Wandering Alone

Chapter 24

"Is something wrong?"  I asked, grabbing his hands.

"N..No.  I just see some of my old friends."  He stuttered.

"Oh, well come on, let's go say hi!"  I exclaimed, smiling.

"No!"  He shouted, causing everyone within a ten foot radius to look at us.  I frowned and turned around, searching for the boys who he said were his friends.  There was a group of about five boys who were smiling and walking towards us, I assumed they were his friends.  "Oh great."  Zane ran his fingers through his hair

"Zane!"  One of them yelled.  He had black hair and blue eyes, and several freckles on his face.  He wore jeans and a black hoodie, like the one I had back home.

"Hey Jaden."  Zane said, smiling a week smile.  I cocked my head, confused.  What was going on?

"I thought you went over to the states."  He said, coming to a stop before us.  The rest of the boys stayed behind Jaden, arms crossed over their chests, "Did you lie to us?"

"No."  Zane gritted his teeth, "Me and my family came back for a visit."

"That's nice.  Weren't you going to call us?  We could've hung out."  Jaden raised and eyebrow and smirked, giving him an evil look.  I stood their dumb struck.  What was the problem?  He seemed nice enough.

"No, I wasn't.  I don't have that long here and I was planing to spend it with family."  What was wrong with Zane?  He looked tense, almost afraid of the tall, scrawny boy standing before us.

"Oh, but you could spend time with some random girl?"  Jaden asked, his face turning red in anger.  His eyes flickered to me, and I felt a chill run through my spine.  There was something seriously wrong with him, he looked haunted.

"Hey, I'm not some girl!"  I exclaimed, stepping forward, "I'm his girlfriend!"  The boys behind Jaden's eyes widened, but Jaden got even more mad.

"An American girl?" He asked, looking me up and down with disgust.  What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Yeah."  Zane said, shoving me behind his back, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it just seems like your mom wouldn't let you bring your girlfriend with you."

"Why not?  She lives with us."  I couldn't see their faces, Zane was holding me behind his back firmly, but I could tell by their tones that no one was happy.

"She lives with you?" He asked, almost mocking Zane.  It was like he was begging for a fight.

"Yes, my mom had custody of her."  They were almost growling by then, which kinda scared me.

"Zane, we need to go.  We're leaving for your grandmothers in an hour."  I said, trying to get out of his hold.  He grabbed my hand and pulled me forward, leaving the boys behind.  "What was that about?"

Zane stiffened. "Nothing, we got in a big fight before I left.  He would do anything to get me back for leaving...we were best friends."

"But I don't understand-"  I was cut off as some one grabbed me from behind, pulling me away from Zane.  I immediately panicked, but held back my scream.  My heart was beating so fast I could hear it pounding in my ears.  I stomped on the persons foot, causing them to scream.  Before they could react I spun around, preparing to punch them in the face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa,"  Jaden said, holding up his hands, "It's just me."

"What do you want?"  I asked, turning up my nose.

"Hmm...feisty, I like that."  He said, wiggling his eyebrows.  I scoffed and turned to walk away. "Wait!"  He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to face him, "I just wanted to say that if he messes up, we could talk.  I'm sure we would have something in common."  He winked at me and shoved a piece of paper in my pocket, "See you around."  I was about to laugh, when he kissed me on the cheek.

"What do you-"  I stopped in mid sentience as Jaden fell to the floor, tackled by Zane.  "Stop it!"  I screamed, lunging forward on top of Zane.  I gripped his shoulders, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling back.  In less than a second I was thrown off as Zane punched Jaden, causing me to roll into a brick wall.  My vision darkened as I gripped my head, which was pounding.  "Zane, stop!"  I screamed again, jumping back into action.

I jumped onto Jaden this time, who was on top of Zane.  I gripped his shoulders, pushing tight until my fingered sunk into flesh.  He stiffened under me, but kept punching Zane.  I screamed as they rolled over, pushing me under Jaden with Zane on top.  I could feel the impact of punches as Jaden's body pushed down on me, making it hard to breathe.  His head flew back, hitting my nose and mouth.  I screamed again as pain filled my face, again blurring my vision.  A copper taste filled my mouth which I recognized as blood, but I kept squeezing his shoulders, right where his neck ended.

A minute later I felt Jaden go limp on top of me, crushing me even more.  I couldn't talk, my mouth hurt to much, so I just shoved his body off of me, finally allowing me to breathe.

"Are you okay?"  Zane exclaimed, pulling me to my feet, "What did you do?  When did you get under Jaden?  Why did he pass out?"  I couldn't answer.  Not only did I feel like I hadn't breathed in twenty years, I was too focused on the police man running towards us.