Nico arrived home practically bouncing with excitement with the thought of her reading the book she found at work. Nico pulled into her driveway, cutting her bike off and sliding her helmet off, tucking it underneath her arm before hopping off her bike and adjusting her bag. Nico walked to her front door; she placed her helmet on the ground for a moment shifting her bag in front of her unzipping it, reaching inside, looking for her keys. While Nico looked for her keys, she started to feel uneasy, like she was being watched. Nico turned her head just enough to look at an empty sidewalk that emitted little light from the flickering street light. The teenager looked down the dimly lit street and saw nothing. Even though Nico didn't see anything, she still had this uncomfortable feeling settling in her chest. Nico turned to her door, reached into her bag one last time, pulled out her key, and shoved it into the lock, unlocking the door and pushing it open. Nico came down grabs her helmet from the ground before looking behind her at the still-empty street. Nico huffed, turned back to her door, walked inside her house, and slammed the door close.
Once Nico was inside the comforts of her own home, she walked toward the window pulling the curtain back, glancing outside to make sure that no one was out there. She decided to give up after a couple of minutes because fatigue started to set in as she looked outside. Nico dropped the curtain, letting it fall back on the window, walked towards the door reaching for the lock and turning it, heard the click before heading towards her room. Nico pushed her bedroom door open, stepping inside slightly, dragging her feet kicking the door close. Nico dropped her bag as she walked towards her bed, plopping down for a second before she hissed in pain, holding her wrist. Nico looked at her wrist and noticed that her wrist was now swollen. Nico huffed, got up from her bed, and walked towards her door, throwing it open and colliding with something solid. Nico looked up and locked her tired eyes with another pair of tired eyes.
"Dad?" Nico said, blinking taking a step back.
"Well, I am the other person that lives here," Greyson said.
"Well, I thought you were working all night," Nico said, taking a step back stilling holding her wrist. Greyson looked at his daughter's wrist and squinted before gently grabbing Nico's wrist examining it.
"What happened? Did you fall off your bike?" Greyson said, concerned, looking at his daughter. Nico closed her eyes and shook her head tiredly before meeting her dad's eyes.
"No, I fell at work. I tripped over a box falling on my wrist," Nico said. Instead of saying anything, Greyson fell silent and looked at her wrist, giving it some pressure watching his daughter wince in pain before letting go of her wrist.
"Nico, your wrist is swollen," Greyson said.
"Oh, I was just going to ice it," Nico said, trying to step around her dad but to be blocked by him.
"No, we are going to the hospital," Greyson said.
"What, why?" Nico asked.
"Nico, your wrist could be broken," Greyson said, crossing his arms.
"No, dad, it is just bruised," Nico said.
"Nico, who is trained in this?" Greyson said. Nico huffed and rolled her eyes, looking back at her dad crossing her arms, holding back the shooting pain that went through her wrist.
"Fine, well go. Only to prove you wrong that my wrist is just bruised," Nico said, turning back in her room to grab a jacket.
"I am never wrong about my patients," Greyson said, stepping to the side letting his daughter through. Nico huffed and walked out of her room, and Grey only shook his head, closing Nico's bedroom door.
Nico sat in the hospital room on the hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to get back with her results. After an hour of waiting for the doctor to check her out, Nico finally met with the doctor just for him to look at her wrist and say that she needed an x-ray. Nico started to get more annoyed because she had to wait twenty minutes for a nurse to take her to get an X-ray. After getting an x-ray, the nurse told Nico to sit tight and wait for the doctor to give her the results and then flirt with her dad with he never not the hint. After the nurse left, Nico started to huff, looking around the room and getting annoyed with the beeping that made Nico slowly lose her mind.
"Ugh, can this doctor take any longer?" Nico retorted.
"Well, you know he has other patients," Greyson said, looking at his phone.
"Well, I don't know why I need to be here that long for just a sprain," Nico said. Suddenly the door opened, and she locked eyes with the doctor, and he gave her and her dad a small smile.
"Hey, sorry for the wait. I just had to make sure that what I was seeing was right," The doctor said.
"It is alright, Danny. So what is going on?" Greyson said.
"Well, it is not a sprain," Danny said.
"I told you," Nico said to her dad.
"Well, it is much worst," Danny said, placing the x-ray on the wall flicking the light on.
"What am I looking at?" Nico asked, squinting at the x-ray of her wrist.
"Well, I don't know how hard you fell, but you a small fracture right here," Danny pointed at the fracture on her wrists. "Fortunately, it is not a major fracture, so this will heal in a month if you don't do anything crazy," Danny said, shrugging his shoulders.
"So now what?" Nico said in a huff.
"Well, you are going to get a brace because you just need your wrist stabilized," Greyson said, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, a nurse will be in here in a moment to put it on for you. I would ask if you have any questions, but you have the greatest nurse in this hospital," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck, and Nico suppressed an eye roll.
"Oh, stop it. I am just doing my job," Greyson said.
"Well, you are amazing at your job," Danny said.
"Should I leave the room give you some space?" Nico said, arching her eyebrow.
"S- sorry, I will go," Danny said, rushing out the door.
"Nico, that wasn't nice," Greyson said, glaring at Nico.
"What? Dad, he is laying it on thick," Nico said.
"Well, he is new to the hospital, and he admires me," Greyson said.
"Mhmm, sure, dad," Nico said. Before Greyson could say anything, a nurse walked in and put Nico in her brace before sending the two home.
Nico walked into her house feeling drained and slowly started to walk up the stairs.
"Hey, Nico?" Greyson called out. Nicole stopped halfway up the stairs and turned, and looked at her dad looking at her.
"Yeah, dad?" Nico asked sleepily. Greyson looked at his daughter with a troubled look, but his face changed again, shaking his head giving her a small smile.
"Nothing, sweetheart, get some sleep. Love you," Greyson said.
"Love you too, dad. Goodnight," Nico said.
"Night," Greyson said, watching his daughter walk up the stairs. Greyson sighed, running a hand down his face. "I'm sorry, I can't do it," Greyson thought before heading to his living room.
Nico opened her door and sluggishly walked to her bed with only sleep on her mind. She landed on her bed with a heavy thud before hugging her pillow, hugging it tightly, letting exhaustion take over, falling asleep within seconds.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful for Nico. She only had two things that happened to her: the reaction to her cast from two best friends and her boss and problems with her project partner. Ever since her and Zane's 'conversation,' Zane's friends made it known to almost everyone in school about how Nico was a stalker. Because of that, it resulted in her being outcasted and bullied in school. Even though it sounded cruel in Nate's eyes but Nico didn't let it get to her even when Zane's friends started to mess with her by doing things like destroying her homework or writing something on her locker like stalker or freak. After a couple of days, it finally stopped when the same people writing on her locker suddenly started to avoid her, barely making eye contact with the girl. Nico thought either Nate said something about it or a teacher caught them, but she didn't read into it and continued her business.
Finally, Friday arrived, which brought Nico's mood up because Mr. Davis gave her Friday off too. He thought she deserved more than only one day off and decided that Nico should have the whole weekend off because she needed it, and Nico didn't argue. Nico sat in her last-period class, lightly tapping her finger against her desk, wondering what she would do now that she had an open schedule. But Nico was pulled out of; her thoughts stopped when the final bell rang. Nico slowly got up placing her notebook into her bag, and followed the crowd rushing out the door. Nico walked to her locker expecting Nate to be there, but he wasn't, and it hit her that he wasn't in class this morning either. Nico pushed it to the back of her mind realizing that maybe he cut again on some wild adventure and grabbed someone to go with him. Nico turned the dial on her locker and opened it reaching inside to grabber her helmet before tucking it under her arm and shutting her locker close. She almost jumped out of her skin when her partner Zane was standing there staring at her. Nico looked at Zane and started to get annoyed, rolling her eye at the fact he was not responding.
"Do you need something?" Nico asked.
"I um well," Zane started, and Nico rolled her eyes again.
"Look, I have places to go, and I am not going to stand here wasting my day off on you," Nico said, walking away, not giving Zane a chance to speak. Instead, Zane turned and watched Nico heading toward the front of the building. Zane sighed and leaned against her locker, lightly banging his head on her locker.
"Yo Zane," Zane heard, and he turned his head, looking at the group of football players looking at him.
"Yeah, you need something?" Zane asked, turning to them.
"Well, are you heading to practice?" A tall boy with buzzed cut hair said.
"Yeah, I will meet you guy there. Go ahead," Zane said, and the group exchanged looks before heading off. Zane watched the group walk away, and he rolled his eyes and felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. He pulled out his phone and answered, closing his eyes.
"Yeah," Zane said.
"So I take it that it didn't go well," a man's voice said.
"No, she didn't even give me a chance to talk," Zane said.
"She didn't give you a chance, or you froze up?" The voice said.
"Shut up," Zane said, pushing himself off of Nico's locker.
"Zane, you have to talk to her and apologize," The man on the phone said.
"How am I going to do that if she won't give me the time of day," Zane said.
"Well, do what you do best and annoy her to listen to you," The guy said, slightly chuckling.
"Haha, very funny," Zane said.
"But in all seriousness Zane you have to apologize because what you did wasn't right," The guy said.
"You think I don't know that. I still feel horrible for what I did," Zane said.
"Well, you can't stall any longer," The guy said.
"I know I am going to figure it out," Zane said.
"Okay," The guy said.
"Yeah, well, Imma let you go cause I just got to the locker room, and I can't miss practice even though I want to," Zane said.
"Well, have fun getting brain damage," The guy said, causing Zane to roll his eyes.
"Goodbye, dumbass," Zane said, hanging up the phone. Zane shoved the phone in his pocket, pushing the locker room doors open with only one thought going through his head: how will he talk to Nico.
Nico reached home in record time, hopping off her bike, sliding her helmet off, strolling up to her door. She threw her front door open, pulling out her phone to see that she got any messages from her friends, but she didn't see anything. Shrugging her shoulder, Nico stuffed the phone back into her pocket and proceeded up to her room. Nico walked down the hall stopping in front of a slightly open room, and she pushed the door open and saw an empty room and a made-up bed. Nico huffed and because her dad was supposed to be in this room sleeping, but he was nowhere to be seen. Nico pulled out her phone and shot her dad a quick text about where he was, and he shot back with a short message saying that he was at work for the night and there was food in the fridge. Nico rolled her eyes and sliding the phone back in her pocket, and walked toward her bedroom door that was a few feet down the hall. Nico walked into her room, kicking the door close, placing her helmet on her desk, and tossing her bag to her bed. Nico headed toward her closet, grabbed a pair of black shorts with white trim on edge and a dark red crop top with a couple of black knee-high socks, and headed toward the shower.
After her shower, she wiped the steam off the mirror with her towel and started combing the wet tangles out of her curly brown hair. Once all the knots were out, Nico started to feel hungry, and she walked out of the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen. As she walked in, she noticed a note sitting on the table from her dad. Nico picked it up, reading what he texted her but in terrible writing. Nico sighed, tossing the letter in the garbage and then opening the refrigerator, seeing the dinner her dad made wrapped in plastic wrap. Nico pulled it out, unwrapped it, tossed the plastic wrap in the trash, opened the microwave sliding the food inside, slamming the microwave door close. After a few high beeps, the microwave lit up, and her food started to spin and leaned against the chair and watched the food turning in place, lost in thought. Nico's mind wandered to her nuisance of a partner that made her week a living hell. She wondered why he appeared in front of her after he said that he didn't want o see her at all, and if she did, then they would be hell to pay. Nico really could care less, but it did bother her that he showed up in front of her not only that she had to stand there and what him fumble words in front of her wasting her time. A loud beep pulled Nico out of her thoughts, and she pushed herself off the chair and opened the microwave, and pulled the food out, slamming it close before placing her dinner on the table. Nico leaned to her left, pulling the draw below the counter, reaching inside, pulling a fork out, lightly tossing it on the table. Nico pushes the drawer close, turns to the table, pulls the chair out, and sits down in front of her food. Nico started to play with her food for a while, lost in thought, thinking about how the house was never this quiet, which gave Nico an unsettling feeling. Nico shook her head, pushing the bad thoughts in the back of her mind, and started to dig in her food. Once she was done with her food, she walked to her sink and washed the dishes letting her mind wander. Her mind wandered to school to her partner again, and then it hit Nico that her project was still not finished. Nico finished her last dishes, decided to be a responsible student and worked on her assignment because her partner would not help. Nico rolled her eyes at the thought of her partner's childish action and gave her hand a slight shake before turning towards the doorway of her kitchen, walking out of it, and heading towards her bedroom.
Nico walked into her bedroom and looked out toward the window, seeing that it was pitch-black outside. Nico shifted her attention to the mess on the floor when she felt her foot brush against something hard and realized that the bag missed her bed, landing on the floor, making a huge mess. Nico looked at all the contents in her bag laid out all over the floor, and Nico huffed, bending over lifting her bag off the floor when suddenly she heard a light thud. Nico looked to where the thud came from and noticed a strange book lying on the ground. She placed her bag on her bed, sitting on her heels, picking the book up, examining it, and it clicked that it was the book Nico found at work. Nico places the book down on her nightstand with a different goal in mind. Then, grabbing her bag again, Nico shoved all the other contents inside the bag before pushing it off to the side. Nico reached grabbing the book off the nightstand and settled on the floor with her back pressed against the bed. She shifts on the floor, now sitting more comfortably, pressing her back against her bed. Nico tugged at the leather strap tied against the book, and she started to unravel the book, her excitement radiating off of her. As she finally unravels the string, she opened the book looking at old worn pages flipping through the pages. Nico flipped to the last page and looked at the old stain page, looking at the written paragraph. The page almost took the whole page, and the initials signed it T.K.J. Nico tilted her head, and she started to read the note.
'If you found this book and are reading this then, I was unsuccessful in stopping them, and I am gone. Inside, this book has all the secrets of Stonebridge and how to stop them. If they are still around, show this to the one in charge. I was blinded to what they told me, and I had a chance to stop them, but I failed. Please stop them. You have more enemies than allies. The thing you mistake as a monster is the one who saves you, so be cautious because secrets that this town hides will make the boogeyman seem like a bunny. Be careful.'
-T.K.J.
Nico felt a chill run down her back when she realized this was not any old regular journal. A million thoughts were running through her mind, but the one thing that stood out was what secrets this town has and how Nico can help. Nico decided to read the book and would find out if this book was legit. So Nico flipped to the front page; she began to read the first paragraph of the page. Halfway into the page, she started to feel like someone was watching her. That feeling was confirmed when she heard some shuffling outside her window. Nico held her breath, listening for another sound, but it was nothing but a suffocating dead silence. Nico shifted away from the window ran her hand on the floor next to her, looking for her phone. Nico pushed herself up, steadying herself on her feet, glancing at the window, then suddenly there was a loud bang against her window. Nico felt her heart stop as she stared out the window, not being able to see what was out there.
"Where the hell is my phone? "Nico thought as she tore her eye off of the window, looking at the floor for her phone. Then, after a minute, Nico muttered, screw it, and turned to her door, still gripping the journal in her hand. Nico reached the doorknob, and suddenly, the knocking was replaced with a man's muffled voice replaced it.
"Nico! Hey, Nico, let me in," the voice said, and Nico froze and turned to the window. Her fear was soon replaced with a wave of anger as she recognized the voice.
"What the hell, Zane? What are you doing here?" Nico yells from across the room.
"I tell you if you let me in," Zane called out, causing the teenage girl to cross her arms with an angry look edge into her face glaring at him, not moving an inch. "Come on. It is freezing out here. Please let me in," Zane pleaded with her. Nico groaned stomped over to the window, slamming the book on the nightstand. Nico walked up to the window, looking at Zane outline, and reached for but stopped when it hit her. She stopped and took a step back, crossing her arms glaring at the window.
"Why should I let you in?" Nico said.
"Because I need to speak with you," Zane's muffled voice said.
"You can talk to me now," Nico said.
"Nico, please, I promise I just want to talk, no fighting nothing," Zane pleaded. Nico looked at Zane's shivering shadow, and she rolled her eyes and walked back to the window, throwing it open and stepping to the side to let Zane in.
"Thanks," Zane said, climbing inside, and Nico rolled her eyes at the boy.
"Yeah, whatever, "Nico muttered, brushing past the boy shutting her window close. Nico turned to the boy and watched him rubbing his arms for warmth. "So you wanna tell me why the hell you were out my window giving me a mild heart attack," Nico said, annoyed, placing her hands on her hip. Still, Zane fell silent, finally looking at Nico, well, more like what she was wearing. So he started trailing her up to her caramel legs, then to her thick thighs studying her shorts that hug her hips just right, then towards her stomach that was exposed because of the lack of fabric that was too busy covering her chest that Zane thought would put every girl in school to shame. Zane licks his lips, regarding why she would hide her body under all those sweaters and flannels. His dirty thoughts were soon interrupted when Nico started waving her hand in front of his face.
"Last time I checked, my eyes were up here, asswipe," She said, pushing his head up to meet her eyes.
Zane looked at Nico's brown angry eyes, matching her expression on her beautiful face. A thought went through Zane's head that it seemed somewhat cute to Zan when she made this expression. Nico's hand was still under his chin, forcing his attention to her face. Still, the longer Zane looked, he started to feel drawn to her and started to lean closer to her, where their noses were almost touching. That gave Nico some kind of shock, and she pulled away from him, removing her hand from his chin, turning away from him, clearing her throat, feeling a bit awkward.
"Sorry, my bad, it just-" Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Just what," Nico asked, turning back to Zane.
"Did you always have a huge rack," Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck, pointing at her chest. Nico felt her cheeks starting to burn, and she instantly grabbed her chest heat up and covered her chest.
"Okay, that it. Get out," Nico said, grabbing ahold of Zane's shirt pulling him toward the same way he came in.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! I am sorry! I need your help," He said, causing Nico to stop pushing him.
"Bullshit, I should've never let you in!" Nico shouted.
"Nico, I am serious, please-" Zane started.
"No, get out. I don't need you here reminding me of what I had to put up with for the past week," Nico said, reaching for the window throwing it open but Zane grabbed her uninjured wrist, pulling her away from the window spinning her around. Nico lost her footing, falling to the ground pulling Zane down with her. Zane landed on her, almost knocking the wind out of her. Nico blinked a couple of times, locking eyes with Zane, who was concerned about her safety.
"A-are you okay," Nico nodded, and Zane let out a sigh of relief and slowly got off of the girl, helping her up. "I'm sorry that was aggressive. I didn't mean it. I do need help," Zane said.
"With what?" Nico said, looking at the boy, realizing that he was serious. Zane shifted on the ground leaning against Nico's bed, and Nico shuffled away from Zane, observing him run a hand through his short black shaggy hair looking at the curly-haired teen.
"I- I had nowhere to go," Zane said, as his voice cracked and bit.
"What do you mean that you have nowhere to go?" Nico said, confused.
"I got into a fight with my dad, and I stormed out of the house. I was going to wander the streets for a bit then. I saw that your light was still on, so I thought it would be easier to get help from my neighbor instead of just wandering the streets all night," Zane said, looking away.
"And what makes you think that I would help you? The last time I checked, I was a stalker to you and that you never wanted to see me ever again or there will be what did you say a rude awakening," Nico said, crossing her arms. Zane looked back up at her, and Nico saw the regret in his eyes. Instead, Zane turns his head, looking back at Nico's carpeted floor and shutting his eyes as a sigh escapes his lips.
"I'm sorry," Zane muttered out.
"What?" Nico asked, leaning closer towards him, and Zane looked back at Nico.
"I said I'm sorry. I messed up. I never wanted it to get this far," Zane said, looking back toward the ground for a little and sighed.
"Well, it did," Nico said, getting up, walking to her window, and shutting it close before leaning on the ledge, looking over her shoulder, to stare out the window.
"If it means anything, I am told them to cut it out, and I feel terrible about it once I saw your wrist and realize that they took it too far," Zane said, and Nico turned to him, giving him an odd look.
"What are you talking about?" Nico asked.
"Your wrist when I saw you walk in with that cast, and I heard your friend freaking out about it, I just thought," Zane said.
"You thought that your friends broke my wrist. Well, if you must know, I fell at work. The doctor said it was a small fracture. I have to wear it for a month," Nico said.
"Oh, I see," Zane said.
"You know not everything revolves around you," Nico snapped.
"I know I'm sorry," Zane said.
"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about earlier today?" Nico asked.
"Yeah," Nico rolled her eyes, and Zane scrambled to his feet and walked up to the girl. Listen, Nico, I am sorry I overreacted. When I realized how much of an ass I was, I saw you were telling the truth when I saw you pull into your driveway on your bike. So I am sorry I never want you to get punished because I am a dumbass," Zane said, looking down at the girl. So Nico looked at Zane and let out a tsk, and looked away from him, biting her lower lip hugging herself.
"You know an apology does not make up what you and your friends did to me. Not even close." Nico said, hugging herself tighter.
"I know, but I hope that I could try and take a step toward forgiveness even it means coming back here every night just to apologize," Zane said.
"Please don't. I don't need the neighbors to think something else," Nico said, and Zane smirked.
"Well, how about I stand on your front lawn with a boom box calling your name," Zane said, leaning closer.
"Oh, that is even worst," Nico laughed, pushing Zane away.
"Well, I am glad to know that you can laugh and my stupidity," Zane said.
"Well, I am human," Nico said.
"I know," Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"So, what did you and your dad fight about?" Nico asked, and Zane's face went grim.
"Is it okay that I don't talk about it?" Zane said, and Nico quired her eyebrow at him.
"Well, if you want to stay here for the night, then you better start talking," Nico said.
"Wait, you would let me stay here?" Zane said.
"only if you tell m what is going on," Nico said.
"Why," Zane asked.
"Well, I am that type of person that needs to know what is going on just in case something goes down. I need to know what I am getting into," Nico said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Fine," Zane sat into Nico's bed, glancing at the girl. "He was on my case about the people I hang out with, and that led to my grades, then it led to some personal stuff that I do not want to talk about," Zane said.
"Okay, but you know he isn't wrong. Your friends are assholes," Nico said.
"I know. You don't have to remind me," Zane said.
"SO why do you hang out with them?" Nico asked, but Zane only fell silent, looking towards the ground. "Fine, you don't have to tell me. I am not going to nag you about it. I am going to grab you a blanket and pillow so you can get comfortable on the floor," Nico said, pushing herself off of the windowsill and walking towards her bedroom door.
"Thanks again, Nico," Zane said, looking at the girl.
"Yeah, I don't want this to be a regular thing," Nico said.
"Well, okay, I was hoping," Zane trailed off.
"No. I am nice only once. Because I'm letting you spend the night doesn't mean that I am making you breakfast in bed, and we become best friends. Got it?" Zane nodded his head. "Good. I am going to get your stuff," Nico declared.
"Okay," Zane said, taking off his jacket. "Oh wait, I just realized something. Are your parents going to be okay with this?" Zane asked, stopping Nico.
"My dad is working the night shift at the hospital, so that he won't be home until tomorrow morning, and you will be gone before he gets here," Nico replied, leaning against the door frame.
"Oh, alright," Zane asked.
"Yeah, I am going to grab your blanket and pillows now," Nico said, turning her back to him walking out of the door, closing it behind her before Zane could stop her again. Once the door was closed, Zane laid back on Nico's bed, resting his forearm on top of his face trying to calm himself at the thought of being alone with Nico. Nico stood on the other side of the door and leaned on the door, and tried to calm herself down, pushing her curls back and taking a deep breath.
"It's going to be okay," Nico whispered to herself before taking a final deep breath. Once she had calmed down, she sighed, pushing herself off the door.
"I better not regret this," she said before proceeding down the hallway to grab blankets for her new uninviting guest.