“No, no, that’s okay. I told him I already had plans for that night. I can’t go with him.” I stood and stepped around Jake, walking quickly toward the door before Coach Johnson left.
I ran down the hall to the doors and pushed through them so hard they smacked against the doorstops. I ran until I reached the bus and let out a huge breath when I sat on the ugly, green vinyl seat next to Muriel. Looking down, I realized my hands were shaking. In fact, it felt as if my whole insides were shaking.
“Milayna, what’s wrong? You’re shaking.” Muriel grabbed my hands.
“I ran into Jake.” My voice quivered and I couldn’t say his name above a whisper, like it was some kind of horrible curse word.
“Crap, what happened? Are you okay?” She squeezed my hands and pulled me toward her.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Coach Johnson walked in and I was able to get out of there, but it was close.”
“You can’t go anywhere without someone with you. You can’t take a chance something like that will happen again.” Muriel’s tone was firm. She almost sounded like my mother. I would have laughed at the thought if I wasn’t still reeling from my near date to Hell with its newest golden boy, Jake.
I let out a long breath—my cheeks puffed out. “I know.”
Even with the scare from Jake, the day didn’t end all bad. We won our swim meet.
***
After the swim meet, Chay was at the school to pick me up. I saw him through the window as we drove into the school’s parking lot, and I could tell by his face that Muriel had already texted him. His feet were planted shoulder width apart, his hands were clasped behind his back, and there wasn’t a trace of a smile on his lips anywhere.
Damn it!
“Thanks a lot, Muriel.” I glared at her.
“I thought maybe he could talk some sense into that stubborn brain of yours.” She shrugged a shoulder.
He met me at the door of the bus. As soon as I stepped out, he grabbed my bag, slung it over his shoulder, and stalked away. I followed close behind him. He opened the passenger’s door of the car for me to get in, shut it after me, and stalked around to the driver’s side.
Great. Just friggin’ wonderful. I don’t think he’s blinked since he’s picked me up.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Chay yelled as soon as he got in the car.
“I was just grabbing my clothes. I didn’t think—”
“Crap, Milayna, you can’t go running off like that. Why do you think everyone is going out of their way to make sure you aren’t alone?”
“Well, I didn’t ask them to,” I shot back. It wasn’t like I wanted everyone to have to wait on me, to interrupt their life and make me the center of it. “Wait. Everyone?”
“Yeah.”
“So that’s what you’re doing? Going out of your way to make sure I’m not alone?”
Not because I want to be with you, but because I have to rearrange my schedule to babysit you. Nice.
“Yes… No… that’s not what I meant.” I started to get out of the car. “Where are you going?” he called to me.
“To ride with Muriel.” I jerked my bag out of the car and slammed the door.
Jerk.
I jogged across the parking lot to catch Muriel before she left. She jumped when I yanked open the door of her car and slipped in, slamming it behind me. “Oh. Hi.” A frown pulled at her lips. “Everything okay?”
“Let’s just go home.” I forced a smile.
“What happened?” Muriel looked over at me when we were stopped at a red light. I ticked off the seconds in my head until it turned green. I just wanted to go home.
I sighed. “Nothing I want to talk about.”
“You’re mad at me.”
“No.” I let out a huge sigh. “I don’t know what I am.” I dropped my head in my hands.
“Okay. Well, what happened?”
“He basically said he was spending time with me because I wasn’t supposed to be alone,” I blurted.
Muriel snorted. “You know that’s not true, Milayna.”
Yeah. So why am I making an issue of it? Ugh. Sometimes, I don’t understand my own brain.
My stomach clenched and twisted. I gritted my teeth and hit the dashboard with my fist. I didn’t want a vision now, but my head started to pound and my eyes saw images of things that hadn’t happened yet.
“Muriel, I’m gonna have a vision.” I blew stray hair out of my face before cursing violently under my breath.
Come on. Give me a freaking break, please.
“Now?”
“Yeah.”
A gas station. No, a convenience store. A woman.
I concentrated on the store. I strained to see the name. Bob’s… something. I couldn’t make it out.
A woman. Spilled pop. A crushed bag of chips. A gun.
“Muriel, look for a convenience store called Bob’s.”
Gunshots. Blood.
“Hurry, Muriel.” I gripped the door handle so hard that my fingers ached. The tension snaked up my hand and my arm to my neck, where it slithered around and started tightening.
My insides were churning. I could feel my lunch swirl in my stomach, threating to make a repeat visit. I couldn’t help thinking of the Waterway. What if we didn’t get there in time? What if we didn’t find the woman?
Blue T-shirt stained with blood. A bloody hand.