You Took A Part Of Me (Cashby)

Chapter Sixteen

"Remember, your project is due on Friday," the professor added as class ended. It was the last of the day; thank god. It had been another hell day. Of course, I couldn't expect any different.

I was supposed to meet Nick and Johnny outside the Humanities building directly after dismissal. We were carrying out our master plan today. That is, if Oli decided to show. We really had no indication of if he would be there. Worst case scemario, we would keep trying until something happened.

Sure enough, Nick and Johnny were right outside the castle-like structure. They both had small handheld cameras hanging from straps around their necks and were pushing some buttons. Hopefully they knew what they were doing.

"Alright, Plan F is about to take off," Nick grinned.

"Plan F?" I asked confusedly.

Nick nodded. "Plan F for 'fucking awesome.'"

"How interesting," I chuckled.

"Trust me, we've got this one nailed down," Nick assured me.

"And if we don't run into Oli?"

"We will. I made sure of it."

His words worried me a little bit. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, we kinda set him off yesterday..." Nick and Johnny both started giggling and it kind of scared me.

"Are you trying to get me killed?!" I yelled.

Nick shook his head. "No, no. See, we got Austin in on it. Oli was walking through the dorms and being a creep this morning, so we made Austin make sex noises...but without any mentioning of names. When Oli passed by, he was pretty much mortified. So he'll think it was you, but you just deny everything. All part of the plan."

"Jesus Christ, you are smart as fuck," I said dumbfoundedly.

"Nah, I just like screwing with people's heads."

"You obviously do very well—" I was cut off by Nick.

"Here he comes! Just act casual!"

I panicked and started walking down the path like I had been. "Alan!" I heard Oli yell. I flinched and turned to face him.

"Hi," I muttered.

"Care to take a little walk with me?" He asked in a chilling demeanor. I just shrugged as he led me back into the same woods. I saw Nick and Johnny inconspicuously following behind. Maybe there was a bit of hope for my life if they were there.

"So, tell me, what were you doing this morning?" Oli inquired.

"I was in class like usual. Is that so wrong?" I responded sarcastically.

Oli backhanded me across the face. "Don't play that little fucking game with me. I know what you were doing this morning, you prick."

"Then please, tell me what I was doing this morning, because I'm dying to know."

"You were with Austin, that's what!" He punched me and I staggered back upon the impact. "You were having sex with him, I could hear it! I was right outside the door!"

"And how are you so sure it was me? It could have been anyone else, you know," I pointed out. Nick gave me a thumbs-up from behind a tree.

"I...I just know!" Oli hesitated. "You're the only one it could have been!"

"So it couldn't even have been that guy Austin's been hanging out around lately?" I lied.

"Are you telling me you've been staring at him?"

Shit. That probably wasn't the best alibi to go with. Before I could say anything else, I was on the ground with Oli on top of me, beating me for all I was worth.

"You worthless scumbag, I told you not to even look at him!" He yelled as he punched me repeatedly. It hurt so badly, I felt like I was going to pass out.

"Oh my god, Johnny, do you see that guy beating that other guy up?!" Nick asked in mock awe. Hopefully this was his "code red" plan.

Oli looked up to see Nick and Johnny staring at us, looking shocked, but I knew it was part of the plan. They were too good at this.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Oli yelled.

"Well, my friend and I were taking a walk and we came across this," Nick said convincingly. He looked at me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, even though I was in horrible pain, and Oli suddenly ran off. I still lay helpless on the ground until Nick and Johnny helped me up. It was difficult to move.

"Dude, we got the proof!" Nick said with excitement. I smiled and continued to stumble out of the woods with them. I was grateful for the fact that the dorms weren't very far.

We stopped outside Austin's door first. Upon opening up, he gasped when he saw me and pulled me into a hug.

"Baby, you're all bruised up. Are you okay?" He whispered. My heart fluttered when he called me "baby." He cared way too much.

"Yeah, I'll survive," I replied. He kissed me quickly and we turned our attention back to Nick and Johnny.

"So, did we get the job done?" Austin asked.

Nick nodded and smiled proudly. "Everything is on our cameras. Come down to our dorm with us and we can take a look."

So Austin laced his fingers through mine as we made the short walk down the hall. Nick slid the key through the door handle and let us all in before shutting the door behind him and sitting at the desk.

"Seriously, are you okay? I won't think twice about going and ending that bastard," Austin said softly.

"Just have a bit of a headache, that's all. I'm okay," I assured him, smiling. He kissed my cheek and focused his attention back on Nick's little setup.

"So basically I have to connect the cameras to the computer and transfer the videos onto there. Then, we put them on a flash drive and take it to the police station, and voila, Oli is no more!" Nick explained. He proceeded to put the videos on the computer and thankfully, they actually worked.

"Here we go..." Nick mumbled as he clicked on one of the videos. There it was; the proof we'd been needing all along.

"I...I can't watch," Austin said softly and squeezed his eyes shut. I held him closer to me.

"Don't worry," I whispered. "In the end, this is absolutely everything we need to be happy."

Once the sounds of the video stopped, Austin opened his eyes again and sighed. I squeezed his hand. "It'll be okay."

Within a matter of minutes, Nick had the videos copied onto a flash drive. My stomach turned with excitement. We would finally be free from what had been weighing us down and that in itself was an amazing thought. I just wanted to spend every passing moment with Austin, that's all.

"All right, so to the police station we go?" Nick suggested. We all nodded and followed him out into the hall.

I kept my hand in Austin's, my heart in my throat, and my mind in the rest of forever.