Chapter 10: Chapter 10

X

"You still don't want to tell me where we are going?" I ask him as he speeds down the road, in the direction away from the city.

"Nope." he says, popping the p.

"Then can you tell me how you found my house?" I ask as I look out of the window at the trees we're passing by.

"I saw you walking there from school one day." he simply replies and I turn to look at him.

"Were you stalking me?" I ask, alarmed.

He snorts. "Of course not. It was just a coincidence that I was driving pass your house just as you walked in."

"It could've been my friend's house or something." I say.

"Yeah, but I took the risk."

I look out the window again, not replying because I don't know whether to believe him or not.

At that, Axel reaches for the radio, turnin it on and some rap music spreads through the car when he does that. "You like Big Sean?" he asks and I shake my head.

"No, not really. I'm more of Coldplay kind of girl." I admit.

He snorts again. "Those guys are pussies."

I frown. "No, they are actually a really great band with actual good songs."

"This is a good song, too." he argues.

I shake my head. "Nope."

He raises his brows and nods. "Yeah, it is."

"It really isn't, Axel."

"Oh, but it is, Sophia."

"No."

"Yep."

"Nah-uh."

"Mhm."

And then we look at each other and he gives me a small half-smile. He clears his throat and then I feel his fingertips softly touching my bare thigh, making me tense up and stop laughing.

I immediately get shivers and tingles at the place where his hand lays.

He looks down at me."Are you okay?"

I nodded, not wanting to seem like a prude, but dying and melting, feeling like a puddle on the inside. "Mhm."

I kind of enjoy his hands on me, though I would never admit it to him.

We stay silent after that and he keeps on driving further and further from the city. After about 20 minutes he turns left onto a side country road, leading into the woods and I start to worry that he has brought me here to kill me. It's far from the rest of the population, and there is a lot of space to bury a body.

"Here we are." Axel says and parks his car on the side of the road. He swiftly gets out the car while I'm still openening my door and getting ready to go out. However, I manage to stumble and almost fall face-down into the ground, but Axel catches me, so I fall into his chest. He stumbles back, almost falling as well, but he thankfully manages to keep both of us on our feet. »Watch out.« he warns and takes my hand in his, locking the car doors. I roll my eyes and then we walk.

His hand feels so big, it swallows mine completely but I really like the feeling so I don't complain. For now the mystery of hating him but liking the feeling of holding his hand is still too confusing, so I push it deep into the back of my mind.

"What is your favourite colour?" he suddenly asks, apparently having enough of all the silence, and brings me out of my thoughts.

I frown. »Why?« I ask and he sighs. »Just answer the damn question.«

"Green, I guess." I reply, shrugging. "What is yours?"

"Blue." he says, looking into the distance.

»Cool.« I comment, restraining myself from laughing at the awkward silence, when something hits me.

"Wait, why did I need to wear a dress if we were going for a walk in the woods?"

He shrugs. "I wanted to see you in a dress."

I blush and look at my feet. The words somehow have the power to warm up my insides. "But you saw me in a dress last night."

"It's not the same." he says.

“How can it not be the same?” I ask, confused by his words and behaviour.

“Cuz' I'm the only one who gets to see you in this dress.” he shrugs and purses his lips. “What were you doing at my party last night?” he asks me, changing the topic.

“We're playing twenty questions now or what?” I can't restrain myself from asking and when I only get a shrug in return I sigh. “A friend forced me to go. If I had known it was your party I wouldn't listen to her, but oh well.” I reply honestly and he lifts both his brows for a milisecond. “You're very honest.”

I smile. “Why would I not be?”

He stops walking and turns me toward him, lifting my face. The tattoo on his neck moves because of his Adam's apple and I revel in the sight and the feel of his fingertips tracing my jaw and bottom lip. “I like honest. It makes for a nice change.”

I gulp, overwhelmed by his touch and stare. “My turn. Why weren't you in school this week?”

He chuckles. “The question should be why am I still in school at all.” I give him a weird look and he grimaces. “The bruises, obviously. I wanted to quit school anyway but I figure since I only have one year to go anyway I should just finish it.” He stops touching me and grabs my hand again, continuing with walking.

I purse my lips. “Why would you want to quit school? What are you gonna do then? Be a lunch lady?”

He laughs and it is such a beautiful sound I can't help but smile in awe. “Yeah, I'm gonna be a fucking lunch lady.” he shakes his head in disbelief. “That's a topic for a different conversation, Sophia. And now it's my turn. Why wouldn't you come to the party if you had known it was mine?” he asks and I roll my eyes.

“You're kidding, right?” I can't help but saying and he only shakes his head.

“Axel, you have been so mean to me that I shouldn't even be speaking with you, much less hanging out with you.” I answer his question. “Of course I didn't want to go to your house after you kicked me out of it, why would I?”

“Right, why would you? Why are you?” he persists and I narrow my eyes at him.

“It's my turn to pick a question now.”

“You didn't even answer mine.”

“Why did you come to my house today and dragged me out here?” I ignore him and pose the question I wanted the answer to since this morning and remove my hand from his, steping back and spreading my arms. “Why are we in the middle on nowhere, Axel?”

“I'll tell you as soon as you tell me why you're still speaking with me.”

“Well, I didn't have much choice, did I?!” I can help but exclaim.

He narrows his eyes at me. “Don't raise your fucking voice at me, Sophia.”

“Don't drag me out to the middle of nowhere, Axel!”

He opens his mouth to scream back, but in that exact moment, a horrible scream spreads all around the woods.

Axel looks at the distance and I instinctively grab his hand.

And then, somewhere, a gun goes off.