𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 ✧ 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜

chapter seven.

maybe: cole walter.

the letters scrolled by underneath the number, and i crinkled up my face in confusion. shaking my head, thinking there would be no way cole walter would be calling me at 10:30 on a school night, i declined the call.

before i could even put my phone back down, though, the same number appeared. and the same possible guess as to who it was. maybe cole walter.

i picked it up, and decided not to say anything.

i swear, if this is a prank call.

"harper?" a desperate voice answered the phone in a gasp, and i cleared my throat before talking.

"yes?"

a huge sigh of what i guess was relief came through the phone, "um, we're in a bit of a pickle here."

"how did you even get my number?" i said, swinging my legs to the side of the bed and sitting up.

"questions for another day." he said quickly, "im serious, we need your help. im with jackie."

"okay..." i said slowly, feeling a weird sense of doom enter my chest, "what ever for?"

"its jackie." he huffed again, "she's drunk."

"she's what!?" i yelled, and then bit my tongue. it was too late for such things, but also, much too late for getting drunk.

"i know, i know," i could sense his shame through the phone, "i got her to go to this party, and she got drunk, and like, threw up all over me," the boys brain was obviously scattered, he was speaking a mile a minute, "and i just dont know what to do. and youre like her... mentor. or something, right-"

"advisor." i interrupted him.

"harper gray. same thing." he begged through the phone, but obviously feeling better enough to resort to nicknames, "can you come help me get her in the house... um, quietly?" i heard some loud racket in the background, and another sigh come from the boy on the phone.

i dug the tips of my fingers into my temples. now this was the stuff i hadnt signed up for. this was the exact thing therapists and counselors say no to. draw the line, established boundaries.

but i just bit my lip, "i'll be there in twenty."

upon arriving to the walters house, i found a very much so drunken girl, sprawled out in coles back seat, and a stressed cole walter.

"one of the boys couldnt help you?" i huffed, peering at jackie from the backseat window of cole's truck. i shivered in the now close to midnight air.

"i didnt know who was going to be up," cole spun to look at jackie too, "and i dont know. a girl should probably be handling her. she passed out during the rest of the drive back," he sent his look over towards me, "so lets just hope that she doesnt wake up."

hope's were not fulfilled that night, though.

just lifting jackie's torso was enough to make her eyes shoot open, and words fall from her mouth like a waterfall. no effort or signs of life showed behind her eyes.