WHITE LIAR

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Chloe got it.  She heard all the words that came out of his mouth and she understood where he was coming from, but that didn’t mean that she had to like it.  All she wanted to do was tell someone that she was sorry, make them see that she didn‘t mean for something like this to happen.  She wanted the chance to be able to explain herself but as Justin had mentioned, what she wanted really didn’t matter anymore. 

Feeling dejected, Chloe turned around and started to head off in the other direction.  There was no reason for her to stay here any longer and she refused to look back at him.  She refused to beg.  She wasn’t stupid enough to not realize that the blame for this particular incident was all on her.  She was the one that actually went through with the act, so she knew that it was her fault.  Knowing that though and accepting it, well, that was just something that she would have to learn how to live with on her own. 

Between worrying about John and dealing with Erica, Chloe's nerves were frayed…shot all to hell really.  She hadn't even begun to think about how she was going to deal with her cousin yet.  She sure as hell wasn’t about to go along with her newest plan but she didn’t want her running her mouth about her secret past either.  That was her past and Erica had promised her a year ago that her secret would always be safe. 

When she first moved here, Chloe had understood all too well what Erica was going through.  She'd been there herself, but enough was enough.  She thought they had made their point, more than once.  Now John, a totally innocent person was needlessly suffering because he got caught up in the middle, all because of who he hung around.

“You stupid bitch!”

Chloe heard the words from behind her and before she could turn around, her body was being thrown sideways.  Her head snapped backwards, banging hard up against the metal lockers and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open while she sagged to the floor.  Pain exploded in the back of her head and while her vision blurred, she struggled to make sense out of what was happening to her.

It all happened too fast.  One moment she was walking along the hall, the next moment she found herself on the floor with a blond haired avenging angel straddling her body, using Chloe as her own personal punching bag.

It only took Chloe about two seconds to catch up with her.  Reaching out, she grabbed a hold of the furious blonds wrists, determined to restrain her.  “What in the world?” she hollered at her, the words suddenly getting caught up in Chloe's throat when she noticed the stream of tears trailing down the girl’s cheeks.  The longer that she stared at her, something in her memory began to click and the more familiar this blond girl became. 

It was the eyes.  Those sparkling blue eyes that clued Chloe into who she really was.  Even through the tears and the rage, it was John’s eyes that she saw staring so hard back at her.  With the sudden realization, Chloe released the girl's wrists and all she could do was lay there while the girl continued to rain down blow after blow after blow. 

Chloe could see the pain etched so deeply in the girls face.  She was there, but yet she wasn’t.  It was like she was watching the entire scene from inside a fish bowl.  Her curses, her flying fists, her anger.  Chloe was seeing it all but she felt nothing, she was just numb.  Maybe, she thought, it was what she had deserved, maybe she just froze up, either way, she couldn't move. 

Chloe wasn't exactly sure what all happened in those few seconds of maddening fury.  She could hear the small voice in the back of her head demanding that she move, fight back or just do something, but she couldn’t.  She couldn’t force herself to move a single muscle.