How I Fly (28 page)

Ellen

Whatever Cam was working on took longer than expected. I want him to stay out of it, but I’m really glad he’s going to be in there because I’m so nervous. At least if they throw him out, he will be hanging around one of the doorways to escort me in and will be close by when it’s over. But when I get through the garden and into the photography building, it’s not Cam waiting there—it’s Harrison.

The new Harrison. Not the guy I thought I knew, that’s for sure.

Actually, this guy looks one past the new Harrison…it’s…it’s…Psycho Harrison. Freak, backstabbing, borderline-personality-disorder Harrison.

And the way he’s looking at me…well, if looks could kill…

Goose bumps crawl down my spine.

I swallow, trying not to show any fear or worry that he’s here, looking all frazzled and rumpled like this—even though we’ve been ordered not to approach each other.

I try to act all cool. “I should have known you wouldn’t follow the rules.”

“I don’t care about rules. Never have. I only want to talk to you about me, about why I did what I did. To try to explain some.”

“I don’t want to talk about you or to you.”

“Why?”

“Maybe because you only want to talk about
you
when this is now obviously about so many more people than just
you
. And—in all honesty, you need to step away and maybe check a mirror or shower before this whole thing starts?”

He tries to smooth out his hair and fix his shirt. “I have been waiting here a long time, and I’m here to tell you, Ellen, that today in front of everyone, I swear I’m going to come clean. I only wanted to talk to you first.”

“Tell me why I should believe you?” I stall while considering escaping back into the garden to try to get someone’s attention. But then I realize it’s lunch hour. There’s no one in the dorms at all right now. If Harrison’s been lurking out in here, it means he probably still has the access key so he can just follow me. How did I ever think he was attractive?

As if he can read my mind, the jerk flashes that stupid twinkle-eye smile that first reeled me in, and he says all softly, “I’m really sorry about all this, I am.”

“Are you?” So he can’t tell I’m nervous and feeling really vulnerable, I quickly decide that if I’m not going to run, then I need to go for maximum balance so I can fight. I slowly put down my laptop bag and align my back against the wall for extra support.

He’s walking forward slowly while his eyes follow my laptop bag down to the floor. “Your leg hurting?” he asks quietly, stopping a short distance away from me.

“Yes. It’s…yeah. Hurting.”

“Damn your legs…but they are pretty, even if they’re forever going to be all scarred and…broken.”

“Why say stuff like that? Do you want me to hate you more than I already do?”

He laughs. “Always so quick on the responses. Your little friend, Laura—she was right about me, you know.”

“About what?” I swallow, hoping, wishing, and praying someone will come into the hallway.

“My cast was fake. Long before the program started, I picked you out to be my girlfriend.”

“Oh. Lucky me.” I roll my eyes.

“I figured with Cam out of the picture and your heart all broken, plus all of your talent, that we’d be a perfect couple. I even got on your Facebook before you came here. That’s how you and ended up with matching casts. You fell for my act so easily. Do you know what else was fake?” He barks out a brittle laugh.

“No. No, I don’t want to know,” I say as my heart grows heavy with dread. “Please. Harrison. Just walk away from me.”

He answers anyway. “My glasses. The flannel shirts. That stupid candle. Hell, you even fell for the fake syllabus I handed to you. But, of course, with all of your guard-dog friends, I knew I could only make you miss one turn-in date before someone caught on. I thought I’d be able to break up with you after two weeks. But
no
, I had keep pretending I liked you. You were supposed to be out of the scholarship running after you missed that first assignment, but then stupid Professor Perry took pity on you.” He barks out another brittle laugh.

“Why are you telling me all of this? I don’t want to know. Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve been caught? I’m going to tell everyone all that you just said.”

He laughs again. “I want you to know. Don’t you get it? If you repeat any of this, you’ll sound as crazy as that Irish nut-job. No one is going to believe you—because it’s your word against mine. Everyone saw how I was into you. I’ve got x-rays and doctor’s notes in my dorm room all about my injury. And because at this point I’ve got everything to lose. You and I, Ellen, are at a 50/50 draw right now. They will either believe me or they will believe you. Besides, I want you to know how hard I had to work to make sure everyone thought I was in to you. I also made certain you had no proof.” His grin turns from wicked to proud. “This wasn’t easy to pull off, you know. I should get some sort of acting award.”

I shake my head, stunned. “Why did you do all of this?”

“Because I discovered that I could?” He shrugs. “And because my work alone, sadly, isn’t good enough to win any scholarship. I got into the WOA the same way I tricked you. My girlfriend last year was as carefully chosen as you were. She thought I was cute, and while I gave her the
boyfriend of her dreams
, she helped by providing the shots I needed to win the WOA. And then I dumped her. Easy as that.”

“So what you are saying is she won this summer scholarship for you?”

“Yes. We won it together. Group project, you know?” He winks. “But she wasn’t as smart as you are. I perfected my fake-syllabus game on her all last year. I kept switching it out. Even altered what she’d entered into her phone. It worked so well that she almost failed digital photography. When word came out that she and I had won the competition, we were thrilled, but because of her D in the class she wasn’t allowed to come here for the summer. It was for the best. She was so in love with me she would have been in the way. Don’t worry—I took her to prom before I dumped her. She still has no clue what happened.”

Finally his eyes meet mine, but they’re cold. So cold.

“You suck. You might be the worst person I’ve ever known.”

He shrugs, like he’s not even sorry. “You don’t know how it feels to have all the inspiration, all of the desire…but then…to have no natural talent. Working with you has only deepened my resolve. I think my stuff is good but not good enough. I need the years of study this place offers, but I can’t afford to come here without the first-place scholarship. I’m asking you to feel sorry for me. Yes. I suck. Yes, I’m the worst person alive. I’m asking you to understand. Walk away. Let me have the shots. Give me a chance to do and be something
better
? You can get another digital photography scholarship at any school in your sleep. Let me have this one.”

“I don’t do my work in my sleep! I work hard to get my shots, and I’m not letting you steal them. If you want be a better person, you’re going to have to join a church and check yourself into some sort of therapy program. Harrison, the school administrators are going to see through your act.”

“They haven’t seen through it yet. They love me.” He blinks.

“Was anything between us even real? Are
you
even a real person?”

“The kissing. How you made me feel. That was real. Very real. And truthfully, as much as I was pretending at the start, you really had my heart there for a couple of weeks.”

The way his eyes keep traveling down my legs is making me regret wearing a skirt. I’m also suddenly so afraid of him right now that I feel like my CP is trying to take over, which would not be good right now. Not at all.

He nods at my laptop bag. “What did you bring with you to use against me?”

Hoping he can’t sense my new level of fear, I grit out, “I brought
the truth.
”

He starts toward me. It’s obvious the guy is as crazy as the people I’ve only heard about on the news—and now that he’s told me everything, I have no idea what he’s going to do to me. There’s no way it’s going to be anything good, that’s for sure. I have no clue how I’ve kept the shaking out of my voice when I manage, “Harrison. You’re not supposed to be talking to me at all. I need you to…”

“To what?”

I decide to raise my voice in case someone—Cam, hopefully—can hear me through the doors that lead into the classroom. I shout as loud as I can, “Just get away from me!
Leave me alone!
”

I’ve surprised him with my shout, to the point he’s paled slightly and paused, which gives me hope that his confidence is as shaky as mine.

“Hey now. I only want to see what’s in your bag. What’s the big deal?”

*Prays: Someone, please come out here and rescue me.*

When no one comes forward to rescue me and Harrison’s creepy smile returns, I decide it’s time to rescue myself. As he steps toward me again, I put all of my weight on the good leg and swear by all that is holy if he tries to touch me or hurt me I am going to act like Laura and wreck every inch of him with these crutches—to the point that I won’t even care if I end up locked up or sent out of Canada after it’s over.

My expression must be betraying my thoughts, because he stops right in front of me, as if he’s reconsidering. I keep my eyes on his hands. When he reaches out, I raise up one crutch and smash it down on his head.

He flinches, but then acts like my hit didn’t even hurt—but then we’re both surprised by the trickle of blood coming from his cheekbone. “You’re going to be so sorry—” He slams his foot onto my computer bag, and I hear my laptop crunching under his foot. “Oops. I’m so clumsy. And so are you. Look, you’ve broken your laptop when you fell on it.”

Then he pushes me, hard. And I wobble, but I think I’ve surprised him again when I manage to stay on my feet. That’s when he continues stepping on my bag. I force my voice to sound deadly and devoid of fear. “Any preference as to which teeth you want knocked out of your mouth first, you ass?” I raise my crutch again, vowing to aim better this time, because this is my last chance at defending myself before he easily overpowers me. Then he’ll do whatever damage he has on his mind for me next.

I swing the crutch as hard as I can. Harrison ducks away from it, which is how he saw the classroom door opening before I did, because I was struggling not to fall. Professor Perry and one of the school administrators have come out into the hallway.

Before I can cry out, Harrison has already hit the floor and is howling at the top of his lungs.

“Help! Help! Please someone help me. She’s attacking me! Please.”

“He’s lying! He was here to ambush me!”

“I’m bleeding! Help me!” Harrison adds in this panicked screech to cover my shaking voice, and throws his hands over his face to curl up into a fetal position. “My God! Please. Take away her crutches. I think she broke my nose! You’ll never ever get away with this, Ellen!”

Cam bursts through the same doors only seconds later. “Ellen. What happened?” Then to Harrison: “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll kill you, Harrison Shaw. I will.”

Harrison starts this dramatic fake sobbing. “See how they bully me? Death threats! He’s given me a death threat and now I’ve been attacked as well. All of it is completely unprovoked!”

I shout, “Professor Perry. Don’t let Cam come over here. He needs to stay out of this!”

“Camden Campbell, she’s right. Don’t you move. What is it about you Brights Grove kids that makes you all want to get in fights?” Professor Perry shouts, running to Harrison’s side so he can step between me and Harrison, like he’s really afraid for Harrison’s life.

His face is pale and panicked, and I wonder if the guy now thinks we are all truly
dangerous
.

“Cam!” I call out again, when I notice Cam’s got his hands all fisted. “Please. Don’t.” I say to the school administrator, “Please don’t let him move. It’s got nothing to do with him. Just let me get my CP under control and…please, Cam. I’m fine. Fine.”

“Stay put, son. She’s right. You know you can’t afford to be involved right now. Nobody move. Security is on the way.”

Cam stays put, but I can tell it’s killing him not to have his arms around me, so he’s not going to stay put for long. The school administrator walks over and takes my arm. I grip it for dear life so I don’t lose my balance. My eyes drop to the laptop bag, and I start shaking so hard that there’s no way I can talk to defend myself.

Harrison is able to spew lie after lie around my silence. His words echo off the walls and fill the air inside the tight hallway until it’s all used up. When Professor Perry helps him stand up and reveals the streak of blood coming down his face, he points his finger at me and says, “You’re going to pay for this, Ellen Foster.”

Cam steps forward like he’s had enough.

“No! Cam!” I manage to gasp out. “I’ll never forgive you or myself if you touch him.” My words are just enough make him stop in his tracks. I’m so relieved that my head spins in one direction while the hallway flips in another.

As four security officers barge in, I start to panic all over again, because they remind me of the police that dragged Cam away from me after my accident.