Chapter Twelve

Sunlight peered through the window and penetrated my eyes. I could barely remember anything. But once my eyes were opened, I remembered. I was in Damien’s car, and I had just had the most epic night of my life. I looked down. I was still on Damien’s lap. I didn’t see his face, so I didn’t know if he was awake or not.
“Damien?” I asked, my voice still half gone.
No answer.
I looked up. His eyes were closed, and his head tilted to the side.
“Damien,” I repeated, “I know you’re not asleep. DAMIEN!”
“Yes, Paige?” he said, still not opening his eyes.
“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“Five seventeen in the morning,” he answered.
I swore under my breath, and sat up straight.
Damien stretched. “You all right?”
“Yeah, just a bit of a headache. Hey, last night was awesome.”
“I know, Paige.”
“I can’t wait to see Chrissy today,” I said.
“Neither can I.”
“Damien?”
“Yes, Paige?”
“How come I haven’t seen Jessica in forever?” I asked. It just randomly came to me.
“I don’t know, Paige,” he answered. “I haven’t seen her, either. She’s just so busy, I guess.”
I frowned. “That kind of sucks.”
“It kind of does.”
“Damien?”
“Yes, Paige?”
“Do we have to go to school?”
“Yes, we do, Paige.”
I groaned. “Can you drop me off at my aunt’s house before you go home?”
“Of course I can, Paige.”
“Thanks.”
He hopped back over to the driver’s seat, and I stayed in the back. I was starting to fall asleep again as he started to drive, but I forced myself to stay awake.
“Damien?”
“Yes, Paige?” I expected him to sound annoyed from the repetitiveness, but he didn’t.
“Did you get any sleep at all last night?”
“Paige, you don’t need to worry about me.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said a little harder. “Did you or did you not fall asleep in your car last night?”
“I told you not to worry about it,” he said again.
“But I am worrying about it.”
He sighed, a frustrated sigh. “Yes, Paige. I did get a bit of sleep. But it was a good thing I stayed awake most of the time.”
“Why is that? You stopped a car thief or something?”
“Well, kind of. I mean, there was a guy coming towards our car. I think the only reason he stayed away was that he saw I was awake.”
“Of course, Damien.”
“It’s true!”
“I believe you. You’re a hero.”
“Indeed I am, and don’t you forget that.”
“Never will, Damien.”
“Good.”
So eventually, he pulled up by Aunt Clara’s house, and it was harder getting out of the car than getting out of bed in the morning. But again, I forced myself up, said bye to Damien, and left for the house. The second I reached the door, Damien drove away.
So as quickly as possible, I got dressed and brushed my hair and teeth and got as ready as I possibly could, still managing to look like crap by the end of it, and went down stairs.
Damien was outside, waiting for me. I looked at him. He looked as if nothing happened last night. He was pretty good at getting ready for school.
“Hey, Damien,” I said, my voice still tired. “You’re looking good.”
“Thanks,” he said, sounding as if he had gotten ten hours of sleep last night. “So are you. I liked you better in all black though, I couldn’t stop staring at you.”
I laughed. “I’m sure you’re joking.”
He laughed back. “I don’t want to get murdered by Charlie, thanks.”
“I’m sure Chrissy had a fun morning,” I said, smirking.
“Indeed, I’m sure she did.”
I laughed again, and Damien pulled into the parking lot.
I could hardly think about Calculus in Ms. Romander’s class. Firstly, I was falling asleep. Not because it was boring. Well, partially because it was boring, but also because I was too tired to keep my eyes open. Unfortunately, Ms. Romander caught me sleeping, and I got an extra page of homework for doing so. Oh well. It was a small price to pay for the epic that was last night.
Damien was probably used to staying up a lot, because in our Literature and Writing class, he looked perfectly awake, and perfectly normal, and perfectly comfortable with everything, and I looked like I was about to collapse.
“Hey, Paige, are you all right?” Damien whispered to me.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about it, I’m all right.”
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
He smirked at me. “You don’t stay up that late often, do you?”
I shook my head. “Not particularly. I mean, I’ll stay up, but not that much.”
“I get it. I pull all-nighters all the time, so that’s probably why I’m not as dead as you are right now.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“So you’re sure that you’re okay?”
“Yes, Damien, just don’t worry about it.”
He gave me his Mona Lisa smile. “All right, fine.”
The two of us were extremely excited once we got out of class. We couldn’t wait to see what Chrissy looked like, but first we met up with Charlie in the library.”
“Oh, wow, Paige,” Charlie said, raising his eyebrows. “Damn. You’re not looking too good.”
I gave him a look. “I am aware, Charlie. I never look too good.”
He put his arms around me. “You’re always beautiful, Paige.”
“You’re so cheesy.”
He laughed. “I know. Hey, I was just thinking—whoa, what the—”
I turned around to see what he was looking at, and smiled as much as I could once I saw. It was Chrissy. Her hair was the same puke green that I put into her shampoo, and it was uncontrollably messy and frizzy, making her look like some sort of mad scientist, only without the thick-rimmed glasses. Her outfit had several stains on it both the same puke green as her hair and coffee stains.
Alexander approached her. “Dude, Chrissy, what happened? You look awful.”
Her jaw dropped at him. “Gee, thanks! Just so you know, a lot happened. The color of my shampoo would not come out of my hair, my hair straightener was broken, so that’s why my head looks like it’s being eaten by some sort of creature. And all my clothes were stained with the same ugly green color, and there was coffee flooding my dressers and closet. Not to mention that my beautiful white dress I was going to wear for the dance has been completely drowned in this disgusting green.”
I heard Damien beside me try to contain his laughter.
Chrissy must have heard him, because she shot the two of us a look.
“Oh, you think this is funny, Caster?” she bitched at us. “And you, Aarroh? You think that since one bad thing happened to me, it’s happy-happy joy-joy for everyone else, huh?”
We were silent, and I was trying to hold back smiling as hard as I possibly could.
“Just because my hair is messy or because I have to wear a dress that is completely ruined does not mean that you have won. I am still number one, I am still the leader of the school, and no one can ever defeat me. I’ll show you all! Don’t you dare laugh at me!”
She glared at the two of us, and walked out of the library, the Great following her out as if he was her dog.
“Wow,” Charlie finally said. “Just wow. Okay, Paige, you may not look your best right now, but compared to her, you’re America’s next top model.”
Damien and I laughed.
“Man, she looks like shit, doesn’t she?” Damien said.
“Definitely,” I said. “Was it me, or did she put green make up on so it looked as if the green was supposed to match?”
Damien and Charlie laughed.
“I did not notice that,” Damien said. “That is fucking hilarious.”
And the three of us laughed some more, made fun of how terrible Chrissy looked, laughed some more, and read books, flirted, laughed some more, and then the bell rang. One of the best brunches with Damien and Charlie I had ever had.
In History, I constantly felt Chrissy’s glare on me. I couldn’t imagine why, though. I mean, did she figure out already that it was Damien and me who did all this? Or did she just feel like hating me today? And every time she would glare at me, I would hear Alexander mutter to her, “Hey, Chrissy, just forget about it, all right?” and she would snap back, “Don’t you tell me what to do, Great!”
You could only imagine how hard it was for me not to burst out into an insane laughter right there and then.
It was great to get out of there and let my laughter out and giggle uncontrollably with Damien in Chem.
“I’ve never seen you like this before,” he told me. “Are you high or something?”
“Not at all,” I answered. “I’m actually completely exhausted. I wish I could sleep tonight, too, but we’ve got part two of the Prank for Just Once.”
“Indeed we do.”
“Yes. And the only thing keeping me awake is laughing at the thought of how ridiculous Chrissy looks. So either I continue giggling like I’m high, or I fall asleep on you again.”
He laughed. “Very funny, Paige.”
I smiled, and we continued with stuff that would actually educate us in AP Chemistry.
The rest of the day practically flew by. We heard more rumors about Chrissy during lunch. Things like “she did it on purpose for more attention, nothing actually happened,” or “that Paige Aarroh girl did it because she still likes the Great,” or “it’s a punishment for Chrissy from her parents,” and stupid things like that. But somehow, I managed to laugh at every single thing someone approached me with.
“This whole Chrissy thing is hilarious,” I said.
“Tell me about it,” Damien said.
“Do you guys know what actually happened, though?” Charlie asked. “Like, I’ve heard a ton of stuff going around, but what’s the real story?”
Damien and I looked at each other. It had only just occurred to us that Charlie still had no idea what was going on.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Damien interrupted me.
“Well, you see,” he started, “all we know what’s true is that someone pranked her. We don’t know who did it or anything, but we think that’s what happened.”
“How do you know that’s what really happened?” Charlie asked.
This time I interrupted Damien. “The person who told us said that they were going to be part of the prank, but then that person backed out of it. But they didn’t say who it was.”
“Who told you?”
The questions were starting to get annoying. Not to mention difficult.
“You know what?” Damien said. “I can’t even remember. So many people came up to us today with so many crazy stories, we have no idea who is who and what story came from which people anymore.”
Charlie smiled. “Yeah, I can imagine, right? I mean, Chrissy terrorizes you two the most, right? So people probably think you had something to do with it.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s insane.”
“I can imagine.”
Drama was both easy and hard that day. Easy because I was so excited and in a good mood from all the school drama that had happened today, but hard as well due to the fact I was still incredibly tired.
By the time the class ended, I was ready to go to sleep. The Prank last night, barely any sleep from hanging out with Damien, and then school. I wanted to fall asleep right there. I didn’t care who would look at me, or who would question me, I just wanted my eyes to close and my brain to shut off.
But instead, I hauled my tired body all the way to the parking lot where I met Damien and Charlie, already there and talking to each other.
“Hey, Paige,” Charlie said, giving me a sort of sad smile.
“Um, Paige,” Damien started, “I was talking to Charlie, and I asked him if it would be okay if I drove you to work today. I mean, if it’s okay with you, of course.”
“Sure, but can I ask why?”
“I’ll explain on the way,” Damien said.
“It’s fine with me if it’s fine with Charlie,” I said.
“Sure, Paige, go ahead, I don’t mind.”
I smiled at him. “All right. We should go.”
So Charlie sadly sauntered over to his car, and Damien dragged me over to his.
Once the doors were closed and I knew no one could hear us, I spoke. “Why do you need me? Charlie obviously isn’t to great with the idea.”
“Charlie will get over it,” Damien said. “But I need to talk to you more about part two tonight.”
“Oh!” I said, finally realizing it a little too late. “All right. What about it.”
“Same place same time, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“All right. Cool. Also, I’ve noticed something.”
I yawned. “And what is that?”
“You’re tired.”
“Great observation.”
“I know, right? But listen, I think you should just hang out in the break room and try to catch up on sleep so you don’t collapse tonight, because that would be bad.”
“I can’t sleep, I need to do some actual work,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Damien said. “My dad doesn’t have to know. I’ll cover for you.”
“I don’t know,” I said, a bit nervous about the idea. “I’m going to feel guilty.”
“Well, I’m going to feel guilty if we do the prank and all, and I’m keeping you from sleeping.”
I frowned. “That’s my choice, you don’t have to feel bad about anything.”
“But I do feel bad, Paige,” he said. “And I don’t care what you say. Plus, you need to be well rested for tonight. We can’t afford to have you fall asleep right in the middle, and you need energy. So seriously, just sleep through work today. It’ll be fine.”
I hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“Paige, I am absolutely positive.”
I was still unsure. “All right. Fine, I guess. I’ll just skip work and sleep.”
Damien smiled. “Good.”
So we pulled into the parking lot, and got down. Charlie arrived at the same time us.
“Hey,” he greeted both of us.
“You all right, Charlie?” I asked.
“Of course I’m all right. Why would I not be?”
“Well, I wasn’t in your car to check on you,” I told him.
“Oh, I see.”
I smiled at him, and he smiled back.
David greeted the three of us at the door. “I’m glad to see all three of you coming in at the same time for once,” he said.
Damien and Charlie laughed, but I simply smiled.
Damien persisted and pushed and literally had to force me to go into the break room. I still said it was okay for me to work, but he told me that catching up on my sleep was more important.
So once I was in the break room, I lied down on the couch, and tried to force myself to go to sleep until I finally just fell into the darkness that was my own mind.
“Paige?” I heard a voice. I didn’t want to open my eyes, and I wasn’t awake enough to hear properly. “Paige, you okay?”
I felt a hand on my arm. I opened my eyes. It was Charlie.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just kind of, you know, asleep.”
“Yeah, I kind of noticed. Why are you so tired?”
“I was up too late last night,” I said. “I guess I just lost track of time.”
“What the hell were you doing?” he asked, slightly surprised.
I had to come up with something. “Uh, I was chatting with Damien and I didn’t see the time.”
“But I was online,” he said. “I don’t think I saw you.”
“Yeah, well, you see,” I said, stuttering a bit, “I was reading, and then I got online really late and started talking to him.” Yeah. I guess that works.
“Oh, I see.”
“Yeah. It was stupid, but whatever.” I yawned again, and closed my eyes.
“You should probably sleep, then.”
“Maybe.” I closed my eyes again.
I think he thought I had fallen asleep, but I heard him whisper, more to himself, “Sweet dreams, Paige.”
After what felt like two minutes, I felt another arm on my shoulder. “Paige, wake up.”
“Huh, wha—?” I said, sitting up straight. I rubbed my eyes. “Oh. Hi, Damien.”
“Hey. We’re done for the day.”
“God,” I said, fully awake now. “I feel terrible.”
“Why? Are you feeling sick or something? Do you need anything?”
“No, not like that. I feel bad for sleeping this whole time.”
“Well, don’t. Because you’re preventing me from feeling bad, and that should be a good thing, right?”
“I guess. Thanks, by the way. I really needed that nap.”
He smiled. “I’m glad. You still tired.”
“Not as much. Thanks again.”
“Anytime, Paige. I’ll drop you home and then meet you in an hour, all right?”
“Sounds good to me.”