Ghosted (completed)

Protection Is For The Weak

Protection Is for The Weak

I was in the middle of Algebra II dozing off when Oliver leaned over the edge of my desk and started snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"Hmm." I sat up, suddenly aware of the vacant classroom. When had class ended?

"Ophelia." there was an unmistakable fear in Oliver's voice that had my eyes flickering to him. "We need to go."

He was even paler than usual, if that was possible. His eyes were glassy with fresh tears, hands trembling at his sides.

"Oliver?" I started to reach out for him when the door was thrown open and Principal Martins stepped in.

"What are you still doing in here?" he shook his head. "We made the announcement for you all to go home twenty minutes ago."

Shaking my head, I grabbed my backpack from the back of my chair and threw a strap over my shoulder. "I must have dozed off."

"You do have a ride, right, Miss Colemen?"

Confused, I asked, "Why would I need a ride?"

Well, other than the fact someone might be stalking me. But the old man didn't know anything about that.

"Miss Colemen, they found Oliver St. James body in the lake this morning."

My entire body grew rigid and I had to grasp the edge of the teacher's desk to keep myself upright. Eventually, I managed a strangled, "What?"

"Detectives and forensics on scene are ruling it a homicide." The middle-aged man raked his fingers through his gray hair. "Such a shame. The boy was a very promising student."

I didn't bother to stay and listen to the principal's sympathy. I ran for the front door and collapsed just passed the small brick wall encasing a palm tree and vomited all over the concrete.

"Fai?" King's voice sounded far away, then as if he'd raced across the parking lot, he walked around and crouched behind me to grab my hair in his fist. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head once I was sure I wasn't going to puke again and rested my head against the hardness of his chest.

"Let's go back to my place." King insisted, and I slowly turned to look at him. We hadn't been to his house in ages. Not since before Homecoming.

"Okay." I agreed, because I had no desire to go home and have Dad playing helicopter parent or face Axel who was undoubtedly a mess right now.

As soon as we made it to his car, he offered a few mints, not that they'd do much more my nausea but they'd help with my breath. I popped one in my mouth and pulled my seat belt on. I glanced in back to see if Oliver may have hitched a ride with us, but he had disappeared the second Principal Martins had walked in.

"I was waiting outside for you." King broke the silence with a quick worried glance in my direction. "After the announcement you were the first thing I thought about. Because. . . you said you've been seeing him."

"I have." I whispered. "But King I. . . I—" I couldn't put into words how I felt, so the words just fizzled in the air between us. It wasn't until he'd pulled his car to a stop in his driveway that I leaned back and breathed out shakily.

King turned the key in the ignition and shifted his body in my direction. "Are you good, Fai? Like no bs."

"No." I confessed. "I'm scared, King."