Fix me

Chapter 9

            I started back down. “I don’t know,” I lied.

            “Are you embarrassed by me?”

            “No.” I shook my head. “You have to believe me, Hunter.”

            “Why should I?” he asked with a sudden fierceness. I actually winced. “You don’t seem to tell me anything. Why should I believe you?”

            Now my eyes filled with water. Not because he was yelling at me, but because I knew he was right. “You shouldn’t.” My voice came out scratchy and I was filled with self-loathing.

            The bell rang and the hallway began to clear. I quickly wiped my eyes and walked past Hunter, heading to my next class. I was almost to the end of the hallway when he caught up to me.

            “Violet, wait,” he said and touched my elbow. I jerked back on reflex. He lowered his arm down and I tried not to look at his face. “What do you have this period?” He asked me.

            “Study hall.”

            He leaned down until his mouth was by my ear. If it were anyone else, I would have jumped back in fright. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have let them get this close to me to begin with.

            “Leave with me.” he whispered. I gasped as his warm breath hit me and I did not feel the need to run away. Instead I felt… safe.

            “You want me… to ditch class with you?” I asked, still confused about my response to his closeness. He nodded and before I could understand what was happening, I was too and he was leading me down the hall and out the back door.

            He didn’t touch me again, but I wanted him to and that thought scared me so much that I pulled back from him a little and crossed my arms over my body. We were in the parking lot now and I had no idea where we were going. “Do you have a car?” I asked. He shook his head and didn’t say anything.

            We continued to walk through the parking lot until we were at the end, the open road in front of us. Hunter turned right onto the sidewalk and, for reasons I could not fathom, I followed him.

            We walked for a long time in complete silence, only the noises of passing cars to fill our ears.

            “Where are we going?” I finally asked after we were nearly two miles from the school.

            “My house.” He answered back simply and didn’t say anything else.

            I was beginning to have regrets I should not have don’t this. I should have stayed at school. Now we were going to his house and I didn’t know what he would do to me once we got there.

What if I was wrong and he was just like Jeremy? He was bringing me to his empty house after all.  Oh, God.

I began to freak out, my heart beat speeding up and I began to sweat.

“Are you okay?” Hunter asked me, turning around to face me. We stopped walking.

“I think I should go back to school,” I said and turned around, nearly running back in the direction we had come from.

“Violet, wait!” Hunter called after me and I felt his hand on my shoulder.

“DON’T!” I screamed and jerked my body away. “Don’t touch me!”

He looked at me with an open mouth. “Violet, I-.”

“Stay away from me!” I shouted when he began to walk towards me again.