“Rose,” Lorena was looking down at my balled fist.
The sound of her voice calmed me, “Oh, the sign, it just threw me off.”
“Yeah,” She squeezed tight on the steering wheel, “It’s really sad. Children don’t deserve that. I hope that they will all be found soon,” I couldn’t really read her face. She reminded me of myself and how I react to things, only I don’t think that she feels the same exact way that I feel.
We pulled up to the library and went inside. Once there, we searched for our books and then sat down on the bean bags and took turns reading. I read this book over one hundred times, so I knew most of the words by heart.
We were both fast readers and ended up finishing the book an hour before the library was supposed to close. We used that last hour to do a little research on Shakespeare on the internet. Lorena sat next to me and wrote down all the information I found on him.
Lorena and I were a great team. Both serious and determined. She was more focused than I was, but that was mostly just because I was trying to figure her out. Like, why would a girl like this date a guy like Josh? She was very lively, funny, and kind. He was just some possessive jerk.
Lorena got a text message. She looked at her phone and sighed, then put it away without responding, “Josh,” She knew what I was thinking.
I nodded, then continued to do research, trying not to say anything that I would regret.
“Let’s take a break for now,” Lorena said with a smile, “I’m starting to get a headache with all this reading.”
“Thank goodness,” I laughed, “I was starting to think that you would keep me searching forever.”
Lorena smiled, “Sometimes I go a little overboard. It’s usually why people don’t like to pair up with me.”
“Well, I don’t mind,” I sat back in my chair, “Me and you make a great team.”
Lorena faced me and leaned sideways on her chair, “So, I want to get to know more about you.”
“About me?” There goes the queasy feeling.
“Yeah, you’re so mysterious.”
“Me? You’re like a ghost.”
“What?” she laughed.
“Every other day you miss class, and then it’s like you don’t even like talking to people much. I just figured you were a loner.”
“You noticed that about me?” she squinted her eyes with a smile.
I felt embarrassed, “Now I feel like a stalker.”
“Please, I’m probably worse than you. I can’t figure you out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s like you have some kind of big secret about yourself. Kind of like Superman.”
I froze, but tried not to show it, so I forced a smile on my face. Was I that readable? “You think I’m like Superman?”
“Kind of like superman. But the way I saw you wrestle, I'd say you were Super Woman in disguise.”
“Yeah the darker version. Add a little caramel and curls to her and that's me.”
We both laughed.
“You know, you remind me of someone...” Lorena said. She looked like she was zoning out.
“Who?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but we were friends.”
I laughed a little, “You don’t remember your own friends? Should I be worried you’ll forget me after today?”
She smiled slightly, “No....” She said softly, “You don’t have to worry about that,” We both got quiet.
Lorena pulled out her phone and started typing on it, “I don’t want to go back home yet.”
“Okay?”
“You want to just go walking or something? Nothing’s going on during Monday night.”
“Sure,” I said. It was definitely a nice night to go walking, and extra time to spend with Lorena.
We left the library and drove up to the metro park. It had a huge trail that circled and zigzagged around a large set of trees. We got out of the car and started walking on the dark trail. It was cold out, but nice. The full moon made the light snow look bright and beautiful.
“This is my favorite season,” Lorena said folding her arms.
“Really? I prefer the fall, but this is nice too,” I thought back to the time me and Arnold had a snow ball fight the day after the fights. We did spend some time together doing fun things.
We were both quiet for a moment. Not sure about what to say to each other since we technically weren’t friends yet. I didn’t want to say anything stupid, and she probably didn’t know what conversation to bring up next. This silence wasn’t awkward though, it was actually relaxing. The cold air felt good on my face, and the sound of the wind was calming. This was a beautiful park.
Lorena looked straight ahead and got tense. When I looked up, I saw why. There was someone in a dark hoodie walking in our direction. At first the man didn’t seem alarming, but then I noticed that he walked with a purpose, and was quick at it. We couldn’t see his face because he had a scarf covering half of it, and he only had one hand in his pocket.
“Come over to this side,” I guided her by her shoulder and pulled her to the other side of me, “Let’s let him pass, he looks like he’s on a mission.”
“Yeah,” she said like she was out of breath.
The man saw that we moved over and picked up his speed towards us. We naturally picked up the speed as well, hoping to pass this suspicious man as fast as possible, but when he stepped over into our lane, we slowed back down.
The suspicious man was now close enough to run up, thinking that he caught us off guard, “Give me all your money! Give me all your money!”
I pushed Lorena out of the way and dodged the knife that he thrust towards me.
I think he was shocked that I moved so quickly because he paused for a moment. Then he turned back to me and held his knife up, I just raised my hands, “I don’t have any on me, man,” I looked at Lorena, she was standing there looking scared. There was nothing to worry about though. This man didn’t stand a chance against me.
“We don’t ...have any,” Lorena’s voice shook.
As soon as he turned to Lorena I took the chance and grabbed his arm and then pushed down on his shoulder so that he would bend over. He yelled out from the pain of me nearly breaking his arm.
“Drop the knife!” I yelled, “Drop it!”
The man dropped his knife, and, mistakenly, I let my guard down. He pulled away from me and then went for a tackle. When I hit the ground I felt my head slam against the concrete with a thud, then he picked up the knife and held it to my throat.
“Get up, Rose!” I could hear Arnold yell, “Get up.”
I snapped back into reality and pulled the man’s head down to meet mine with a crack. I felt a sting across my chest and heard the knife scratch against the pavement. He pulled away and got back to his feet, but only to run into the rock that Lorena smashed against the back of his head.
Dizzily, he stepped forward, but I was standing now and threw a hard left hook to his chin. The man dropped to his side, unconscious.
I looked at Lorena with wide eyes, who was breathing heavily with the rock still in hand. We had double teamed him and took the dude out. I didn’t really expect Lorena to do anything to help me.
“You okay?” I said almost laughing.
Lorena smiled and dropped the rock, “Yeah,” she said still out of breath, “Just a little shaken up.”
We both looked down at the unconscious wannabe thief, “We should probably call the police.”
“Yeah,” Lorena looked as if she accomplished something, “Yeah, I’ll call them now.”
My shirt felt wet under my hoodie, and when I touched my chest I felt my wet skin where the knife had went across, “I think you should hurry up,” I said looking down at the tear in my hoodie. Blood was making its way out of it.
Chapter 16
I sat in the hospital room with Lorena. The doctor had just finished giving me stitches and left us there alone. I was free to leave once my aunt checked me ou
t, because the cut didn’t go very deep and I didn’t lose much blood.
“You were awesome,” I said to Lorena, who was sitting in a chair across from the bed that I was in.
“Hmmm,” She smiled, “I was, wasn’t I? That punch is what took him down though.”
“Yeah, I got a mean ass left hook,” We both laughed.
Josh came running in, which stopped our laughing. He looked from me to her, then asked, “Lorena, are you okay?”
Lorena stood up and gave him a hug, “Yeah, baby, I’m fine. Rose saved the day.”
Josh put up a fake smile, “Thanks,” he turned back to Lorena, “Let me take you home.” He was acting as if Lorena was the one that was injured, “See you at practice Rose?” He gave a look of innocence.
“Of course.”
Lorena walked up to me and leaned in for a hug. I hugged her back, looking Josh in the eye the whole time, “I’ll see you in school tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” I smiled at her as she pulled away.
Josh took her arm lightly and guided her out of the hospital room. When they stepped out, my aunt stepped in.
“Oh my goodness, baby, are you okay?” she asked as she rushed in for a hug.
I was actually happy to see her here, “I’m fine, Aunt.”
“You shouldn’t be out walking at night. Was your friend okay?” She asked as she pulled away.
“Yeah, she’s fine,” I laughed, “I’m the one in the hospital bed.”
“Well, I’m glad you two are okay. Let’s take you home, do you want to go to school tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
Aunt Shannon checked me out of the hospital and drove us home. The entire ride we were joking about the attacker and what had happened. It was a cool ride, almost enjoyable, and the depression from earlier was gone.
Shannon cooked dinner, and for the first time since we moved, or ever, we ate together. She talked about work and her new job while I talked about school, even about Jessie. She gave me advice on how to deal with her, which consisted more of ignoring her. If I don’t act like I care, then no one would believe her, I just had to keep my cool.
For once I was actually able to forgive my aunt for all the terrible things she had done. She was trying to change just like me, and just like I have a chance to fix things, maybe so should she.
* * *
The next day Lorena was nowhere to be found and no one had heard from her. I sent her a text, but there was no response, so I assumed that she was “sick” again, which made me even more worried. I decided that it was none of my business and that I shouldn’t get into it. I mean, she could just be skipping for all I knew. She’ll come to school when she wants to. I could just write the paper on my own, no big deal.
The school somehow heard about the attack last night, and everyone was asking me a bunch of questions like what happened, or if Lorena was okay. A freshman actually asked me if there was really an AK-47 involved. I laughed at that one. Where were these people getting their information?
After my first few classes, I walked into the office to have my regular session with Miss Shy. I was starting to feel comfortable with her and we talked like everything was normal.
“I heard about yesterday,” Miss Shy said, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Lorena pretty much saved the day,” I said with a laugh.
Miss Shy raised an eyebrow, “Lorena?”
“Yeah? She’s my partner in English for a report on Shakespeare.”
“Oh? How is she?” Miss Shy looked worried.
“She’s fine as far as I know,” I thought back to the yelling in her apartment, and the day I saw her limping, “Although I didn’t hear from her today. I figured she’s still a little shaken up.”
“Yeah,” Miss Shy sighed, “She needs to come to school more, she’s been missing a lot of days. I’m hoping that they don’t hold her back. This is her last year.”
“She’s way too smart to be held back,” I said almost confidently, “She proved that to me yesterday.”
Miss Shy sat back in her chair with a smile on her face, “Sounds like you’re very fond of Miss Rojas.”
Panicking, I blurted, “No, I don’t like her. It’s nothing like that,” Miss Shy cocked her head to one side, “She’s just a very nice girl. She’s friendly.”
“Rose, I never said you liked her,” she was almost teasing me.
I smiled, “Well, it’s not like that.....she has that ass of a boyfriend...plus I just want her to maybe hang out with me, Abigale, and Cameron sometimes. She seems so lonely.”
Miss Shy frowned, “Josh,” she looked as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t, “Yeah, you should include her with your friends. That would probably make her happy.”
“I hope so. Well, I’m going to head out.” Before I left the office Miss Shy stopped me.
“How are you holding up? Since yesterday?”
I turned around and smiled slightly, “I’m okay.” I left the office and headed to lunch.
Once inside the lunch room I went straight for the line to get my tray. My aunt had texted me to see if I was okay, and I texted her back that I was fine. When I looked up, I noticed that there were a few eyes on me and some people whispering to each other. It made me feel awkward because I wasn’t used to being the center of attention, and I knew that they were all talking about last night, and spreading false rumors, but it still made me feel weird.
Ashly and Tiara stood on both sides of me, “Hey, Super Girl!” Ashly greeted.
“Hey guys,” I said in a bland voice.
“I heard about last night, you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said to Ashly. When I looked ahead of me I saw a group of girls looking back at me, then I sighed and looked back down.
“Hey,” One of the girls called.
I looked up. Now the whole line was staring back at me, “Yeah?”
“Are you Rose?”
“Sure.”
The girl bit her lip and giggled. She looked at both of her friends and then back to me, “I heard you killed someone.”
It felt like someone punched me hard in the chest because I couldn’t catch my breath.
“She didn’t kill anyone,” Tiara said, “You got the wrong information.”
I frowned up at the girl and her smile faded. Why did she think that I killed someone? I wasn’t even the one who took that dude out last night! I already didn’t like to be the center of attention, let alone be the center of attention for the wrong reasons.
“Well that’s not what I hear-”
“Who told you that?” I asked in a serious tone. It looked like she almost jumped to the question.
Now the lunch room was quiet.
“Because that isn’t true. So who told you that lie? As a matter of fact who started these rumors anyway?”
“I don’t know. I just heard it in class today....She said that you killed someone. Just a simple rumor. I didn’t really think it was true anyways,” She was looking at something behind me.
She?
The girl turned back around, trying to avoid any more questions or my glaring eyes. When I turned around the lunch room slowly got back to its noisy state, and no one paid me any more attention.
Ashly tapped on my shoulder and motioned for me to move up in line, but something else had caught my eye. I saw Jessie smirking at me, right before she slipped out of the lunch room.
Without thinking, I quickly started to walk towards the exit. Jessie started this rumor, and as much as I wanted to ignore her, I couldn’t just let her get away with spreading them. Not ones like that. Things were going good, and she was not going to ruin that for me.
I power walked out of the lunch room and headed for Jessie. I wasn’t going to hurt her, but I was going to find out what the deal was with her. She had been trying to provoke me ever since the first day that she met me, and I still don’t understand why, but now I‘m going to find out.
“Jessie!
” I called out.
Jessie looked back with that same devious smile on her face, then she turned around and made a left down another hall way. Now she was out of sight, “Jessie!” I actually started to run after her. I sprinted down the hall and made the left turn, but Jessie was nowhere in sight.
Slowing down to a jog, I looked from left to right to see where she might have disappeared to. Where could she have gone? The next turn was at the end of the hall and I know she couldn’t have run that fast. Or maybe she could.
I stopped jogging and took a deep breath. Jessie had gotten away from me with no problem at all. I was debating if I should keep looking for her, or just go along with my day and pretend that none of this ever happened.
“Rose,” a familiar voice called out to me from behind, and an unsettling calmness came over me. It was as if I couldn’t avoid the feeling.
“Lorena,” I turned around, “You made it to school,” I looked back one more time, hoping to see Jessie, then I turned back and walked towards Lorena.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
I paused for a second, confused about what to say, “Oh, I thought you might have been sick or something. You know like last time.”
“Oh,” she giggled, “Not at all. I just overslept. Was a little freaked out about last night and couldn’t get to sleep.”
“Well, I’m glad you made it,” I pat her shoulder with a smile.
Lorena blushed, “So, where you headed?”
I pushed my hands in my pockets, “I have no idea. I was just in lunch, but I'm not very hungry anymore.”
“Did something upset you? I’ve been hearing about these rumors...”
I looked down at the floor. Jessie came back to mind.
Lorena bit her lip then looked past me at Josh, who you could see walking across the lunch room, and then took my hand, “Let’s get out of here.” She pulled me along.
“What? We can’t just leave-” I blushed down at our hands. They were soft, “Plus, I have practice tonight. And I already missed yesterday.”
Lorena smiled back at me, “I have a car, I’ll be sure to have you back for practice.”
Caged (Caged series Book 1) Page 9
