Cecilia

Chapter 12

Right now, as Matteo and I step out into the pitch black night, I'm thankful he forced himself after me earlier when I tried going alone.

Trying to be as unnoticeable as I can, I nudge myself closer to his side, the darkness slightly chilling and causing a weird feeling to rise in me.

I hear a low chuckle coming from beside me and I look up at him. "You're scared of the dark?" He teases.

"No." I cross my arms over my chest, feigning nonchalance even as a slight shiver racks through me.

He looks down at me, and through the white moonlight shadow which casts down on us, I'm able to see a single dark brow raise unbelievingly.

By now we have strayed away from the trail, now deep into the secluded forest and I just hope he at least knows the way back, because I certainly don't.

His eyes scan me for a moment before he looks back in front of him. "Do you want to go back yet?" He offers.

I shake my head. "I'm not tired yet."

He looks down at me in amusement but nods his head anyways.

For some reason, my eyes are still locked onto his face, so when I take another step, I don't notice the long branch in front of me. The tip of my foot catches on it, and before I know it, I'm tripping over. Except, as I go down, I decide last minute to take Matteo with me, grabbing him by the arm and accidentally pulling him, the both of us now on the ground with dirt covering both of our knees.

He groans, kneeling on the floor with me beside him. "What the hell?" He looks at me incredulously.

I press my lips together sheepishly, slowly getting up from the floor and brushing off my knees. "Sorry..." I mumble, dragging the word on meekly.

"Man, why did you need to take me with you?" He grumbles out, running a hand through his now messed up hair.

I can't help but giggle at his messed up appearance and annoyed face.

He looks up from dusting the dirt off his pants, finding my amused expression. He glares at me, but I can see the softening in his eyes as his own smile threatens to come out.

"Weirdo..." he rolls his eyes, shoving me lightly as he stalks infront of me.

                                   .•° ✿ °•.

"Why did you come here?" Matteo suddenly questions, breaking me out of my trance.

"What?" I ask in confusion, looking over the small lake in front of us where we have stopped to rest at. "You led me here?"

"No," he shakes his head. "I mean- why did you come to this school? So random in the year."

I pause, swallowing thickly as random excuses start to circulate through my head, trying to find one believable enough to stick to.

"I- um," I stutter for a moment. "My dad just...wanted me to move schools."

"He just...wanted you to move for no reason?" He asks skeptically.

I shrug. "I guess so."

He hums.

"What?"

"Oh nothing. Just seems rather odd that your dad would want you to move, in the middle of the semester of all times." He says, and I can hear the accusation in his tone.

My insides churn with panic. I bite down on my lower lip, his eyes tracing the movement before flickering back up with a dark look.

"I just wasn't doing well at my old school. That's all." I say quietly, turning to look back so the pond to avoid his eyes which could surely see through me.

"And why so far away?" He continues with his interrogation. "Why'd your dad send you to some private school while he and the rest of your family are living hours away?"

I look at him wearily. "How do you know my family didn't move with me?"

He doesn't answer.

"How do you know that?" I repeat, more stern this time.

His jaw clenches and he moves his eyes away from me. "Your last name."

I feel myself growing confused. "My last name?"

"I recognized it when you first got here but couldn't remember where from. So I looked it up. I know your father because he worked with mine a while back. The more current news articles were with him with your brother, all back in some city a while award from here." He explains.

I close my eyes, sighing softly. "Right."

Then, I back away from him, leaving him as I start walking the way we came from.

"Where are you going?" I hear him shout from beside me, and I hear the leaves crunching behind me.

"I'm tired now. I'm going back to the school." I say lowly, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.

I feel him join beside me again, but I walk a few steps away from him, not wanting to be next to him.

He notices, because I feel that strange sensation that I've been feeling lately whenever he's staring at me.

"What's your problem now?" He huffs.

I refuse to look at him. "Is this the only reason you offered to come out here with me? To question me?" I suddenly blurt out, feeling angry.

"If all I wanted was to question you, I would've done it on the way here. It would've saved me the entire walk out here in the freezing cold." He says blankly.

I don't say anything, continuing the walk back.

I hear him sigh. "Do you even know where you're going?"

I lift my chin up. "Yes."

I'm lying.

I just start walking straight, hoping I'm going the right away. Eventually I'll find the road and I can make it back.

I hear his footsteps slowly disappearing away from me, and I turn in confusion, watching as he walks in a different way as me.

He turns his head to me with a smirk. "Really? Because this is where we came from."

I narrow my eyes. "And how do you know that? How do you know we didn't come this way?"

He nudges his head to a vaguely familiar brown bench next to a particularly large tree. "Because of this bench."

I stop, huffing in annoyance. He continued walking away from me and I stand there for a moment before quickly speed walking to catch up to him. I end up walking behind him the rest of the way back to the school, but after that, I run in front of him again, just to be able to beat him back to our room.

"So childish." I hear him mutter a couple steps away from me, but I ignore him as I quietly sneak back in, careful not to wake anyone up.