After sitting through at least two hours of torture with Becca we were finally ready to call it a night.
Megan, Dawn, and Becca had already showered and were laying unconscious in their beds and lucky for me Becca was sharing a bed with Dawn.
We had all played rock, paper, scissors to see who got to shower first. Obviously I lost, which was why I hadn't showered yet.
Grabbing my toiletry bag from my suitcase I headed into the bathroom and closed the door behind me before turning on the shower.
I searched the cabinets underneath the double sinks for a towel but came up short.
Groaning in frustration I shut off the shower and headed back out into the room. I made my way over to the phone sitting on the nightstand intending to call down to the front desk to ask for more towels but when I picked up the phone I noticed that the cord had been snatched out of the back.
"You've got to be kidding me." I mumbled before placing the useless phone back on the hook. This had to be at least a four star hotel and their phone didn't work?
I was contemplating on just waiting to go down to the front desk and take my shower in the morning but it had been a long day and I really wanted to wash away the flight.
I sighed and grabbed the room key off the desk before heading out into the hall.
One thing I instantly noticed was how creepy hotels were at night when there was no one roaming the halls.
I walked quickly toward the elevators and pressed the down button.
I shuffled from foot to foot nervously as I waited.
Why was the elevator taking so long?
Somewhere down the hall to my left I heard a door shut.
I glanced to my left but saw nothing but empty halls.
I turned back to the elevator and started violently pressing the down button as if that would make the elevator come faster.
"Come on already." I mumbled.
There was a ding and the doors slowly slid open. I rushed inside and quickly pressed the button for the lobby.
Once the doors slid close again I let out a shaky breath.
As the elevator descended to the lobby I shook my head. I was being really paranoid. Nobody was after me. Someone was probably just leaving their room to get ice or something.
I took a deep breath and let it out.
"You're going to enjoy this trip even if it kills you. There is no one after you." I said to myself.
Unfortunately for me I just so happened to say it when the doors slid open revealing a woman and her small son.
"Ugh, just giving myself a little pep talk." I said as sweetly as I could.
The woman grabbed her son's hand and rushed toward another pair of elevator doors that were open. Before they entered I heard the woman say to her son,
"This is why you say no to drugs Christopher."
Great. Now people think I'm a drug addict.
I stepped out of the elevator and headed for the front desk where a man with short dark hair in a white button down and tie was standing and scribbling something on a piece of paper.
"Excuse me?"
The man looked up at me and gave me a small smile.
"Can I help you with something miss?"
"Um yes. I need some more towels for my room please."
"No problem. Just wait right here for a minute and I'll bring you some."
The man quickly walked from behind the desk and disappeared around a corner.
I waited until the man returned with fresh, white, warm towels.
"Here you go." The man said as he handed me the towels.
"Thank you."
"Is there anything else I can do for you?"
I was about to decline when I remembered what brought me down here in the first place.
"Actually there is. The phone in room 436 is broken. Could you send someone up to fix it?"
"I'll send someone up first thing in the morning." The man said while he wrote what I assumed was my room number down on a piece of paper.
"Great, thanks."
"Have a good night miss."
"You too." I said while making my way to the elevators.
I struggled to press the button with all the towels in my hands so I settled for awkwardly pressing it with my elbow.
I had to press the button for floor number four with my hip after accidentally pressing the buttons for floors five, eight, and nine.
Once I was back on my floor I shuffled with the towels down the hall toward my room.
When I was in front of my room I had just bent down to place the towels on the floor and reach for my room key when something collided into my side and tackled me to the ground.
I hit the carpeted ground with a grunt as whoever was on top of me pinned me to the ground.
A scream built up in my throat but was quickly cut off when my face was pushed down into the carpet.
I started wildly kicking my legs to try and throw whoever was on top of me off.
"Grab her legs." I heard a deep muffled voice reply.
A few seconds later I felt something being wrapped tightly around my legs.
This couldn't be happening.
I struggled to lift my head off the ground before I let out a horror movie worthy scream.
"Shit! Why didn't you gag her?" I heard whoever was on top of me hiss.
"We gotta go!"
Then the weight on my back suddenly disappeared before I heard several doors opening on the hall.
"Gemma!" Megan's voice filled the hallway first.
I struggled to sit up before I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders.
Megan helped me sit up while she looked me over nervously.
"What happened? Are you okay? Who were those guys?" Megan fired off question after question.
I opened my mouth to reply but Mr. Frazier suddenly showed up.
His hair was all messed up from sleep and his glasses sat crookedly on the bridge of his nose.
It would've been funny if I wasn't on the verge of a heart attack.
"Oh my... Gemma are you alright? What happened?"
I opened my mouth but was cut off again when Archer shoved his way through the crowd of people who had surrounded me.
I was expecting him to ask what had happened like Megan and Mr. Frazier but instead he took one look at me and dropped down next to me and pulled me into his arms.
I instantly wrapped my arms around him and noticed I was shaking.
"I'll call your parents." Mr. Frazier said as he pulled out his cell phone.
I pulled away from Archer and shook my head.
"No!"
A bunch a curious glances were thrown my way.
I cleared my throat nervously.
"You don't have to call my parents. I'll do it myself."
Mr.Frazier eyed me curiously before he finally put his cell phone away.
"What happened?" He asked again.
I threw a desperate look at Megan who I assumed was the only one to actually see the guys who had tried to take me before they ran off.
"Mr. Frazier it's kind of late. Can we talk about it in the morning? Gemma is fine now. I think what we all need is some sleep." Megan pleaded.
Mr. Frazier gave me an uncertain look.
"Gemma?"
"I'm fine. Honest. I just thought I saw something and tripped over the towels." I said nodding towards the towels that now laid sprawled across the floor.
"Are you sure you're alright? If you want me to call someone I can."
"I'm okay. Honestly. Sorry for waking everybody up."
"I knew it! You're just an attention whore." Avery said pushing her way to the front of the crowd.
"Ms. Robinson!" Mr. Frazier said giving her a firm look.
"Well it's true. Ever since her little accident last year she's been practically begging for attention. First on the plane and now this. I wouldn't be surprised if she made the whole thing up."
"Enough Ms. Robinson! Everybody head back to your rooms we have a big day tomorrow and we all know how long you ladies take to get ready." Mr. Frazier said looking at Megan directly.
The students all mumbled as they walked back to their rooms until it was just me, Megan, Blake, Archer, Becca, Dawn, Mr. Frazier, and surprisingly Cade.
"If you're sure you're alright—" Mr. Frazier began.
"Mr. Frazier you're starting to sound like my dad. I'm okay. You can go back to sleep, you look like you need it." I said with a small smile.
Mr. Frazier fixed his glasses before running a hand through his hair.
"Alright then. You kids get some sleep."
We all watched Mr. Frazier in silence until he shut the door to his room behind him.
"Oh my gosh Gemma you scared me half to death!" Becca screeched before she bent down and literally pushed Archer out of the way to hug me.
"I thought someone was murdering you!"
"Ughh—"
Megan sighed heavily before she grabbed Becca by the arm.
"Alright Barbie, I mean Becca, I think we should all go back to sleep."
"But—"
"You don't want bags under your eyes do you?"
Becca's eyes widened like having bags under her eyes was the worst thing imaginable.
"Okay then. Back to the room we go." Megan dragged Becca back to the room and after sending me a look that meant I would have to explain later she disappeared inside soon followed by Dawn.
"Alright, well since you aren't being murdered I'm going back to bed." Blake stated before he ruffled my hair.
"Hey!" I slapped his hand away and patted my hair back down.
"Goodnight Gemma." He said through a yawn before he retreated to his room leaving just me, Archer, and Cade.
Awkward.
"Why the hell are you still here?" Archer demanded.
Cade actually looked surprised.
"I wanted to make sure she was okay." Cade said simply.
This only seemed to fuel Archer's anger.
"You wanted to make sure she was okay?" Archer scoffed.
Archer stood up and was about to step forward but I grabbed his hand from my spot where I was still sitting on the ground.
"Archer please. Not tonight."
I looked at Cade.
"Cade could you just—"
"Yeah, fine. Whatever."
Cade started to walk away but just to push Archer's buttons he threw over his shoulder,
"Sleep tight Gemma."
Then he disappeared inside his room.
Archer whirled around to face me.
"Sleep tight? Where the hell did that come from?"
I shook my head.
"He only said it to get under your skin."
Archer took a deep breath before he sat back down next to me.
It was only then that I noticed he was only wearing a pair of gray sweatpants.
"Do you always sleep shirtless?" I asked.
"No, I usually sleep naked but since I have three other guys sleeping in the same room as me I can't. I wouldn't want to bruise their egos."
"Of course. We wouldn't want that."
"Don't try to distract me. What really happened out here and don't give me that bullshit story you gave everybody else."
I sighed and placed my head in my hands. There was no point in trying to keep it from him. He already knew something had happened.
"I don't know. I went down to the lobby to get some more towels and on my way back up somebody just...attacked me. I thought I had heard somebody earlier but I thought I was just being paranoid. I don't know how many of them there were but it was more than one. And I don't know who they are or what they wanted."
I suddenly started shaking again and Archer pulled me into his arms.
"It's okay." He whispered softly.
"It was probably just a bunch of ass holes trying to mess with you. I wouldn't be surprised if Avery was behind this."
"There's something else I have to tell you." I said quietly.
"What is it?"
"You remember earlier on today when I came from the bathroom and Megan showed you that note?"
"Yeah."
"I heard somebody come into the bathroom while I was in there and when I came out I found it just sitting by the sinks. I think whoever it was that came into the bathroom left it for me."
I felt Archer's arms tense.
"Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad but why didn't you tell me?"
"This is our senior trip. I didn't want to ruin it by bothering you with it. Especially when I thought I was just being paranoid."
Archer gently lifted my chin so I was looking up at him.
"I don't care how small you think it is, if you have a problem come to me okay? Screw the trip. Prank or not, somebody just attacked you."
"Maybe they thought I was somebody else." I offered meekly.
Archer gave me a flat look.
"Or maybe it was like off that movie White Chicks when they tried to kidnap them but they were actually male strippers."
"The thought of male strippers kidnapping my girlfriend is ten times worse."
I smiled and leaned my head against his shoulder.
"Are you sure you don't want to call anybody? Your parents? The police? S.W.A.T?"
I laughed and shook my head.
"Calling my parents is just like calling S.W.A.T. I'll just give them panic attacks. It was probably just some boys from our class trying to be funny like you said."
Archer didn't looked convinced but he didn't say so.
"Alright. Well if you're not going to call then you have to do something for me." Archer said as he stood up and pulled me up after him.
"What?" I asked curiously.
Archer didn't say anything. Instead he walked over to the room I was sharing with Megan and the other girls and knocked.
Megan swung the door open immediately.
She was obviously eavesdropping.
"Gemma is staying with me tonight."
"What? We'll get in trouble and you already have people in your room." I tried to explain but they both ignored me.
Megan shot me a sly look and nodded.
"Have fun Gemma. I'll be waiting on your explanation when you get back." Megan waved and picked up the towels that I had almost been kidnapped over and took them into the room after closing the door.
Archer gave me a mischievous smile before he led me a little ways down the hall to his room.
I guess he left his key inside because he knocked.
A few moments later a half sleep boy with messy blonde hair and half closed brown eyes opened the door.
"Get out." Archer stated simply.
The boy rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"What?" He asked through a yawn.
"I said get out. You and the rest of the guys find yourselves somewhere else to sleep tonight."
"What?" The boy asked again.
Archer sighed and let go of my hand.
"I'll be right back."
Archer pushed pass the boy and into the room.
I could hear Archer from outside the room.
"Move your asses. My girl is outside and she's staying with me tonight so you need to find somewhere else to sleep."
I couldn't hear the responses of whoever else was inside the room but I heard Archer's reply.
"If you don't start moving I'll tell everyone what happened at Chris's end of the year party last year."
This seemed to work because a few seconds later two boys came stumbling out of the room with blankets and pillows both dressed in their boxers.
Archer followed with a pillow in his hand which he threw at the blonde boy who had fallen asleep standing up at the door.
The pillow hit the boy in the face and he snorted before jolting awake.
Archer grinned at the boys before grabbing my hand and pulling me inside.
"Goodnight." He then closed the door in all three of their stunned faces.
"Why'd you do that?! They won't have anywhere to sleep." I asked.
"Trust me, they'll find somewhere to sleep. But you..."
Archer took a few slow steps toward me before caging me in with his arms on either side of my head.
"I'm not sure how much sleep you'll be getting tonight."