Chapter 23
“You are so dead!”
Chloe heard the words spill from Alana’s mouth and for a minute, her feet were glued to the ground. She wasn’t sure what to say or what she should do. This was the last place that she wanted to cause a scene. And she really didn’t want to fight Alana again, because this time she wouldn’t just take it. This time, she would fight back.
She heard the groan of the elevator door as it closed behind her and that spurred her into action. “I’m sorry,” she exclaimed suddenly and the rest of the words started to run out of her mouth like verbal diarrhea. “I’m sorry for everything, okay. I never imagined anything like this happening and if I could take it back, I would,” she implored to the younger girl who was glaring at her. “But the fact is…I can’t. All I can do is apologize to you, to John, to your family and everyone else that was adversely affected.”
Chloe held up her hand to Alana. “I don’t deserve nor do I expect your forgiveness, but a measly apology is all that I have to offer you. Take it or leave it.”
“Take it or leave it?” Alana took a step forward purposefully crowding into Chloe’s personal space. “Is that all you have to say to me after you nearly killed my brother.” Alana started to feel the rage build up all over again. How dare she show her face around here after what she has done? She shoved Chloe up against the wall and stepped up to her face. “You have a lot of nerve, coming here like nothing ever happened. I should kick your ass every day just for the hell of it.”
Chloe bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, so hard that the bitter coppery taste of her own blood filled her mouth. She had to admire the kid though, she had a boat load of spunk in her and she was having a hard time faulting her for wanting to be protective over her brother. With that being said, she wasn’t going to stand here and take her harassment either.
“Look,” Chloe hissed, “I get that you're mad and I get that you're upset so I’m going to give you what I like to consider a fair warning.” She paused a moment, locked in a direct stare off with the girl who was just scant inches from her face and let the drama add to the effect before she continued. “You can take your hands off of me right now, or I’m going to break them.”
Alana laughed. She grabbed the collar of Chloe’s shirt, balled it up in her fist, threw her head back and laughed. “You’re kidding right?” She had stopped laughing, her expression was now more of a smirk. “You forget, I’ve already seen how you fight, it’s pitiful. I’m not worried about a little slut like you.”
“One,” Chloe started, her eyes glinting hard. She really was giving the girl every opportunity she could to just walk away from her, but the girl really was starting to push the limits.
“Two,” Alana raised a sarcastic brow and counted out loud for her, which only further pissed Chloe off.
“And three-”
“Alana Marie, What in the hell do you think you are doing?” John’s angry voice cut through the taught tension that stretched between the girls and Alana instantly shut up. She immediately let go of Chloe’s shirt, not before shooting her a feral sneer first, and took a step back.
Chloe turned in John’s direction and was taken aback. Despite standing in the hallway wearing one of those ridiculous hospital gowns, and his hand being connected to a roll-around IV, he looked a hundreds time better that when she last saw him. Rosy red color was back in his cheeks, his eyes seemed to almost shine with a renewed vitality and he looked just like John, the old John that picked her up and drove her to the school just hours before the big game.
“What’s going on?”
Chloe spun around at the sound of the new voice and spotted Justin standing at the opposite end of the hallway, his hands shoved in his pockets. His gaze touched on Alana’s and then moved to Chloe’s before returning to John’s.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out?” John piped up, slowly moving closer to the girls.
Justin also took several large steps, bringing him closer to the two girls that seemed ready to spring and attack each other at any moment. The energy bouncing off of both of them was so electric; it almost sizzled in the air. “Chloe?” he asked, maneuvering himself so that he was looking only at her, “Is there something going on here?”
“Oh please,” Alana smacked her lips and complained. “Why are you asking her? She shouldn’t even be here. We wouldn’t be here,” she stressed "if it hadn’t been for what she did to John.”
Justin ignored Alana and kept his focus on the girl standing in front of him. He could visibly see the muscles in her shoulders constrict when Alana spoke and knew if he didn’t get them separated soon, someone was going to get hurt and this time, he didn’t think it would Chloe.
“Chloe?” he asked again and this time reached for her hands that rested limply at her side. “What’s up? Talk to me.”
Alana couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Justin was holding hands with her. He was sweet talking her and she was the enemy. There was something seriously wrong with this picture. She reached out and grabbed Justin by the shoulder, roughly spinning him around. “What’s going on Justin?” she asked him with accusing eyes.
“Alana, not now,” he told her and turned away from her.
She was having none of that. Alana wanted some answers and she wanted them now. She grabbed Justin again and this time when she pulled him around, he snapped and pushed her hand away from him, a little harder than was probably necessary.
“Hey!” John called out and caught a seething glare from Justin. “That’s my sister you're pushing around, bud. I suggest you watch it.”
Before Justin could retort and another argument between the boys break out, Chloe interrupted them. “Alright,” she yelled and held her hands up in the air in surrender. “That’s it, I give up and,” she shook her head, “I’m outta here.
She’d had enough, more than enough really. All she had wanted to do was make a simple apology. She wanted to be able to tell John herself how badly she felt about everything that happened. Even something as simple as that, was impossible for her these days. No one ever seemed to understand her, she was just always misunderstood. It happened at her old school and now it was happening here again, which was exactly why she was the way that she was today.
Turning away from the others, she smashed the elevator button repeatedly, telling herself that she would not cry. She had already shed enough tears over this incident, now it was just time to move on.
The elevator dinged and the doors squeaked open. Chloe stepped into the small metal box without once looking back. She had done all that she could to make amends. At least it looked like John would make a full recovery, so she could at least take some solace in knowing that much.
She pressed the button that would take her to the ground floor and watched the door slowly begin to close. From her spot on the elevator, she couldn’t see Justin, Alana or John. All she saw was the plain white wall. She was so tired now and more than anything, she just wanted to go home.
But just before the doors melded together, she could have sworn that she heard John call out her name. Feeling the weightlessness as the elevator began to descend, she decided that she must have been imagining things. There was no way that John would be calling her back. He had to hate her now for what she had done. No, she told herself, she must have been hearing things.
John looked over at Justin and pointed to the elevator that Chloe just left on. “What is going on here? Why did Chloe come and then just leave like that?”
Justin didn’t say anything. He didn’t know if John knew about Chloe and Alana’s earlier altercation or not and he didn’t feel like it was his place to be telling him either. This was a conversation that brother and sister needed to have. Right now, he was more interested in where Chloe was going. He still wanted to talk to her. He just had this niggling feeling that there was something more bothering her than she’s let on.
Leaning over, he pressed the button to the elevator which would take him back down stairs. “Look John, you need to talk to your sister. I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
“Alana? Why do I need to talk to her? Why can’t you just tell me?’
The elevator door opened and Justin moved to step into it. He was eager to get downstairs before Chloe left. “Ask her,” he gestured towards Alana. “I’ll text you later man, but right now I’ve gotta go. Good to see you up and around, though.”
Justin pulled back inside the elevator and as the doors automatically slid closed, he could already hear John yelling at his sister. It was obvious that John held no ill feelings against Chloe and it was also painfully obvious that he still liked her in a way that made him surprisingly tense. He wasn’t all too sure how he felt about all these new feelings he was discovering, he just knew that he needed to know more about the ever intriguing Chloe Miller.
The elevator door opened and Justin stepped out, moving towards the exit with a purposeful stride. He was on a mission now, one that was going to require him to draw off of every innate skill that he possessed, in order to charm Chloe. One way or the other, he would figure out Chloe Miller. That much he was certain he could handle.
It was the rest of it, his strange feelings that he wasn't too sure about.
Justin hit the ground running. After the elevator he had been riding in ceremoniously made a stop on every single floor, he finally made it out of the hospital. His face instantly fell though, when he realized that Chloe’s car was already gone. He searched the parking lot, but she was nowhere to be found. He thought about going to look for her, but then second guessed himself; thinking that even to him, that was borderline stalker-ish.
On his way home though, he decided to take a little detour and casually drove past her house, telling himself that he was just making sure that she made it home safely because of all of the emotional stress she’d been under lately. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if he didn’t at least check to make sure she didn’t wreck on the way home or something. It wasn’t until he actually spotted her parked car in the driveway that he let out the deep breath he hadn’t realized that he had been holding. She was safe.
Realizing what he had done, Justin frowned. Totally embarrassed, he pressed his foot down on the pedal, sped out of the development and started back home. What am I doing? He asked himself. Here he was, following this girl that had made it clear to him on more than one occasion that she wanted nothing to do with him. He had started chasing her down and even going as far as to check and see if she made it home. This wasn’t like him, not the utterly cool and collected Justin Pinnix, not at all. He didn’t have to chase girls, especially ones that filled his car with water filled condoms or peppered his jock strap with itching powder. Normal girls usually flocked to him. He was an ultra-chick magnet- so why was he following this one who wasn't necessarily 'normal.'
He recognized that there was an undeniable draw that he had to Chloe. That much at least, he couldn’t ignore. Maybe it was that whole image of wanting the one thing that you knew you couldn’t have. Heck, he didn’t know. All he could ascertain was that there was just something about her he couldn’t stay away from and if he didn’t figure out what that something was soon, it was going to drive him certifiably insane.
Turning onto his street, Justin envisioned Chloe in his head. She was smart. Hell, anyone that could manage getting all of those water filled condoms in his car without him knowing about it had some serious skills. She was undoubtedly hot; toned body, legs that went on for miles, eyes that spoke to the soul and that dark raven hair that spilled over her shoulders only enhanced her alluring, exotic look.
But there was more- something else that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She wasn’t like the other girls in the school, not like Cathy, not like Alana. In fact, she wasn’t like any girl he had ever met.
She tried to be in your face and radiated that f-you attitude but when someone got close, too close to her, she instantly closed off. It’s like she threw up that iron clad shield and she wasn’t about to let anyone get through it.
Justin parked his car, cut off the ignition, and for the longest time, he just sat there, thinking about Chloe and all the times that they’ve conversed. The time on her porch stood out to him more than anything. That was the one time that she revealed the most to him. She’d been hurt, badly. It was written all over her face. What was it she had said, he tried to remember, ‘Your kind are always the same’. He sat back in his seat, what did she mean by his kind? His kind, as in football player? A popular guy? Or what, just a guy in general?
Then she had also told him ‘you never change.’ What was he supposed to change? It just didn’t make any sense. Justin felt like he was trying to put together a puzzle and he was missing half the pieces. He recalled how she had been so adamant that he had slept with her cousin, even went so far as to accuse him of stealing her virginity. In fact, he stopped and rubbed the pad of his thumb thoughtfully across his bottom lip and mulled that over. That was when her switch irrevocably flipped. In the blink of an eye, she went from normal teenage girl to emotional wreck. Was that it? Was that the answer he was looking for? Did someone steal her innocence?
He felt his gut tighten with dread. The picture was starting to become a little clearer now. He remembered some of the things that Cathy had said, things about her old school, names they had called her. Slut. Whore. White trash. Tramp.
Justin ran his hand uneasily through his hair. Something bad happened at her old school. That had to be it. He already had a sickening feeling about what that something might be and he hoped like hell he was wrong. Because something like that would be hard for anyone to come back from, even someone that was as tough as Chloe. He thought about how strong and confident she had been that first day he met her in the halls on their way to English class. And then he smiled as he remembered how she put him in his place when he told her she was sitting in his desk.
But then he sobered. Was all that just a front? What was the reality of it all? Where did it all begin? To imagine her being taken advantage of like that was more than he cared to think about.
Sighing, Justin pushed open his door and stepped out of his car. Tomorrow he would get his hands on her file again and find out what school she went to before. It was time that he did a little investigating of his own. He was tired of playing these guessing games. He needed some answers and he needed them now.
*********
Chloe sat at the dinner table across from Erica, shooting her sideways glares. She hadn’t yet been able to get her cousin alone. It was like every time she tried, Erica’s mom or dad would conveniently show up and she would be forced to back down.
She shoveled another hefty bite of potatoes in her mouth. Chloe wasn’t even hungry but she couldn’t take her eyes off her cousin, so she ate anyways. Every so often, Erica would look up from her plate of food and coyly smile or raise a questioning brow in her direction. It was like she was daring her to say something to her.
“Well,” Chloe’s mom spoke up, oblivious to the unspoken signals flying across the kitchen table and breaking the awkward silence in the room. “I have some good news to share.”
Chloe froze, holding a spoonful of peas in mid-air and turned in her mother’s direction. Her mother was beaming. A coil of fear snaked down her spine. “I received a phone call today from my old boss. He’s asked me to come back,” her mother chirped. “As a signing bonus, he’s paying me an entire year’s lease upfront at our old apartment complex.”
Chloe couldn’t move. She sat there, perfectly still, suspended somewhere in the depths of time. This wasn't happening, she told herself. No, it couldn't be.
Erica didn’t seem to have any problems at all with speaking. “Well that’s wonderful news Aunt Jackie.” She turned to Chloe and smiled a smile that twisted her insides into sailor knots. “And cousin, that means you get to go back to your old school and graduate with all of your old friends. Isn’t that great news?”
Chloe felt an icy wind tickle the back of her neck as the blood promptly drained from her face. She was still looking at her mother, trying to process what she had just been told. Going back… to her old school… facing all of those people, facing all the guys, facing Craig.
Suddenly, Chloe felt sick to her stomach and abruptly jumped up from her chair, almost knocking it down to the floor in the process. “Excuse me,” she mumbled, and covered her mouth with her hand while turning away and hastily running out of the room.