Chapter Five: Don't Follow Me

Lena's POV

I kept walking even though I could hear footsteps behind me.

I was not going to turn around, slow down, and I was definitely not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how badly my chest was doing right now.

Because how, how had I spent two years talking to that man, telling him things I had never told anyone, ranting about Kael Arden to his face almost every single day, and he just sat there and said nothing?

I felt sick.

I got home and dropped my bag. Priya was at our place, sitting on my couch because she had a spare key and apparently no boundaries.

"How did it go?" she asked immediately, sitting up straight,

"was he cute, was it weird, did you like him in person..?"

"Drop it," I said, going straight to my room and she followed me obviously.

"Lena..." She called out as soon as we got to my room and I sat on the bed

"Priya." I called back, not looking at her.

"That bad?" She asked but I didn't answer.

I sat on my bed and looked at her, she looked back at me waiting.

"I can't explain it right now," I said finally.

"Did something happen to you?" she asked, and her voice had changed with a more careful tone now.

"No, I'm fine, I just need to sleep." I replied.

She looked at me for another second and then nodded slowly, said okay and left.

I sat alone in the quiet and picked up my phone and opened his chat with actually happened instinctively.

"What the fuck are you doing, Lena?" I asked myself and locked my phone.

Then I picked it back up, blocked his number, put it face down and went to sleep.

The next morning was test day and I went anyway, because sitting home felt worse than getting turned away at the door.

"You look like you didn't sleep," Priya said to me on my way to campus, handing a cup of coffe to me.

"Good morning to you too," I replied.

"I'm just saying..."

"Priya, please." I said and she made a sign of zipping her mouth off.

I was halfway across campus already preparing myself mentally for whatever the lecturer situation was going to bring when my phone buzzed and I almost ignored it thinking it was another reminder, but then I checked and what I saw made my jaw drop.

My fees were paid in full amount and I was.... cleared????

I stopped walking completely.

"What?" Priya almost walked into me,

"why did you stop..."

"My fees," I said, still staring at the screen, "they've been paid."

She grabbed my phone out of my hand and looked at it and her eyes went wide.

"What? How? By who?" She showered questions

"I don't know," I said honestly.

"Lena, fees don't just pay themselves..."  She added

"I know that," I said, taking my phone back and staring at it again.

Whatever miracle happened there was unknown but I really was able to write the test.

When I got home the landlord was outside and he called out to me before I even reached the door.

"Someone sorted the rent," he said, and he looked almost uncomfortable saying it,

" The person paid everything, cash, asked me not to say who." How added.

I stood there and looked at him.

"Did they leave anything? A name, anything at all?"

"Nothing," he said, and walked away.

I went inside and sat down,trying to put all the pieces together staring off from the hotel incident, my fees and now rent?

Priya came back that evening practically vibrating. I had called her over for the finals of the game which will decide the fate of my team.

"Okay so the fees thing," she started the moment I opened the door.

"I don't know who did it," I said before she could finish.

"You have an idea though." She argued

"Priya."

"Lena, someone paid your school fees and your rent anonymously and you have no reaction..." She said walking round me.

"I have a reaction, I'm just keeping it inside, now are we going to this match or not," I said, grabbing my jacket, and she gave me one long suspicious look before grabbing hers too.

From the moment the match started, it was different totally from the loss I expected especially since we were still playing against the Chicago Blackhawks, Kael's team.

My team was winning ahead on the score and playing better than they had played all season.

Priya was grabbing my arm every time we scored and screaming, I was happy but also distracted because Kael was off.

He played slower and not his usual energetic feel in the rink. People around were already starting to notice too.

"Is he okay?" someone behind us said.

"He looks distracted," another voice answered.

I was watching him closely literally all through the match.

My team won and I was still sitting there trying to figure out how I felt about that when he raised his hand from the ice and waved at our section.

I looked around automatically because there were hundreds of people here and it could not be me.

Then he pointed directly at where I was sitting, and every single head in my section turned to look at me at once.

Priya grabbed my arm.

"Lena," she whispered, "he is pointing at you."

"He is not," I said, even though my heart was going completely insane.

He skated to the barrier directly below where I was sitting, looked up, and said it clearly enough for everyone nearby to hear every word.

"You blocked me."