Senseless

done

Well, my school career was over. No one wanted me, Elena, Natalie, or Nash to be at school while Liam was surely finding out about the deaths at our hands. They weren't too worried about Nash, considering he could probably hold his own when it came down to it, but Arianna wasn't budging on Elena, Natalie, and I.

Nash promised it would be over soon; Liam's temper wouldn't allow for this to go unnoticed and anger caused stupidity. He wasn't worried about winning anymore, he was worried about getting revenge. I, however, could only dream about what I'd done. All I could think about were the families of the men I'd killed. They were all just following the orders of a vengeful man, not doing bad things on their own account.

I worried every day. The security was growing; I hadn't once seen Arianna without at least four men close by her. It took me only a few days to realize the same was happening for me. Everywhere I went, there were a few shadows close by me. I could hardly be irritated, though. They made me feel much safer, anyway. The only thing I was worried about was if that was inconveniencing them.

Amber had come to the house, since none of us were really leaving and hadn't seen her in a little while. She stayed in my room and I felt like we were having sleepovers just like we used to, only my new bedroom was bigger than the other one. It was nice to have Amber around. It relieved some of the tension I felt building around us. Everyone was terrified.

Elena and Natalie were staying in the same room, as both were scared but had no one to go to but each other. Amber and I were always together. I tried to get her to leave, considering she'd be caught in the fight when it arrived if she didn't get out, but she refused. Her parents required calls every day, probably scared out of their minds after hearing about what happened to me. I rarely even saw Nash. He was always in some office with about three other guys, all of which seemed pretty close to him.

Amber styled my hair quite a bit, too. The soothing feeling calmed me a little, like a massage on my head. She put it into different braids she found online and came up with. "What do you think is going to happen?" Amber asked for the tenth time. I wonder if she knew she was stressing me out at the same time as she was calming me down?

"I don't know," I said impatiently. "Just don't worry. We're taking care of it." More like Nash was taking care of it. The only contribution I'd made was what I'd done with the others that night. I bit my lip nervously as she raked her fingers through the tight ringlets falling down my back. Even after a trim, it was still longer than hers. I'd gotten about five inches cut off.

She began gently tugging pieces of hair into place and I sighed. "I know why I'm nervous," I began, tapping my fingers on the desk, "but why are you this scared?"

Amber didn't say anything. I caught the slight hesitation in her movements as she pulled another strand of hair into the braid. "Our guys are going to die, aren't they?"

I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing she wouldn't like the answer. After all, I knew she'd probably gotten close with a few people while I was gone and didn't want them to die. I just felt horribly responsible for all of this, as if they were dying because of me. "Yes," I said quietly. "But the numbers won't be so high."

She frowned. I hadn't told her about what I'd done, terrified she'd think less of me. We'd been friends for years, but I had never even thought I'd do anything like this and she hadn't, either. But, to be fair, neither one of us thought we'd be sitting in the midst of a bunch of guys who'd definitely killed a lot and worrying for their lives. "Who is going to win?" she asked softly.

If she'd asked Nash, he'd definitely have told her we'd win. I wanted to believe him because he knew more than I did, but I still couldn't help but be worried. Still, I didn't want Amber to know that. "We are," I said, forcing my voice to sound confident.