My Misadventures

15: Elevate... get it?

This is the exact same way Drifter pinned me down last week. I remember being in a dark alley, and hitting him with a garbage can to get him off of me. The only difference here is-

Kel puts his hands around my throat, making the Venn Diagram a circle. My heart rate quickens as I see more and more similarities between him and Drifter. There's no way. There's no way! My face feels like it's bloating, the blood is beings trapped by his strong grip. My eyes feel like they're too big, and my tongue seems to be swelling.

The only thing I can do is grab his wrists, and attempt weakly to throw him off of me. It's not working. He's a lot heavier than I gave him credit for. My head is starting to really hurt now.

I stare up at him, fear in my eyes. He's angry. He doesn't want to kill me, but he wants to hurt me. His eyes are practically glowing with hatred. Glowing... Drifter's eyes glow.

Suddenly he disappears, and I can breathe again. I lay there in the damp grass, too shocked to move. I just stare at the sky and take deep breaths.

What. The. Hell.

I sit up, head throbbing. I look around to see someone standing between Kel and I. The stranger is speaking to him.

"I don't think that's a valid reason to attack a classmate. You'd better watch yourself, Kel. I'm not sure if the admissions office would approve of a student who can't control his aggression."

Kel mutters something back, then stalks away.

I lay back down, head swimming. My rescuer comes to stand above me, smiling down.

It's Caleb. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I need a sec." I breathe, closing my eyes.

"Here, lemme help you." He says. I don't see what he's doing, but I can hear him uncap his water bottle and pour it on something. He wipes a wet handkerchief across my face, cleaning up my bloody nose. "There. Is it still bleeding?"

I shake my head a little, then put a hand over his, holding it to my face. "Thanks, by the way."

"Hey it's the least I could do." He chuckles. "That's what friends are for, yeah?"

I smile, opening my eyes to see him. "Yeah."

"Let's get you up." He says, standing and hoisting me to my feet. "Damn, you weigh as much as a box of kittens."

"Shut up." I roll my eyes, using his handkerchief to wipe my face one last time. "Um, I'm gonna take this, and wash it up for you."

He hands me my portfolio and backpack. After I'm all set up, he offers to walk me to the bus. I accept, figuring I could use the company.

"Don't you have class?" I ask, looking over at him while we walk.

"Yeah, but I've got a half hour break in between. I was actually headed for a hotdog when I saw you out the window."

"Oh, sorry for interrupting your lunch."

"No no, don't worry. I'm glad I could help." He says, bumping my shoulder as we walk. "This way I can keep you out of trouble, even for a few minutes."

I smile tiredly. "That's where you're wrong. I'm always in trouble."

He laughs. "You're weird."

"It's a little late in the game for that." I say as we make it to the bus stop. The bus is already here, so I hurry to join the crowd.

Caleb grabs my hand, making me turn around. "Hey, text me when you get home safe, okay?"

I smile, giving his hand a squeeze. "Of course."