Bullet

Chapter 5 - The Inevitable

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, placing my hand over hers that was lying limply on my plush carpet.

Her mouth quivered. “He told me not to tell anyone what happened with…” she trailed off, picking up her now somewhat healing arm and putting it back down again. “And then he had all these people following me and I thought if they heard me talk about him…”

Quickly bringing her in my arms, I tried to reassure her in the best ways I could, despite my own discomfort that I had yet to tell her about. “What do you think he’s going to hurt you again or something?”

I felt her shake her head on my shoulder. “I don’t know!” she cried. “I don’t think he meant to hurt me the first time. I mean, Callie…I’ve seen him when we’re alone together. He’s always so gentle with me and he treated me like I was glass that could break or something. I think he’s just scared of damaging his reputation and being kicked off of the team.”

As she pulled back, I shook my head at her. “That doesn’t give him the right to scare people like this.”

“People?”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding and let my shoulders sag. “I think he’s been following me, too.”

“How do you know?” she gasped.

“I just feel like someone’s always…watching me. I can’t escape it. And when you were taking care of Clay that day he had him against the lockers…he said me and Clay would regret ruining his relationship with you,” I mumbled off, casting my eyes to the floor.

I should have told her sooner, clued her in on Carter’s harsh truth finally coming to light. Maybe then we could have fixed this situation sooner, nipped it in the bud before things got too drastic.

“And then he gave Grayson Foster this note to give to me saying he ‘didn’t forget’ or whatever…” I shook my head again. “He’s insane, Marn.”

She breathed what seemed to be a sigh of relief. “I’m glad someone finally agrees with me.”

Gapping at her like a fish, I said, “I thought you liked him!”

She giggled a bit, the sound a relief to hear after being resigned to watching her mope for the past two weeks. “I did! But he’s seriously insane. Did you know that he told me he was, ‘The best I would ever get’? How cocky can you get?”

I laughed along with her, not questioning Carter ever uttering those words. He treated everyone like they had to bow down to him before he snapped. Much to his dismay, he actually wasn’t God’s gift to the world. I was just glad my best friend was finally seeing what he was capable of and wasn’t letting her former feelings get in the way anymore.

*~*~*~*~* 

Corey Palmer’s house reeked of weed and beer.

Stepping into the team kicker’s house on this Sunday night, I had to twist myself in a maze of sorts to get around the multitude of beer cans thrown around and bodies mangled with one another on the arm rests of couches in the family room. The party was being thrown on a school night because the team had won their latest match against Moreland County and knew just the way to celebrate…by getting drunk and forgetting all about it by the morning.

The smoke in the air was heavy, covering the party-goers like a thick blanket and making my lungs tighten at the smell. Sweaty bodies were grinding against one another in provocative motions, signaling that most would be declaring they were getting a room sooner than expected.

“Where’s Clay?” Marnie shouted from behind me over the thumping bass and rowdy people lining the room.

“I’m trying to find him!” I shouted back, making a human chain with Marnie in hand to get through the mass of kids shrieking and babbling on drunken thoughts.