Kiss of Death

Chapter Eleven 

The weekend crawled by mockingly. Almost as if saluting whatever normalcy I had once had in my life. I had not spoken to my parents, or Jake, in fact I hadn't really spoken to anyone since I last spoke to Lucas. I had spent my weekend hidden away in a hookah bar in Jersey City, trying to remain unnoticed.

I had also kept my eyes on the news for any sign that I might need to leave the city but all that was said about Victor was how he was a successful entrepreneurs son, and had been found dead in the beach outside a friends vacation home by some neighbors the day after the party. Nobody saw anything and there are no clues pointing to 'foul' play, the police are blaming it on a drug overdose.

I'm safe. For now anyway.

I was nervous about going to school today, of seeing the look on my peers faces. But most importantly of hearing the whispers. I wonder how many people saw me go with him, well more importantly how many remembered.

"Courtney," I looked up to see my dad staring at me warily. "Your mother had to leave early so you’re going to have to take the subway."

"Okay," I mumbled as I sat up in my untidy bed so I could see his silhouette clearly. Suddenly I heard him press on the switch and managed to close my eyes just in time to protect them from the flood of light.

"You better hurry, you’re going to be late,” Dad warned before disappearing.

I stared at the doorway blankly for a few minutes before I heard the sound of my dad driving away in his old Nissan. As I moved mechanically around my room searching for things to wear, I couldn't help but think how quickly things had turned sour. Ever since I met Lucas I have been having bad experiences followed by even worse ones and my spirit is close to shattered. I mean, how do you react to hearing your mom committed suicide? Or even better, how do you react after realizing you are not quite as human as you thought yourself?

I didn't have much time to find out, and even if I did it was to late the damage had been done. It was time to face the music.

***

"Why didn't you answer my calls?" Jake snapped, I narrowed my eyes at the accusation in his voice. How dare he think he could snap at me like that after the month that I’d had?

I slammed the oak door of my locker before turning to face him with an eyebrow raised.

"I was busy," I said flippantly.

He glared before grabbing a hold of my forearm and pulling me inside an empty classroom.

"Courtney this is serious! We need to talk about-" he began after shutting the door safely behind us.

"There is nothing to talk about Jake. Because nothing happened, nothing."

He glared at me and passed a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Look Courtney I understand what your going through," he said gently, I merely gave him an aloof look.

"Enlighten me," I crossed my arms expectantly leaning my weight against the teachers mahogany desk. He stared at me quietly for a couple of seconds, his green eyes trained on my face as if he were searching for something.

“I can show you better than I can tell you,” he finally said. I scoffed turning my eyes away from his figure to stare around the classroom. In the back of the room I could see the wooden cross, I quickly averted my eyes, I wasn’t one with Jesus now…not that I’d ever been, but somehow after committing murder and finding out I was an abomination of nature I’d come to the conclusion that Jesus probably didn't love me that much.

I cleared my throat before staring tiredly back at Jake. “And what makes you think I would trust you?”

“The fact that you have nobody but me to trust,” he shrugged before closer to me and grabbing my chin gently. “You and I, Courtney are more alike than you think.”

I stared at him, searching for any double meaning in his words. It suddenly hit me how alone I truly was. Lucas had told me I could trust no one, that everyone would be after the price in my head, but only now standing across the closest thing I had to a best friend did I really understand.

I opened my mouth to refuse whatever he was offering before he roughly let go of my chin.

“Which is why we need to stick together,” he finished proudly. He began to walk towards one of the windows in the classroom, which I now realized led to the back of the school, where the fields were. He opened it swiftly pulling his weight on it until one leg dangled outside. He turned to stare at my quiet unmoving form. “That is if you want to survive.”

I stared at him thoughtfully, he had a small smirk in his lips and I knew it was due to my sudden vulnerability. So I searched in me for traces of the Courtney before Lucas Bradshaw ever entered my life and steeled my shoulders.

“Fine, but pull a single trick and I will make sure you don’t live to see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

Part II coming soon...