REALLY ✓

28: The Gray Area

"Which is?" the big guy spoke again.

"Me," my eyes followed the sound of that familiar voice and I found Judah, lying down with his feet up on an old sofa in the middle of the room. I gasped as soon as I saw him and I accidentally pushed the door back too far, revealing myself to the entire room.

The room inside resembled a small office, there was a desk and chair on the far right, where Max sat. Several other guys were standing around the middle area, where the sofa was. Then, I found Ava and her bright red hair, sitting casually on an armchair next to the sofa.

All these people shot me a deadly look as soon as my little head popped through the door. They looked as if they were in the middle of an important discussion, and I just happen to be present all of a sudden.

"Blondie? What are you doing here?" Judah's body jerked up as soon as he saw me.

Judah's eyes were bloodshot red and tired, and his face was extremely pale. There were also cuts and marks all over his face and body, and they weren't the ones he got on the day of the play. This was newer.

But the thing that shocked me the most was the IV bag hanging on a makeshift pole next to him, and the tube was connected to his arm.

What the heck happened to him?

"Who's this?" Max interjected.

"Just some girl I went to school with," Judah hissed.

Some girl... ouch. 

"You needa get her outta here, man," Max replied.

"Go home, Blondie," Judah nodded his head to me, his eyes throwing daggers.

"No," I said simply, "I'm not leaving here without you,"

If looks could kill, I'd have died about twenty times that minute.

"You need to handle that, fucking now," Max said again, sounding more and more intimidating.

Judah sighed in frustration and got to his feet. He was staggering as he strode over to me and I found myself backing away towards the door. In one swift move, he pulled my hand to the side, pushed the door back and led us both outside.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Blondie?" he said as soon as the door slammed shut.

"I... Your mom is worried sick about you. I'm just helping her look for you," I replied defensively.

"You've found me, now what?" 

"Let's get outta here. You need to stay away from this place and these people,"

"Yeah, that's not happening," he scoffed mockingly and cocked his head to the side, "You, on the other hand, need to leave,"

He grabbed my arm briskly, trying to pull me towards the exit. Using all my strength, I stood my ground and pulled my hand away.

"Judah, wait," I said quickly, "Why did you call me last night?"

He looked taken aback as he wasn't expecting that question from me. Quickly, he recovered himself and said, "I didn't,"

"You did,"

"I didn't call you. My phone broke," he said as he took out a smashed iPhone from his jeans pocket.

I noticed his hand as he showed his phone to me. His knuckles were torn to shreds, the skin was black and blue.

"Judah, what happened to..." I started, but he cut me off.

"You haven't changed your clothes. You never went home last night?" he said suddenly, catching me off guard. It was then when I realized I was still wearing the same clothes from the night before.