Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (46 page)

After Patrick and I split, I walked as fast as I could to my computer science class. I clutched my backpack and kept looking around me, like I was on red alert or something. Once I got to class, I felt like I could breathe. Ahh, sanctuary again.

I hurried once again, by myself, to my next class, choir. We were still in rehearsal mode since the concert was tomorrow night. So much to do… It felt great to sing. To just release my anxiety and stress and just sing. It was like what a good workout or run would be to an athlete. I wouldn’t run or lift weights to relieve stress, I’d likely trip or drop a weight on my foot. No, that wouldn’t be good. But, singing… Singing gave me that same rush of adrenaline. It made the world right, at least for the moment.

After choir, I felt better, calmer. I didn’t have that overwhelming feeling to sprint to my next class. As I walked outside, it felt like it was colder than it was before class. I was glad Patrick put his sweatshirt in my backpack. I put it on and felt instantly better, warmer. I rounded the corner of the building to my English class. I was almost to class when someone ran into me. Their shoulder pushed into mine and their huge shoulder bag barreled into my side, right into one of my bruises.

“OW! Son of a …” I yelled. That hurt. My face and body tightened.

The girl and her friends didn’t stop. She spun around to walk backwards. I looked back at her and saw her roll her eyes and laugh, “You should watch yourself.” She turned back around and laughed with her friends as she walked away into the crowd.

Was that a threat? I kept walking to class. I was a few feet away from the door when Patrick came up to me.

“You okay?” He could see the pain streaked across my face.

“Yeah. Someone accidentally ran into me.” I managed to say through gritted teeth. “Got me right in a sore spot.” The girl looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place her. It was like knowing that someone went to your school, but not knowing much else about them.

Once English class was over, Patrick wouldn’t leave my side. He stayed right next to me all through lunch. Okay, with the exception of when I had to go to the restroom. In which case, he made sure that both Emily and Cassie went in with me. He walked all three of us to the restroom, though. Patrick was definitely in full bodyguard mode.

I had to admit, while I didn’t want him to be stressed out and worry so much about me, it did make me feel better. I felt safer that it just wasn’t my pair of eyes, and apparent pathetic sense of intuition, that were on alert and watching out for me. He had the rest of the crew keeping an eye on me as well.

Patrick and I walked to math class together. I saw the girl who ran into me earlier. She seemed so familiar. She was staring at us. Patrick followed my gaze back to her.

“Do you know who she is?” Why was I seeing this person again?

“Umm.. yeah. That’s Nikki. She’s one of Becca’s friends.” He was hesitant in his response. I never really saw Becca with her friends, or rather, didn’t pay much attention to her when she was. But, that’s how I knew her. She was there yesterday. She held me while Becca kicked the crap out of me. I couldn’t help but tense up and ball my hands into fists, it was instinctive. He noticed my reaction. “What is it?”

“She was there.” I snarled in a whisper. He shot at look at Nikki, put his arm around me and we hurried to math.

“I’m walking you to sixth period.” He wasn’t asking or offering, he was telling me.

“Won’t you be late for your class?” I didn’t want him to get in any trouble.

“Don’t worry. I can make it in time.” He was adamant. “And you stay there after the bell to wait for me. I’ll walk you to rehearsal.”

I wanted to argue more. But I was almost as much scared as I was ready to fight back. I wanted to run up to her and kick her ass. That would not be wise. I knew that. It wasn’t time yet. The way I saw it, he was just as much protecting me from Becca as from myself. No, if I did what I wanted to do at this moment in time, I’d get suspended. I could not have that happen. I’ve worked too hard and she wasn’t going to ruin it.

* * *

I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, going over what happened today. Patrick and I were a wonderful pair of guilt-ridden teenagers. I’m sure his hovering was because he felt it was his fault that I was on the receiving end of Becca’s hate. I felt so guilty that he was being tardy for class, for practice, all in the name of keeping me safe from Becca. Becca, an enemy, I had a name and face for. She was someone who was turning my life and my friends’ lives upside-down. What was worse: someone who did damage to your life and had rippling, long-lasting effects? Or someone who did damage not only to you, but directly affected those around you? Attack against the one or the many? Knowing the victim or being a stranger? Beating someone with an ulterior motive behind it or because of circumstance?

My attacker’s motives were predicated on evil and a twisted sickness. Becca’s were based on manipulation and revenge – and her being a twisted psychotic.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember more. I know Becca had said something while I laid there drifting in and out of the fog. I remembered arguing with Becca and… being held down by Nikki. At some point Becca was leaning over me, upset that her necklace and its charm got caught in my hair. Like it was my fault that my head whipped back and forth as she was hitting me, getting my hair tangled in her necklace. She barked at Nikki and the other girl to help her get it loose. She practically pulled my hair out at its roots. It was something that Patrick gave her.

I had seen that charm before… at Patrick’s. It was hanging on his bedroom mirror. It was one of those charms that is halved so two people could have a piece of it.

She said… What did she say? She said… she wasn’t losing the charm or Patrick to me. Wait. That’s why part of my hair seemed a little shorter and I had a huge bump at the back of my head. She cut it to get her damn charm loose and let my head bang into the cement. Bitch.

Oh, she was going to lose to me alright. I had to be sure of that. And the first thing she was going to lose was that stupid charm of hers.

31. DONE

Another day. So far, it started out like yesterday. As I pulled into the parking lot, Patrick was leaning against his car, waiting for me. The remnants of my encounter with Becca were slowly starting to heal, but not enough for me to pull my hair back into a pony tail. Besides, there was a small chunk of my hair that would fall out because it was shorter than it should be. There was no need to make it obvious, to let Patrick know.

“You ready for tonight?” He seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday. He was a little calmer, less edgy. Then again, so was I.

“Yeah. Can’t wait.” I looked at him and teased. “Just got to get through the silly thing called classes.”

“Huh! Classes, why would anyone want to go to those? Like
you’d
want to get an education or something.” He was in a playful mood.

“Silly me.” I bumped my shoulder into his arm, laughing.

Mr. D always said he didn’t mind us talking if we got our work done. Patrick and I got work done, so he couldn’t tell us to be quiet while we talked, laughed and joked around.

“So, what do you think? Want to do dinner before the concert?” Apparently the crew wanted to make a big thing out of it all.

“Sure. A girl needs to eat, but don’t be surprised if I don’t eat too much. I still get nervous. I’d hate to throw up on stage.” It’s true. No matter how much I loved to sing and perform, I always got nervous just before the performance. My stomach would feel like it was full of hummingbirds.

“Yeah, that would not be a performance that I’d like to see.” His face scrunched up as he made a face.

“The ultimate in performance art and audience participation.” I could just see all the sympathetic vomiters joining in.

“Aww... gross!” He laughed.

“Yeah. So, don’t give me a hard time if I don’t eat much.”

“Okay, okay. I promise. But after?” His voice was hopeful.

“After, I’m usually starving. Not hungry. But famished! So, we should definitely get something afterwards.” I was excited to ‘celebrate’ the first concert.

His voice was light and I could hear his smile through it. “Okay. Where do you want to go? We all decided it’s your choice.”

“I don’t really care. I want what I can’t have before the concert – chocolate. It screws up my voice. After the concert, the place
has
to have good chocolate anything. Before the concert? It doesn’t matter, you guys choose. Remember, I’m just gonna have something light.”

“Oh, yeah. No performance art.” He laughed.

Mr. D’s voice raised above the classroom noise. “Ladies and gentlemen, you have a couple minutes left in class. Be sure you put all your stuff away!” Wow, class went by fast. We were still putting stuff away when the bell rang. I guess we didn’t hear his earlier announcement about cleaning up. Oops.

We quickly went back to our desks to grab our stuff. I didn’t bother to put my notebook and calculator into my backpack. Since I was already running late, it was easier to grab and go.

“The concert’s at 7, but I need to be back here by 6:30.” We were trying to figure out what time we should do dinner.

“Okay. So, why don’t we do dinner at, like, 5:00. That should at least give you some time to digest whatever you ate and not share it with the audience.”

“Thanks for that image.” I shuddered and laughed. “Yeah, 5:00 sounds…” Someone fell into me from behind. “What the…” My backpack fell off my shoulder, it fell to the ground as I took a step forward to catch my balance. My notebook and calculator skidded across the pavement.

“Oops. Sorry.” The voice was less than sincere. I whipped around to see who it was. This was no accident. It was Nikki. Again. She put her hand to mouth and tried to look innocent. “I didn’t see you there.”

The second I saw it was Nikki, the euphoria of class vaporized. I was mad. Blood rushed to my face and my heart was pounding. It was like it was going to beat right out of my chest. I turned my entire body to face her and saw her smug face. She thought she was going to get away with it again. Everyone around me thought it was just an accident. I knew better.

I took both my hands and shoved her against the building wall as hard as I could. Her head banged against the wall, a look of shock washed over her. “Don’t mess with me.”

My ears felt like they were ringing, but I could hear the muddled shocked sounds of people around me. They sounded so distant, even though they were just a couple feet away.

I could hear Patrick behind me, “Liz!”

The only other voice I could make out was Joey’s, “No. Let her do this.”

It sounded like Patrick was getting closer for a moment, then stopped. Joey said he’d back me up. Stopping Patrick from stopping me was a good way to do so.

Nikki continued to taunt me. “Is that the best you can do? Please.” She rolled her eyes and eased away from the wall, as if she would be able to just walk away from this.

“No.” I tightened my fist and swung at her making direct contact with her jaw. She grabbed her face and was half bent over and half leaning against the wall for support. Adrenaline pumped through me. My hand felt hot where it had hit Nikki’s face. “
You
watch yourself.” I hissed at her.

I backed away a few steps from her before turning. I saw the group of students who had circled us in mere seconds. My face was resolute. I had no remorse for what I had done. I had to do it. The faces of those around me showed either shock or pleasure. Mostly pleasure that Nikki got what was coming to her and for the amusement that was provided to their morning. It had all happened so fast that it was done and I was away from Nikki before a teacher was even there.

As I started walking away, I saw Joey grinning from ear to ear. He was easy to read. “Nice to see someone else on the receiving end of your punches.” He was amused.