Chasing Cars

Chapter Sixteen

"Stop!" Sue and I shouted, Sue jumping up and out of her chair. "Sit down!" Charleston demanded, whipping her bat around toward Sue. Shaking, my best friend dumped herself back into her chair, breathing heavily. My gaze never left Charleston's bat.

I caught a glimpse of that familiar stain that had been made when I myself was hit with the deadly wooden weapon. I felt a cold chill go down my back, but after about halfway down, I no longer felt it. It made me angry how the cause of that had been from the very bat Charleston held over Andrew now.

Speaking of him, Andrew took a split second to look up at Charleston, resuming his turtle position when the principal made eye contact with him and continued her stance before him, her bat poised only twelve inches or so above his head. I opened my mouth, ready to yell a rant in Charleston's direction, but I forced myself to keep quiet when Sue gave me a warning look and lightly hit my shoulder.

After waving the bat up at down for thirty seconds too long, Charleston lowered her arms and sighed. "Hearing the three of you scream in terror is like music to my ears, but unfortunately that's not what I have planned for you in this moment."

I sighed in relief, but instantly regretted it. Just because she was sparing Andrew- or any of us- now, didn't mean she would be sparing us in two minutes. "I see you're glad I didn't beat him, Karev!" Charleston laughed, a disgusting sound. "Is there more than just a friendship here that I don't know about?!" I was taken aback by Charleston's question. No. There was nothing more than a friendship going on between us. And just to confirm it, I looked over at Andrew, who was also looking at me. We gave each other the same look, then shook our heads at Charleston. 

"Darn," the principal said, clearly disappointed. "It's so much better when I get couples in here. So dramatic. I love watching them watch each other get their souls crushed in the very seats you three are sitting in." I made a face. So did Sue and Andrew. I suddenly felt bad for every couple in this school, even though couples made me want to die with their creepy obsessions with one another.

"Well," Charleston continued, "At least I know Sue over here has a love life!" She grinned at Sue, who's eyes widened. "Tell me about that guy from your science class!" she laughed, moving to stand directly in front of Sue this time. Cheeks turning red, Sue looked at the floor, shuffling her feet. "Look at me when I am speaking to you!" Charleston bellowed, actually sounding like a fairly normal angry person for once.

"There's - There's nothing to tell," Sue said quietly. "I like someone else..." She went on. Assuming an amused look, our principal clapped her meaty hands together, looking as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.

"Well tell me about him!" She cough-laughed creepily, bending down to be at Sue's eye level. "Uh... his name is Cam," she started. Had we been in any other location, I would've been hitting Sue up with that wink, wink, nudge, nudge gesture, but now was not the time. 

"Ooh is that short for anything like Cameron or some other name?" Charleston asked. I prayed that Sue would lie and say no. All of Cam's social media used his full name - Cameron - and there was no way we could let Charleston find him somewhere. 

Sue looked panicky, as if she was thinking she exact same thing I was thinking. "No." she answered. "His name is actually Jacob, we just call him Cam because..." she looked at me, the look in her eyes practically begging me for help. "He's a film maker. He likes cameras," I said, wincing at how stupid the lie sounded. 

"Interesting. Very interesting." Charleston nodded, rubbing her double chin in thought. I let out a breath of relief I didn't even know I'd been holding. If Charleston decided to track Cam down, she wouldn't be close to successful with the name Jacob. "Thank you," Sue mouthed, and I gave a quick nod in reply.