His Lifeline

Chapter 40: I Prevent a Homicide

I woke up gasping. I was breathing normally, and everything hurt. I touched my jaw and immediately recoiled, not doing that again. I shakily pulled out my phone. 5:03 pm. Shit.

It would take me around tenish minutes to get to Annabeth's from the school. I rushed back into the school to my locker. I quickly opened it, stuffed all the music competition prizes besides the gift card in it, and then shut the door.

Running, I quickly made it to Annabeth's house. Hopefully, the bruises on my face were not as visible as my bruises from yesterday. I turned on my phone camera and tried wiping all the dried blood off by licking my finger.

It worked somewhat. I just hoped Annabeth wouldn't notice.

Who was I kidding? Of course, she'd notice. It was almost 5:30 as I hurried up her front stairs and knocked on her front door. Matthew opened it, and I smiled at him.

He looked confused at me and quickly ran off. I heard a little bit of yelling, but then it was quiet. I grimaced. I hope Annabeth wasn't in trouble because of me.

I saw Annabeth quickly walk out of the house with her dad behind her. She shut the door and locked it, grabbed my hand, and ran, pulling me down the stairs and down the street.

After a few blocks, she stopped pulling me and breathed heavily, still holding my hand.

"Sorry about that, my dad is a bit overprotective of me," she apologized, still huffing.

"No need to be sorry. I was fully expecting to have to go up to your room and drag you out, so you being ready to go was refreshing," I joked and got a punch in the arm. I playfully scowled at her, and she looked at me, frowning.

"What's with the hood?" she pointed; then, realization dawned on her face.

"No, no, no, Annabeth, I'm fine, it's fi-" I quickly started to get her mind off the course it was heading.

"That motherfucker, he didn't want to talk to you, did he?" she cut me off, and I sighed. I really couldn't hide much from her.

I sighed again. "No, he didn't want to talk," Annabeth squeezed my hand and stopped our stroll. Then reaching up, she flicked my hood back.

"I'm going to kill him," she had a murderous look in her eyes, and I was confident she could get away with homicide.

"You don't have to do that. It's fine. Another few weeks, and I won't have to see him again anyway," I assured her, looking on the bright side.

She just shook her head and dragged me towards the park. Stopping at the restrooms, she went inside and came out with a few wet and dry paper towels.

"This won't feel nearly as good as a rag," she warned as she slowly got the grime and blood off my face, which I failed miserably to get off earlier. As softly as she could, she wiped my face. Then she handed me a dry paper towel, and I dried my face. Throwing the piece of paper away, I grabbed her hand and led her to the nearest In-N-Out.

She joked around with me, and we kissed a few times. We swung our hands as we walked into the restaurant.

We quickly ordered some cheeseburgers, milkshakes, and fries. I first paid with the gift card and then paid the remnants with cash.

As we waited for our food, I listened to Annabeth rant about how small the homework load is getting and how it just stresses her out more when there's less to do.

Eventually, our food came, and we ate quickly, teasing each other every now and then. After we finished eating and were sucking down the last of our milkshakes, I looked over at Annabeth.

She was staring at me with a sparkle in her eyes. I smiled a lop-sided smile at her, and her cheeks tinted pink when I caught her staring.

"Hey, Annabeth?"

"Hmm?" she looked back at me. I fumbled with my words a bit. Stopping and then starting.

"Spit it out, Rusticitas," she giggled as I stuttered.

I sighed, steeled myself, and asked quickly, "Would you go to prom with me?"

I wasn't sure why I was so nervous. Annabeth's my girlfriend, why wouldn't she say yes? But there was always that part that made you think, what if she said no? I was starting to freak out when her face broke into a grin.

"Really? Yes, of course, I'll go to prom with you, Rusticitas!" she exclaimed excitedly and leaned over the table, kissing me. I felt a bit of pain from my split lip and bruises, but I didn't care. All that mattered was Annabeth.

Then she sat back down, and she laughed at my surprised face.

"What did you think I'd say no?" she joked. Then she looked at me again, and worry filled her features.

"Wait, you didn't actually think I'd say no, right? Why wouldn't I go with you?" she asked softly. I shrugged as if to say I don't know. But in reality, I knew why. I knew why I thought she wouldn't want to go.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters is we're going together" I smiled at her, and she took the change in the mood; however, when I looked at her, I saw that she was trying to figure me out.

I internally shook my head. Save that for later. Tonight is amazing. Annabeth said yes, and I got In-N-Out. Life was pretty sweet.

Except that you got beat up on the side of your school not an hour ago, the whole school knows of your identity, and Annabeth is stressing about finals.

Shh, not now. There is never a not now. I sighed internally as I got up and threw away our trash. Then I walked Annabeth home.