Wrong dose

Chapter 4 (Skylar)

This chapter is dedicated to Frost_Bite_Freeze . Thx for all your nice comments!!! I updated like you asked :D

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Skylar sighed in relief when the bell rang. Thank god lunch was next--she was starving! To be honest, her classes hadn't been much different than the ones she'd had back in her old school. And she'd gotten piles of homework. Luckily she was with Jake in nearly all of her classes, which was extremely helpful. He had been the one to poke her awake with his pencil in math class and he'd whispered the answer in her ear when the science teacher called on her.

In fact, the only class she found even remotely interesting was English. The teacher, Mr. Miller, was great. He was extremely energetic. In Skylar's opinion it was nearly impossible not to be interested in his class when he paced around the room and made huge arm gestures and impersonated Shakespeare characters perfectly. She could tell this was Jake's favorite class, too. The way he sat up straight on his chair and feverishly took his notes in his shiny notebook was proof enough. And he had insisted they go eat lunch in his classroom after buying their food. Well, actually, Skylar always packed her lunch, but after what had happened in the hallway that morning, she wasn't too keen on leaving him alone, especially in a loud, unsupervised place like the cafeteria.

Skylar walked through the big doors, partially shielding Jake with her body. She lined up behind him even though she wasn't buying anything, which was the right decision to make. A few moments later she saw a girl roughly jostle Jake to get in line next to her friend. Though she clearly saw Jake wince at the impact, that girl didn't even bother apologizing, or, in fact, even looking back at all. Anger filled Skylar. How dare these people treat Jake like he wasn't even there? Like he didn't even exist?

Skylar's  arm snaked out at impossible speed to grab the girl's wrist.  The girl turned in surprise, her mouth twisting in a grimace of disgust.

"Uh, what exactly do you think you're doing?" she sneered, "Can you let me go?"

"You hurt Jake," growled Skylar, gesturing furiously at her friend, who was peeking nervously from behind her, "And you are going to apologize to him before I let you go." The girl raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"Girl, who exactly do you think you are? Make me apologize to that boy? Puh-lease," she sniffed, "I'd love to see you try." She tried to pull her arm away, but to no avail. Skylar had her bony wrist stuck in her vise-like grip, and she was not letting go anytime soon. Though on the outside her face seemed devoid of emotions, on the inside Skylar's blood was boiling in anger. She would show that girl what happened when people messed with Jake.

The girl tried to pull away once again but Skylar tightened her grip even more. "Stop! You're hurting me," whined the girl, her face scrunching up in pain, "Leave me alone!"

"You know what you have to do," stonily replied Skylar.

  "Someone help me!" complained the girl, looking around the small crowd that had formed without Skylar noticing.

"If you apologize I'll let you go," said Skylar, her patience wearing thin. If she didn't restrain herself she  felt like she might jump on that idiot blonde, stick her nails in her eyes, and scratch...

The girl growled in frustration and raised her eyes to the heavens. "Fine," she muttered, "Fine."

"Sorry for pushing in front of you," she snapped, barely looking at Jake. "Now let me go," she ordered Skylar, who immediately complied, a satisfied grin appearing on her face. The girl huffed and indignantly marched away to the back of the lunch line.

Skylar felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked back at Jake, who was wearing a worried frown on his face. "What is it?" She asked.

"Uh...," nervously began Jake, Thanks for defending me and all, but you really shouldn't have done it."

"Why?" Asked Skylar, confused. "Did I do something wrong?"

Jake hesitantly shook his head. "No, it's just that people never mess with that girl. That was Megan White, the grade's official mean girl and bully. If you bother her, she will do anything to get you back. So..." Jake trailed off, looking at Skylar uncertainly. Skylar shrugged.

"Well, if that girl ever wants to mess with you she'll have to go through me, first." she said with determination. Jake nodded hesitantly as he led her outside the noisy cafeteria, which would be buzzing with rumors of what had occured with Megan, Skylar and Jake in no time.

"Come on," said Jake as they walked through the now-silent halls of the school, "We should go eat in Mr. Miller's class." Skylar nodded. Soon Jake opened the door of the English room. Mr. Miller raised his head up from his computer. "Hello, Jake. I see you brought Skylar with you," he said warmly, smiling at them both. This was the first time Skylar had been treated so nicely by a teacher, and he already knew her name. She was delighted. Jake plopped down on a chair near Mr. Miller's desk, and Skylar imitated him. She opened her lunch box and bit into her sandwhich.

A few minutes later the three of them were talking about books.

"Hey, Mr. Miller, I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird. It was amazing! My favorite character was Dill." he said enthusiastically. Mr. Miller smiled. "Well, I'm glad you liked it." then, turning toward Skylar, he asked, "Skylar, have you read To Kill a Mockingbird?"

Skylar shook her head shyly. "I could lend it to you," offered Jake, "I've finished it so I don't need it, just remember to give it back. I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"Thanks," grinned Skylar. This was probably the first time anyone had ever offered to let her borrow anything. "I'll give it back as soon as possible."

They continued talking until the bell rang. "Aw, already?" complained Jake.

"Hey, what do you have next?" asked Skylar, hoping they would be together in their next class as well. "I have P.E., how about you?" replied Jake. Skylar glanced down at her schedule. "I have P.E., too! We'll be together again." She said happily.

"Not necessarily," said Jake, "There are always two P.E. classes at the same time. One of them goes in the gym, the other goes to the field. I'm in P.E. 1."

"Oh," said Skylar disappointedly. She looked down at her schedule again. "Dang it, you're right. I'm in class 2."

"Oh no. Oh no, this is bad." said Jake, wilting. "This is really bad, Skylar."

"Why, what's wrong?" asked Skylar, frowning.

"Skylar... Megan, Ben, and some other guys are in my class." He said fearfully. Skylar felt worry sting at her, but paid it no mind. She didn't need Jake to tell her that "Ben and the guys" were the same ones who had beat Jake up that morning.

"That sucks, Jake, but I don't think they'll try anything," she said as reassuringly as possible. After all,  they wouldn't dare do anything in class, a supervised time.

...Right?

How very wrong she was.

If Skylar and Jake had lingered in the cafeteria a few moments longer, they might have seen Megan head off to a corner where Ben was lurking. They might have heard her mutter something to him along the lines of, "If that girl doesn't have P.E. with him......You can get him in the locker rooms....when everyone's already gone...."

And, worst of all, they might have seen Ben nod, a leer appearing on his face.