𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓜𝓻𝓼. 𝓘𝓷𝓯𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓜𝓮𝓽 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓼𝓽...

Chapter 97

Carina's POV

I felt so sad for Delilah ever since those army men came to her house when I was there and told her the news of Michael's disappearance and possible death. She looked so...lifeless when I left and I wasn't sure what to do. I wished I could help her, but no one had seen her for days after and she spends most of her days locked up in her house. When professors ask where she is, she sends an excuse that she's sick or isn't well enough to attend classes. It broke my heart that she may never see the love of her life ever again and it made me sad to imagine her giving up on everything she worked hard on. She's was the most strong and independent woman I had ever met in my entire life and I wished to be more like her when it came to my happiness and success. Now seeing her depressed because of a boy shows that it isn't always so easy to act so strong in a world of hurt and rejection. I remember wishing I was better than my mother in the sense that I wouldn't have to depend on a man to make me happy, but that didn't mean I wanted to live my life without love. I hope she knows she still has love in her life through the people who love her so much.

It seemed I had my own problems to worry about after one of my classmates in my Sociology class asked me the one question I should have been expecting since the beginning of this year, "Hey, is it true you're dating Remington Leith?" I turned white as a bone after they asked that and then I said, "Where did you hear that?" They responded with, "Someone saw you making out with him behind the general store a few months ago and they told a few people about it. How do you get with a thug like that?" I bore a look of shock and was appalled at their statement and I spat back with, "First of all, that's none of your fucking business and second, you should really learn not to pry into something that doesn't concern you!" They seemed to look guilty and said before turning away, "I'm really sorry, Carina. I swear not to ask again if it makes you uncomfortable. I just thought you should know a few people are wondering because Jennifer Hazel is threatening to fight you outside of the school later."

My veins were filled with dread and apprehension as the last few words of that person haunted the back of my head the entire day. Jennifer now knows me and Remington are dating, and if she sees me, she'll try to kill me. She's a total psycho and has this toxic hold on Remington because she can't stand the thought of him with someone else. But now at this point, I don't want to hurt her, because she hadn't done anything to me and Remington was the one who let her go when he was unhappy with her. I had to respect that and swore that I wouldn't touch her if she didn't start anything that would force my hand. I did my best for the rest of my school day avoiding her at all costs while coping with the stares people were giving me now that they heard I'm with Rem now. They wouldn't understand why I was with him because they were too judgmental and I wouldn't stoop to their level to please their doubtful egos.

As I was walking to my car at the end of the school day, I noticed a familiar figure with pitch black hair and dark eyes glare at me from my far right and her eyes were like drilling holes in me. She started walking up to me and I just stared with a blank expression as she got closer with the look of death present in her face. "Is there something you need from me, Jennifer?", I asked when she got close enough. She flashed a fake smile and said, "Yes, actually. I do need something from you", I raised a brow as to ask her "what?" "I need you to give me my boyfriend back." I rolled my eyes at her, and started to dig through my backpack to find my keys. "I thought I warned you to stay away from him, klutz", she kept trying to upset me but I just ignored her. "You know you're not good enough for him and you're out of his league", she could say whatever the fuck she wanted about me because I stopped caring what people thought of me long ago. I finally got my keys and was about to open my door until I heard her sneer, "Ha, he probably only noticed you because you were like fresh meat and all he wants is to score something with you and walk away as if you never existed."

That's when I punched her in the nose and dropped everything as she stumbled back holding her face. When she came back, her nose was bleeding and blue and this rage inside of me was igniting once again. She rammed into me and sent us to the hard, concrete ground. She tried to hit me but I blocked every hit until I was able to grab her wrists and flip us over so I was on top of her and beating her to a pulp. She managed to hit me back a few times, but I was unable to stop after she accused Remington of being a player and only wanting to sleep with me. Her hurtful words about the boy I loved fueled this fire within me and I was unable to control it until two policemen tore us apart and took us into their police cars in handcuffs. The fire inside was starting to settle back down, but her words still echoed in my head causing me pain in my chest.

After me and Jennifer were let go with a warning for public disturbance, I went to work and asked if I could take a day off to avoid channeling negative energy into my work performance and one of my coworkers said they would cover for me. I thanked them and then drove back home with a heavy heart and aching head. I washed the blood on my hands in the bathroom sink and brushed my hair out when it was repeatedly being pulled. Then I just laid down in my bed replaying the events of today in my head and wondered what the hell was wrong with me. The only thing that broke the peace was the sound of my door being knocked and I got up to see it was Remington standing the doorway with a look of concern present on his face. Just seeing his face made me break down in tears and I collapsed but he caught me in his arms.

"Carina, what happened?", he asked me with worry in his tone as he sat me down on the living room sofa, "Emerson told me about today with you and Jennifer and the police and... I just want to know if you're okay. Did she hurt you?" I shook my head no and spoke through my silent sobs, "I'm sorry. I couldn't let her say those things about you. She had no right and-" He pulled me close into his chest and held me so tight and secure, "Shhh...It's okay, ma chérie. I don't give a shit what she may say about me. You know the truth about me. Your spunk and your spirit and your innocent and kind heart were enough to steal my heart and I would never do anything to hurt you or drive you away from me because I love you. More than you'll ever know." He kissed my hair and then held my face so gently so I would look into his eyes, "You know I would never force you to do anything you didn't want to, right? And even if you did want, I would never, ever take advantage of you", his eyes were so full of desperation and clinging to me, it was hard to deny his words were true. I leaned in to kiss him softly and he didn't hesitate to kiss back as I held him close to me. He had no fucking idea how much his words made me feel intense relief from feeling pressure to do something I wasn't ready for, and now I know I made Jennifer eat her own bullshit.

WOW!!! I'll bet a few of you were waiting for some kind of brawl between Carina and Jennifer in this story. And yes, I addressed THAT. I wanted a sense of innocence and abstinence to stand out at one point in this story because I feel its important and it keeps a relationship strong and true since most people take it for granted. I can't help but be soft when it comes to this kind of thing and I don't care who might call me lame, childish, boring, etc... Anyway, there's such more exciting things to come soon so I hope you stick around. 💗💗💗