redamancy

Chapter 17: Where's Skate?

"Jack please don't." I begged. "I have to finish this Lilah, I'm sorry." He shook my hand off of his shoulder and walked away. "Doing this isn't going to solve anything!" I shouted. "Lilah back off!" He yelled. "What if you die." I blurted out. He stopped in his tracks and turned to me. The dirt path laid between us silently as clouds formed overhead. "What am I supposed to do then?" A tear fell down my cheek. He looked at me for a second and then turned back around and left. Just left. Rain began to srinkle down on me as I fell to my knees. It' all started in the rain but I would have never thought that it would end in the rain too. Suddenly there was a loud gunshot from the distance. "Jack." I whispered to myself and ran to the noise.

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up a bit. I pressed the home button on my phone to see the time. 3:30 A.M. I looked over at Jack who was already looking at me. "You ok?" He whispered. "Yeah, just another nightmare." I repsonded. He got up off the floor and climbed in bed with me. His muscular arm wrapped around my waste and I could feel his abbs on my back. I was out within seconds after that.

When we officially woke up to start the day I nudged Jack to wake up and when he didn't listen I took a pillow and smacked him with it. He fell off the bed and I almost died laughing. "You're gonna get it." He snickered. He got up and ran after me, scooping my body into his arms. I laughed hysterically but then the fun had to end because there was a knock on my door. "Hold on!" I shouted. "Put clothes on." I whispered to Jack. I've never seen someone dress themselves as quickly as he did.

"Ok come in." My mom opened the door to find Jack sitting at my desk and me laying on the floor. "What is with all this noise you two." She chuckled. "Sorry we were goofing around." I told her. "Alright well you have some visitors, downstairs waiting for you." She then left the room. "Visitors?" I questioned Jack. He shrugged. When we got downstairs, the rest of The Psychedelic G-Strings were standing in the kitchen.

"What're you guys doing here?" I asked. "We need to practice." Johnson said. Everyone agreed with him and I guess Jack and I did too. "Ok then, let's go." I threw some pants on and ran out the door. We hoped inside Kenny's van and headed to Gilinsky's house. We rehersed every day after that and I think we were finally getting things back to the way they were before. We talked to the judge, who happened to be the assistant principle (who knew), and she decided to let Skate's band back in.

Finally, the night had come. My parents were in the audience and so were Jack's. I think the other band members families were there too but I couldn't tell. The place was packed. Some people were even standing up because there wasn't enough seats. "That's a lot of people." I murmered. Jack grabbed my hand and turned me around. "You'll do great. We all will." He kissed my forehead and then the judge announced Skates band next.

They took the stage, rocking out pretty hard. Which only made me even more anxious. "What are we gonna do if we loose?" I asked Gilinsky. "We'll be just fine." He rubbed my shoulder. The song ended and the assisatant principle took the stage. "Up next is The Psychedelic G-Strings." The whole place boomed with cheered and whistles came from every direction. It was surreal. We walked out on stage and set up our equipment. I watched all the little camera's flash and it felt like a real concert. 

I felt proud, happy. I felt like myself. "You guys ready?" I said to everyone. We all nodded and Jack and Jack started strumming their guitars and Jesse played her keyboard.

Play Video to the right unless you're using your phone (If this is salma reading then play Groove by Jack and Jack from your phone)

The melody kicked in and we rocked it! Jesse set her piano to a different tone to fit the 70's vibe. Johnson could really rap. Damn. I clapped my hands together and everyone joined. I joined in the chorus. I even saw the judges clapping. Jack G. played his heart out and it was so incredible. Gilinsky had his little solo at the end and then it was over. Just like that. We jogged off stage and did a group hug. "You guys did great!" I shouted over the crowd.

Jesse's POV:

I was so caught up in the moment that I hardly noticed that someone was tapping my shoulder. I turned around to see that chick with the red hair. "Hey, have you seen Skate?" She asked with a worried tone. "No why?" I turned away from everyone. "He was with me and Sammy but then he just took off." She looked at, who apaprently was, Sammy who was talkng to some camera guy. "Did he say anything to you before he left. "Yeah, he said something along the lines of me always being a good friend to him and that he's sorry about everything, weird." My eyes widened in horror. "Oh my god." I realized what was happening and I had to stop it.

"I snatched the keys out of Kenny's coat pocket while he was turned around and took off towards the school parking lot. I got in a drove as fast as I could legally go. There's only one place that I knew he would go. I pulled up on the side of the cliff that hung over the ocean where Skate and I had our anniversary two years ago. I jumped out and walked towards the ledg but stopped abruptly. "Skate please don't do this." I shouted to him. Skate turned around. He had tears down his cheeks and a beer in his hand.

"I'm sorry Chloe, for everything." I shook my head. "Stop. Don't say that." He smiled pitifully at me. "You deserve someone better. Someone who's not a druggy or an alcoholic." I took another step forward. "Just get away from the ledge, we'll work things out." I said to him. "And Jack. He's such a great guy. He was trying to help me but I aready knew that I was long gone." A tear fell down my cheek. "Tell him I said that I'm keeping my promise. I'm always gonna be there for him. Right there. Everyday. At least now I am." 

I wipped my face. "Skate..." I sobbed. "I'll see you around." Then his body started to fall back. I ran to him but it was too late. "Skate!" I shouted. I looked away and cried. Soon the silence was filled with the splash of water and crack of bones on rock. I looked back over and a puddle of red formed. I fell to my knees crying. This was all my fault. 

Lilah's POV: 

Jack, Sammy and I jumped out of Sammy's car and raced to Jesse. Johnson, Kenny, and Mahogany jumped out of Mahphgany's car and followed us. We formed a huddle around Jesse and asked her what happened. I looked over the edge to see a massive red puddle and a body floating in the water below. "Oh shit." I said. Jack saw it too. Along with everyone else. We helped Jesse up and brought her to Mahogany's car. "He needed to go. He wasn't happy here." Jack said to her. "It'll be ok." 

"