Conrad

by Emily Rose

  “Can you stop looking at me like that?” I blurted.

  Josh blinked his eyes up from where they had been visually groping my body instead. “What?”

  I shook my head and looked away from him to watch the rowdy crowd instead. “You heard me,” I said loud enough for him to hear me over the music.

  One moment, Josh was standing across from me and the next moment, he was right up in my face. So close that I could smell the alcohol on his breath. I took a step back from him as my heart sped up the tiniest bit with nervousness and looked up to his towering height.

  “I don’t think I heard you right,” he said and stepped forward, filling the distance between us once again.

  I moved back, but I ran into the wall instead and considering there was dozens of people all around me, I was stuck. My words failed me as my nervousness turned into straight fear.

  The look in Josh’s deep blue eyes was dark and I couldn’t bring myself to imagine what he was thinking as he looked down my body once again.

  “Josh, you’re drunk. Back off,” I said and reached up to place my hand on his chest, trying my best to push his large frame away from me at the same time I scanned the crowd for any sign of Lucas.

  He ignored me and reached with the hand that wasn’t holding the cup, placing it on the outside of my bare thigh. “You look fucking good tonight, Les. I had no idea you had a body like that,” he whispered.

  I sucked in a sharp breath at the feel of his hand on my thigh and reached down between our bodies with both of mine, locking them around his wrist and trying my best to push his hand away, but he was like a brick wall in front of me. “Josh, stop,” I said as my heart raced with fear and I looked around desperately for someone to notice, but everyone was too drunk to even care at this point. Music blared around me, and my fear of sex only tripled as I imagined Josh doing God only knows what to me right here in front of everyone.

  “Oh, come on, Les. You know you want it. I saw the way you were looking at me when Luke was standing there,” he slurred his words before leaning his head down until his mouth was mere inches from the skin on my neck. His hand continued up until it was slightly under my skirt now, circling to the inside of my thigh.

  My heart raced inside my chest and I struggled against him with my hands still locked around his wrist, “Josh, stop!” I said with fear seeping through every word.

  It wasn’t a second later that I heard him.

  “Hey!” he shouted before grabbing Josh by the shoulders, slinging him away from me and causing him to hit the ground hard. People scattered, but no one tried to stop it as a gasp escaped me at the same time Noah tackled Josh. He brought his fist up and begun punching Josh before I had time to even register what happened.

  “Noah!!” I screamed, but he wasn’t listening.

  Josh fought back. He kicked Noah in the side so hard that he fell to the ground and then Josh was on top, punching him instead. I looked around at the crowd as fear ricocheted through me. People were laughing and egging it on instead of trying to stop it. I shot forward, pushing my way through the crowd that had gathered around them until I could see Noah again.

  Josh was still on top of him and he was still hitting him.

  “Stop!” I screamed and shot forward, somehow managing to grab Josh’s arm as it was in mid-air, but he shoved me off so hard that I fell back into the counter, smacking the back of my head off of it. Pain erupted through me and my vision went haywire, but I pushed through it and stumbled to my feet. Before I could manage to get to my full height though, Lucas and Brad came out of nowhere. They both grabbed Josh and pulled him away from Noah before forcing him toward the front door.

  Shaking, I rushed to Noah’s side who was still on the ground. He coughed, rolled onto his side before forcing his way to his hands and knees where he spit blood onto the floor. I grabbed his arm and tried to get him to stand up, so that I could get him out of there.

  “Come on,” I said fearfully.

  He coughed again and slowly got to his feet before placing his heavy arm around my shoulders, bracing his weight on me as I walked through the surrounding crowd with him in tow. Each one of their eyes watched us until we exited the house and I couldn’t stop the undeniable anger that swelled inside my chest.

  No one helped.

  No one even tried to stop it.

  On our way down the stairs, I spotted Josh standing in the front yard with Brad and Lucas in front of him. He saw us too and he laughed loudly as I struggled to carry Noah’s weight back to Lucas’ car.

  “You’ll regret that faggot!” he yelled.

  “Shut the fuck up, Josh!” Brad said as he held his hand on his chest, preventing him from coming near us.

  Lucas turned his back on them and took Noah’s weight from me. When we reached the car, he helped Noah get inside as I hopped into the passenger seat. A moment later, Lucas got in and the engine revved to life before we took off. I spun around in my seat to check on Noah. He was sitting up, but he was holding his side and there was a deep cut right above his eyebrow that I knew would need stitches.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath and smiled, even though I could see that it pained him to do so. “Yep, perfect.”

  “What the fuck happened?” Lucas asked as he drove.

  I spun back around in my seat. “He’s going to need stitches. Take me to Lila’s,” I said, even though I could feel his eyes on me.

  “I’m fine,” Noah said.

  I spun back around quickly. “No, you’re not fine. We are going to let Lila check you out,” I said firmly.

  He steadied his gaze with mine, but he said nothing. Turning back to face the road, I knew Lucas was frustrated that I wouldn’t respond to him, but now wasn’t the best time to tell him that Josh had basically tried to rape me. If he knew that, he would probably turn this car back around and go murder him.

  And Lucas clearly understood that I wasn’t going to explain it, because he didn’t ask again as we drove toward Lila’s house.

  It didn’t take us long to reach her house and when we pulled up, I saw that Dare’s Jeep wasn’t there, but her car was. Lucas parked next to it and shut the engine off as I stepped out, pushing the seat up for Noah as he slowly got out.

  “Let me help you,” I said and didn’t wait for his permission before I grabbed his arm again and pulled it over my shoulders, letting him use my body as a crutch.

  He didn’t argue either as we made our way toward the front door with Lucas following close behind us. I reached up with my free hand and knocked once. It wasn’t long before I heard the sound of someone unlocking the door and then it opened, revealing Lila.

  She took one look at me and then her gaze shifted to Noah. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, what now?” she asked.

  “Party fight,” I said.

  Lila rolled her eyes and then opened the door, letting us through. Without my consent, my gaze scanned the room and that was when I spotted him. Miles stood in the kitchen with his hands braced on the counter behind him. He wore different clothes though. A black T-shirt, dark gray zip-up hoodie, and dark jeans. His dark, eerie gaze met mine and I had the urge to look away as I helped Noah sit down on the couch. I half expected him to ask what happened, but instead, he was silent as Lucas closed the door and Lila started calmly assessing Noah’s wounds.

  “How did you manage to get into a fight?” she asked Noah as she turned his head side to side, examining all the bruises that were beginning to appear.

  He met my gaze for a moment and then responded, “Someone was being a dick to Les and I intervened.”

  I swallowed hard and lifted my gaze to Lucas. He stared at me and I knew the question he was about to ask before he said it.

  “Who? What happened, Lesley?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said.

  Noah smirked, “Oh yes, it does. I’m sorry, Les. I know you don’t want Luke to know, but he needs to know,” he said.

  Lila stoppe
d examining Noah and turned to face me. “What is he talking about?”

  With all eyes on me except for Miles’, I felt the urge to sink into the floor right then and there, but I knew Noah was right. I had to tell them. “It was nothing. Josh was drunk and he tried to grab me,” I said quickly.

  “Grab you? He tried shoving his hand up your skirt, Les. That’s more than just grabbing someone,” Noah said angrily.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Lucas said as his jaw ticked with anger.

  “Les, that is not cool at all,” Lila added.

  I sighed heavily, “Look, it all happened so quick and I was going to tell you guys. I just didn’t have the chance,” I said.

  Lila smiled weakly, but she didn’t respond as she went back to work on Noah. My eyes met Lucas’, but he wasn’t watching me. Instead, he was staring straight ahead and I could tell that the anger he was currently feeling burned through him like nitroglycerine.

  Dropping my gaze, I snuck a glance over my shoulder to where Miles stood, listening to the whole conversation.

  I was not expecting him to be watching me though, but he was.

  God, he definitely was.

  Those multicolored eyes burned into mine with boiling rage, but even I knew it wasn’t a rage that was directed at me.

  But I couldn’t stop the shiver that made its way down my frame as I pulled my eyes away from his.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Lesley

  The next few days passed without any drama, even at school, Josh avoided me and I avoided him. I wasn’t sure if he even remembered what he had done, but I knew for a fact that Noah and Lucas hadn’t forgot it. I could tell in the way they looked at him each time they saw him walking the halls or sitting at the table during lunch.

  It was clear that they wanted to strangle him, but I wasn’t about starting drama, so I did everything in my power to keep them distracted from their violent plans.

  My mind went over these thoughts as I sat at my table in English. Mr. Hines was going on about the test Friday, but I had already spent hours upon hours studying for it, so I was pretty confident that I would at least pass it. Instead, with these thoughts in my head, I doodled into my notebook. Something I liked doing when I couldn’t think clearly. I wasn’t sure if it actually helped or not, but I still did it.

  Before I knew it, the bell rang, indicating it was lunchtime. All around me, I could hear the noises of my classmates gathering their things and rushing out the door. I took my time, slowly putting my notebook and everything else back into my book bag before I stood up, following the line of students out until I walked into the hallway.

  Instead of watching people, I watched my shoes as they carried me slowly toward my locker where I only looked up long enough to open it, shoving my book bag inside. I felt like a damn zombie. I hadn’t slept good last night and with everything constantly racing through my head, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t sleep much again tonight.

  To my right, a few lockers down, I heard his voice.

  “Alright, real fucking funny! Who the fuck did this?”

  My gaze slowly turned toward Josh’s voice as I closed my locker. I could see a group of people standing around him, but I couldn’t see what he was referring to until one of them stepped to the side and I got a clear view of Josh. He stood with his hands clenched into fists like he was ready to punch someone right then and there.

  “Come on. Don’t be a pussy. Fess up!” he yelled at the surrounding people, all of whom held their phones out, snapping pictures and snickering.

  I knew better than to walk toward them, but I couldn’t stop the curiosity that burned in the back of my mind as I started forward. When I reached the crowd, I made sure to stay back, so that he didn’t spot me right away, but close enough that I could see what he was so pissed about.

  On his locker, someone had painted what looked a lot like a mask and below it, they had written three little words.

  They read, “Tag, you’re it.”

  People were laughing like it was all a joke, but I couldn’t stop the chilling sensation that raced down my spine at the words.

  “What is going on here?” I heard Mr. Hines call from behind me.

  I turned just in time to see him marching forward and straight into the crowd. He stopped when he saw what was written on Josh’s locker and stood there a moment like he too wasn’t sure what to think of it before he looked up at Josh.

  “Who did this?” he asked in an authoritative tone.

  Josh’s anger was practically radiating off of him in waves as he shook his head. “No idea, that’s what I was trying to figure out, but everyone wants to act like fucking bitches!!” he yelled at the crowd.

  Mr. Hines glared at him. “Watch your mouth, Mr. Harris,” he said before he faced the crowd, “Everyone, get to lunch. Now!” He pointed his finger as if that somehow held the power to make the students obey and then he started forward, “Josh, come with me. We will figure this out.”

  I pressed my back against the wall as the crowd parted and dropped my gaze to the floor as Mr. Hines passed by me with Josh in tow, but I looked up too quick and caught Josh’s eyes. He lifted one finger, waving it toward me in what I knew was a warning before he glanced away and continued to follow Mr. Hines.

  Once the hallway was clear of everyone, I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and relaxed from the wall.

  My eyes lifted to Josh’s locker and despite my every intention to walk away from the crime scene, I ended up walking toward it instead. Stopping beside his locker, I studied the mask and words.

  It wasn’t until I was up close and personal with it that something chilling hit me.

  The handwriting, whether it was in paint or not, looked way too familiar. Every curve of the letters, the way the “i” was dotted at the top, all of it. I had seen that handwriting before, but I couldn’t remember where or who had written that way.

  But that wasn’t the only thing that chilled the blood in my veins and sent a spark of fear through me. The mask was also familiar.

  Like seeing it had triggered a memory I had long-since buried. I recalled a moment I had been searching for a piece of paper in my father’s office and ran across a file instead. It wasn’t one of his normal files. This one had all kinds of really strange stuff, like names, ages, locations, etc.

  All of the names listed I didn’t recognize, but they were all around my age and some even lived in my town, even though I had never heard of them.

  But the most frightening thing about the file wasn’t what was on the inside, but rather the mask that was on the front cover of it. It was also white and had reminded me of the vendetta mask.

  Or the anonymous mask.

  The one on Josh’s locker had been painted and some of it had ran down, giving it an even more chilling feature, but there was no denying it.

  They were one and the same.

  “Who do you think did it?”

  My heart shot to my throat and I jumped, spinning around and slamming into Josh’s locker as my eyes found the source of the voice.

  Lucas stood a foot or two from me with his hands held up in defense and a concerned look in his gaze, “Whoa, you okay?”

  My hand covered my chest where I could feel my pulse pounding, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm it, “Yeah, sorry. You scared me,” I said, dropping my hand back to my side as I watched him.

  The concerned look never faded, but he dropped his hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

  I shook my head and pushed off Josh’s locker. “It’s okay. Come on. I’m sure Noah is wondering where we are,” I said before I started down the hallway and toward the lunchroom with Lucas only a few feet behind me.

  When I walked into the lunchroom, it felt like all eyes were on me and the chatter that normally filled the large room had lowered to a dull hum. I kept my gaze held high and straightforward as I hurried toward Noah’s table in the far back. Like I had expected, he was sitting there and
even though the injuries Josh had inflicted hadn’t vanished, they did look a bit better since Lila had cleaned him up.

  “Did y’all see Josh’s locker?” he asked as soon as Lucas and I took our seats.

  “Yep, I was just asking Les about who did it,” Lucas responded.

  Noah looked at me, “Do you know who did it?”

  Pulling my hands under the table, I started twisting my fingers around one another, something I did when I knew the answer I was about to give wasn’t completely true, “Uh, I mean, no. Why would I know who did it?” I asked.

  Noah blinked once and I wasn’t stupid. I knew he saw straight through my bullshit, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he turned his attention back on Lucas, “What about you? Do you have an idea of who did it?” he asked as he shuffled the food around on the tray in front of him.

  Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea, but if I was Josh, I would probably be more concerned about what it means rather than who did it.”

  My first thought was that Lucas was right, but that wasn’t entirely the case either. I wasn’t sure who did it, even if the handwriting had looked way too familiar to what I had seen before, but I had a feeling if I saw it again, I would know. But right now, the memory was so vague that it was hard to remember who had written that way. Either way, I felt like Josh should worry about who did it and why they left that warning on his locker.

  I needed answers and the only person I could trust was Lila, so I made a note in my head to go to her place after school and looked around the lunchroom at everyone. I knew they were all talking about what happened, but none of them knew what I did.

  There wasn’t a single person in this whole damn school that felt what I had when I saw it. I wasn’t sure I could ever tell anyone the truth about it either, because if I did, they would either think I had something to do with painting Josh’s locker or I was even more of a freak than they already thought.