Time Stands Still

Chapter 11

School on Monday was… interesting. I suddenly had a bunch of girls acting a lot nicer to me then before and I quickly realized that Zach had let it slip that Brent and Matt weren’t the only two guys that lived in the same house as me. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were now trying to become my friends so that I would invite them to my house so they could meet the others.

            I found it amusing and mildly annoying as well. I brushed them all off, though it was entertaining to see a few of Ashley’s followers abandon her to try and latch onto me. Mandy found the whole thing hysterical and spent the day making fun of most of the other girls, though there were one or two who she said actually weren’t too bad and that they likely were just being friendly, rather then trying to gain anything.

            I heard a lot of rumors circulating as well, all of them about me and Brent or Mandy and Matt. The fact that Brent had called me his wife had everyone staring at my left hand and I had to resist the urge to hide my hand in my pocket. And Brent obviously had some sort of control over Matt, which caused a lot of speculation as well.

            Then there was the fact that Matt and Mandy were dating. With those things combined, there were definitely a lot of things being said. When I informed Brent of this through our connection, he responded with slight amusement and told me just to ignore everyone.

            At the end of the day, Mandy said she had to go to the library, so I followed her there since she was supposed to come home with me. We were there for about twenty minutes while she returned some books and got a couple of new ones, and by the time we went to leave, the school was practically deserted. It was kind of creepy going through the empty hallways, so we hurried outside into the chilly day.

            As we headed to the car, I glanced around nervously, suddenly feeling like we were being watched. I tried to shake the feeling off, but it persisted. I could see that Mandy was looking around as well, and I wondered if she was getting the same feeling as well.

            We were nearly at the car when I suddenly heard something behind us. Before I could spin around to see what it was, something struck the back of my head, and I fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

            A pounding headache caused me to groan as I started to stir. I felt groggy and sluggish, my body not responding as quickly as it usually did. I managed to peel one eyelid open and I gazed around blearily, not understanding where I was or what exactly had happened.

            I was in a dimly lit room, with no windows and only two doors that I could see. I forced myself into a sitting position and clutched my head in my hands for a moment as everything spun around me. I struggled to remember what had happened, and suddenly remembered that Mandy had been with me. I snapped my eyes up once more and scanned the room, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. Where was she? And for that matter, where was I?

            The pounding in my head increased, and it took me a few moments to realize that it wasn’t just a headache. Brent was furiously trying to use our connection to talk to me and it was only then that I felt how hot my mark was. I focused all my attention on the connection and managed to get it open inside my head. “Brent?”

            “Tara! Where are you? What happened? Are you okay? Is Mandy with you?”

            I groaned once more and dropped my head onto my drawn up knees. “I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what happened, I have a massive headache and my body feels a little bit sluggish. I don’t know what happened to Mandy, she isn’t in the room with me.”