Almost Alice » l.h

1.2

a m y

"Luke, stop!" I shouted, bolting out of Calum's car and running after him as he strode across the parking lot.

Luke drove to the school after finding out Ross lied about Alice and he was furious. I knew he hated how Ross treated Alice, and women at school in general, and we all really wanted to deck him but Alice always told him not to.

He didn't listen this time.

Even from behind him, I could see his jaw clenching with his fists. He threw the front door open but it gave me a little time to catch up since the doors slowed him down. Calum was running behind me, knowing I wouldn't be enough to stop Luke from doing something stupid.

"Luke Hemmings!" I shouted, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him back out the door. Of course, I couldn't.

"What time is it? Third period?" Luke asked angrily, looking around for a clock. "I think that fucker has science."

He shook me off before walking quickly toward the science wing. I fell to the floor, catching myself before I could land on the hard tile.

"Luke, stop!" I yelled, scrambling to get up.

Calum ran passed me and jumped onto Luke's back, tackling him to the floor. I ran up to them as Calum struggled to keep Luke pinned.

"Dude, chill out!" Calum told him. "If you fight Ross, your record will be fucked and your parents will be pissed! You might get sent to jail, you fucking moron! Do you really want to get fucking arrested?!"

"I don't care!" he huffed as he struggled against Calum. "I'm sick of him doing this, he needs to get what's coming to him!"

Luke had bad anger problems. He got angry pretty easily but was starting to get better control of it. But if he got really angry, it was hard for him to calm down. Like now.

Luke managed to push Calum off and he quickly got to his feet just as the bell rang. Students came flooding into the halls and that's when Luke ran off, getting lost in the crowd.

"Luke, don't!" I reached out for him but he slipped passed a group of students and was gone.

Calum stood up and groaned. "Where the fuck did he go?"

I stood on my toes but I couldn't see over most of the people. There was still a handful of students who were as tall as Calum and Luke which made it a little harder to find him.

As we ran through the sea of students and looked for Luke, we noticed a crowd forming. Calum and I looked at each other before making a beeline to it. Calum went in front of me to shove through the get to the center. I clung to the back of his shirt.

We finally reached the middle and saw Luke on top of Ross, throwing punches at his face and chest - anywhere his fists could make contact.

Calum grabbed him by the back of the shirt and yanked him backwards. He fell to the floor on his back and Ross scrambled to get up, his face completely busted and bleeding.

"What the fuck, Calum?!" Luke yelled and stood up.

Calum loosely held Luke by the neck and pushed him up against a wall, glaring at him. "Calm. Down."

Luke pushed passed him and stood right in front of Ross, their chests practically touching.

"Never fucking speak to her or of her again, you got it, asshole?" he growled.

"Or what?" Ross smirked, still trying to be cocky despite the fact Luke probably would've killed him if no one intervened. "She's not even worth my time. She already fucked Hood over there and two other guys. Alice is a dirty whore."

This time, I lunged forward. Calum caught me quickly and wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground.

"Put me down! I'll rip his fucking dick off!" I shouted, clawing at the air and kicking as hard as I could to escape.

Ross and Luke paid no attention to me as Luke roughly shoved Ross' chest. He stumbled backwards but stayed standing.

"I could literally punch your face in so hard, you'll need reconstruction surgery." he told him, getting in his face again. "Leave. Alice. Alone. And if I hear that you're mistreating any other girls, well, I don't really have a problem going to jail again."

I could see the fear in Ross' eyes as Luke said that. He stepped away and stalked out of the circle.

Calum finally set me down and I grabbed Ross's wrist just as he was about to try to escape. I kneed him as hard as I could in the groin and watched as he doubled over and fell back to the floor.

"That's for fucking with my sister."

-

a l i c e

After Luke ran out of the house, Amy set me on the couch by Violet.

"Watch her. Cal, let's go." she said hurriedly as she raced after Luke with Calum on her heels.

Ashton sighed as if this had happened plenty of times before. "Guess I should call and say I'll be late to work."

As he went into his room, pulling his phone out as he went, Violet looked over at Michael.

"Call my dad and tell him to get to the high school." she told him. "I can calm her down."

Michael nodded and went in the same direction Ashton went, dialing on his phone. I hugged myself and tried to breathe but it wasn't working very well. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. Why did I have to go to the party? Why did Ross have to pick me to be obsessed with? Why did I have to go to public school in the first place?

"Hey, Alice, look at me." Violet said softly, cupping my face and turning my head to look at her. She had a soft expression on her face as she wiped tears off my face with her thumb. "It's going to be okay, alright? Just focus on breathing. Like this."

She started taking slow deep breathes and trying to get me to do it with her. I tried to stay focused on her but sometimes my brain would wander off and I'd start crying harder and coughing.

What if everyone finds out about me?

"Shhh, shhh, just focus on me, Alice." she said moving her face a little closer. "Just breathe with me and focus only on me."

"He's on his way." Michael reported from behind me. He paused before asking, "Do you need my help?"

She looked up at him and my mind wandered elsewhere again. "Can you?"

Him and Violet switched places and he looked into my eyes. His eyes were a pretty green color that was hard to look away from

"Yeah, I know how she feels." he mumbled. He pulled me into his lap and rubbed my back, hugging me close to him and slowly rocking back and forth, talking softly in my hear. "It's okay, Alice. You're safe."

I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was, for some reason, calming. That, and his soft words he said every once in a while.

"You're good at that." Violet told him quietly, probably afraid I'd start panicking all over again.

"It's just what I like to hear when I have them." he murmured, stroking my hair.

"That's probably why it's working." she giggled softly. "Good job, Mikey. I'm proud of you."

"It's no big deal." he told her as my eyes started to droop closed.