Chapter 6- Taunting Escapes

[] A M E L I A []

A gasp escaped my lips and I stood frozen in my spot.

My mind was telling me to run. But my heart... my heart was frozen. It was taking me to a place I didn't want to return to. A place I had been numb to for so long. It was sucking me into the past and I was letting it.

One by one, flashes of memories upon memories kept going through my mind and I couldn't stop them.

"She caused this-"

The voices in my head empowered those around me.

"Why is she not punished too-"

I couldn't tell where I was anymore.

"She's just as responsible. She knew what was about to happe-"

Suddenly, someone bumped into me, effectively pulling me out of my reverie. They didn't stop to check on me, and for that, I was grateful. The less attention on me, the better.

Once I snapped out of it, I turned to locate the people again and saw them approaching from behind the library building. None of them had seen me yet, and that was miracle enough for me.

As the group got closer, my mind suddenly caught up with my heart and eventually, my mind won.

And I ran.

I ran away from them as fast as I could. But their voices wouldn't stop. They kept coming closer, and I hoped, prayed, that they wouldn't see me. That he wouldn't see me.

But it's like he knew me. He knew it was me. That's why everywhere I went, he seemed to follow.

So I continued to run.

I suddenly came upon an alleyway of some sort. It was between two campus buildings but the sun was hiding behind the buildings, making it dark and secluded in this area. Without thinking twice, I ran in.

However, I was not prepared for what I saw.

At first, I was too shaken up from running that it took me a moment to get myself together. When I did come to my senses, I saw that I unfortunately was not alone in the alley.

Across from me, a guy had another guy pushed against the wall, with a hand roughly grabbing his collar. He was whispering something to him, and from this angle, it looked threatening. Suddenly, their attention fell on me and my eyes widened in surprise. I couldn't see their faces, since one was covered in a hood, and the other was surrounded by darkness.

Again, I couldn't move.

Where was I to go? Leaving wasn't an option, since the guy I was running from seemed to be getting closer. But going further into the alley also meant a probable death sentence.

So for now, I stood in the middle of the dark alleyway, unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, the guy who had been holding the other guy up by his collar, let go. The guy fell to his feet and scrambled to get out. On his way out of the alleyway, he glared at me.

And here I thought he would be happy I saved him.

The guy who had been threatening him, continued standing there. Suddenly, he inched towards me, finally coming into the light, and I gasped in surprise.

"You seem to be everywhere," he said humorlessly.

'Run or stay. Run or stay?'

Suddenly, the voices got closer.

Now, the choice was simple.

Panicked, I peaked behind me, then turned to Leo. He was still in the same spot, staring at me intently. He started walking towards me, and for a moment, I was hopeful. He continued inching towards me, and then, he was walking past me.

"I don't have time for this," he muttered, leaving.

The voices.

The voices.

His voice.

They were only meters away.

Before I could think rationally, I grabbed onto Leo's arm for support.

And then, I did the unthinkable.

The unfathomable.

I hugged Leo.

* * *

[] L E O []

I stared at the guy before me. He had the audacity to call me out after his stunt last Friday. Apparently, he lived in the same dorm as Andre and Jamal, and somehow, knew about me. Knew about my past.

And he wanted to call me out for it.

I leaned against the wall, bored, and this caused him to smirk. His lip was still swollen, and so was his right cheek, so the smirk made him look downright stupid.

"What? Nothing to say?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"I don't have time for scumbags like you. Tell me why you called me out."

His smirk widened.

"There's something I'd like to know. How is it that someone like you got into this college? It's not like you have the status," he said with a smirk.

I scoffed.

"We're in a community college in one of the coldest places in the world. Not Harvard. Besides, I didn't choose this place. This place chose me," I said, casullay hinting at my full-ride scholarship here.

Not that that was something to brag about to a person like him, but still.

The guy in front of me smirked even wider.

"Ah, I get it now. Man, it's alway the same with people like you. You do just about anything to get a freebie."

Knowing where he was going with this, I straightened up.

"Tell me. Who did your mom slee-"

Before he could finish that sentence, I had him pressed against the wall. My hand was at his collar and the other was jabbing a finger into his chest.

"Listen here you douche, I don't know why you're so fucking disrespectful. Maybe you're own fucking life wasn't that peachy, but that doesn't mean you can be a asshole to everyone. Now, if I fucking see you again, you won't be able to say shit like that again for the rest of your life."

His eyes widened in horror at my words, probably surprised that I caught onto exactly what kind of a dick he was.

Unluckily for him, I was accustomed to dealing with idiots like him.

"Got it?" I said, shaking him by the collar.

He swallowed at my words and before any of us could say anything else, a third voice broke us apart. A sound resonated throughout the alleyway, as if someone was running out of breath.

Both our eyes snapped up to the sound and subconsciously, my hand dropped from the guy's shirt. Immediately, he scrambled out of my hold and scurried out of the alleyway, leaving just me and the girl.

I stared at her. Her hoodie, her long hair, and her wide brown eyes, all too familiar.

I scoffed.

'Of course, out of everyone in the world, it had to be her,' I thought.

I took a step closer to her, automatically falling into the light, and faced her.

"You seem to be everywhere," I said.

Amelia didn't say a word and I stared at her curiously. She seemed to be in a rush, and she kept looking back and forth between me and the space behind her.

Deciding that napping was better than trying to figure her out, I started walking out.

"I don't have time for this," I muttered to myself.

Just as our shoulders brushed past each other, something stopped me dead in my tracks. Confused, I looked down at her pale hand that was tightly gripping me.

"What the fu-"

Before I could finish the sentence, Amelia desperately sunk herself into my arms, her hands gripping the front of my jacket.

I stayed rooted in my spot. My eyes widening at her action, but that was it. Other than that, I was frozen.

Behind me, I heard some noises, and Amelia looked over my shoulder when she heard them. Suddenly, a strangled breath escaped her lips and she desperately clung to me with more force than before, her face digging into my chest.

Surprised with the force, my hands landed on her waist, steadying her. For a moment, I stayed that way, unsure of what I was doing and whther I should stop. While I contemplated what to do, I was hit with a realization.

She smelt like roses. A batch of pure roses.

Suddenly, I became hyperaware of everything. Her hair was tickling my neck softly. She was cold, despite the layers of clothing she was wearing. She was shaking too. Out of fear or the cold, I wasn't sure.

For some reason, I couldn't let go. I tried. I really did. But her trembling form and her shaky breaths were enough to make me hold onto her.

And I held onto her for a long time.

Even when she stopped shaking, to when her breathing steadied itself, and even when she stopped being so god damn cold. I held onto her.

Eventually, she pulled away from my chest. When she did so, her hood fell off of her head. That's when I noticed it.

Her forehead was sweating profusedly and her eyes were wild. Her hands that were holding onto my jacket, were still shaking slightly.

I stared at her for a moment longer, waiting for her to snap back into reality. When she did, her eyes widened when they latched onto mine. And then she quickly scrambled back, her hands dropping to her sides. With that, I finally let go of her waist.

We were silent for the next little while. I simply watched her, while her eyes strayed everywhere but to me. She started playing with her fingers, clasping and unclasping them together anxiously.

For a moment, I felt bad.

I didn't want her to be so uncomfortable around me. It made me feel as if I was a really horrible person. For once, I didn't like it. And I wanted her to know that.

I sighed, not wanting to drag this out any more. However, just as I opened my mouth to speak, Amelia beat me to it.

"S-sorry, I won't bother you anymore," she shakily whispered.

She licked her dry lips and pulled her hood back on.

I was about to say something, anything, to make her stay, but before I could, she was already scrambling out of the alleyway. She quickly looked left and right, then headed in the opposite direction the voices had went.

As soon as she left, my gaze fell down to my now bandaged knuckles.