EVERGREEN WOOD《COMPLETED✔》

THE FRIEND

Chapter 37

Lola's gun was still aimed at me. She glanced to and forth between the darkness and me. Alex did a doubletake on what's behind him and faced us again. 

"You have someone else in your team? Lola keep an eye on them. I'm gonna check." As soon as he finish his sentence a battle cry rang in my ears and I saw Ivy jump over Alex from behind. Alex stumbled a few times and then tried to get her off him. This time I didn't wait for Noah's cue. I grabbed Lola's gun hand and twisted it with all the strength I had in my body. She cursed but didn't let go off the gun. I dug my nails on her face with my free hand. But her reflex action resulted in squeezing my throat. The pain felt like a nail piercing my brain. I was becoming low on oxygen. But I kept fighting. I could see Alex who threw Ivy hard on the ground and she was whimpering. He now laid a fist on Noah's face. I could feel the world slipping from me. But Skyler punched her just below the neck and she released me. 

I fell on the ground clutching my throat, gasping for air. I took some big breath and the world started to stabilize. I saw Skyler clawing Lola's face with her long manicured nails. I never saw her this fierce but i was glad she showed it now. My eyes caught the gun lying on the ground. She must've lost her grip while Skyler attacked her. I grabbed the gun and tried to get on my feet. Skyler pinned down Lola on the ground. Noah was getting hit by Alex over and over again.

I clutched the gun between my both hands and pointed it forward. "Leave him alone," I couldn't recognize my own voice. I came out raspy and cold. I could see the blood trickling down from Noah's nose and his face almost deformed. Alex gave him one last blow and he fell on the ground. Then he straightened himself and faced me.

"I swear I'll kill you," I screamed and tears started rolling down my cheeks. "Your dad's drugs killed my mother. You attacked so many people. You killed your own father. For what you did to Noah, Luke, Ivy. For Genevie. I will shoot. You asked what I was to the gang? Let me tell you. I AM THE FRIEND." I balanced the gun and got ready to pull the trigger. I know no one will support this. But he has to be finished. 

Before I could pull the trigger, the doors busted open from all sides and the cops started to come in.

"Drop that weapon," I heard officer wild who was aiming another gun at me along with a bunch of cops. I saw agent Savvaro walk through the crowd and stopped in front of me.

"Ms. Ryan, you are under arrest."

"Wait what? He's the culprit. Arrest him."

"You have the right to remain silent," she took the gun from me.

"What did I do?"

"You broke in to private property, possession of illegal weapons and also we caught you when you were about to shoot his head off."

"You don't understand. We found the brand. He was about to kill us."

"It didn't look like that to us." She offered me a pair of handcuffs.

"Thank goodness you guys came," Alex looked frantic.

"We traced Ms. Mackenzie's cell phone to here." I gave Ivy a horrified look. She didn't even care and started to gather herself together. 

 "I came here with Lola to have some quiet time after all that we've been through. They just surrounded us out of nowhere. I knocked out Luke while self defensing. Then Noah beat me up. Then, Jenny-" he broke out in sobs. My mouth hanged open at his flawless acting and alibi. That's exactly how he played it after the attack. "She was about to kill me."

"Those are all lies. That gun belongs to him. He was the one who was about to kill us."

"What have I ever done to you Jenny? I liked you." Alex gave me a pained expression but I could see his hidden smirk right through it.

"Save it," Ivy said and pulled out her cell from her pocket. She pressed the screen and nothing happened at first. "Sorry," she pressed again and it started to play Lola's voice.

-tiny brain to process. I am the accomplice you're looking for. Which means I was the one who killed Genevie.

Why?

Do you think it's easy to be under the shadow of the Queen Bee? Everyone's always saying stuffs like Genevie is this, Genevie is that. I used to look up to her, try to be like her. But she pushed me away. She liked to be the only one. Her grades were better than me, her looks were better than me. I was the one getting sidelined. I was the one to suffer. Alex was the one who understood me. He took me in. Loved me like no one else did. She had it coming for her for a long time. Alex just gave a another reason for her to suffer. So she did.

One by one we heard all that happened after Lola showed herself. Every bit of the fight and the thrashing all those were very clear in the voice clip. It took nanoseconds to place the handcuffs on Alex's wrist. But when we swept the area, Lola slipped from between us. The trap door of the passage was open.  

I rushed to Luke and fell on my knees beside him. His unconscious body made me realize what i was fending off for a long time. I let my tears run down and cry. I won't be afraid anymore. The paramedics took Luke away. He was just knocked out and will be better in no time. They had the brand, the proof and us as the witnesses to carry out the case smoothly. Only one of the culprit was missing.

"Thanks for your support. The police department will be forever grateful," agent Savvaro shook out hands.

"We did find out what you were up to," Noah chimed in.

"I am very ashamed of that. We could use people like you two in the department," she winked and walked away.

Four of us got out of the house and stood on the yard. It was all over. We all looked battered and out of breath, but there was something in our faces which glowed in the moonlight. Accomplishment.

"Wait a go with the recording," I told Ivy. I remembered her trying to record everything we said when we were younger just to use them against us at some points.

"Old habits die hard," she held out a hand and I took it. For a moment we all just stood there breathing in the peace.

******************

I was sitting beside Luke who was fully awake after one hour being admitted to the hospital. The nurse was checking his pulse and left with a smile after she was done. The first thing I did in the morning was to go get white lilies and come here.

"How are you feeling?" I held his hand.

"Never better," he gave me his ever charming grin.

"It's all over," I gave his hand a squeeze.

"I missed it all. So much more the muscle who laid unconscious the whole time."

"Yeah. Now I am thinking we should've directly gone to his house and came out before him." I made a thoughtful face.

"Really?" He looked like he was hurt.

"No silly. We couldn't have done it without you." We sat in silence for a while.

"I was wondering," I raised my eyebrows at him to continue. "Will you go to the prom with me?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Prom is months away. Did the nurse drug you?"

"No. And once they know your dating policy is off, they'll go nuts. So, I'm calling my dibs."

"Okay," I blushed a little.

"I love you, Jen," he held my hand between both of his. His warmth embracing mine and making me giddy from head to toe. His sudden confession should have taken me aback. But something else was even sweeter.

"You haven't called me Jen in a long time."

"In my mind, it's always been Jen."