Devon. Well, at least Thalia was kind and never did anything like shoot someone. When class started, Tony started talking about an upcoming event. "On Friday," he said, reading off of a piece of paper, "each student in the twelfth grade will invite any of their family members to their period one class and talk about their job. It won't be long before you graduate and will have to choose what you want to do when and if you go to college." Any family member... I raised my hand that wasn't wrapped around Grayson's arm and once Tony called on me, I asked, "Can I bring my older brother?" Tony sighed. "Well, it said any family member. But why not bring one of your parents?" "Because my brother's job is cooler," I replied, trying to suck up to him. Tony raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "Fine, Poppy. Bring your brother. And please move your desk back to where it was." "Fine," I muttered, moving away from Grayson. My brother was such a buzzkill. For the whole class, Grayson was trying to subdue his anger. He ended up breaking three pencils and a pen. I didn't know how he was able to break the pen, but red ink ended up everywhere. On his shirt, his hands, the desk. After that incident, he had to take a very long walk around the school. When the class ended, Grayson was waiting for me outside of class. I handed him his things before reaching to hold his hand. "Is it bothering you that much?" I asked. "What do you think?" Grayson asked. "His cousin tried shooting you and Devon was going along with it. I knew they were going to do something bad, but I never thought Devon would stoop that low. He was my best friend and because of a stupid car crash, he's out to get me. I'm going to go home, okay?" I nodded, giving him a hug. "Drive safe. And please rest." Grayson hugged me back. "Yeah, I will." "Call me if you need anything," I said before we went in separate directions. I wish Grayson would catch a break. First, he was physically abused by his dad and brother, he got into a car accident which caused people to be out to get him, he was shot in the shoulder, he was diagnosed with depression and now one of the boys who was involved with his shooting was out of prison. When I was walking to my next class, Devon decided to stop me. "Hey, Poppy." I ignored him as I walked right passed him, but he followed me. "What, you're ignoring me?" I stopped, turning to face him. "You shot my boyfriend." "Technically, I didn't," he said. "Dedrick did." "You knew he was going to," I said. "And you didn't stop him. In fact, you were on board with it." "I wasn't on board with shooting Grayson," Devon said. "Dedrick was going to shoot you." I scoffed, walking passed him once again. "Poppy, wait!" he said, walking and standing in front of me to stop me from moving. "I need you to talk to Grayson for me." "And say what?" I asked. "That I'm sorry," Devon said. "Look, I never meant it to go how far it did. I was just mad that Grayson almost killed me. My cousin is a bad influence. He's a manipulator. Whenever I was near him, he got me to do bad stuff. And it almost cost someone's life." I raised an eyebrow. "And you want me to apologize for you? Why, because you're not man enough to do it? Guess what, you can do it yourself. I am not apologizing for you." He didn't stop me when I walked passed him once again. Good, because I had no intention to talk to him. Not after what he did to both me and Grayson.