"Give me a second, I've got to go to the bathroom." I excused myself from the group heading to lessons, making my way to the toilets.
It didn't take me long to use the bathroom, partially because I was rushing so that I wouldn't be late to class, but as I was washing my hands I noticed something in the bathroom mirror. I leaned closer to it, trying to figure what the hell it was.
"Looking for me?"
The voice scared the shit out of me, making me jump and slip on the slightly wet bathroom floor. As my ass hit the floor, a groan of pain escaped my mouth- that hurt more than I'd like to let on, especially when Jude was in the room.
"You're the last person I would ever look for." I sneered, wiping my wet hands on my trousers and pulling myself off of the floor.
"Oh, Cameron, you hurt my feelings!" Jude mocked me, leaning against the door to leave the bathroom.
"What do you want, Jude?" I deadpanned, not wanting to deal with his bullshit right now.
"Aren't you afraid? It's just me and you..." Jude's expression grew darker, "I could do anything I wanted right now."
If I'm being honest, then Jude's threat did shake me to my core. It's hard not to be so scared of an absolute lunatic like Jude- his threats weren't baseless, he had killed people after all. Knowing you were in a room with a murderer was enough to make anyone filled with fear, but I was trying my best to remain brave.
"I have a feeling that you can't touch me, Jude." I mustered up the courage, "You know it would send Xavier into a frenzy and you'd be killed. You're much too smart to hurt me now, so what are you really here for?"
"Some bold assumptions you're making there, Cameron. I'd be careful if I were you- they could get you hurt." Jude growled.
"I guess I'm correct, then.." I chuckled, "Spit it out, Jude."
"I need you to deliver a quick message to your beloved boyfriend."
"Well skip to the chase, you're making me late for English. Haven't you ever heard of a text before?"
"Watch your lip." He warned, taking a few menacing steps forward.
"I don't want to deliver any fucking message of yours." I hissed, "It's too close to doing you a favour and I don't do favours for sickos."
I must have pushed Jude too far because before I knew it, he had me up against the bathroom wall by the neck in a chokehold. Upon impact, my head slammed into the tiles leaving me with a pounding headache and slightly blurry vision.
"I said, I need you to deliver a quick message to your beloved boyfriend."
With every word, Jude's eyes grew darker and he tightened his grip on my neck, squeezing it like a woman in labour squeezes her partner's hand. My eyes were pouring with tears, hands desperately trying to pull his away. My vision kept focusing and unfocusing, Jude's stoic face merely inches from mine.
"I want you to tell him that I'll see him soon and that a couple of old walls aren't going to keep us out, okay?" Jude's voice was eerily calm, considering he was choking the life out of me.
I struggled against him, trying desperately to get even one breath into my lungs. Jude's stoic expression finally cracked, a sick and twisted smile spreading across his face as he watched me struggle. The sick fuck... I spat straight in his face, making that stupid smile drop as he stumbled backwards in disgust.
He dropped his iron grip on my throat and I fell to my knees, gasping for air desperately. My throat felt like it was on fire and my eyes were spewing tears, making it look like I had niagara falls spouting out of my face.
"You bitch." Jude sneered, kicking my side roughly.
I groaned in pain, clutching it as he swung back to kick again. This time, however, I didn't let his foot make contact with me. Instead, I grabbed his foot and yanked it so that he came crashing to the floor with me. Once he was on my level, I jumped on top of him and got a few punches in. It wasn't long before our positions were switched, however, because of his supernatural strength.
The regret set into my body immediately once I saw just how engaged he was that I had fought back. What was I supposed to let him do? Sit tight and wait for him to kill me?
Once he was on top he grabbed my hands, forcing them to the ground and holding them there with a tight grip... I wasn't looking forward to the bruises that that was going to leave by tomorrow.
"I'm stronger than you, I don't know why you even tried it." Jude snarled, his grip on my arms tightening.
However, Xavier had taught me that strength didn't matter. What I had to do was use Jude's own strength against him- throw him off guard and use the methods Xavier had taught me. It was hard to think about what to use when I was freaking out so much, though.
I began thrashing underneath him, wiggling my hips frantically until he let go of one of my hands to stabilise himself and prevent himself from falling over. Once he had let go, I quickly brought my hand forwards and grabbed his ear, pulling it with one hand while I used one of my legs to flip his whole body over.
Now that he was off of me, I had to move quickly to get away. I kicked him in the balls, scrambling to my feet and running like the devil was on my heel (devil being a much politer word than what I actually had in mind about Jude right now).
Once I was out of the bathroom, I didn't slow down. I sprinted all the way through the school until I reached reception, jumping right over the pupil reception desk and ducking underneath it. The receptionist was beyond confused by this, letting out a yelp and backing away from me. I held up a finger to my lips, gesturing to her to be silent as I tried to catch my breath.
I whipped out my phone, dialling Xavier straight away. Thankfully, he picked up instantly, per usual.
"Hey, baby, what's up?" Xavier's smooth voice came through the receiver.
"Jude. School. Help." I gasped, my throat killing me.
I hung up quickly before opening the notes app and typing out a message for the receptionist.
'Attacker on school grounds.' I typed, showing her with wide eyes to let her know I was deadly serious.
Her jaw dropped open and she nodded, shakily walking over to the phone. She picked up the receiver and crawled underneath the desk with me, whispering to whoever was down the other line. I quickly realised that she was warning teachers so that they could lock their classroom doors until Jude left, but I had a feeling he was already long gone.
Jude wouldn't lurk and risk getting caught just because I bruised his ego and managed to run away.
I rested my head against the wall, cussing under my breath. How the hell did Jude keep gaining access to my school like this? It obviously didn't have tight security like the pack did, but it should have enough security to keep the students safe at the very least. I suppose Jude is overly cunning, but it still doesn't make any sense...
Somebody must be helping him.
"Cameron? Cameron?" A frantic voice bellowed through the corridor, clearly on edge.
"Xavier? I'm here." I croaked, climbing to my feet while holding my throat tenderly.
The second he laid eyes on me, he flew forward to wrap me in a hug. I groaned, my body aching at the sudden impact of his body on mine. As much as the tingles comforted me, the bruises that were inevitably going to develop later did not appreciate the force.
"Oh, I'm sorry- what's wrong? What did that prick do to you? Did he do this to you?" Xavier growled, rushing out a million questions at once.
"I'm fine." I croaked, "He choked me, but I managed to get out of it, and then... Well, he was on top, but I used what you taught me to get out of it." I mumbled, holding my throat defensively.
"I'm gonna take the guys to check the perimeter." Noah let us know from behind, dashing off with a bunch of other pack members.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, but I'm proud you held your own." Xavier murmured, wrapping his arms around me softly.
"Don't be sorry..." I whispered, "He wanted me to give you a message."
"Let's take you to the nurse." Xavier frowned, "I'm concerned about you. You keep swaying- if it weren't for my arms around you, you'd be on the floor. Have you got a headache?"
"Of course I've got a headache." I chuckled meekly, "I hit my head about seven separate times."
"Nurse it is." Xavier sighed, "I swear to the moon goddess that I'll kill that son of a bitch when I see him."
Xavier swept me off my feet, taking me by surprise, and began to march towards the nurses office- despite me protesting. It was absolutely unnecessary for him to carry me like this, I had the whole way by myself just fine. However, I could let it slide if it made him feel slightly better; he's such a drama queen.
He finally set me down on the nurses bed and I was reminded of that time when I had the panic attack in school and I overheard Xavier's conversation with the nurse. Looking back on it, I'm not sure how I didn't realise what was going on back then. On the other hand, I guess it's easy to say that in retrospect when the idea of werewolves is already something that I've come to terms with; I never would have guessed werewolves were real in a thousand years.
"Are you okay? You keep zoning out." Xavier fretted, pressing the back of his hand to my forehead.
"I was just thinking." I shrugged, "What are you doing? I got beat up, why would I have a temperature?"
"I don't know; I'm just freaking out." Xavier grumbled, taking a seat defeated.
"I'll be fine." I reassured him, taking his hand softly so that we could both feel the tingles.
"I just feel really bad that you can't even go to school in peace anymore. Jude is only targeting you because of me and it's eating me up... I feel like I'm to blame and I'd understand if you wanted to take a step back form the pack- it's a lot of pressure and it's dangerous, right now." Xavier sighed, looking down at our intertwined hands.
"Xavier, I'm not going anywhere." I stated with finality, slightly upset that he thought I would leave at a time like this.
"Maybe it would be a good idea for you to get away for a while- just until this Jude business is over?" Xavier was still staring at the floor, hiding his true emotions about this from me.
"Xavier, I can clearly handle myself! I handled myself today, didn't I? I took on Jude one v one and came out with minor injuries." I hated that he was trying to push me away like this when I was more than capable of sticking around and seeing it through.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt again, it-..." Xavier cut himself off abruptly, a sob escaping his mouth despite his best efforts, "It hurts to see you like this. I can see the imprint of his fucking hand around your neck, Cameron."
I frowned at that, looking in the mirror. It was faint, but the bruises were developing quickly around my neck. Xavier was right about you being able to tell I was choked- there were ugly and violent finger marks coating my skin.
"Come kiss it better?" I murmured, letting my fingers dance across the ugly marks gently.
He came to stand behind me, gently wrapping his arms around my waist as we both looked in the mirror at the damage Jude had done. I must admit, I looked quite rough. If I were in a lot of pain, I would be embarrassed about looking so busted in public.
Xavier's lips were tentative, barely grazing the skin of my neck as he kissed the marks one by one, taking his time and being as gentle as possible.
"Don't go?" He whispered.
"I wasn't planning to." I whispered back, placing my lips on his.