Save Me

4.) Contemplating

That evening, I'm lying face-up on my bed, staring at the ceiling with Eminem in my ears and contemplating my conversation with Mrs. Cooper. She knows who I am and she wants me to help her find Carla. Where do I even begin? I groan loudly and flip over. Lying here being unproductive isn't going to help anything so I decide to go on a run. At half past ten in the evening. I put on my runners, tie my hair up and walk out the door.

As I make my way out of the neighbourhood and down the street and just as I turn the corner, I see someone. In fact, I see two guys leaning on the hood of a black Audi with blacked-out windows. One of them hands a small brown package to another. The recipient opens it up and looks at the contents in disgust. He shoves the package into the pocket of his jacket and shoves the other guy in the chest, thus making him stumble back unsteadily. It's at this exact moment that I realise the guy that gave the other guy the package is Zach! As in Zach from school! The super hot guy that sat with me at lunch and accused me of stalking him. I'm about to turn around and run away when he makes eye-contact with me. He murmurs something to the other guy and this makes him look in my direction and get into the car very quickly. He speeds off, leaving a tornado of smoke and dust in his path and leaves Zach on the sidewalk. I begin to turn around and leave when he calls out "Skylar!" I turn around and make my way slowly over to him, wringing my fingers discreetly with my head bent.

I uncertainly look up at him and see he has a bruise on his jawline and a cut on his lower-lip. My face turns into a frown and when I open my mouth to ask what the hell happened to him, he murmurs "How much of that did you see?" I shyly whisper back "enough to make me suspicious of whatever the hell was in the package you gave him" he shuts his eyes, takes a deep breath and when he opens them again he has that confident glint in his eyes. "Let's walk and talk Skylar" he suggests randomly. He strides off back in the direction I came but I stay firmly rooted to the spot. When he turns to look at me he must notice that I'm not with him and comes back "maybe you wanna walk together?" He chuckles. Recovering from my dumbstruck state, I yell at him "what happened to your face!? Who was that guy? What did you give him!?" "My face is nothing new. That guy was an old acquaintance and to answer your last question, nothing for you to worry that pretty little head about." He winks and puts his muscular arm around by bony shoulders and walks me down the street a little.

"Why don't we talk about you for a little bit?" He suggests, clearly trying to distract me from the situation at hand. "What are you doing out so late on a Sunday?" Just as I open my mouth to tell him to quit changing the subject, his cell rings "kinda busy here Antonio!" He answers irritably. On the other line, Antonio, was shouting something to which Zach answers "Ok! Fine! I'll be be there in ten!" He ends the call and growls before smirking smugly at me. "I gotta go but lemme walk you home." He says to me with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. There's no point in arguing with him so I unconsciously lead him back to my place. At the door he pauses for a minute.

"Look Skylar I'd really appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about what you saw tonight. It's just drama I don't need." I look long and hard into his beautiful eyes and whisper quietly "Ok." He takes my cell and puts his number in it. "I really gotta go now but call me sometime yeah?" "Sure. Maybe sometime." With that he leaves and I go upstairs now with two dilemmas in my head. Mrs. Cooper's revelation and Zach's secrecy.

With the confusion still fresh in my mind, I get out of my joggers and sweater and put on an oversized tee and head to bed. Only, I can't sleep so I lay there still and awake wishing I was anyone but myself and anywhere but here.

The next morning is as mundane as all the other Sundays I've endured. I worked out then treated myself to a fried egg and some streaky bacon at my favourite diner, Kelsey's just a couple blocks away. I always like to come here, especially on Sundays when there was nothing better to do than sit at home and wait for school to come around tomorrow. Damn! School tomorrow. I still have a History essay to write and Calculus homework. I must look very perplexed because Edel, one of the waitresses comes over to check on me. "You okay, sugar?" Edel is originally from Brooklyn but moved here a while ago to look after her sick and elderly mother. Edel is one of the very few people I like and feel as though I can trust and I think she knows this too as she always tries to look out for me. To be frank, I think she considers herself somewhat of a mother figure to me even though she has an adorable four-year old little boy named Freddie. I occasionally babysit for Edel when she works extra night-shifts to cover the cost of her mom's health bills but he's the sweetest thing so I do it gladly.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just... thinking." I chirp decidedly. Thinking about Carla and Mrs. C and Zach- Woah! I stopped myself there. Why was I thinking about Zach when he probably wouldn't even remember my first name come tomorrow. We were barely even acquaintances after all.

"Well, whatever's got you so stressed out'll sort itself, hon, don't you worry about a thing." She drawled with an encouraging smile and for a second, I actually believed her. I believed that things would be OK.

Pictured: Zach // Bob Morley