Stay Away From My Friends (Jenna McDougall and Vic Fuentes)

Chapter 17

**Abuse trigger warning**

It's finally Saturday. School wasn't so bad. I'm just glad to be getting some more rest.

I keep thinking back to my conversation with Jenna yesterday. It was so mysterious, and worrisome. I hope everything's okay with her. Maybe I should text her later.

For now, the guys are over to hang out. Nothing better than playing board games on a Saturday night. Yeah, we're so cool.

"You cheated!" Jaime whined at Oli.

"Did not!"

Monopoly is brutal. We've been at it for god knows how many hours now. 

So far, Mike's had a mental breakdown, Kellin and Oli teamed up and came close to robbing the bank, Jaime's barely scraping by, and Tony's dominating. I lost a while ago.

"See, this is why you don't let Tony buy land from you. No matter how good of a deal it may seem," Mike mutters.

Tony had one of the most expensive pieces of land and ended up talking Jaime, who had the other, into selling it to him. A few turns later, and he's got hotels on them. The others don't stand a chance. Technically, I still owe him thousands.

But hey, Monopoly is never as bad as when we play Mario Kart. Or Smash Bros. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.

But when we play BS, it's the funniest thing in the world. Mainly because no one trusts anyone and every single time someone puts down their cards, someone yells "BULLSHIT". By the end, Jaime usually has most of the deck, and Oli managed to get rid of all his cards with no one noticing. Oli's good at most card games. He's going to be good at gambling later on, and that makes me worry.

Just as Mike's about to flip his shit again, my phone rings. I step out of the room and answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey..." Jenna's soft voice says.

"Jenna? What's up? How are you?" I ask, trying to sound less worried than I am. I don't want to work her up.

"N-Not good," she stammers.

"What's going on?" I'm trying to keep my cool so she doesn't get stressed, but it's hard.

"I... I'm..." she can't get the words out.

"Hey," I say calmly. "It's okay. Just take deep breaths."

I can hear her trying to calm herself down.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"The park," she answers. "Please come get me," she's started to break. "I'm so scared and I need someone. I didn't know who else to call."

"I'm on my way," I assure her.

"Please hurry," Jenna whispers.

I run out, getting in a car. "Want me to stay on the line with you?"

"No. Just hurry," she hangs up.

I start the car and drive as fast as I can, without breaking a law.

Soon, I get to the park. I get out of the car and run.

"Jenna?" I call out.

"Over here," I hear a soft voice say.

I look to where it came from. Jenna's on a swing, her head down. I run over.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

She shakes her head.

"Please," I say. "Look at me."

It takes a moment, but Jenna slowly looks up at me. Her eye is worse, and her lip is busted. There are bruises around her throat.