Orchid

My Crush Turns Out to be a Murderer

I gape at that elegant thing in his hand. "What the hell are you doing?" I scream. I don't usually curse, but this is a special case."

 Xander's eyes burn. "It's pretty, right?" He strokes the barrel. "Such a little thing could mean a lot." He aims at one of his "girlfriends", Arabella Cole, and presses the trigger.

 All hell breaks loose as Arabella screams and slumps over. Lucy shrieks and throws her hands over her head. I stand frozen, unable to move. I can't believe this. The boy I've admired since freshman year has killed an innocent girl without a trace of regret on his face. 

  Jason was right. Xander really is bad news. He has blood on his hands and I can't bear to look at him.

 Xander arches his head up and flicks his gun up to Lucy's chest. "F you! Damn your stinking--" She says a few more nasty words and is rewarded with a bullet in her arm, ripping her long, stylish shirt-sleeve open and exposing the wound, which is trickling blood and swelling up. Lucy staggers around for a moment.

  Xander swerves toward me and aims it. "Will you join my mistress, Lycaeon?"

 Lycaeon. Where have I heard that name?

 Then I remember. That woman who favored Darkness. And while I may be straddling with the evils of Darkness sometimes, I like Shira a whole lot better.

 "I think..." I tap my fingers on my desk, though my mind's already made up. "Lycaeon's on my opposing side."

  Ms. Amphitrite walks toward Xander. "Mr. Jackson--" Her face goes bone pale. "You cannot be. I heard you say that cursed name."

  "I am Lycaeon's. What? Too scared to utter that name?" He chuckles, curls his lip in disgust. "Orchid said she's not joining her. So I will kill her. Duh." He squeezes the trigger.

  I wait for the bullet to land in my chest, for something to happen. But a body jumps in front of mine and Jenna's on the ground, her leg twitching as blood leaks from it.

 "What the--Get out of this, rich snob." Xander proceeds to kick her in her wounded area. "If you don't get yourself out now, you've guaranteed yourself a grave."

 I wait for Jenna to drag herself back to safety, but she remains her stubborn self and stays there, only stretching her wounded leg and wincing slightly. "No." A simple word slips out of her mouth, out of her obnoxiously unnatural pink lips.

 "Did I hear you say no?" Xander cocks his head. "Oh, Jenna, you've always been the fighter. Always thinkin' you get your way. Unfortunately for you, rich snobs don't get what they want." He raises it.

 Ms. Amphitrite shoves Jenna out of the way, toward the open window. "Get out of here, you too!" She pauses for a heartbeat as Xander laughs and shoots Katie, who didn't even get a chance to scream yet.. "And get Lily too!"

  My legs feel like lead as I look out of the window. My head spins. I'm scared of heights.

 "Coward!" Lily calls as Jenna herds themselves toward me. "Is little Orchid going to die because she was a scaredy-cat?"

 I force the lump in my throat to go down. I can't put myself in Xander's waiting weapon because my phobia prevented me from going down.

 Without a second thought, I hoist my legs out of the window and jump, shuttering my eyes closed.

 All I remember is a scream that never seemed to end. Maybe it was me.