One Choice

Chapter 44- The Solution to My Problem:

Chapter 44- The Solution to My Problem:

          I walked into school, too tense to notice anything or anyone around me. I tried my hardest to unclench my wound-up muscles, but it didn’t work. My mind kept replaying my dream in my head nonstop. No, it wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare. It was the worst nightmare anyone has ever had. My heart pounded in my chest as I made my way through the swarm of students to my locker. My stomach knotted in a very uncomfortable way to the point where I felt sick. I was beginning to panic, but I couldn’t help it. That nightmare had really messed me up.

          I opened my locker and hastily unloaded my books into it, not bothering to care about which ones I needed to get. What I needed right now was to just get to class and get this day over with. I couldn’t keep walking around on edge like this all day. I’d give myself a stroke by the end of the day.

          “Morning beautiful,” I heard being whispered into my ear as arms snaked around me. I jumped and whirled around, my heart beat sky-rocketing in my chest. My blood pulsed in my ears and my hands started to shake and get clammy. My breathing went out of control and I started hyperventilating.

          I knew that it was stupid of me to react this way, but I wasn’t exactly expecting him to greet me that way, and I instantly felt guilty and embarrassed for reacting the way I just did. I brought a shaky hand up to my face to push a strand of hair back behind my ear and breathed a sigh of relief. I buried my face into Jake’s chest and his arms tightened around me. I felt safe. As if nothing would ever try to hurt me as long as he was there.

          But I wasn’t the one that needed saving. I wasn’t the one that needed protecting. And so I wrapped my arms around him protectively and held him as close to me as possible. I heard the bell ring but I couldn’t care less. All I wanted to do was stay here with Jake and let him hold me and keep him next to me. I couldn’t let him go. Not after that nightmare.

          “Cass? You going to class?” he asked. He started to rub my back and I pushed myself closer into him, wanting to melt to him. I tried to control my shaking hands but they just wouldn’t stop. Jake must’ve felt them because he loosened his grip around me and pulled back slightly to look at me. I sucked in a breath at the loss of him.

          He looked down at me worriedly and cupped my face in one of his hands.

          “Cass, what’s wrong?” he asked gently. I shook my head, telling him it was nothing, but we both knew that he wasn’t having that. But instead of saying anything else, he dropped his hand only to take mine and dragged me down the hall and out of the building to the parking lot.

          “Jake, we have to go to class,” I protested. He didn’t say anything but kept towing me along until we got to his car. He got into the backseat and pulled me in after him and closed the door behind me.

          “Tell me what’s wrong, Cass,” he demanded. I looked down at our entwined hands, pondering on whether or not I should tell him. My mind drifted into thinking about just how wonderful his touch felt. Tears burned in my eyes as I thought about the nightmare I’d had. I couldn’t let something like that happen to him. I couldn’t let anything or anyone get close to hurting him. But it wasn’t just anyone that had been the one to kill him. It had been me.