The Boy Next Door (Editing and Rewriting)

Chapter 14

Tears blurred my vision and I couldn’t quite make out who the person by the doors was. I just hoped that it wasn’t another one of Ryder’s friends; I don’t think I could handle much more right now.

“Lucas! Jonathon! Come out here, now!” I heard a voice call, even if I couldn’t see the person that was standing by the door, I recognized the voice. The voice of my saviour; Adam. I was only vaguely aware of the fact that Ryder was still on top of me, holding me down to the floor, though his hand was no longer stopping me from talking.

“What’s the problem here?” I heard Lucas ask, I wasn’t really sure who he was talking to, Adam or Ryder. But either way, Ryder responded.

“None of your business now get lost idiots” Ryder said, he sounded like he was having a hard time keeping his voice quiet. I wondered if Jack had fled, but turning my head slightly to me left I saw that Jack was still there, watching the events unfold with a shocked expression.

“Well actually,” I heard Jonathon start, “when you are on our school’s property it becomes our business, so I think I’m gonna stay thanks,” the other two boys agreed with him, Ryder didn’t look too pleased with this but decided to ignore the three boys while he continued with what he was doing. He brought the knife closer and closer to my face; I shut my eyes, waiting for the knife’s tip to break the skin. Only, it didn’t. Slowly opening my eyes I saw that Adam had grabbed Ryder’s arm before the knife could get any closer to my face.

“I don’t know why you chose to hurt her,” I heard Adam say as he gave a slight nod in my direction, “but you did, and now this” he continued, gesturing between him and Ryder, “is personal. So I suggest you take your friend other there,” he said, nodding over at Jack, “and get out of here, before my two friends make you,” his voice getting colder and colder towards the end of his sentence. Jack didn’t need to be told twice, as soon as Adam finished speaking Jack was running in the other direction. But Ryder was a little more stubborn, he stayed where he was and just glared at Adam. As if by some unspoken agreement the two twins walked up to Ryder, one on each side, and pulled him off me before walking away, in the same direction that Jack had run a few minutes ago.

As soon as Ryder’s weight was off me I curled myself into a little ball, to protect myself from everything around me. I let the tears flow free now since it was over; my forehead resting onto on my knees provided a nice barrier between me and Adam. Not that I wasn’t grateful for what he did, because I did, I just didn’t like people to see me crying, it was embarrassing.

“Hey, are you okay?” Adam’s voice interrupted my thoughts; I slowly raised my head enough that I could nod, since I didn’t trust my voice at the moment.

“Come on, I’ll take you inside, we are kind of late to class, we should get going,” he said as he got up, extending his hand towards me, to help me up. I looked up at him but made no attempt at getting up; I didn’t want to go back to class, not like this. I just wanted to go home, home to sleep and hide from this day; I had had enough of today already.

“Alison?” he asked, concern lacing his voice as he looked at my unmoving figure, “what’s wrong?” he continued, concern still lacing his voice.

“I-I…don’t want…to go…to class,” I managed to choke out, between my breaths and my tears, hoping that it was understandable.

“Alright, do you want to go home?” he asked, clearly having no troubles with understanding. I reply I simply nodded. “Do you want me to take you?” he asked again as he knelt down in front of me so that I didn’t have to look up at him anymore, I nodded my head before adding,

“If you don’t mind,” I rushed out, feeling a little bit guilty that he was doing so much; we barely knew each other, why did he even care?

“I don’t mind,” he said before standing up and extended his hand towards me again, this time I took it and let him help me back up to my feet. When we reached the door that lead back into the cafeteria; he held it open, like the perfect gentleman.

As you know I’m very uncoordinated so it was no surprise when I managed to trip myself up on my own two feet. What was surprising is when Adam somehow managed to catch me before I hit the floor. His hand was now wrapped around my waist as he pulled me back up, standing me on my own feet.

“So now you’re falling me? How cliché,” he stated, trying to keep the mood light. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I was still slightly scared from what had happened less than ten minutes ago, or the fact that his face was so close to mine, but I let out a small giggle. I don’t even remember the last time that I giggled, yet here I was, in front of the boy that had just saved my life, giggling. And to be honest; it felt nice.

I pulled away from Adam and started walking away, he quickly followed. But, as I turned my head to talk to him, being the klutz that I am, but I managed to trip myself up, again. And once again, Adam managed to catch me in the split second before I hit the floor,

“Looks like I am falling, again and again,” I said seriously in reply to his previous statement, he looked at me seriously before he burst out in laughter, probably at the tone of my voice.

“Alright, I’m carrying you from here, because you are a danger to yourself and a danger to everyone around you,” he said, not waiting for my reaction he simply bent down, putting his hands behind my knees and scooping me up, instinctively I wrapped my arms around his neck.

That’s how he carried me out of the cafeteria and out of the school, bridal style. It was a time like this that I was glad everyone was in class right now, this was slightly embarrassing.