Chapter 27
I knew it was Eric the minute the washroom door opened. I'd be able to smell his cologne a mile away. And Tyler, Eric's faithful sidekick, was never too far behind.
“Dude, Anna's hot. Good score.” I had never noticed before how irritating Tyler's voice was.
Eric chuckled. “Well, I didn't score yet. Maybe tonight I'll be able to make her mine.”
Did I just hear that? My body was numb and it became extremely hard to breathe. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?
“Yeah, I heard she's pretty innocent, if you know what I'm saying.” Tyler's voice pierced through my skull like an arrow.
“We'll see about that,” Eric said.
And that was it. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. My fist slammed into the stall door and I came face to face with Eric. His eyes widened with fear the second he saw me. Without giving him any time for explanations or apologies, I lunged at him, grabbed him by the throat and threw him as hard as I could toward the row of stalls. When his body hit the stall, they came crashing down like dominoes. Tyler must have managed to escape because when I turned to give him his share, he was gone.
My fists were still clenched and my head was spinning. The adrenalin pumping through my veins at that moment made my body feel weightless. A few seconds later, the washroom door swung open and Nick's voice cut through the sound of my heart pounding.
“Jake, snap out of it! Look what you've done!” He ran to Eric's aid, which was when I noticed he wasn't moving. “Noah, guard the door! Don't let anyone in!” Nick ordered.
“Got it.” Noah blocked the door and stared at me in horror. “Dude, calm down. Whatever happened, you have to let it go.”
Nick stood up and grabbed me by my rigid arms. “Snap out of it, Jake! You have to heal him now. He's not breathing!”
The room started spinning at a ridiculous speed and I lost my balance. I fell into the wall and grabbed the sink for stability. I hardly recognized myself in the broken mirror in front of me. Then I looked over at Noah who was still sporting a horrified expression, and then to Nick, whose eyes were pleading. Finally, I turned to look at the reason I was in this state. Eric was lying unconscious on the floor. What had I done?
I knelt down beside him, and it took all my strength and more to heal him. I hated him so much at that moment. Nick quickly cleaned up any evidence of blood on the floor while I tried my best to think positive thoughts. It only took a minute and Eric opened his eyes and sat up. Then he remembered what had happened and jumped back.
“What the hell, Jake!” He looked nervously around at Noah and Nick and backed away with his hands in the air.
“If you touch her or hurt her in any way, Eric, so help me!” I shouted, then clenched my teeth together and said, “Just get the hell out of here before I lose it again.” He ran.
When it was just the three of us, Nick quietly spoke, “I don't care what your reasoning was, but you need to let this go. Let her go. Look what it's doing to you, man. You can't be with her, Jake, so just let her go.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then pushed past Noah and left. I was too angry to think clearly or agree to anything. The centre of my life, Anna, was being taken advantage of and it killed me. They didn’t understand. How could they?
I caught up with Anna in the hallway and grabbed her arm. “I need to talk to you.”
“What's up?” she asked innocently.
“It's Eric. Anna, he's not good for you,” I said.
“Jake, no one is ever going to be good enough for me according to you.” She rolled her eyes and kept walking.
“It's not that, Anna. There might be someone out there, it's just not Eric. Just please trust me.”
“Give me one good reason why I should believe you, Jake.” I knew she desperately wanted a reason as bad as I wanted to give her one.
I pulled her in close and without thinking, I pressed my lips to hers and felt the warmth that I had been missing. She kissed back, which was a good sign that she wasn't going to hit me when I finally let her go. I tangled my hands through her hair and moaned. This was heaven. She was mine again, if only for a few seconds.
She pulled away from me and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Give me one good reason,” she pleaded quietly.
“Because I need you,” I blurted out. I knew it was stupid and I was backtracking, but I just needed to say that. It was the truth.
Anna stopped and closed her eyes. A small smile spread across her lips. “I love hearing you say things like that, Jake.” She opened her eyes and her smile faded. “But when you just throw it out there in a weak attempt to try to get me to wait around for you forever—that hurts.”
“No, it's not that,” I said, reaching for her arm again.
She pulled away. “I can’t wait around for you if you're not ready to commit. I'm sorry.” She turned and left and I watched the centre of my life get further and further away.
Leaning back against the wall, a weak cry slipped from my lips. Why did this have to be so hard? I did need her. I knew I did, and saying it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
I finally gained my strength to head back to Noah and Nick and face the damage I had done. As I walked down the hall, I suddenly noticed a familiar face standing in the hallway hiding behind dark sunglasses and a black hoodie. I stared at him for a moment and gave him a quizzical look. He nodded and smiled at me before he walked away and that's when I realized who he was. Ryan!
What the hell was he doing at the school? Did Rachel know he was here? Was he here for a fight? I ran down the hall and burst into Ms. Peters' office. She was on the phone but quickly hung up when she saw my face.
“What is it, Jake?” she asked, mirroring my panicked expression.
I caught my breath and gasped, “It's Ryan. He's here. At the school.”
I spun around at the sound of the office door swinging open again. This time Claudia and Nick were there.
“Something's going on,” Nick said. “We can feel it. Something bad is about to happen.”
“Jake just saw Ryan in the hallway,” Ms. Peters said, bringing everyone up to speed. “We need to get Rachel.”
But before any of us could move, the door flew open again and Rachel stood in the doorway, white as a ghost and looking more terrified than I had ever seen her look before.
“They found the miracle worker!” she gasped. “They have her. . . . They have Anna.”