I'm at the mall with Charlotte. It's been a week since the incident with Elijah. I haven't seen him since. Calum won't tell me what happened after Alex took me from the gym. Though he made me tell Charlotte.
She's glued to my hip every chance she gets now and Alex is constantly in the halls, watching me. I'd noticed the other Stone boys watching me in the halls, too. It's a little unnerving.
Calum disappeared for a few days after our ice cream trip. It was fun and he was great at keeping my mind off what had just happened. I still feel bad that he and his friends had to deal with my problem, but they've all been sure to assure me that they were fine and it wasn't my fault. I feel a little better, but I'm still having nightmares. It's foolish to be so upset when barely anything even happened. I just can't help it.
"Come on! Lets go in here!" Charlotte drags me into another store. I groan, but follow. We'd been shopping for hours. "Stay here. I'll find you some outfits." She shoves me into a fitting room and I hear her heels quickly click away. She'd done this in every store we'd gone to. In her mind, shopping is therapeutic. It just frazzles my nerves more. She'd bought me hundreds of dollars worth of clothes. "Put this on!" I look up just in time to get hit in the face with a pile of clothes. The clothes fall to the floor and I look up again, ready to complain. I throw myself at the wall when a pair of shoes follow.
"Nice, Char. Real nice!" I call out to her. "Can't you just hand the stuff to me like a normal person?"
"Did I hit you again?" She didn't sound at all sorry. More amused and a little smug.
"What do you think?" I glare daggers at the door.
"Oops. Oh well. Put that outfit on and come show me! I have more!" I roll my eyes with a grin on my face as I begin to strip.
"You know I can pick out my own clothes right?" I say, putting the shirt on.
"Yes and I know you well enough to pick them out for you. Hurry up!" I quickly put on the outfit and look at myself in the mirror.
"Uh, Char? I'm not so sure about this." I'm wearing a black crop top with a zipper up the front and a pair of jean shorts. Along with a pair of black Vans. I wrap my arms around my exposed stomach, uncomfortable.
"Come on! I bet you look great! Let me see! Oh! And here's a matching bag!" A bag comes flying over the door and nails me in the head. I stumble and fall into a wall.
"Charlotte!" I stare at the door to the fitting room angrily. Was that really necessary?
"Sorry! Now get your cute little butt out here and let me see!" Throwing the bag over my shoulder, I sigh and step out. She gasps, then squeals and starts clapping. "You look great! We are so getting this. Now try this on." She scoops a pile of clothes up and throws them at me. I catch them and glare at her. She grins at me and starts shooing me back into the changing room. I give her another playful glare before closing the door. "Throw the outfit you're wearing back over so I can start making a pile of what we're buying."
"Yes, ma'am!" I chuckle and start undressing. I put the next outfit on. It includes a pink crop top with a ruffled top and tight bottom, ripped jeans, white converses and a matching pink backpack and watch. "She wants the world to see my stomach," I mutter as I lace up the shoes.
"What was that?" her voice comes from the other side of the door and I jump.
"Nothing! I'm coming out." I briefly wonder how she'd heard me as I step out. She smiles brightly and claps.
"You look great! We're getting that too! Here. Try this." She starts handing me another pile of clothes.
"No!" I shout and she looks at me in surprise. I lower my voice back to a normal volume. "No. No more trying on. My feet are killing me and I am starving." I can't deny that I've loved nearly outfit she'd picked out today, but I really don't have the confidence to wear most of them. And I'm exhausted and hungry from being dragged from store to store. I swear shopping with Charlotte is an Olympic sport. At least, it should be.
"But how will we know how the rest looks on you or if we need another size or-"
"I trust your shopping abilities, Char. Can we please just go to the food court?" She sighs and nods, looking down at the watch on her wrist.
"Fine. I guess that's enough shopping for today. Lets get something to eat and head back to your house. Maybe we can grab some ice cream at I Scream on the way." I Scream is a small hole in the wall ice cream shop not far from where I live. It always has a huge line leading out of the store and down the sidewalk, but Charlotte is friends with the owner's daughter and always goes in through the back.
It's actually where Calum had taken me after he'd whisked me away from the school. True to what he'd said, Alex had taken care of my final classes. I hadn't gotten in trouble and my parents hadn't even been called. He'd even gathered the classroom work I'd missed. It, along with that nights homework, was sitting in the front seat of my car when Calum had dropped me off at home.
"Sounds good." We make our way to the counter and the lady rings us up. Charlotte hands over her card and we're quickly on our way. "I'm paying for the food and ice cream." She opens her mouth to argue. "Nope! You've paid for an entire wardrobes worth of clothing for me today. The least I can do is buy lunch. Don't even try to fight with me." She shuts her mouth and nods begrudgingly.
We find a table in the food court and unload the dozens of clothing bags from our arms. We need a wagon or something.
"You stay here with the clothes. Last thing we need is something getting stolen."
"Okay. I'll take a slice of pizza. Two actually." I had assumed that Charlotte would be one of those girls that has to eat super healthy or super little, but she loves food as much as I do.
"What kind?"
"Um . . . supreme." I nod and head of to the little pizzeria. I decide to just go ahead and get pizza too so that I don't have to wait in two lines. I order our food and walk back over to her.
"Here you go." I place her plate in front of her as I sit down.
"Thanks." We dig in and chit chat for a while. "We should totally go to the movies tomorrow night." I glance up from my phone to look at Charlotte.
"What?"
"The movies. We should go. I'm already staying at your house tonight. So lets go." I think about it, then shrug. A movie wouldn't hurt. "Yay! We can check what's playing later. Though there's this new romance movie out that I've been dying to go see. It's about . . ." I let her drone on for a while, occasionally commenting or making a sound of acknowledgment. Charlotte's great, but I can't keep up with some of the topics she goes on about sometimes. I just can't.
"Ready to go?" I eventually butt in, interrupting her going on about some hot actor that she's in love with.
"Yeah. Let's go. I need something sweet." We throw away our pates and start gathering the bags.
"How are you not buff?" I ask as we lug the bags to the car. She laughs.
"I usually have someone here to carry the bags for me, but I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I didn't think you'd want some guy following us around all day."
"I thank you for that, but next time we need a cart or wagon or something." She laughs again, but nods in agreement.
"I don't know how Stanley does it." I open the trunk to my car and we load it up. There are too many bags to fit so we have to put some in the back seat. I groan and try to massage the feeling back into my hands, fingers and arms. "Come on! I want ice cream!" She hops in the car and I roll my eyes. Freaking energizer bunny. I climb in and start up the car.
Charlotte starts flipping through my CDs, trying to find something to listen to. She finally finds something and pops it in. I laugh when Robin William's voice starts coming through the speakers singing Friend Like Me. She found one of the Disney CDs. We sing along to every song until we reach I Scream.
I park on the side of the road and we get out. I Scream is in the middle of a strip mall, so we have to go around the entire building to get to the back door. The usual mile long line is coming out the door and I shake my head. We round the corner and stop when we see a group of guys standing in front a much smaller one in the back. Charlotte grabs my shoulders and pushes me behind a dumpster, covering my mouth to muffle my yelp of surprise.
"I want my money, Melvin." A voice rings out. It sounds oddly familiar.
"I know, Jett. And if you just give me a little more time I'll have it." Jett. I know that name. Where have I heard that name before?
"My brother's given you plenty of time." My eyes go wide and I stick my head out from behind the dumpster. I had to see it with my own eyes. Calum. Calum and his older brothers were surrounding that man. Jett's voice is the one I had heard before. Jett, the eldest of the brothers.
"We shoulder go, Myra," Charlotte whispers and starts trying to pull me back to the front of the building. I brush her off and keep watching.
"Maybe you have no intention of paying. Maybe you're planning on skipping town." One of the brothers comments. I'm not sure which it is, but I'd wager it being Finn. A figure with a bag is walking down the alley from the other side.
"No! I would never betray you like that, Jett! I swear it!" The man, Melvin, hadn't seen the figure yet. I can see him better now and tell it's Kace. The only two brothers I don't see now are Hunter and Ryder.
"You know, Melvin, I like you," Jett says, taking the bag from Kace.
"Thank you, sir." Melvin's voice chokes on the last word as he sees the duffel bag in Jett's hand.
"You may be a coward and might be weak. You're definitely an ass kisser and bottom feeder, but I like you. But what I don't like, Melvin, is when someone lies to me." Jett zips open the bag and drops it on the ground between him and Melvin. "You lied to me, Melvin. I can't let that go." Melvin drops to the ground on his knees and clasps his hands together.
"Please, Jett, I beg of you. My wife, my kid. Please! Have mercy." He starts sobbing. Charlotte's hand wraps around my arm and she tries to pull me back again.
"Myra, we need to go. Now." Her voice is urgent, fearful, but I have to keep watching. I can't look away. I ignore her pleas for me to go. The brothers form a circle around Melvin. Calum is standing right behind him. Fear and foreboding creep up inside me as I watch. I can't comprehend what's happening. Can't match what I'm seeing with the Calum I know. But I do know something bad is going to happen.
"Like I said, Melvin, I like you, so I will be merciful." Melvin look up at Jett. I can see the hope shining in his eyes from here. "I'll let your family live." Calum pulls a gun and points at the back of Melvin's head. I watch understanding dawn on Melvin's face right before Calum pulls the trigger and Melvin falls to the pavement.
My mouth falls open in shock. Calum - sweet, caring, funny Calum - just killed a man. Calum, who saved me from being raped. Calum, who took me under his wing. Calum, who joked and laughed with me. Calum, who just held a gun to the back of a mans head and shot him for no good reason.
I go to move back behind the dumpster and my hand hits a can. It clatters as it rolls into the middle of the alley.
"What was that?" one of the guys asks. Charlotte grabs my hand and yanks me up. We make a mad dash for the front of the building. There's a shout and then foot falls behind us. My mind clears and I speed up, dragging Charlotte behind me. We reach the car and jump in. I start the engine and we're out of there. I look in the rear view to see them standing in the middle of the road, staring at the car as we drive away.
We're silent for a few minutes, then I speak up.
"We have to call the cops."
"No." Her answer is immediate and calm. My head snaps over to her.
"What? They just killed a man, Charlotte! Murder! We can't just not do anything."
"Jett Stone has nearly the entire police department in his pocket. You go to the cops and nothing will happen except Jett will know you're a snitch. Around here, the only stitches snitches get are the ones the M.E. does when he's done with the autopsy." I stare at the road in silence. It's been one thing after another since we moved her. I miss Virginia. "Don't go to the cops, don't tell anyone. After today we don't ever mention this again. Do you understand, Myra?" I don't answer. "Myra!" I nod. "Good." We silent for another few minutes. "Guess the sleep over is, well, over." I nod. I don't think I can say anything at the moment.
About twenty minutes later, I pull up in front of Charlotte's house. She gets out and grabs her bags.
"Myra." I look up at her. "The guys aren't bad people. I know I bitch about them, but they really aren't bad people. They've just had a bad life." I don't respond and she sighs. "I'll see you Monday." I nod and she closes the door. I drive off.
Everything I do seems to be on autopilot. I get home, bring my bags in, make an excuse to my parents as to why Charlotte wasn't staying the night and went to my room. I didn't even realize until I was done that I had put all of the clothes away.
I need a distraction. Or something to clear my mind. There's only one thing that has always been able to do both.