"Pops!" Somebody was calling me.
"It's Eileen..." Steph said with a disapproving glance my way. Eileen, who was a round, bubbly girl more preoccupied by her friends' well-being than by her appearance, wasn't exactly popular amongst our classmates.
Unlike Steph, I appreciated genuine people. I turned around in my seat and saw the blond girl was running like her life depended on it.
"Pops!" She shouted again when she saw she had my attention. Her cheeks were scarlet and for a second, I worried they might actually burst. I shook my head quickly to get the image out of my mind. Something big was obviously happening.
"What's wrong, Eileen?" I asked once she was within earshot.
"I-It's him..." She managed to say in the midst of catching her breath with both hands resting on her knees.
The blood froze in my veins at her last word and I was already running before she had the time to utter another word.
"W-wait!" She shouted after me. She said something else but I was already too far to hear what it was.
It was Saturday afternoon and most of Brading's fifteen to twenty-year-old kids were hanging out at our local lake.
The closest mall with all the mainstream shops was an hour' drive away from our town, so unless we had a special occasion, the lake was our go-to place whenever we didn't have school or other family obligations.
Brading was situated on the eastern shore of Lake Brandt, which was by far its wildest side with its close proximity to a dense forest that went all the way up Brandt Mount. Only the trickiest trails started from our side of the lake, that was why most tourists chose our neighboring and rival town, Rochester, as their summer destination.
The wealthiest ones, anyway.
Our family campsite was full throughout the summer every year.
We might have only had one pebble beach against their two white sand public ones, but ours was surrounded by the forest which made it the ideal spot for all our parties.
Mr. Harnett, the owner of the campsite that was far enough not to be bothered by the noise, kept quiet about it as long as we left the beach spotless clean afterwards, which we were only too happy to oblige.
Meanwhile, the western shore of the lake was bordered with what Rochester's inhabitants would call chalets when they were in fact three to four levels massive log houses. Most of them had their own private beach but there were also two public sand beaches separated by Rochester Super Playground. This so called playground offered topnotch slides and swings for the kids, two basketball courts, four volleyball courts, baseball cages, a skate park, a laser quest, a bowling, a six screens movie theatre, and a field that could be used to play soccer or football.
Their Lake Brandt Avenue which basically followed the totally developed shore of the lake, was bordered with hotels, luxury shops, upper-class restaurants, ice cream parlors and small cafés to accommodate both the wealthy locals and the tourists.
The southern shore, which divided the two towns in a perfect semi-circle, was also wooded but both mayors had given funds to develop it as a fitness trail, complete with benches and picnic tables.
I'd been sitting at one of those picnic tables on the clearing that opened on our long beach with my friends Stephany Moore and Kelly Jens when Eilleen had turned up.
She'd come from the other side of the beach, the one near the untamed forest, right at the end of the makeshift soccer field, where he and his friends always played one sport or another.
So that's where I was headed and I soon understood what Eileen had tried to tell me.
A circle of at least thirty kids had formed, and from how tense they all looked, I knew it meant somebody was fighting.
I shuddered at the memories that came flooding in my mind.
I clenched my fists once, twice, three times, the way Doctor Eliott had taught me, and the images disappeared, replaced now by the group of people in front of me.
I made my way to the front of the circle and had to clench my fists three more times before I stepped in the middle of the fight, which wasn't actually a fight, I immediately noticed.
Jared Nettles was on the floor and he was currently being beaten up by a group of four football players, led by him.
My initial relief was soon replaced with anger, though, which I didn't even try to hide.
"Four against one..." I said loudly enough to get their attention. "What are you? Freaking wolves that only attack with their pack?!"
It worked, and the four boys were now glaring at me.
"Stay out of this, Poppy..." Max said, not ungently but his gaze had a stern edge I wasn't used to.
"You know me better, Max..." I snorted. "So what did Jared do to deserve this?" I asked but they ignored me and were about to turn back to Kick the dark-haired boy, when I decided I'd up my game.
I purposefully walked to our local skater boy and squatted down to check on him.
"Poppy..." Max mumbled disapprovingly just as Clyde said, "Why don't you go back to your girlfriends, Martins?" He was referring to Kelly and Steph's relationship.
"And why don't you grow a pair and start acting like an adult, Laars?" I shot back. "Are you ok?" I then asked Jared who mumbled, "I've been better..."
I chuckled. At least he hadn't lost his sense of humor.
"What did you do to them?" I went on.
"Damned if I know..." He mumbled again.
"Sooo..." I said as I slowly stood back up and turned around to face the four boys who seemed to be losing patience. "Which one of you has a problem with Jared?" I looked pointedly at all but one of the four boys in front of me.
"Tom..." Ollie muttered, getting dirty looks from his friends.
I cringed at the news.
After two years of utter silence, a public confrontation wasn't exactly how I'd planned to finally face him again.
"The three of you'd better be on your way then, if you're not concerned..." I pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"Tom's our best friend so we are concerned..." Clyde spat and for a second, I couldn't breathe.
His last words, "Tom's our best friend" were playing on a loop in my head.
I clenched my fists three times before looking back up at them. "I'm pretty sure your best friend isn't in any immediate danger, Larrs." My voice was still a bit shaky but he didn't argue.
"Come on..." Ollie, always the most reasonable of the band said, motioning for his friends to walk away. "We've punished him enough anyway..."
The two others sent questioning glances at him and when he didn't say a word, they headed back to the beach, encouraging everybody to do the same.
Pretty soon, it was only the three of us, and although it should have relieved me, I was struggling hard not to walk away myself.
I remembered Jared behind me and decided against it.
"So what did he do?" I said in a low voice with my eyes on his chin. Doctor Eliott had told me it was a good way to hide how uneasy I felt with certain people. Well, there were only three people in that category but he was part of it. He was actually at the very top of the list.
He didn't answer me.
"Jared?"
"Is it because of Sherry?" The black-haired skinny boy enquired uncertainly.
Sherry was his sister.
"What else, you motherf...." The boy I couldn't even look in the eye growled before motioning toward Jared again.
I jumped in front of him with my hands on his arms.
"Get your hands off me..." He growled.
Five words. He'd said five words to me.
My excitement was short-lived, however, when the meaning of those five words finally registered.
"Jared, run..." I said knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to stop the angry boy.
"No." He answered, startling me. "I mean, I-I want to understand..." He added uncertainly.
He was courageous, I had to give him that.
"What happened?" I asked him, hoping his answer would somehow pacify the blonde boy who was sending daggers at me.
"She invited me to Marshall's party last night and well, one thing led to another and we..."
The arms I was holding were now shaking with rage.
"You didn't hurt her, did you?!" I cut him off.
"Of course, not!" He exclaimed, genuinely outraged by my question.
Jared had always been a one night and we're done kind of guys. I occasionally heard of several girls boasting he'd offered them a second night, but even so, he didn't do dates. We all knew that.
"So why are you so mad at Jared?" I asked him. "Everybody knows he doesn't do relationships..."
"She was a virgin..." His voice was much calmer now, which I took as a good sign.
"She was?!" Jared sounded surprised. "But she told me..." He knew better than to say his next words. "I'm really sorry, Man..." He then said sheepishly. "I don't normally..." He cut himself again.
"She really told you she'd been with other guys?" His anger no longer seemed directed at Jared.
"What are you doing, Tom?!" Sherry's high-pitched voice came from behind him.
Like her brother, she was tall and slim with blond hair that she kept down most of the time, and blue grey eyes. She was one year younger than us and would be a Sophomore when school started again in a couple of weeks.
"I overheard you crying to your friends on the phone this morning..." He told her in that soft voice he reserved for his family and closest friends.
"You did?" She bit her lower lip nervously and lowered her face. "I-I..." She started, clearly struggling not to cry. "I lied to them..." She muttered as a lone tear rolled down her flustered cheek.
"How many has there been?" His voice was eerily quiet.
"Two..." She whispered.
"When?" It was only one word, and he did speak it calmly. Too calmly, and I'm pretty sure, Sherry was as scared as I was right then.
"The first one was at the bonfire last summer, the other one was this summer..." Had I not been right behind him, I wouldn't have heard her, that's how small her voice had grown.
"Who were they?" His tone sent chills through my spine.
"A tourist..." No sound came out of her mouth this time.
"Last summer?" He asked and she nodded. "How about the one before Nettles?"
She was trembling now.
"Just tell me, Sher..." He prodded coldly.
"Clyde..."
I snorted and instantly regretted it when I felt his gaze on me.
"Just forget I'm here, yeah?" I muttered sheepishly. "Come on Jared, time to give them some privacy..." I held my hand to him and he took it before slowly standing up. "You're ok?" I questioned with a frown when I saw him wince.
"I'll be alright..." He answered nonchalantly before picking up his board.
"You sure you don't want me to drive you to the hospital just to be safe?" I insisted. The pity I read in his eyes was like a punch in my stomach and unwilling to have the conversation that was bound to follow, I hurried my pace.
I was glad when he didn't try to follow me.
"You look like your cat just died..." Steph pointed out when I sat back at the table a minute later.
"What happened?" Kelly cut her off. "Eileen told us about Jared..."
"He hooked up with Sherry at Marshall's last night. He overheard her crying to her friend that he was her first and lost it..." I explained with a small shrug.
"And we all know how protective The One That Shan't Be Named is when Sherry's concerned..." Steph commented drily before studying me closely.
He used to be protective of me, too... I sighed and clenched my hands three times.
"And?" Kelly prompted.
"And nothing..." I sighed. "Then Sherry arrived and admitted she'd lied to her friends about losing her V-card to him, and Jared and I left them to it..."
"Interesting..." I wasn't sure what it was exactly that Steph found interesting but I wanted nothing more than to drop the subject.
Now that I was back with my friends, I realized that I'd reacted on impulse. I should have waited for Eileen to tell me what was really going on before running there.
"Don't dwell on it..." Kelly must have known what was on my mind. "What's done is done now..."
She was right.
"You mean you won't kiss me the way you did last night again?" Steph fake-pouted.
"Like that you mean?" Kelly played along, before cupping her girlfriend's face and kissing her hungrily.
"You girls need to get a room..." I groaned the way I did each and every time they indulged in hardcore PDA.
"That's precisely what we did last night..." Steph teased me with her lips still locked on Kelly's.
"Well, I'll just leave you to it, then..." I collected my bag and stood up.
"Don't be like that, Pops!" Kelly pleaded. "No more face-sucking, promise..."
"Can I suck something else?" Steph never knew when to stop and I couldn't help but grimace.
Kelly punched her in the arm playfully and opened her mouth as if to say something but suddenly froze, her gaze on something behind me.
Worried as to what – or who rather – would cause such a reaction, I turned around and came face to face with him.
"Why did you come running to stop the fight?" He asked me with his head cocked to the side. It took me a while to answer because I didn't know what to make of his tone.
"I said, why did you come running to stop the fight?!" He shouted and I had no doubt as to the nature of this conversation now.
"I was scared for you..." I murmured with my gaze cast downward.
"Why would you be scared for me?!" He snapped.
I wasn't sure why he felt the need to humiliate me. All I knew is that it hurt.
He grabbed my chin and pulled it up so that he was looking at me in the eye. The hatred I found in the depth of his blue eyes would have knocked me out had he not been holding me.
"I didn't want anything to happen to you..." I stalled and he tightened his hold on my chin to show me that he wanted an answer.
"We used to..." I started but stopped abruptly when I realized what I'd been about to say.
There was a flash of something softer but it disappeared as quickly as it had come to be replaced by his former cold hatred.
"Oh my God!" He then exclaimed loudly enough for the little crowd that had formed around us to hear. "Are you still in love with me after all those years?!" The mocking tone he used to say in love told me and everybody around us, just how pathetic he thought I was, especially when I was so busy blinking the tears away that I forgot to deny his accusation.
He had the decency to look startled for half a second when that realization sank in, not that it changed a thing, unfortunately, although his next statement didn't sound as vindictive after that.
"Well, news flash, Miss Goody-Goody!" He went on. "I don't want you." He shouted and a couple of people gasped at that. "Never have, never will..." He paused. "Not even if I was so drunk that I couldn't walk or if I had the misfortune to get stranded on a desert island with you..." He paused again, looking disgusted at the mere idea, and a group of girls burst out laughing. "In fact, I think I'd rather f*ck a wild goat than you if that ever happened..." He added, and more people started laughing.
"Not even if she dresses up as a goat?" Steph intervened, showing me exactly on which side she was. Kelly punched her in the arm not so nicely this time.
"What?" The red-head girl interjected. "It's high time she faces the truth... She's been following you like a sad little puppy for two years, pining for him from afar..." She went on. "It's high time she moves on..."
Kelly looked mortified on my behalf.
"Don't pretend to be shocked either, Kel." The taller girl added. "You're the one who explained to me and I quote, "I can't just drop the sad little puppy when she only has us, now, can I?""
Some girl laughed while another one said, "She should just go really..."
I was actually planning to do just that but he stopped me.
"Even your friends think you're pathetic... Maybe you should just take the hint..."
"Cam would have..." I started but he was on me before I had the time to finish my sentence.
"Don't you dare speak of my best friend!" He growled and nobody laughed anymore.
"He was my best friend, too..." I replied with my chin up.
"No you weren't..." He hissed before grabbing my shoulders so tightly that I yelped from the sharp pain that ensued. "YOU F*CKING KILLED HIM!" He shouted and pushed me away sending me flying backward before landing painfully to the floor.
What did he just say?! He thinks that I killed Cam?
"Now, get the hell away from me and don't you dare approach me ever again..." He hollered and pushed me with his foot.
I was too stunned to move.
He thinks I'm responsible for Cam's death... I thought, feeling totally numb.
"I didn't kill Cam..." I blurted out what felt like a long moment after but was probably a minute at the most. "I didn't kill him..."
A hand appeared in front of my face.
"Let's go, Poppy..." Nathan, my brother said softly. I stood up slowly and took his hand. "You're a liar, Thomas Wilson." He then said to the angry boy in front of us. "A liar and a coward..." He added, his disgust for my former best friend obvious.
I heard a loud noise, resembling a public bin being kicked violently but didn't turn around to see what it was.
I had just been publically humiliated by the boy who'd always owned my heart and shunned by the two girls I'd called my friends for two years now.
I laughed at the irony of the situation.
None of it would have happened if I had listened to Eileen. At least I now knew exactly where we stood. After two years of being ignored, I'd just got the answers to my questions.
"News flash, Miss Goody-Goody! I don't want you. Never have, never will..."
I'd been stupid to believe that he'd stopped talking to me because I reminded him of Cam, I realized that now.
Maybe I really was as naïve and pathetic as they said.
"You're ok, Pops?" My twelve-year-old brother asked, looking concerned when we finally reached my car.
I should be the one protecting you, Nathan, not the other way around.
"Who came to get you?" I ignored his question.
"Ollie Reynolds." He said his huge green eyes studying me intently.
Thank you, Ollie. I thought as I started the car.