Broken Promises

Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

Twenty-two more days. Twenty-two more days until I needed to come up with Rodney's money. Adam was still nowhere to be found, and my parents were still just as anxious as I was. I still hadn't talked to Oliver to see if he knew where my brother was at, but that was because I was still mad at him. I needed to learn to quit being so stubborn.

Brody's words to me the other day still upset me, and everyday at school he would glare at me whenever he saw me. Melissa didn't talk to me anymore either, and I was really starting to feel alone. Maybe I should suck it up and talk to Oliver, and if I did, it didn't mean I had to forgive him.

Shaking my head, I drummed my fingers on my desk as I listened to Mrs. Roper drone on and on about I didn't know what. From the corner of my eye, I could see people glancing at me, and I wanted so badly to tell them all off and to quit being rude. But I kept my mouth shut and sighed, closing my eyes and keeping my head down. Why did life have to be so unfair?

It wasn't until the end of school until something I thought would never happen, happened. Somebody had pushed me into the lockers, my head hitting the dial, and I winced in pain. Looking behind my shoulder, I saw that it was a few girls who I knew had a crush on Brody since middle school. When I turned around completely, I glared. "What the fuck is your problem?"

Chloe, the one who stood in front of the other two girls, flipped her perfect blonde hair behind her shoulder. She narrowed her moss colored eyes at me. "My problem? My problem is you. How could you cheat on Brody?" We had been broken up for a minute now, and they were just now confronting me about it? "You're a little whore."

I placed my hands on my hips. "As if it's any of your business, but I'll just let you know that I didn't cheat on Brody. He's lying."

She took a threatening step toward me, but I kept my head held high. She didn't scare me. "I highly doubt he would lie about something like that. I mean, we've all seen you around Oliver. You can't deny that y'all were doing things behind Brody's back! Ever since your crackhead brother-"

That was all it took for me to screech and tackle her to the ground. Chloe screamed, trying to claw me with her nails, but I grabbed both of her hands and slammed them on the floor. She let out a noise, and I abruptly stood up. It wasn't like me to be violent like this – my brother told me I should only ever hurt someone to defend myself – but she wasn't going to get away with talking about Adam like that.

"Keep my brother's name out of your mouth. And if you ever lay a hand on me again, I will make it to where you won't be able to use them again."

Before she, or any of her friends could say anything else, I turned on my heel and walked away. I rubbed my head where it came in contact with the locker and winced. A migraine was starting to form, and I seriously wished I would have done some damage to Chloe. Who did she think she was putting her hands on me? Because she believed I cheated on Brody? I would never do something like that, because I wouldn't want it done to me.

When I made it outside, I realized that I had missed my bus. Dammit. I let out a curse and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket. I guess I was going to have to walk home. At least it wasn't running. With a sigh, I began my journey on home, stopping a few times to catch my breath. Being athletic was something I was not, so taking long walks like this really made me exhausted.

Then, out of nowhere, I got the feeling that someone was following me. Glancing behind my shoulder to see if there was something walking behind me, but saw nobody. I shook the uneasy feeling off and picked up a little bit more speed. By now, I was only ten minutes away from my neighborhood.

A car whipped by me, and then stopped just a couple of feet ahead of me. I didn't recognize it, and nerves started bubbling up inside me when it started backing up. I chose to ignore and continued walking, but when they stopped beside me, I ended up stopping. The window rolled down, and I held in a breath.