Love, Your Secret Admirer

Chapter 15

Tom comes into pre cal late.  His hair is a mess, his flannel is torn at the seem on his shoulder and there is some blood spotted on the front.  He has bandages all over his face and his glasses are gone.  He looks around for an empty seat, but the only empty one is next to me.  He looks at the seat, then at me.  The seat.  Me.  He finally sits down.  I can tell that he doesn’t want to sit next to me and would rather be anywhere, but here. 

            “Are you okay?” I ask.  The bell signaling the end of class rings.

            “Do I look okay?” Tom shoots back while getting his backpack off the floor and turning around to leave.  I shove everything on my desk into my backpack and chase after him. 

            “Tom,” I yell after him.  He ignores me.  “Tom!”  He continues walking.  I run up, walk in front of him, and stop.  He almost runs into me but quickly stops himself.

            “What!” he yells.

            “Talk to me,” I practically beg.

            “About what?”

            “Why are you mad at me?”

            “I’m just mad, not really at you, but it doesn’t help that your boyfriend almost killed me.”

            “I know and I’m so sorry.”  For the first time I actually look at his face.  There are scratches all over from when his glasses shattered, his face is bruised, and he has a busted lip.

Looking at him I start to feel guilty.  It’s my fault that he got in a fight.  It was my boyfriend.  I look into his eyes and see he’s staring into mine as well.  I reach out and touch his lip.  It’s swollen and still a little bloody.  When I see the little bit of blood on my finger I start to cry.  I look down, embarrassed.  Why am I crying so much lately?  What’s wrong with me?

Tom sees the tears starting to fall.  He puts his hand under my chin to make me look at him.  Then he uses his thumbs to wipe away the tears falling on my face.  “Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, your face just looks really painful and I’m really sorry.”  The tears start up again and I look at the floor again. 

Tom wipes away my tears and embraces me in a hug, right there in the middle of the hallway.  I forgot how good his hugs are and what he smells like, fabric softener and cookies.  I miss him so much. The “go to class” bell rings.  When he lets go of me I turn to leave.  I start to think of all the things that Tom has done for me and how he always understands what I’m talking about.  I turn back around, surprised to see Tom still watching me.  I walk towards him and look into his eyes.

“Come here,” I tell him. 

He bends over so he is face to face with me.  I then lean over and kiss him gently on his cheek.  I turn around and start to walk away.  I turn my head to look back at him with his hand on the spot where my lips met his cheek.  I laugh at little to myself and turn back around to the almost empty hallway and start to head to my next class.

Then I see him.  He’s standing across the hallway, watching me.  I know he sees that I see him so I have no choice but to go over to him.  My brown eyes can’t look away from his dark ones.  His face is hard with anger.  I walk over to Dark Zach.  When I meet him he grabs my arm and is squeezing it, as a python squeezes its prey to death.  He starts dragging me outside.  We are by the cafeteria between the trees and the stairs going down to the main building.  He swings me around and holds my face so I have no choice but to look at him.  He doesn’t handle me in the gentle way Tom did.  He holds my face hard, so I can’t look away.

“What were you doing?  Talking to him?” he says, his voice wavering with anger.

“I― I was just―” I stammer.

“You were just flirting with him!” he yells.  “I saw you kiss him!”  He then hits me so hard I fall down to the ground.  He pulls me back up by my hair and yells, “I can’t believe you would do that to me!  All I have ever done was love you!”  He throws me down again.  He throws me at an awkward angle so my ankle twists the wrong way.  I hear it snap and I scream at the top of my lungs.  I’m back up by the hair again.  “No one cheats on Zach Bright!” he yells.  Then he throws me the other way, so I’m falling down the cement stairs.  As I’m falling I can hear voices coming from the top.  I can identify one as Zach’s but the other is a woman. 

I can hear snaps and cracks all the way down.  When I finally hit the bottom I can’t move.  I try and look up, but all I see is red seeping through my, used to be, bleach blonde hair.  I’m facing the stairs and I see someone running down.  As they get closer I recognize it as Tom.  When he gets to me he’s on his knees, in tears.  He tries to comfort me by touching my arm but I yell out because it hurts too much.  I start to close my eyes.

“Janeen!  Don’t close your eyes!  Janeen, damn it!  Stay with me!”  I try to open my eyes again.  I can a little bit, but not for long.  I need to tell Tom something.  I need to tell him.  I open my mouth.  “Tom,” I say.  My voice is scratchy and I don’t even recognize it as my own.

Tom leans over me.  “I’m here Janeen, I’m here.”  I can see he’s still crying.

“Tom,” I try to reach out to him, but I can’t.  “I need to tell you,” my throat hurts and I need to stop for a minute.

“What?  What do you need to tell me?”  When I don’t respond right away he says, “What is it Janeen?” with more tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I seem to whisper. 

After that I close my eyes and pass out.

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A/N: Hey guys!  Okay, I know it's a major cliffhanger and I'll post more soon, but if anyone wants to make me a new cover, feel free to do so!!!  Also, comment, vote, tell your friends!!!!