"Oh my–"
Pain shot up my face. Alarmed, I clutched my throbbing nose and stumbled back.
"I am so sorry," I said nasally, not looking at whoever I'd walked into because I was too preoccupied with the fact that I might have broken my nose. "I wasn't looking where I was going!"
"Me neither," came a smooth, deep, male voice. I felt him gently place a hand on my upper arm as he stepped closer to look at my injury. "You okay?"
Startled, my eyelashes swept up. My eyes met dark blue ones.
A chiseled jaw, silky black hair in a messy fringe, smooth, fair skin, and a muscular torso clad in a snug grey henley. Dark blue eyes, almost grey, that seemed to never hold emotion.
I'd crashed into Kaden Hill – son of uber rich, corporate CEO Damien Hill, keeps-to-himself, cool-calm-and-collected, super-intimidating Kaden Hill.
My eyes widened and my hand dropped from my face with surprise. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine. Sorry again." I paused. "Hi, Kaden, by the way. Fancy running into you," I joked.
"Hey, April." His eyes flickered to my nose again.
I blinked – how does he know my name? – then remembered we had a few classes together. We'd never talked, though. I'd never seen Kaden Hill have a friendly conversation with anyone, actually.
His eyebrows furrowed with concern – genuine concern, this time. "Your nose is bleeding."
Immediately, my hand darted back up to my face. He was right: blood coated my upper lip. I tried to wipe it away but even more blood dribbled out.
"Ow," I muttered, tipping my head back until I faced the ceiling, my finger under my nose.
Amusement flickered over his expression. Whoa. Real human emotion? "I don't think that actually works."
My cheeks pinked. "I look like an idiot, don't I."
"Only a little. Here, let me take you to the nurse."
Sighing, I tilted my head back down and looked at him. "No, no, you really don't have to. I'm sure it's nothing, Kaden. I have a bloody nose, not a broken leg."
He gestured down the hall with his hand, beckoning me to follow him. "Come on, April."
My cheeks flushed deeper. "Okay." Why is he being so nice?
We started off down the hall. He walked on my left, and I couldn't help but sneak glances at him. His expression, as per usual, was impassive and composed, like he was on his way to negotiate a contract with a business partner. He could've been, for all I knew.
Being I couldn't stand awkward silence, I pointed at his chest and joked, "What's under your shirt? Solid iron? A brick wall?"
Kaden Hill looked down at me.
"Because I ran into you, and I got a bloody nose," I explained quickly, heat creeping up my neck. Kaden Hill doesn't want to talk to you, April. "I just meant– I was just joking about how hard your, um, torso is. Because… yeah. You get it. I'm gonna stop talking now."
Silently, he trained his gaze on the wall ahead of us.
I sighed. I'm a mess.
As we walked, I saw people shooting us curious looks, murmuring to one another. I knew they were wondering what I was doing walking with Kaden Hill.
My lips pursed guiltily. "Sorry. People are nosy."
Then I burst out laughing. "I can't believe I just said that! Nosy! Because–"
"I know," he cut in coolly.
I flinched. Pursing my lips, I faced ahead again, wringing my fingers together anxiously – then, realizing they were caked in blood, immediately cupped my nose again.
"Oh my God, April!"
Someone else suddenly cut in front of us, making us stop.
It was Violet, a girl in my science class who never talked to me. We weren't close, obviously, but the amount of concern on her face made me wonder if ignoring someone was her way of becoming best friends with them.
"Are you okay?" she asked shrilly, catching the attention of everyone in the corridor. "Did Kaden do that to you?"
Stunned, I glanced up at him. He looked cool and unbothered as usual, but I knew there was no way in Hell that that hadn't surprised or startled him. He was a master at hiding his emotions. I would hate to play poker with this guy.
"W–What?" I spluttered. "Of course not! It was an accident!"
"Listen here," she hissed up at him, completely ignoring me, as per usual, "you may think you're better than everyone just because you're some prissy rich kid, but you're not. How dare you lay a hand on April?"
Throughout this, Kaden's jaw had been tightening. I felt scared for the girl! Not scared for her as in I thought he was going to beat her up… but Kaden Hill didn't strike me as the type to forgive and forget.
Immediately, I felt a pang of guilt thinking this. What kind of person was I to buy into the rumors, to think he would use his 'rich people powers' to ruin her life?
"It's her birthday too, you prick!" Violet continued furiously. "You think it's okay to just sexually harass a girl, and give her a bloody nose, just because you're rich? Well, screw you! Money doesn't solve–"
My eyes caught a flicker of movement behind her.
Her best friend was behind her – recording the whole thing.
I suddenly felt like an idiot. The concern and rage she was putting on was just for show! This wasn't just an innocent misunderstanding; they were trying to make some money and sell the video to tabloids. It'd happened before, causing the school to post security guards around the school.
"Shut up," I interrupted.
Stunned, Violet stuttered to a stop, eyes bulging out of her head. I'd never said anything like that before.
"This is a misunderstanding," I said slowly, taking a brave step forward. The more I spoke, the hotter my indignation, my outrage, simmered in my chest. "I ran into him and accidentally hurt myself, Violet, and you trying to spin up some tale of sexual harassment is so– so– so horrible! And unfair! You would actually get him in trouble just to–"
I broke off, speechless.
I turned to the camera and looked straight into it. "Kaden Hill didn't sexually harass me. He didn't hit me. I ran into him by accident, and he offered to take me to the nurse because he's a nice person. And to all the people so hungry for drama and gossip that they're willing to overlook justice, you're all horrible, horrible people who need to re-evaluate what you're doing with your lives! You're all so horrib–!"
"April. Your nose."
My eyes widened with alarm at Kaden's words. I looked down and realized, in my haze, I'd accidentally let myself bleed over my cheerleading uniform. Gasping, I cupped my nose again.
Mortified at my outburst, I stared down at my shoes, cheeks reddening, until I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Come on," Kaden said quietly.
We walked down the corridor and turned the corner. Thankfully, the people in this hall had no clue what had just happened in the other.
Kaden looked as composed as ever, though I did feel his eyes linger on me curiously every now and then.
"Sorry," I stammered nasally, breaking the silence. "I didn't mean to draw attention to you. I just– I knew you wouldn't be able to say anything to defend yourself, or else the situation would escalate. It's not a good idea to respond to false rumors, right?"
I'd finally managed to catch him off guard. His gaze snapped to me.
"Uh, yeah, actually." He sounded surprised, like he hadn't expected me to make such an astute observation.
I didn't let myself be offended. There was no point. Just like I subconsciously judged him, so did he judge me.
I knew I didn't look very… astute. Unfortunately, the blonde curls, positive attitude, and popular cheerleader status made people think I was an airhead. It sucked that people stuck to stereotypes, subconsciously or consciously, but it was the way it was, and the only way to prove them wrong was to do just that: prove them wrong.
Or maybe I was just so used to being treated like that, I was applying that here. Maybe he was just surprised that someone in this school had actually understood him.
I'd heard of people doing those sorts of things around him before, but had never seen it in action before. This was probably a daily occurrence for him – inside and outside of school.
It made sense why he never let his guard down – he never knew when someone would whip out a camera and shove it in his face.
I offered him a smile, which I hoped he could see behind my bloody hands. "I just couldn't stand by and do nothing, you know. It was unfair, what she said about you. I'm sorry."
His eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "Why are you sorry?"
I suddenly felt like I was standing trial.
Swallowing, peering up at him through my long lashes, I shrugged weakly. "I dunno. I'm just… sorry. It must be hard dealing with that kind of stuff all the time. I guess I just want to apologize on behalf of everyone, for not standing up for you sooner."
His jaw set. "The situation was handled,��� he said, like he was disapproving of me saying anything in the first place.
I tried my best to get past his coldness and joked, "Handled? You mean you were about to call up the family lawyer and get her sued for slander?"
"Maybe."
I blinked. It was possible that that had been a joke, but he was too straightfaced for me to tell for sure.
Before I had the chance to respond, we stood in front of the nurse's office.
We hovered in front of the entrance for a moment, facing each other.
"Well… sorry for running into you," I said awkwardly. "It was nice talking to you. We should do it more often."
His stormy eyes shifted away for a moment, uncomfortable, before meeting mine again. "Thanks," he muttered.
I had a feeling he was thanking me for what I said to Violet, not for my awkward offer of conversation. Not like he wanted to take me up on it anyway
Kaden Hill stalked away down the hall.