Chapter 4

I was about to get in my car when someone called out my name, "Reagan! Reagan!"

I spun around and saw Ciara walking over to me with a brooding Bryson in tow. It was funny to see him looking all doom and gloom, since he was the type of guy who could light up a room with a single smile. He had charisma and social skills. If he were to run for Student Council, he could win by a landslide. I'm pretty sure majority of those votes were from girls well, probably the one who shamelessly fawned over him. I shuddered at the thought.

I leaned on my car, folding my arms over my chest and grinned, "Hey! What's up, Ciara?"

She stopped when she reached my car and gawked, "Reagan? Is that your car?"

I chuckled at her reaction, "Yeah. It was a gift. A bit flashy but hey, a car's a car," then end it with a shrug.

She stared at me as if I had lost my mind, "Reagan, that is not just a car. That is a Porsche 918 Spyder. It's worth a whooping million smackaroos on the market."

I rolled my eyes, "Like I would know that. It was a gift and I needed a car, so what the heck. As long as it gets me from point A to point B, then I'm good. Regardless of the brand."

She smiled, "Still humble as ever." She wrapped her arms around a gloomy Bryson's waist. He looked down at her and gave a small smile, but it was forced, making him looked constipated. I wonder why.

Then the tension was back again. Cue in the flapping Pterodactyls.

I struggled to start a conversation to loosen the awkward air a bit, "Um..." I started, but the heavenly sound of my phone blaring out saved me from this dreadful situation. I gave them a sheepish look and took out my phone to answer it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I said. I looked at Ciara and she was giving me a 'who's that?' look but I just rolled my eyes. She was still nosy as ever.

"Hey Ree. It's Derek."

I perked up a bit, "Oh hey Derek! What's up?" I asked. Bryson was furrowing his eyebrows looking at me.

"Are you on your way home?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm on my way home."

"Good, because I have something to give you." He said. I could imagine the grin plastered on his face while saying this. He really loved to give me things.

I chuckled, "Another gift?" then continued using my mock serious tone, "You need to stop spoiling me, Derek. You already had given me too much."

He chuckled on the other line, "Is it so wrong to spoil my favorite person rotten as a kid's teeth for eating too much candy?"

I rolled my eyes at his lame excuse, "Seriously, Derek. Stop giving me things."

"Just come home, Reagan." He said with a sigh.

I sighed, "Fine. Be home in a few."

He chuckled, "Good. I love you little one."

"Love you too, dorkface. And again with the little one! You know I'm not little, you idiot!" I growled.

He laughed out loud with my reaction, "You will always be my little one, Reagan." then he hanged up.

I glared at my phone willing it to incinerate into ashes. Stupid Derek. With one more attempt to light up my phone on fire with my mind, I slid the phone back to my pocket and sighed.

"Who's Derek?" Bryson all of a sudden piped up with a slight anger etched to his face, which had me quirking my eyebrows.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked, puzzled by his sudden change of mood. Bryson has gone bipolar.

"Derek is the person I'm living with." I replied simply.

"Is he your boyfriend, Reagan? Ciara asked curiously.

I smirked feeling devilish all of a sudden, "Maybe, maybe not."

She frowned, "You just said 'I love you' to him."

I shook my head. Ciara can be naive at times, "Ciara, do you think saying I love you to a guy would automatically call him as my boyfriend?"

"Well..." she drawled, not sure what to counteract to that.

"Saying I love you can mean different things, depending on the person you're saying it to. In Derek's case, you figure it out." I said smirking.

Bryson walked a few paces towards me then stopped, "Who is Derek?" he fumed then pointed at my car, "He can afford to buy you an expensive car, so is he some sort of sugar daddy or something? What? are you sleeping with him so that he can give you what you want? Some whore you are, Reagan." He sneered at my face, which had me boiling from anger at his crude remark.

Without warning, I raised my hand and slapped Bryson's pathetic face hard, making his face flip to the other side, "Don't you dare call me a slut, Bryson. The only whore here is you because when we were together, you were humping Rebecca's brains out, and might I add, you were freaking enjoying it." I paused then continued, "Derek is a good guy and he is not my sugar daddy. He helped me when I was shattered to pieces because of you and what my parents did to me. Derek is nothing more than my savior..." I trailed the in a whisper I added, "My angel..."

Bryson stood there motionless, still holding his sore cheek. Ciara, however, was not pleased with what I did, "Reagan! You didn't have to do that. That was highly unnecessary." She said while fussing over her loser of a boyfriend, who was staring at me with mixed emotions flicking across his face.

I stared at her in disbelief, "What the hell, Ciara? He said something that was way out of line, and you're defending him?" I couldn't believe her. I'm her best friend and her boyfriend just said something like I'm some kind of trailer trash. She should be defending me, not him.

"But Reagan, he's--" but I cut her off.

"Whatever, Ciara. Save it. Tell your precious boy toy to watch his freaking mouth and, he doesn't have the right to judge a person." I said in a hard tone, which had her flinching, but meekly nodded.

"Look, I gotta go." I said then got inside my car and started it. I revved the engine out of spite for them. I backed out and gunned it out of there, leaving them eating my dust.

Some best friend Ciara turned out to be.

*********************

I arrived home a lot quicker than I thought, considering the speed I was going. Bryson was an idiot for judging me like that. I mean how could he? Of all people, it was him who said it to my face, and Ciara? I didn't want to even go there.

Fuming, I whipped the front door open with brute force, making a banging sound. I huffed and tossed the keys to the table near the door.

"I'm freaking home!" I growled not bothering to sound chipper right now.

I heard footsteps, and then saw Derek walking over to me with a puzzled look.

"What's got you flustered, Reagan?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. If I wasn't so pissed off right now, I would have find his puzzled look adorable.

"Best friend soon to be ex best friend and that stupid ex." I said with great distaste.

He sighed, "What did they do?"

I scowled, "Well, how should I say this? My best friend hooked up with my ex-boyfriend. My ex just called me a slut and called you my sugar daddy and Ciara defended him for calling me a whore." I said jotting it off one by one with my fingers, then added with a smirk, "and I slapped the jerk's face hard in return."

He shook his head, "Reagan, how many times do I have to tell you? Anger will only get you in trouble."

I glared, "They started it, and my actions are justifiable." I defended myself.

He gave me a warning look, then engulfed me in his arms and stroked my hair, "Reagan, getting angry will only make matters worse. So calm down and relax. Everything will be fine." He said soothingly. I was grateful for his comforting gesture, and it helped calming me down.

"Everything is just so screwed up." I murmured in his chest.

I could feel his chest rumbled probably laughing, "I can see that." then released me from his arms," Now come. Let's go to my study. I have something to give you."

I nodded and followed him to his study. He opened the door for me and I went in. He followed after me and closed it behind him. He walked towards his desk and pulled the drawer open to take out something. It was a small rectangular box covered in red velvet cloth.

My eyebrows furrowed, "What's that?"

He smiled and walked over to me. He stopped a few inches away, "I was supposed to give this to you on your 18th birthday, but I decided to give this to you earlier."

I eyed the box curiously, "If that thing is filled with C4, I'm not opening it."

He rolled his eyes, "A block of C4 couldn't fit in this box Reagan. You and your wild imagination."

"Just tell me what's in there Derek." I said huffing.

He chuckled then unwrapped the cloth from the box. I almost gasped at how intricate the design of the box was. It was gothic yet medieval in a way, and I couldn't find the words to describe it. Right smack in the middle was a detailed designed of Derek's initials and insignia, which I'm not familiar with. He opened the box to see a beautiful necklace nestled on the satin bedding. The pendant was oval and flat surrounded by silver edging. On the middle of it was a letter D in gothic lettering. What was odd was that the pendant looked liquefied; like there was something moving on the inside.

"Derek, it's beautiful." I stared at it in awe.

He smiled, "I had it specially designed for you." He took the necklace out from the box and went behind me. He put the necklace on my neck and clasped it. He walked around and gave me an approving smile, "It looks good on you."

I touched the pendant and raised it a bit to take a closer look., "Derek, what's this liquid moving inside the pendant? It's red with gold specks on it."

"Nothing. Just something to make it look unique."

I nodded hesitantly, not sure with his explanation but shrugged it off, "Oh, okay." I fingered the pendant some more. I looked up and Derek, "Thank you. It's really beautiful, Derek."

He gave me a gentle smile and pulled me in for a hug, "You are welcome. It will protect you whenever I'm not around."

I smiled and Derek squeezed me a bit. I winced from it because my arm was throbbing all over again, "Ow. My arm."

He let go and frowned, "What's wrong?"

I twisted my upper body to check on my arm, "Some chick went mental on me." I grimaced, remembering Rebecca's menacing face.

He grabbed my arm to see it. He had a glint in his eyes which I rarely saw on him. Well, not a lot because Derek was always in a cheerful mood.

"When did this happen?" he asked in a low tone, which was very unusual for him to use. He gripped my arm tight and the throbbing got worst.

"In school and OW! You're hurting me, Derek." I grimaced while trying to pry his hand off me. Damn, what does he eat for breakfast? Steroids?

He blinked a few times and let go of my arm, giving me an apologetic look, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry." He muttered, touching my arm delicately.

I waved it off, "It's okay. I'll go clean this up."

He nodded hesitantly but agreed anyway. He let out a whoosh of air and walked towards the door. Before he turned the knob, I added, "Derek, it's okay. It's nothing."

He just smiled but it didn't reach his eyes, "I know." He said then opened the door to walk out.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'll be going out for a bit to do something. I'll probably be back a little late."

I nodded, "Okay."

And with that, he left leaving me to my confused thoughts.