Becoming Normal Again

Chapter 6

Ryan landed hard on the concrete and Jake continued to punch his face. I was frozen in time.

"How dare you touch her!" Jake screamed as he punched Ryan.

Kat and Abby ran over yelling at Jake to get off. I was suddenly thrown into motion, I pulled Jake's arm. Ryan's nose was bleeding and crooked as he cried like a baby under Jake who turned to me.

"Jacee?" he asked as he stood and Ryan rolled on to his side. I didn't have words but I could feel the panic setting in and I could see that day in front of me again.

"Panic..." I whispered before crushing myself into Jake's side to hide the tremors that went through my body. I felt Jake pick me up and the eyes that were drilling holes into me as I left the party without actually leaving it.

My brother, Isaac came into my room as the light poured into my room from the window. "J, you ready to go?" he asked.

"Where are we going?" I asked ready to pull my shoes on.

"Dad wants us to go to the lake." He said from the door. His green eyes lit up in the sunshine. The lake had been my family's favorite place from the time that I was born. Isaac and I had grown up there, we were closer than most siblings. With my schizophrenia, I became depended on him and he didn't seem to mind. Isaac was my best friend. The three of us got in the car and we set out for the lake.

My dad suddenly started talking. "I love you guys so much and I want you guys to know that you two are my world."

Isaac continued to look out the window so I answered my dad. "Daddy, that's so sweet. I love you too."

"And even if I am not there you know that I am always looking out for you." He said and all of the sudden there were car horns blaring in my ears and it was the last time I would see my father alive. I was thrown from my hallucination and back into Jake's car.

Jake had carried me to the car and drove to a small park by Kat's house. Jake wasn't watching me, he was inspecting his black and blue hands, and there were a few tears on his knuckles that seemed as if that is where his fist had collided with Ryan's teeth.

"Jake..." I started. He turned to me and smiled dimly.

"Hi."

I suddenly thought of how Ryan had slapped me. I had never felt more betrayed in my life. Ryan had cared about me at one point and now he had slapped me in front of all our friends. Things would never be the same. There was also the fact that Jake had saved me and that made my heart swell. Jake and I both knew we were taking it slow but the thing was that now he meant more to me than any one else, except for my family. "Thank you." I said.

"for probably causing your friends and you a ton of problems?" he asked meeting my eyes again.

"No for saving me. My friends have always stuck up for me but no one has understood me like you and I am very thankful for that, Jake."

"Anytime. You are unlike anyone I have ever met and to be honest you don't deserve that Ryan guy. No man should ever slap a girl." He said getting angry again.

"He has never hit me before I swear." Jakes eyes suddenly lit up with a thought.

"What is your history?"

I sighed. "We dated before the accident but to him I was going crazy after that and we broke up so he could have a good freshman year with people who understood all that he wanted."

Jake suddenly took my face in his hands with his a few inches from mine. My heart sped up going a million miles a minuet.

"I'm sure his freshman year was hell without you." he said, his have close to mine.

He kissed me then and our lips met as my heart sped up once again. His hands that were on my face slipped down to my neck. It felt like hours before we broke apart. "Jake..." I whispered as we broke apart.

"Jace." He said, his voice just above mine.

I didn’t want to say that I loved him yet but I did care about him and in that moment I knew I had to say something. “I…I care about you” I stammered unsure of myself.  

He grinned at me. “I care about you too, Jacee. Ryan doesn’t deserve you but he did deserve what I did.” His face suddenly got darker. “Are you okay?”

I knew he was referring to my attack. I nodded solemnly. “Yeah I am fine. When I get into arguments like that it happens sometimes.”

He nodded, understanding as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw I had a few messages from Ryan and a few messages from Kat, I am sure she was mad at me for ruining the party she had spent so much time planning.  I thought of how the wasted Karen was probably swooning over Ryan and his poor nose. My mother was calling me.

“Crap.”  I said answering it. “Hey mom.”

“Jacee Lynn! Kat just called me. I don’t know who you’re with!” she screamed into the phone.

“Mom its fine, Ryan was being stupid and I am with Jake.” I said suddenly remembering I hadn’t told her about him. “He is this guy I met at the mall. He is really nice.” I didn’t want to tell her he was Doctor Town’s son because then she would have her on the phone in a matter of seconds and I was finally free. I wanted to keep it that way.

“Jacee I don’t care, come home now!” she said as the line went dead. I looked at Jake with sad eyes knowing my mother and friends had ruined our moment.