H.I.C.C.

Chapter 10: Reunion

Lunch break. Jen heads to L's classroom as fast as she can. "I'll skip lunch today." She says. L looks up from her seat. "That's quite nice actually, I didn't really feel like walking all the way to the cafeteria anyway. Will you stay here?" Jen looks away for a split second. "No, I have some business to attend to." L raises a brow. She is urged to ask what it is, but she just assumes it's school business and she lets it pass. "Alright, take care." Is all she says. Jen now heads outside. She walks behind the school building. She still can't quite believe she is actually going there. At a first glimpse no one is in sight. She walks until she reaches the middle of the building. She leans against the wall, waiting. She wasn't impatient. But she won't wait too long. She doesn't want to miss any of the lesson. Of course, through not using the lunch break for, well, lunch, she has a lot of time. Then she notices the dark figure leaning against the trunk of a tree. The person realises that he was spotted, and now steps outside of the shadow and starts walking towards Jen. "Hey Jen, how's it goin'? Did you miss me?"

I look at my desk. I somehow start to worry about Jen. What if she was in trouble? What if a teacher was giving her a lecture? I should've insisted to go with her. I play with my fingers. After a few more seconds I decide to go look for her. I slowly push myself up using the table. It stings in my chest. I gasp. Michael seems to have noticed, as he's walking up to me. "L, 'sup?" I look to the floor shortly. "I want to go look for Jen. She said she has some business to attend to, but I'm worried." He looks at me. "Why don't you wait here, and I'll look for her instead?" He asks with a smile. I stare at him. "You'd do that?" His smile turns into a smug. "Of course, why wouldn't I?" I raise a brow. "You don't hang around us for that long, it doesn't seem that natural, given how much we're liked around the school." Michael makes a contemptuous gesture. "Blagh, they don't even really know you. I'm sure if you spent a little time with me and my mates I'll be able to turn the tides and change your image. Just stick with me." He winks at me. That was very suggestive. I wonder what he's planning? "Well alright, but if you find her tell her I am worried and would like to know what's up." He gives me the thumbs up. "Sure thing. Just wait here 'n rest." I nod and slowly sit down again. Something fishy is going on. I know it.

Slowly Mark walks closer to Jen. She is pressing herself against the wall, eyes locked with his. "M-Mark... w-what gives?" He chuckles. "You, Jen." She stares at him. "Excuse me?" He is still walking closing the distance. Jen reluctantly gets her legs to move sideways along the wall. He just changes course to intercept her movement. "Oh, don't try that Jen. We finally meet alone without all those apes in the way, and you just want to stalk off?" Jen gulps. She wants to get away from him. FAR away. Her knees start shaking. "You know Jen, whenever we bullied you I noticed a strange thing. You were always petrified in terror. Bullying alone can't achieve that. There's more." Jen freezes. Mark does as well and focuses her. "Aaaaah hahahaa! I hit the spot, didn't I?" Jen slowly resumes her movement. Mark takes his time and slowly strolls with her. He is directly in front of her, one metre and a half away, simple tagging along. She looks away from him now, in the direction where she's going. She finally manages to increase her speed a little. Suddenly Marks arms slams into the wall in front of her. "That's far enough Jen, we don't suddenly want to be in plain view, do we?" She looks at him again. "Mark, s-stop." He smiles. "Stop what? I didn't even do anything yet." He eyed her up. "You're shivering that much already. Am I that scary?" He moves in closer. Jen's heartbeat increases and she REALLY wants to storm the fuck off now. He moves in even closer until their noses almost touch. "You're so fucking pretty Jen." She opens her mouth to say something, but only small chunks of breath come out. He smiles and suddenly starts licking her neck. She can't move at all. She is standing there like a rock, the only movement being muscle contractions. He grabs her wrists and suddenly presses her against the wall. He moves back up and locks her eyes. "Tell me one good reason not to fuck you on the spot." Jen is at her limit. She is sweating all over, not able to move at all. She wants to scream, but all she gets out are pathetic clicking noises. Only her mind is screaming: 'HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A voice suddenly screams. Mark slowly turns his head to the right. "Oh, hello there." Michael takes a few steps towards us. "Let her go!" Mark slowly moves his head away from mine. "And what if I don't?" Michael gulps and stops in his tracks. "I'll get the staff." Mark chuckles. "Those old geezers don't scare me, Michael." He knows him? My terror hinders me from being confused. WHEN WILL HE LET GO??? My legs just won't budge!! LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE! Michael and Mark are still talking to each other. I wish I could listen... But I can't focus anymore. My legs fail me. I slowly start to sink. I can feel the wall rubbing my back as I slowly slide to the ground. Mark doesn't seem to stop it. He let go of my wrists. My eyes can only look straight forward. I see grass, and Marks shoes. Suddenly he moves one step. Then his legs are being pulled away. Now that he is further away, some strength comes back to me. I slowly turn my head to my right. Mark and Michael are having a fistfight. A pretty intense one it seems. My eyes feel so heavy.... I wish I could just close them, but I'm still too petrified... Can anyone finally wake me up?

Mark hits Michael hard on the ear. The impact makes Michael stagger and fall on his right knee. "Is that all you got you pathetic wimp? Before you start protecting others, you should learn to protect yourself." Michael suddenly smiles. "I can do that, no problem." He gets up. Mark chuckles. "You're tenacious, I'll give you that." Michael charges at Mark, but he dodges and knees him hard. Michael lands on the floor, coughing. Mark spits on Michael's back. He's about to kick him again, when another voice suddenly speaks up. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mark cringes, and when he sees who it was, he storms off. Since he is still marked absent, he didn't wear the uniform, so Mr. Demens didn't recognise him. L, standing beside him, sees Jen collapsed at the wall, and ignoring all pain in her body runs over to her, while Mr. Demens walks over to Michael. L kneels down next to Jen. "Jen! Jen, hey! Can you hear me?" Like the sun does to a block of ice, L's presence slowly brings life back to Jen's body. She turns her head. "What.......happened?" L starts a gentle hug. "I was worried, because you just said you had business to attend to. If you had to speak to a teacher you'd have just said that. So when Michael left I didn't think twice and walked to the lockers. I don't know, I just went after that anime cliché, you know? With notes in lockers... And when I opened yours I saw the note, so I went to the teacher's office and asked for backup." Jen doesn't say anything. She starts sobbing instead. "I....was so.....fucking scared....." She starts. L pets her head. "I know, you don't have to say anything." She whispers. Mr. Demens walks up to them. "Lessons are about to start. Do you want me to cover for you?" L looks at him. "Can we be excused for the rest of the day?" Mr. Demens nods. "Sure. I'll write an excuse for all three of you. Michael, do you want to go to the infirmary first?" He shakes his head. "No, I'll just head straight home, thanks." Mr. Demens agrees.

After dropping L off, Mr. Demens brought me home. I open the door, weak, and slow. "Jen, my dear, is that you?" Mother.... I just realised I haven't seen her since yesterday because I stayed at L's. My mother comes to the door. I just drop my bag right where I'm standing. "Jen?" My mother asks with a worried expression. I fall to my knees. "Oh my god! Jen, what's wrong?" My mother rushes over. My vision is getting blurry. "Mum... I...." I can't say it. I can't say it to her face. I can't just say: "Mum, I was sexually assaulted today." I can't. And the thought makes me cry deeply. My mother is saying something, but I can't hear her. I can only feel she is hugging me. Weakly my arms move up to return it, and I pull at my mothers hoodie. I just cry and cry and cry. I don't know for how long. It felt like hours. I didn't even stop when the door opened again and my dad came in. My mother and I were still in the entrance. I can hear my dad exchange a few words with my mother, then he joins the hug. I wish it was all a dream. Can't this be a nightmare? Just another nightmare? I am used to nightmares, please, just let it be one.

Please just wake me up.