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Beautiful With You Part Thirty-Four |
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Chapter Thirty-Four
Audrey went to the rest of her classes without anything more than a few stares, ranging from concerned for her to sickened with her. This was less than what she was actually expecting. She was expecting laughter or for people to start throwing stuff at her again. This was good. But she put her guard right back up when she left her last class. She was just thankful to be able to go home and get away from everyone’s eyes. One girl stopped her before she could get to the parking lot, “Are you ok? I mean, for awhile I thought those rumors were true but those girls went way too far.”
“I’m fine,” Audrey replied quickly, staring at the front gates like they were going to disappear if she didn’t leave this very second, “I bought a sweatshirt to hide the stains. The shirt is ruined I think. And those rumors aren’t true. I would never do anything to win an art competition.”
“I believe you,” she said, “A lot of people have already told the dean what happened. But I think it’ll be a lot more effective if she heard it from you.”
“I will,” Audrey replied, “I just want to get out of here in case those girls have something worse planned for me.”
“Oh god. I don’t think they’ll do anything else to you,” she said, flicking her wrist, “That whole episode this afternoon was probably the worst of it.”
The girl patted Audrey’s arm and walked off. Audrey sighed heavily as she twirled her keys around on her finger. She walked across the parking lot to her car, feeling a little bit more at ease now.
“Audrey wait up!” Audrey turned to see Maya running towards her. Audrey stopped and waited for Maya to catch up and the two of them walked together, “So I heard about what happened today. Are you ok?”
“Yeah. I’ll live,” Audrey replied, unzipping her jacket a little bit so Maya could see the stains all over her shirt, “I stopped by Jade’s work and she bought this sweatshirt for me to wear over the stained shirt.”
“Damn,” Maya said, “I don’t think you can save that shirt.”
“No I can’t,” Audrey looked down at her horribly stained shirt and zipped the jacket back up, “That sucks but oh well. At least they didn’t hit me or anything. Stains and dirty hair aren’t going to kill me.”
Audrey looked down at her phone to return some text messages as they continued walking towards her car. Suddenly, she felt Maya’s hand slam down on her chest to stop her and get her attention, “Holy s**t.”
Audrey looked up and found the same girls, followed by two other ones that didn’t go to their school surrounding her car throwing eggs at it. The car was already covered and the girls were just adding another layer, “What are you doing to my car?”
When the girls heard Audrey, they took off running, leaving the empty cartons of eggs on the hood of her car. As Audrey groaned, approaching her slimy car, she felt something hit her in the back. Whatever hit her had exploded and she felt something slick run down her back.
“They must’ve had a few eggs left,” Maya said, looking over her shoulder at the girls who ditched their last carton and disappeared, “Jesus Audrey. Do you need any help?”
Audrey stared at her car and rubbed her eyes, “No. I’ll-I’ll be ok. I just have to get the car washed. No big deal. But thank you. You can go if you want.”
Maya took a few steps back but then stopped, staring at the eggs slowly sliding off the top of the car down onto the hood and then falling off the hood onto the ground below, “Are you sure? I’d hate to leave you with such a mess. Money for a good car wash? Anything?”
“Maya, it’s really ok,” Audrey laughed and waved her away, “You just go. I’m gonna be just fine,” Maya still hesitated but she eventually did as Audrey asked and walked away towards her car, still stopping every few steps to look back. Audrey got into her car and had to drive across the parking lot, avoiding eye contact with every student she drove past, including the girl who had told her to go to the dean. Luckily, her windows were tinted but she had a feeling that everyone knew who was driving the car that was leaving a trail of egg yolks behind.
Jade had decided to go back to the school first to see Norman before she headed home. She knew that he usually stayed behind a few minutes after his last class before going home. When she got to the campus, her phone started ringing non-stop. She knew damn well it was David furiously calling her. After the phone stopped ringing, the ding sound her phone made whenever she got a voicemail started going off. If he was mad at her now, she didn’t want to know what he would do if he found the pictures missing. Jade now couldn’t help but look all around her as she walked across campus. She didn’t think David would be following her to her school this quickly but she also didn’t think he was crazy and obsessed with her. She finally reached Norman’s room and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Jade opened the door and Norman looked up, jumping a little when he saw it was her, “Jade? What are you doing here?”
“I know I’m probably the last person you wanna see,” Jade murmured, “You think I deserve everything I’ve gotten by getting back together with David. But, you didn’t understand the situation. I didn’t even understand it until he told me.”
“What are you saying?”
“He blackmailed me into being his girlfriend again,” Jade said, “He said if I didn’t, he’d make sure everyone on campus saw those pictures and I didn’t want to bring you into the bullshit. So I agreed to be his girlfriend until I had the chance to get away with them.”
Norman sat at the edge of his desk and hung his head, “Wow…I’m-I’m sorry this happened to you Jade.”
Jade opened her bag and dug around until she pulled out the four photographs David had taken of them. She looked at them for a minute, except for the one of the two of them in Norman’s office. She should’ve ripped that one up as soon as she got a hold of it. She looked at the innocent ones, especially the one of when they had first kissed. She was so happy then. And now everything was so ******** up and she didn’t think she could ever get that happiness back. She placed them down onto Norman’s desk, “Those are the photos with you in it. You do what you want with those. The rest of these I have to keep.”
Norman picked up the pictures then suddenly realized she mentioned there were more of them, “What do you mean the rest?”
“Apparently David was following me around for awhile,” Jade pulled out the unorganized wad of pictures and then put them back into her bag, “It’s the only evidence I have right now. I know this time the stalking is going to get worse. And that terrifies me. I’ve read about stalkers beating or raping or killing their victims. And it’s not like I live alone. What if he does something to my mom or my dad or my dog?”
Jade was now beginning to panic. Tears uncontrollably streamed down her face and she started to hyperventilate and became lightheaded. Norman grabbed her by the arms and sat her down in his chair, “Jade, Jade! Breathe! Nothing is going to happen to you!”
“How do you know?!” Jade shouted, “David is ******** psychotic!”
“Don’t you have a friend you can stay with?” Norman asked, “David doesn’t know where they live does he?”
“Not at the moment he doesn’t,” Jade said, slowly calming down and breathing normally, “I could ask Maya. But I don’t wanna bring her into this.”
“We’ll deal with that if it happens,” Norman said. He left her alone for a minute and came back with a bottle of water, “Just ask her. And go to the police with this. They’ll tell you what to do.”
Jade took a sip of water and nodded, wiping the tears off her cheeks, “Yeah, I’ll go right now. Thank you.”
Norman picked up the four pictures Jade had given him and put them back into her bag with the rest, “Give those to the police too. It’s still evidence. And I don’t want them.”
“I don’t want you involved,” Jade said, “You could get into trouble.”
“With the dean maybe,” Norman shrugged, “But legally? No. You’re almost nineteen years old. Nothing I did with you was illegal. And besides that, looking at those just reminds me of things I don’t want to be reminded of.”
Jade nodded and left his classroom, ignoring the plethora of voicemails left on her phone to call Maya. Jade really hated that she was going to drag Maya into her stupidity. But she just hoped that Maya didn’t hate her forever if something happened.
Maya listened as Jade explained everything to her and she didn’t even have to think about it. She allowed Jade to come and live with her for as long as she wanted to. Jade was going to come by after she went to the police with the photographs she’d mentioned. She didn’t want to risk going home and running into David. Maya really loved reading, but she feared that Jade had just read too many articles in her lifetime. After about an hour, she heard Jade’s car pull up in the driveway. Jade let herself into Maya’s house and awkwardly stood at the front door.
“You can come in Jade,” Maya said, “You technically live here now.”
Jade put her bag down and sat on the couch next to her. Maya wrapped her arms around her friend, “What did the police say?”
“They told me to make note of everything that happens, make a journal, keep anything he sends to me, save the voicemails, take pictures of any injuries or damage, that kind of stuff. I have to call my phone company and get them to trace any calls he makes,” Jade explained, “I just hope nothing happens to you.”
“Nothing is gonna happen to me,” Maya said, “Even if something does happen to me, it’s not gonna be your fault. Whatever happens to David is completely his fault.”
Jade didn’t look reassured even though she gave Maya a tiny little smile. She just stood up and went into the extra bedroom and Maya didn’t see her again the rest of the night. Maya took this time to get some studying done. It had been so quiet that the sound of her phone ringing scared the hell out of her. She quickly answered it to avoid Jade waking up and getting worried. Maya was ready to chew out whoever had scared her, but she heard Charlie’s voice on the other line and her anger faded, “I hope I didn’t call too late.”
“Not at all,” Maya said, “What’s up?”
She heard Charlie sigh a few times and then he finally said, “I was thinking about today. I know that Richard used to teach at your school and you were a student of his.”
“I was.”
“Well you guys seem so hostile towards each other,” Charlie said, “Did something happen between you two?”
Maya didn’t know if she should answer him honestly. Charlie could be angry that she was with Richard. She couldn’t see a reason why he would be but that was still a possibility. And he could be suspicious about her intentions with him. She didn’t want him thinking she was a phony. She really, really did like him. She truly did. He was sweet and also, he was adorable.
“No,” Maya finally answered him, “Nothing happened between Richard and I. You have nothing to worry about.”
Charlie let out a big sigh of relief and he chuckled, “Ok good. I ask also because whenever I mention your name…it’s very subtle but it’s like his eyes light up a little ya know? And it’s like he tries to hide it.”
Maya blushed, glad that Charlie couldn’t see the grin on her face, “Really? Well, that’s probably nothing. Just your eyes playing tricks on you.”
“You’re right,” Charlie said, “Besides, who wouldn’t feel happy at the mention of Maya Strong?”
Maya turned even redder and giggled, “Charlie, you’re so sweet.”
“I’m really glad I met you Maya,” Charlie said softly, “My clumsiness paid off for once.”
Maya started laughing but even though she was totally happy now and butterflies erupted in her stomach when Charlie started saying all these sweet things to her, Richard wouldn’t leave her mind. She didn’t want to admit it to herself but she felt like this wasn’t going to ever go away. She still loved Richard.
I can't remember if Maya has actually admitted to still loving Richard. I searched and couldn't find anything like that but let's just pretend she never said it wink but anyways, I had to actually read articles about stalking for researching purposes. I am actually terrified of being stalked now. That is some real heavy s**t right there. But with Jade, what lines am I willing to cross? Anyways, I decided that the rumors about Audrey kind of faded in this story. So I brought them back but made it ten times worse for her. A summer in London sounds nice after getting your car egged, doesn't it? Haha!
 Rockstar_Angel17 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 @ 07:31am · 0 Comments |
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