"The original bad boy treats his old friends and enemies alike."

6| One Call Away

"Are you for real?" Danie asks in shock.

Likewise, Isa stands agape after hearing the news about VIP tickets to Nightmare. All thoughts of finishing their lunch before the end of block leaves their minds replaced with the breaking news.

With a smug expression, I steal the French fries from their plates.

"So, you're in or not with helping arrange the diner for Mom's birthday?" I ask in a nonchalant manner.

"Of course!" They reply simultaneously.

"I'm willing to break every sweat and blood I need for those tickets!" Isa announces dramatically.

Danie and I shake our heads in disgust.

By the end of lunch, we conclude driving to the location in Danie's car after school. Heading to my last period class, I accidentally bump into a girl with her back towards me. Frankly, manuevering through the lunch crowd to class isn't an easy task. Nudges and bumping sometimes happens.

Unfortunately, the girl didn't understand that.

She spits a colorful word at me before turning back to face another figure. Gaining a glimpse of her make out buddy, I cringe and resume my journey. Arsen has more girls to change than I have clothes. Believe me, my wardrobe is pretty hefty.

The day progresses as slowly as possible until the last class is over.

Excitedly, Danie, Isa, and I arrive at the diner located hardly two blocks from my house and one from my parents' restaurant. Yesterday evening, my dad gave me the keys to the place, therefore we unlock and step inside easily. Expecting a high-class environment, we genuinely receive a surprise discovering dust, fallen over chairs, smell of smoke and something dying, and darkness.

"Ew," Danie complains.

All of cover our mouths and noses, searching for the light switch.

"Here." Isa uses her phone's flashlight to let us move around easily. Who knows what we may step on? On the walls, historic paintings hang creepily. "Dude, this place looks like it hasn't seen light since the Declaration of Independence."

"Alright Val, why didn't you tell us how screwed up this place was before we agreed to help?" Danie stops and inquires.

"I thought he bought a place that was just recently closed, not during WWII."

I sigh at the painting of Hitler and his Nazis.

"Did they do weed back in those days?" Isa asks, standing by the window in the back. "It stinks of weed back here."

"How do you know what weed smells like?" I question. Nevertheless, Danie and I scurry towards the direction and are hit with a nasty odor which makes our noses wrinkle.

"My gym partner, Sean, smells exactly like this," Isa replies, "and upon asking, he told me it was weed. He's gross."

And I thought I had it worse.

At least, Arsen smells clean.

"Well, let's move and fetch a deodorant for weed," I suggest.

The girls roll their eyes before we shuffle around to find the light switch (finally!). Thankfully, we don't come across any illegal plants or drugs in our diner, thus blaming the smell on people who may do pot in the back alley. Most our time is spent searching for unavailable air fresheners in the place. At the end, we handle the odor and pick up all fallen furniture.

"Hey, I have to go," Danie suddenly says, her eyes fix on her phone screen. "Mom came home early. She can't find the spare keys. Sorry guys."

We don't feel bad about her departure, knowing full well Danie lives with a single mother who works six am to six pm everyday. Isa helps me move around bigger furniture pieces until we surrender to tiredness. Due to her piano lessons, Isa leaves early as well, offering to close with me, however I insist on working on the cleaning up more.

Who knows how much homework I have on other days to not be able to clean up, right?

Moving around loosely, I lock the main door, so that no one comes in.

My stomach rumbles, declaring its hunger. Though finding nothing edible or worth food poisoning in the diner's kitchen, I run into a heavy back door. My bat ears--not exactly--hear gruff voices right outside the door.

"What do you mean?" a deep, male voice snaps. "If our business gets any losses . . . you better clear the place up!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" a similar one growls.

"Not. My. Problem."

"Not mine either!"

I don't comprehend the matter until something or rather someone slams into the door.

I gasp.

Hurrying, I latch all the manual locks on the door as if that's going to save my life. In fact, it did the opposite. The voices shut up and I know I made a terrible mistake telling them someone's inside.

Wait, the lights on probably informed them.

Before I know it, I run out towards the main corridor with my heart pounding. My thoughts and imagination runs wild, creating situations like what if those people are waiting for me to unlock the front door? I stop midway and contemplate calling 911. The mini lights inside the place flicker and I hear a static sound. Oh no, please don't leave me too! The

Hiding behind the wall of a mini hallway to the bathrooms, I take out my phone.

At least, call Mom or Dad for help.

Trembling, I tap the phone numbers I've memorized since seventh grade. Neither one of my parents pick up and I bang my head against the wall. Those two must be busy with their customers at this time, hence no answer. I take a step forward only to hear something crash in the main sitting area.

Someone broke in!

In an instant, I shuffled back to hiding behind the wall and cover my mouth to stifle my heavy breaths. Footsteps break the silence by making creaking sounds against the wooden floor. I gulp. Not a single escape route or exit is nearby.

"Yo, who's here?" I hear a guy ask.

Did he expect me to sell myself out?

I don't even bother peeping. Even my stupidity doesn't cross its limits. Thankfully, the footsteps begin fading away and I relax.

I'm only one call away.

I'll be there to save the day.

Superman got nothing on me--

I immediately end call and silently sob, realizing I forgot to turn off the volume. The footsteps are no longer in earshot and I sneak a glance behind the wall. The entire place is empty except for me. Assuring the person's gone through that broken window in the room, I exhale loudly and take a step forward just as the lights turn off.

Pitch dark.

Not really. It's NYC, after all.

Still, what the hell happened?!

Didn't anyone pay the electricity bills?

Out of nowhere, a figure shuffles and slams me against the wall. I cry out in pain, my eyes shut. The person digs the side of his forearm against my neck to lock me in place . . . and probably choke me as well. His body presses against mine. I feel his hot breath man my face, smelling like he had just been smoking. Only one legitimate thought crosses my mind.

I need more defense lessons.

Seriously.

"Why?" I hear him mumble.

My eyes fly open and almost pop out of my head seeing Arsen. What in the world is he doing here? A partnership in gym class did not give him a pass to follow me around, especially not here!

Wait, what if he's one of the people from outside?

"Let go!" I mutter through clenched teeth.

Rather than obligating to my order, he stays put and in a dangerously low voice, warns, "You better have a good enough reason to be here or I'll make you regret every single day of your life, Cruz." I try to push him off instead end up with his face even closer to mine. Whether he notices or not, my heart races at the mere four or five inches of gap between us.

"My dad bought this place!" I say sharply.

The only response he delights me with is a blank expression.

What's his issue?

"No," he shakes his head, stepping back and releasing me. I cough from the sensitive part of my neck he had crushed a few minutes ago. Again, he strides towards me, grabbing the sides of my arms. Though he reacts to my words, I still freeze in his hold. Never have I been so close to him in all these years, especially not in the darkness. "No one can buy this property!" Anger burns in his eyes and his nose flares. "Absolutely no one. Especially not your family if they want to avoid a mess."

"Excuse me?" I shrug him off. "Why not?"

Who the heck does he think he is to tell me and my family what not to do?

"Get out of here," he says in a menacing tone.

"Make me, Arse," I shoot back. Although it was my nickname for him a long time ago, today I use it as an insult. My ex-friend purses his mouth and takes a few deep breathes. "Why don't you step out? As far as I know, you're trespassing private property without permission. You have no business here."

He lets out a humorless chuckle.

"This place is my business."

"What?"

"Look, I don't have time for you. Get out of here if you don't want unnecessary troubles." He turns away. "Oh and don't you dare turn on the lights if you want someone else catching you. Someone much worse than me, I assure you." The way he says it tells me he isn't joking. Is it the other guy who was outside the kitchen?

"Are you showing concern for an old friend?" I almost taunt.

"No, I alert my enemies and friends alike. In case something does happen, don't say I didn't give you a heads up." He shrugs. I swallow hard. Am I really in danger? If it's the people Arsen hangs around with, then definitely. "And trust me, I don't give a single damn about you."

His words hit me like a bullet.

Why doesn't he dig out my grave as well?

His icy tone and expression convince me he doesn't care about me.

Keeping my gaze down and mouth shut, I locate the keys to the diner in my pocket and turn away. A part of me wants to stay and tackle whatever danger Arsen scared me about, but then I realize my dad probably wouldn't want to gift his wife a diner where his daughter's dead body was found.

Arsen and I walk in completely opposite directions.

I glance over my shoulder and see him escaping back through the window he broke. He waves at me mockingly. I get out and slam the main door before locking it.

Without turning back, I run home.

Why did Arsen scare me away?

Is there something wrong with the diner?

¤~~~~~~~¤

A/N

Song: One Call Away by Charlie Puth
(I love this song so damn much).

Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter. Pretty please try to add something in your comments aside or even along with the classic updating soon request. I appreciate you enjoying and wanting to continue reading but "update soon" doesnt exactly tell me what you thought of the events in the chapter. I'm not a mind reader, yet. Love ya still though. It makes super happy someone's reading MY work.

What do you think of Arsen?

What could be the reason behind the warning?

Predictions?

Pretty please vote, comment, and/or share. If you haven't, do check out my other work. Shameless self promotion, I know, but I can only do it on my own work, right?