The Key to her Heart

Chapter Seventeen

I didn't see anyone inside the Literature Building so I went outside there I saw a group of police talking to some students. There was a couple of students in a ambulance while some investigators were looking at a couple of different scenes. Damn . . . this is bad. Really, really bad. Red and blue colors danced on my entire body.
"Alex!" I hear someone say.
I look around to see who called me but I didn't hear anyone, until I see some guy running up towards me.
"Alex, are you sure you're good bro?" Rodgers asked.
He was checking me for any injuries.
"I'm fine." I said.
"And so is this Chica." Rodgers said, licking his lips and looking at Karina.
Karina shied away and hid her face in my arm.
"How you doin baby." Rodgers said, his voice deep.
"Shut the fuck up Rodgers." I said.
"What's your name?" Rodgers asked, completely ignoring me.
"Karina."
Her voice was muffled due to her face being buried into my arm. I noticed that Rodgers had some guy standing next to him. He was smiling awkwardly at me. I smile and wave at him.
"You don't remember me do you?" The guy asked.
I look at Rodgers an eyebrow raised and he just stared at me.
"No, am I supposed to?" I asked.
"I'm Stewart."
I was silent, confused. Steward sounded like a name that belonged to a loser.
"I'm a skateboarder."
And I'm still lost.
"Last year I was the one who threw that really rad party and you went skinny dipping."
Oh now I remember this guy. His hair is a little longer and his eyes are a slightly darker shade of brown. Last year his eyes were such a light brown that they almost looked golden . . . literally.
"Now I remember." I said.
Stewart laughs.
"I knew you would remember me." He said. "Especially if Rodgers did."
Rodgers smiles. What did Rodgers want with this guy? I examine Rodgers hoping he would read my confused face but he didn't. I on the other hand noticed blood oozing down Rodgers ear.
"Bro, what happened to you?" I asked.
I felt Karina move and she is now looking at Rodgers.
"What do you mean?" Rodgers asked. "Do I have an unexplored wound?"
"Your ear." I say, pointing at his bloody ear.
It was covered in dry blood and fresh blood.
"Oh at the very beginning of the school shooting I had got hit by one of the guys." Rodgers explained. "Luckily the bullet hit my ear."
Can he still hear perfectly through that ear? It was like he read my mind because he said:
"I can still hear through it but as of now it's kind of muffled. The nurse said that if I didn't loose part of my hearing I should be able to wake up tomorrow and hear perfectly again."
That's good.
"It's bleeding again." Karina told Rodgers.
Rodgers touched his ear and looked at his bloody fingertips. He groaned.
"I'll be back." He said, walking towards the group of ambulances that were huddled up in the parking lot.
"No, you can't do this, I was forced to do this!" I hear someone scream.
Looking behind me I saw the lady that tried to shoot Karina and I handcuffed and being transported by a female cop. The cop looked like she was over to woman's blabbering.
"Uh-uh, you can tell that to the judge." The cop said.
"Oh I will and don't be surprised when he lets me go!"
"Uh-Huh."
The woman sounded so confident that her freedom was hers. She tried to kill teenagers, does she really think she'll be set free by the judge? Karina was looking at the woman act crazy as she was manhandled into the police car. The woman started crying and I almost felt bad for her. Then again she did try to kill Karina and I. Karina shook my arm and I look down at her.
"What about the policeman up there?" Karina asked, pointing at the Literature building.
"Right."
I look around and begin to search for a cop that wasn't busy. There wasn't one . . . they were all busy.
Um . . .
"Attention Staff and Students of Mcknight High School we are now safe you can come out of lockdown and go home."
I don't know if it was me or the weather but after that announcement it seemed to have become brighter outside. I look up at the sky and see a big cloud moving away from the sun. I soon start to see kids coming out of the buildings they were trapped in.
"Someone help!" Someone screams.
Everyone looks at the person. A police officer comes running up to to person.
"What's wrong?"
"There's a officer upstairs who has been injured and he needs help!"
"Okay, did he give you his name?"
"No!"
"Can you explain what her looks like?"
"Uh . . . African American, bald, kind of chubby."
"Okay, I know who you're talking about, thank you."
The officer says something into her walkie talkie and that's when I stopped paying attention. Karina was checking her phone and she sighed with a frown on her face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I don't have a way home today." She replied.
"I could take you." I said. "Just as long as you don't mind Rodgers being with us."
Karina frowns at me.
"Why you say that like we a thing?" Karina said. "Cause we're not."
O-Kay.
"Also . . . I would appreciate that . . . a lot, thank you."
I smile at how her mood changed so quickly. I then walk over to where Rodgers was. He was sitting on a bench with a hot nurse hovering over him.
"You do that." He said in his flirting voice. "Uh-Huh, I think I found the medication for my heart and emotions too." Rodgers said with dreamy eyes.
When the nurse leaves I sit next to him.
"Why are flirting with the nurse?" I asked.
"Do you not see how fucking gorgeous she is?" Rodgers asked.
I chuckled a little as I looked down.
"Bro, look at her booty!" Rodgers says. "I would love to get all up in that. . . . So round and . . . beautiful."
It looked like he was daydreaming. He licked his lips as he stared at the nurses ass. A few seconds later the nurse returned with a few new bandages and a couple of pills in a plastic bag. Rodgers licked his lips once more and winked.
"What's up baby." He said.
The nurse blushed and chuckled as she handed him the stuff she had in her hands.
"The pills taste like Cherry Tylenol they're for the pain and the bandages are for the bleeding and things of that . . . sort." The nurse said.
She looked tired, like she had been working all day.
"And for my heart?" Rodgers asked.
Both the nurse and I look at Rodgers, curious as to where this was going. Now personally I kind of know where this was going because I know Rodgers on a personal level and I've seen him flirt with girls and women! So ladies if you're hot don't expect to pass Rodgers without him trying to hit on you.
"W-what's wrong with you're heart?" The nurse asked, saying her words slowly as she approached the end of her question. 
"It's aching for you." Rodgers said, kind of smoldering.
The nurse laughed.
"I'm too old for you." She said.
"I'm seventeen you look like you're twenty one, twenty two."
The nurse smiled.
"I'm twenty." She said.
"Two zero?" I asked, surprised.
The nurse looked at me and nods.
"Are you hurt?" She asked.
"No." I replied. "But I'm confused."
"Ay!" Rodgers yelled. "Back the fuck up she's mine!"
"Oh shut the hell up I'm not hitting her."
The nurse laughs.
"You two are funny." She said. "What are you confused about?"
"How are you a nurse at the age of twenty?"
"Oh well I graduated at the age of fifteen and took a gap year before going to collage and then the next I knew I was a nurse."
"Oh, ow!" Rodgers yelled, grasping his chest.
The nurse laughs.
"Baby, help me, I need your love!" He said. "Save me before it's too late!"
Now I'm the one chuckling. The nurse bends over and kisses Rodgers on the cheek.
"I don't date high schoolers." She said.
"Why not?"
The nurse shrugs.
"It's just who I am." She replied. "Have a good rest of your day and I hope you get well soon."
"Alright baby, take care."
The nurse smiles and shakes her head as she goes to talk to another nurse who was a male. I then place my hand on Rodgers shoulders.
"Alright you ready to go?" I asked.
"Yeah, I guess." Rodgers sighed.
He looked like he had been defeated . . . in which he was.
"Alright let's go, walk it off." I said.
"It's just-"
"Shh." I say. "Let it go."

When I get Rodgers and Karina in the car it is dead silent. Karina has her headphones in her ears as she stared at the patterns in her hands while Rodgers was staring out the window. We found out that the game was moved from today to next Friday which was a bummer. The silence in the car was killing me so I had to break it.
"Why were you with Stewart?" I asked, putting the car in reverse.
"I was trying to get him to throw a party tomorrow night." Rodgers replied.
I raise my eyebrows.
"Really?" I asked. "What did he say?"
"He said he'll try and let me know either tonight or sometime tomorrow." Rodgers said.
Awesome! I turn to look at Karina who was staring at my mouth. I nod at her as if telling her 'wasup'. She takes out her earbud and says:
"What?"
"Why you looking at me?" I asked.
"I'm-it's none of your business." Karina replied.
"Ooh, she feisty!" Rodgers said.
Karina sighs, rolls her eyes, pops her earbud back in her ear, and sat back.
"Is she going to the party?" Rodgers asked.
"I'm going to try to drag her to it." I replied looking at Karina through my rearview mirror.
When I get to Rodgers house we sit in the car and talk for a moment and that moment turned into forty five minutes (we would've kept talking if it weren't for Karina being a party pooper).
"Alright see you later bro." Rodgers said as we do our handshake.
"Bye." I say.
Rodgers gets out of the car and so does Karina. Rodgers and I look at her, confused. Rodgers stands in front of Karina and she looks up at him.
"Are going to go inside or . . ?" Karina asked.
"Why you wanna come with me?" Rodgers asked.
"Ew, no!" Karina said. "I need you to get out of my way."
Rodgers looks at the passenger seat and back at Karina.
"Oh, sorry." He said, taking a step back.
Karina then gets into the passengers seat. I look at her for second and then look at Rodgers. He mouthed something to me but I didn't catch it. I smile and salute at him as I bring the engine to life again.
"Alright, where are we going?" I asked, leaving Rodgers driveway.
"My house." Karina said.
"Wel-I know that, I just don't know where you live." I said.
Karina sighs and grabs my phone off the dashboard. She tried to unlock it but soon realized it had a lock on it. She hands me my phone.
"Unlock it." She said, her voice calm.
I take my phone, unlock it, and give it back to Karina. She types something into the phone and puts it back on the dash board.
"Listen to the gps." She said, sitting back, arms folded across her chest.
I obeyed her and began to follow the directions the gps was giving me. It was a thirty minute drive to Karinas neighborhood. It looked like it had just been built. I follow the swirly road that  leads to the back half of the neighborhood. These houses look expensive.
"You live here?" I asked, taking a glance at her.
She didn't hear because she had her headphones in and she was staring out the window so I tap her shoulder. She took out her earbuds and looked at me.
"Follow th-"
"You live here?" I ask again.
Karina looks around confused.
"I'm sorry is it illegal to live in this neighborhood?" Karina asked.
"No . . . I'm just confused . . ." I reply, looking her up and down.
"You know just because I dress like everyone else doesn't mean that I don't have money." Karina said. ". . . But I'm not rich either . . . to be honest I'm really poor it's just . . . my Mom has some help getting this house."
When I turn a corner Karina says;
"My house is right there."
She pointed at the house at the very end. It was up on a hill (like Rodgers') and was one of the few homes that were painted tan. When I drive up to her driveway I see someone messing with the blinds and a lady walking around with a coffee mug in her hands and messy hair.
"Thank you." Karina said unbuckling herself.
"You're welcome." I say.
She opens the door and I stop her.
"Wait!"
She turns to look at me.
"What?"
"There might be a party tomorrow and I was hopping I could take you?"
I didn't want it to be a question but it all came out before I could comprehend it.
Karina chuckles once and gets out the car. She shuts the door and walks into her home. Damn did I just get rejected?