Fallen

Chapter Twenty

Hayden

When we arrived at the dance I felt like it was the first day of school. I could feel everyone's eyes on Colton, I guess they hadn't expected the two of us to show up together. We had been dating a week though, so isn't it known? I don't understand people.

We walk inside and are immediately met by pounding music. Colton takes my hand and pulls me aside.

"I have a small present for you," he says pulling a long box out of his pocket. He opens it and in the inside was a simple silver necklace with a sea shell charm. I stare at it in awe, it was lovely. "Do you like it?"

I look up at him and smile, "I love it."

He returns my smile unlatching the claps. "Good," he says turning me around. I could feel his breath on my neck as he comes up behind me placing the light chain around me. "Because I want you to keep it with you forever not just as a reminder of our first real date, but a reminder that whatever happens I will always love you." He moves my hair aside lowering his lips to my neck. I close my eyes taking in the moment. Then suddenly he spins me around, keeping me close.

"Dance with me," he murmurs.

"I don't know how," I reply modestly.

He pulls me further away from the group, "I can teach you."

I smile and let him lead me.

"Wait here," he whispers before racing off. And a moment later the music suddenly changes. Once fast and upbeat, now slow and methodical. I see couples pairing up like they do on TV, and suddenly I understand what he has done.

"I'm even worse at this," I say as he comes rushing back. Colton just laughs.

"Follow my lead," he says taking my hand and leading me to the the dance floor.

He places my hands around his neck as he places his around my waist. I look down at my feet to make sure that I don't step on his, but he does his infamous taking my chin and pointing it up so my eyes meet his. He looks honestly vulnerable at this one moment, and I loved him for that. I loved him. I rest my head on his shoulder as the two of us just sway back and forth.

"I love you," I whisper, but he doesn't respond. I don't know rather to be hurt or not, so I just shake it off.

As our song ends I pull away to face Colton and he looks distressed.

"Hey what's wrong?" I ask as I take his hand and give it a comforting squeeze.

"I just I need a drink," he races off into the distance. I try to keep up but I can't. I sigh and find the nearest chair to sit in. I didn't know what I did wrong.

A moment later I am approached by no one other than Ashton. Could he have better timing? I sigh.

"I need to talk to you," he says and I can hear the actual worry in his voice.

I pull out the chair next to me, "Make it quick."

"Can we go somewhere a little less private? I need to make sure there is background noise."

I roll my eyes and follow him into the dance floor. I don't know what he is planning on doing, but I was definitely not in the mood.

We begin to dance and I can feel the pressure between us. As the crowd grew thicker I was suddenly uncomfortably close to him. He looks straight into my eyes and I feel like he is reading me like an open book. That is one thing that drove me crazy about him, he could always seem to read me even when my walls were put up. It pissed me off so much.

"You look amazing," he says awkwardly. I almost laugh, but I manage a smile.

"Thank you." I can see how uncomfortable he is. The two of us stand there dancing in silence score he finally works up the nerve to say what he was going to say.

"You need to stay away from Colton."

"Why?"  Any happiness I felt before was replaced by anger as I feel my anger spike. Any chance of me actually befriending him was thrown out the window. Who is he to tell me to stay away from my boyfriend?

"He's dangerous and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I think I can handle myself, thank you very much." I storm away. I had no idea what he was thinking or what was wrong with him. I knew what to look for now, and Colton didn't fit any of those characteristics. And why would he hurt me?

That's when I bump back into Colton.

"Hey are you okay?" He laces his hand through mine. I'm caught off guard by the change in attitude.

"I should be asking you that? What's up?"

He shakes his head, "Nothing. I just really want to show you something."

"Of course, anything," I smile. He doesn't smile back, in fact, he doesn't even look at me. And that's when I know something is wrong, again.

Colton leads me out into the hallway and pulls me into one of the classrooms.

"Colt, you're scaring me. What's happening?"

He turns to face me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close. And at that moment I am relieved, he just wanted alone time. He lowers his lips to mine and not a minute later I feel a piercing pain in my stomach. I look down to see Colton's hand on a knife, a knife that had itself lodged right by my kidney.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers as he twists the knife.

I feel myself wail in pain as I fall to my knees. But I wasn't going to let him see me cry. I keep my eyes steady on his even when my vision goes blurry. I should have listened to Ashton. I should never have gotten associated with him. I wasn't quite sure why he did this, but I sure as hell was going to figure out why. I let him see the hatred in my eyes even as I collapse unconscious.