Chapter 18

My parents saw my uncle out of the house, while I hurried back into my bedroom to find out if Carlisle's Van was still parked outside.
"It's gone..." I whispered under my breath, wondering how he was able to leave without drawing any attention to himself.

But more importantly, my mind was completely blown away, the second my eyes landed on what he had left behind.
I carefully strolled towards the canvas that had a drawing of me from earlier today, resting on my bed.
"It's still dry." I observed, using my index finger to graze it's surface with a look of wonder in my eyes.
Just how was it possible he climbed back up to drop this here and it didn't even gain a drop of water?

*Next day*
Olive had racked up a number of signatures and was reaching her goal of raising a petition against the school's board.
I walked past the hallway, wondering just who I could talk to about what my uncle had told me last night.

I only just figured out that aside Ace and Olive, the rest of the people I knew were just on a first name basis.
Luckily for me, I happened to run into Carlisle inside the gym room, holding a white clipboard in his hands.

"Hey." I greeted with a peachy smile on my face, as he walked into the room.
"It's you." He replied in a tone I couldn't decipher it almost sounded like relief, "Peyton, right?" He raised his brow at me underneath his dark grey hoodie.

It was clear he was just teasing with me, something my actual boyfriend didn't take the time to do.
"You left your drawing in my bedroom." I told him, tempted to peak into the clipboard in his hands.
"Are you meant to word it like that? Won't people have the wrong idea?" Carlisle didn't have any intention of moving, hence we both sat at the bleachers, helping ourselves to the bottles of water in the cooler.

"Maybe I'd like that." I teased back all too swiftly, startling myself with my own words. Surely I hadn't started to think that way, Ace and I were just taking a break from one another, nothing more.

He looked down from his shoes and stared at me, particularly at my lips. His raw stare made me look the other way, gulping down the water like my life depended on it.

"How did you manage to climb back up into my bedroom and with that large canvas in hand?" I asked, desperately changing the subject.
"Maybe I'm just good with sneaking into bedrooms." He carelessly said, causing both my cheeks to redden.
"That makes you a criminal Carlisle." I managed to respond, a nervous smile plastered across my face.

"You have something on your mind." I heard him say from beside me, "something you feel anxious about." He went on to say, as though he were reading my mind.

"What are you a mind reader?" I asked, chuckling slightly at him. He didn't say anything, and just kept on watching me, nudging me to spill my thoughts to him.

"Okay, let's say that there is something bothering me, what difference would it make if I told you?" My tone dropped from my cheerful one and took a more serious effect.
After all, people talked about him, a lot and there are not always good things. I didn't know squat about him and telling him my worries wasn't going to help that.

At first, he just stared at me without saying a word or giving off any sort of reaction. Then, he looked the other way and grinned from ear to ear.

"What's so funny?" I had to ask, I had just insulted him indirectly, if anything he should be mad at me.

"Do you think saying that is enough to push me away? If anything it draws me closer to you. You're interesting Peyton." He announced in a sure tone without even glancing in my direction.

With that, he stood from his feet and walked over to meet with the person he was waiting to see.
The student council.

I stood up as well and stood beside him, perplexed as to why the student council was meeting with Carlisle.

Olive looked at me with uncertainty, then shifted her gaze to Carlisle with a lazy look in her eyes.
"Sign it." She said with venom in her words, pushing a pen into his hands with the littlest bit of remorse.
Carlisle didn't react and just stared at his shoes, ignoring her entire existence. Something that I knew better than anything, made my best friend pissed.

"Before we make you." I heard the vice president, who was coincidentally the vice captain of the football team, Ace's best friend.
Trevor.
He made an aggressive step towards Carlisle and grabbed him by the collar, his gaze never leaving me for a second.

"Did he try anything with you Peyton?" Trevor asked, with fake concern written all over his face. "Let us know and his school year will be over before it even begins." He went on to say, spinning his web of lies.

"Harassment is a huge offense at this school, it could get you suspended." Olive went on to say, trying to turn the tables in their favor.

"You turn to dirty tactics because I won't sign your stupid petition?" He lifted his gaze from his shoes and stared directly at Trevor with serious eyes.

Carlisle didn't even bother defending himself, I could tell that from that look in his eyes, he was dead set on daring the student council to take action.

"You're trying to sound cocky?" Trevor tightened his grip around Carlisle, with clear intentions to hit him.
"There were only two of you in this entire gym room, Peyton has a boyfriend. And no reason to associate with the likes of you. Do you realise just how much trouble you're in? With about six eyewitnesses?" Olive said in their own defense, pulling me by the arm to herself, acting like something had actually happened.

I couldn't help but feel that this was staged somehow, maybe I didn't coincidentally run into Carlisle here.
But framing him for something without any base didn't sound so right. And how exactly were they going to prove that I was harassed?

"Peyton is going to rat on you to the student counselor and then your school life is going to be finished. Then, we won't even need your stupid signature." Trevor finally said, revealing what they intended to do from the start.

Carlisle looked to me, but olive swiftly stepped in front of me, blocking his view.
"Isn't this called abuse of power?" Carlisle responded in an amused tone, raising the tension in the room.
"Just wait till everyone hears this, it'll be another rumour to add, right next to you being a murderer." Trevor announced, crossing the line.

I parted my lips to say something, realisation had just hit me that perhaps the rumours about him were all schemed from the start.

"Murder? Now what would you know about that?" Carlisle asked all of a sudden, peeling of Trevor's grip with no struggle whatsoever.

Carlisle took charge of the conversation, gripping Trevor's collar with no remorse, allowing the clipboard and pen fall to the ground.

I pulled away from Olive and watched the two of them, Trevor in particular, who was frozen in fear by how tightly Carlisle held on to him. And by the words that he spat out with venom.

"Have you ever witnessed a murder before?" Carlisle asked, leading them both against the nearest wall.
Trevor who was struggling against him found it hard to breathe properly, as he tapped hard on Carlisle's knuckles.

"Stop!" Olive cried out along with the other three members of the council who had been silent while Carlisle was being targeted.

For some reason, I didn't seem to mind what was happening to Trevor. Infact, all that came to mind, was that he deserved it.
I crouched down and picked up the clipboard, only to see it was the petition olive was carrying around.

Dissatisfied, I rushed over to the scene with a sense of de ja vu.

"Here." I announced, taking the pen and striking off a name and a signature.
"If you're after him, you might as well come at me too." I stopped and looked at Carlisle, who had the most animalistic gaze in his eyes.
I rested my hand on his knuckles, reminding him of my presence in the room. At first he didn't respond, but after one more try, he looked to the side, and locked eyes with me.

He immediately let go of Trevor and straightened his shirt, never tearing his gaze from me for a second.

I firmly pressed the petition into Olive's hands and stared at her with a serious look.
"If you want to get to him, you'll have to get through me first." I threatened her, making sure to sound my words into her head.

"Let's get out of here." I took a hold of his hand and furiously strolled out of the gym room with him, till we were out of sight and inside the nearest classroom.