The New Kid

Chapter 26- The Evil Ambitions Of Cameron White

I woke up the next day. My room was completely white, save for the furniture and my cast, which was scarlet. In front of me, Preston and Jason stood watching me with their arms crossed. To my left, Drake and Davonte sat reading through a Time magazine. Jessica leaned over the right side of the bed, holding my right hand and Savannah watched over me on the left side, her left hand on the railing of my hospital bed.

I groaned and sat up.

"Good morning," Jessica said. I looked at Jessica sleepily, "Hey Jess."

"Damn man, you took a hell of a beating. Didn't cry out, either. You're a tough son of a bitch, Wynter," Jason said.

I looked at my left arm. Last night was burned into my head. The pain was still fresh, too. I tried to stand up, but the room was spinning, and I lost my footing. Preston grabbed me.

"Easy Wynter. You're hopped up on morphine. You need to sit down," he said.

I sat back down on my hospital bed. I turned to Jessica, "What happened to Cameron?"

Jessica sighed, "He got arrested and he's getting sent to juvy for a month. The White family aren't gonna bail Cameron out. I guess they just got tired of hearing the same shit about their son."

I nodded. A month without Cameron would be nice. I saw that Jessica was wearing the necklace I had given her for her birthday.

"Do you like it?" I asked, pointing to the necklace.

She laughed, "I love it."

I smiled. In that moment, I wanted so badly to confess my love for her. I wanted to tell her how much she had meant to me. It was a somewhat perfect moment, what with the whole broken arm situation and hospital setting.

I just couldn't. It was too soon. I could wait a while longer.

"How long have you guys been here?" I asked.

"We got here about an hour ago. Drake and Jess actually stayed the night," Preston explained.

"You guys didn't need to do that," I said to them.

"That's what good friends are for, aren't they?" Drake asked.

"That, and your mom kinda got held up at the office. Drake pretended to be Jason so he could have us stay here," Jessica said.

"Speaking of that, Drake I need my I.D. back," Jason said.

I nodded at him. I asked that Preston get me a wheelchair so I could go outside. Preston wheeled me down the hall to the elevator and we went outside.

"So, now that Cameron's beaten, how do you think things'll change at Phoenix High?" Preston asked.

"Sorry Preston, but I have a feeling we're not done with Cameron yet. We never did get to fight fair," I said.

Preston groaned, "Even if he was here and wanted to fight you, you couldn't. Your arm's broken."

"Well no shit, Pres. I'm talking about after my arm heals up."

Preston looked out into the city. It was pretty busy with spring break coming up. Somehow, this desert town was a spring break hotspot, coming in at a close second with Panama City.

"I got something that I haven't showed anyone yet. I was gonna show Jessica at her party, but you know," I said, holding my arm up. I pulled out Cameron's journal.

"He kept a journal of all the girls he slept with. Look through it," I said.

Preston widened his eyes, "Goddamn, he was messing around with Pauline Vega from John Adams? Woah."

"Why do all the cheaters go to John Adams?" I asked.

"Scott, not all the people at John Adams High are cheaters. It's this specific group of girls there. I'm pretty sure they're fucking nymphomaniacs."

"Emphasis on 'fucking'."

Preston screwed up his face, "Tara West? What the actual fuck?"

"What're you talking about, Pres?" I asked.

I swiped the journal from Preston's hand. There it was, clear as day. Tara West. I was dumbfounded that I hadn't seen her name. Admittedly, I had been just skimming through the notebook. He called Tara. The conversation began heatedly. Then, it turned sympathetic and solemn. Preston turned away from me and talked quietly to be a little more private. Not that it would do him any good what with him being right next to me. He hung up, on the verge of tears. I stood up and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Scott, whenever he's outta juvy and whenever you're feeling better, I want you to beat this fucker," Preston snarled.

"What did Tara say?" I asked.

The tears began to flow in Preston's eyes, "Dammit. I knew I should've gone to that party last year, I knew it! Scott...Cameron raped Tara. She got drunk and he just..."

I gasped and put my hands over my face. I couldn't believe it. I knew Cameron was a bad guy...but not to this extent. I thought that would be one of the last things he'd do. I put my hand on his shoulder again, "Preston, look at me. Now that you know, you can be there for her. You can support her."

"Yeah, I'm a whole fucking year late, Scott. What good is it gonna do?" Preston snapped.

"It's better than leaving her in the dark. The support you give, it shows her you love her dearly. You do love her, don't you?"

He looked at me with an annoyed look, "Scott, the answer's obvious. I do love her. I just wish I was there sooner. I wish I could've stopped it. I wish..."

I sighed, "I got things I wish for too. But you can't just wish, you gotta act. Wishing for the past to be better only darkens your future. What matters is what you do now. Talk to Tara, give her the support and help she needs."

He stopped crying, "I gotta worry about you, too. I haven't met someone like you. And for you to get hurt and I just watched it happen..."

"Preston, that's enough. Look at me, goddammit. I'm okay. You need to be with Tara. She needs you now more than ever."

He nodded, then gave me a confident look, "I'm gonna go to Tara. Let me just wheel you back to your room."

As soon as he wheeled me into the room, Preston darted down the hall to the elevator. I gave the notebook to Jessica. She read through it and then she threw it in the trash. That was where that notebook belonged. Drake came and sat on the end of my hospital bed, "What's that all about?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it. It's really bad," I answered.

Drake nodded in understanding. The pain in my arm was numbed by the thought of Tara. I took the notebook from the trashcan to see if there were any other names I knew. So far, it was just Jessica and Tara. My stomach churned at the thought of some of these names. If it happened to Tara, did it happen to any of the other girls? Did it happen to Jessica? Although I didn't believe in God, I prayed to someone...anyone to make this no worse than it was. I prayed that if it did happen to any of those girls on that list, I hoped that they would find justice and solace. But most of all, I prayed Tara would be strong.