There's Only You ✔

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Zach:

I hear him.

He's yelling your name.

You don't think it's who I think it is, do you?

Why would he be...?

Crap!

"Gray's the shooter."

"Who's the shooter? You know the shooter?" Angela whisper-yelled as she sat up straighter, her face lighting up in interest. I was stuck. She already suspected that I had a relationship with the shooter so I had to fill her in, but all I wanted to do was forget that my dark past even existed. Olive already talked to me about him this morning. That was enough for me.

The voice in my head was encouraging me to keep quiet until I saw Angela's interrogating stare boring into the side of my eyes. She was surveying me up and down and I could tell that she was seconds away from bombarding me with questions about my affiliation with the shooter.

Telling myself that she would be the last person to tell kept me going. We were making progress in our friendship, so I knew she wasn't going to use this against me.

"I... had an abusive boyfriend in middle school. Gray Vance. He beat me, raped me repeatedly, tormented me." I asked God for the hundredth time what I did to deserve to be treated like that. I never did anything to anyone. Why did he show up in my life only to destroy it?

"Everything ended with him throwing me out the back door and a neighbor calling nine one one." We all thought he was gone for good. After watching him be hauled away in a police car, we thought we had nothing to worry about anymore. I was safe from that sad excuse of a human. Until I wasn't.

"Zach, Kayden and I recently found out he escaped from prison. He was actually the one who touched Olive that day."

She was remembering the man who she saw harassing Olive and inhaled a big gasp. "Shit! Does she—?"

"She knows. I told her everything after."

"Do you know what motive he would have for shooting up the whole damn school? Is he pissed you put him in jail in the first place? Does he want revenge?"

He already got his revenge that day at his apartment.

"I don't know why the hell he would take it that far as to show up to my school with a gun. Honestly."

It looked like Angela's mind was elsewhere, like she was too busy trying to figure something out to say. Soon enough, her face lit up and recognition flashed in her eyes. Recognition and remorse.

"That's why Kayden said I don't know anything. He was talking about your... abuser."

"Exactly."

Silence permeated the room. My phone kept lighting up with more texts from Zach about how it couldn't have been Gray. One from Kayden rolled in in our private conversation thread, checking in on us again.

Olive remained radio silent since the group chat at the very beginning, but I was sure she was okay as long as she remained in her classroom following the teacher's rules. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." She wasn't looking at me.

She was more focused on her twiddling thumbs and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. The corners of her lips lifted into a small smile as she let out a scoff. "But... I admire you for how strong you are. You've... looked evil in the eyes and survived. The world needs more strong women like you."

That was nice of her to say, but strong was the last word I'd use to describe myself. If anything, I was too fucked up. Too many nightmares about my past haunt me. Too many tears had been shed. Too many blows to my face with black eyes and bruises to prove it. I didn't want to respond to her compliment with negativity so I allowed a ghost of a smile to touch my lips.