The Days Before 16

Chapter 9 Continued

Hey guys!! Sorry I didn't update last week :/
I have an extra long chapter for you though :)
Hope you enjoy it, I did :D
Wednesday, 4 February 2015

When my eyes opened I was looking at Todd's still sleeping form. I un-slumped my shoulders and lifted my head up from Todd's shoulder. Ow! My neck! I lifted a hand slowly toward the back of my neck. I didn't dare touch it for a few seconds and then I did and it hurt even more. I hated when that happened. The T.V was still on. I couldn't move without waking Todd so I turned down the volume of the T.V and watched what was on. Half way through the show I looked at the clock and shoved Todd off me. I watched as he snapped out of his sleep and caught himself before he hit the floor. Then when he looked up at me in a 'what-the-hell' look I pointed at the clock, saw his eyes go wide then we both bolted for our rooms. I slammed my door shut and stripped off yesterday's clothes and blindly picked out new ones from my drawers. I reached for the door handle when I realised I hadn't put deodorant on. I picked one from the stack and sprayed, shut the lid then threw it backwards over my shoulder. I raced for the door. On the way out I grabbed my bag and headed for the car. I threw my hand back as I passed through the garage door to shut it. I jumped into the car and Todd drove off. How had Todd gotten into the car first? It takes me ages to get ready but that was the fastest I'd ever been and he still beats me? I mustn't have been more than two minutes! When we arrived at school the bell was ringing. Todd dropped me off were I normally get out. No time for hugs and kisses and waves. I bolted toward one of the entrances to the school but I looked over my shoulder to see where Todd parked the car. I didn't see were the car was; I only saw Todd running to another entrance. He looked over and saw me looking at him and he waved and smiled before he pointed at the school. I nodded back to him with a smile. What was today? Thursday. I had English first up. I ran to my classroom but just before I reached the door, I stopped to catch my breath and to look at what I was wearing. I looked down at my body seeing that I was wearing denim short-shorts and a dark green tank top with black slip-on flats. I knocked on the open door once I'd caught my breath. The class was having a discussion but when they saw me the room went eerie quiet like nobody could believe that I was there. How did everyone know about what happened? We were a smallish town but still. Our neighbours didn't know our secrets; we weren't that small a town. Then I thought of my creepy next door neighbour. Did he know my secrets? My English teacher recovered quickly though and saved me from my thoughts.
"Willow. You're lucky; I was just about to mark the role." She said from behind her desk. I walked to my seat in the centre of the room; everyone stared at me as I pasted them. I slipped into it. Our classrooms weren't like the ones you see on T.V in movies or in shows, instead of having single desks with the chair attached, we had benches like science lab tables in most of our classrooms. I think the only classrooms that had proper desks were the History department classrooms.
"Hey. How are you? You ok? I heard about what happened with your... parents. I'm so sorry." the person beside me said in a kind voice. I closed my eyes for a second as I realised who it was. How could I have forgotten who I sit next to in English? Why did he bring my parents up? I turned my head toward him. His eyes appeared to soften along with his face the longer I looked at him. He flashed me a smile.
"Hey Daniel. Yeah I'm ok. Thanks for your concern regarding my... parents. How are you?" I said. Why? Why did I have to sit next to him? And why did he have to be so darn cute? I'm supposed to be staying away from him! God, he's making it hard with the smile he's giving me. It's all white, square, perfectly straight teeth and blue sparkly eyes. I wonder if he'd like me referring to his eyes as sparkly. Probably not but they were. I couldn't help but look at what he was wearing. He wore a dark blue T-shirt that hugged his body perfectly with black jeans and black Vans. He could be one of the creeps doing everything. Ever since Trevor and Daniel came here, things have been happening to me. Again I'm suggesting that the world revolves around me, which it doesn't. Ever since they arrived I've been receiving drawings of me and Todd, my parents passing, I've been super tried all the time and I've been having strange black outs which I've been having strange vision type things in. Not blaming them for everything or anything but it is a bit strange that all this started happening when they arrived. Why have I only made this connection now?
"Yeah I'm fine. A bit worried about you but I guess I can stop worrying now as you're here. You know I was gonna come over to yours this arvo to see how you were doing and also bring over the work you had missed out on." He said. When he said that last part he winked at me. I opened my mouth then closed it again while I shook my head. Mrs Carr started with the lesson. Daniel tried to talk to me during the lesson but I didn't listen to him, any other day I most likely would have but not today. I had way too much to catch up with. But he got the message after a while and stopped trying to get my attention. When the bell rung I waited in my seat until everyone had left before I went to the front of the room. Daniel had left when the bell rung. What was I going to do with him?
"Hi Mrs Carr, I was wondering if you had the work I missed out on. I'd like to catch up as fast as I can." I said politely to her, giving her a smile.
"Just hang on a minute and let me find it." She said. I waited patiently as she started looking through the folders on her desk. "Uh huh." She said when she found what she was looking for. "I'm sure you will be able to catch up pretty fast. The work isn't that hard anyway, well it is but I'm sure one of my top students can figure it out pretty easily." She smiled. I smiled back. I felt a little proud when she said I was one of her best students.
"Thanks Mrs Carr. If I have any problems, I'll come see you tomorrow."
"Ok. Just come to the staff room. Oh I've already handed out the assignment task sheet." She looked back through a folder and handed back a stapled paper. I put it with the others in my hand. There wasn't much so it should be easy. English was actually one of the subjects I do well in. And liked. She looked up at me over her blue rectangle glasses and moved some blonde hair out of her face which had fallen out of place. She was in her late thirties but still looked as if she was in her early thirties.
"Ok, thanks again." I said as I walked out. I put the papers into my English book so they didn't get ripped before I put my book inside my bag. My bag was a shoulder bag. It was a plain dark blue with one zip at the top. I got out the door and turned to go outside for lunch but Daniel was standing there, just outside the classroom door. I groaned internally when I tried to walk around him and he got in my way.
"Hey, what's wrong? Did I do something?" he asked. I didn't look at him; I ignored him completely and tried to go around him again. He let me pass and as I did I bumped his shoulder with mine. It was as if that set him off. He went ballistic.
"Hey!" he yelled after me. I kept walking. Then all of a sudden he had hold of my upper arm and he pushed- pushed - me into the wall. I had just enough time to throw my hands up before my face hit the wall. What the hell? God, I didn't realise he was violent! He looked and talked like he was normal. That's how they do it, the little voice inside my head said. That's how serial killers don't get caught because their always the innocent looking ones. You're stupid, you should have known better, it continued. Stupid little voice, shut up, I thought back. He grabbed my right upper arm and spun me around; then slammed me back into the wall. My head rebounded off the wall when I was thrown into it so it hurt twice as much. My heart was pounding inside my chest. What was I going to do? He stepped closer to me.
"Look at me!" he said low and angrily when I didn't meet his eyes. I took a deep breath then lifted my eyes to his. Both his hands were either side of my head, pinning me in place. If I kneed him in between his legs... but I didn't get the chance because the thought just vanished from my mind as he lent toward me. Oh my God. Was he going to kiss me? After throwing me into a wall? Twice? I stopped breathing. This guy was sick in the bad way not the good way. He was seriously messed up. I can't believe I missed the signs. I wonder how many times this had happened? Was I the first or was I just another one of the girls in a very long line? I was terrified and no one was here to stop him from kissing me and more importantly, get him off me. I turned my head away. I wonder if I placed my hands on his chest and tapped into my werewolf self and pushed if that would get him off me. Yeah that would work. Why didn't I think of this before? He was so close to my mouth that I nearly shut my eyes but I didn't because I saw hands grab his arms which were pinning me in place, pull him away from the wall, swing him around and punch him. I put my hand over my mouth even after what he'd just tried to do to me; I still didn't want him to be punched. It'd be a waste of a beautiful face, I thought. Stop that, I told myself. He just tried to force himself on you. God, where is that metal hospital? Daniel took the punch pretty well. I think he was surprised that someone had actually done that to him. I couldn't see who the other person was because Daniel was standing in the way. But when I looked down I saw Daniel's hands turn into fists before he swung at the other person. Daniel missed the other person. Oh my God. My day just couldn't get any better could it? The other person was Trevor. Trevor, wearing a white T-shirt, black jeans and black converses, swung at Daniel again and the blow hit his jaw, knocking his head to one side. Trevor hit Daniel with several quick hard blows to his head and then a couple more to his stomach. Crap. I was just standing there, doing nothing. Every girls dream is for two guys to fight over her, Sonny always says, but I didn't like the idea. I did a little before but I never wanted them to actually fight with punches and stuff over me. I didn't see the point in it. She'd end up hating both of them because they both hurt the other, what was the point in the fight then? I had to stop this before it got any worse. I could just imagine someone walking in and seeing this, call the whole school in and start yelling 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' Also all the attention would turn to me and I didn't like that idea. I didn't like attention much and having people fight over me gave me attention. The sooner it stops, the sooner I can go to lunch.
"Stop! Trevor stop it! Just leave him alone!" I said. When he didn't listen I tried to step between them, be a good person and break it up, but then I had to duck blows as well. They were really fast. Daniel caught Trevor's hand just before it hit his face. He used his other hand to hit Trevor with quick blows in his stomach, but these didn't seem to affect Trevor the way Trevor's affected him. I ducked a blow from Trevor but not the one from Daniel. It hit me right in the nose, throwing my head backwards and making me step backwards. I threw my hands up to my face then lowered them back down. The blow was that hard that something dripped on my chin then continued its journey to the floor. I raised a hand to my nose, felt the tips of my fingers dampen then bought it back down in front of me. It was what I expected. It was blood. What? A blood nose! I can't believe this! This is not the way I wanted to get my first blood nose! I always hoped that in one of my soccer matches there would be this massive punch up and I'd be throwing and receiving punches. Aw! This was not fair! The bleeding stopped quite quickly for how hard Daniel had hit me. I wiped the blood off my face with the back of my hand. There wasn't much at all. I had a feeling that it was because of my werewolf healing. I could actually use it for something not major. Yay. I hope they don't notice. That'd be one hell of a conversation. The boys stopped in mid punch. Ouch. I think he broke my nose. Even though the bleeding had stopped it still killed. Wait that's right, werewolf healing is really fast, it'll mend my nose up in a jiffy. I remember Todd telling me and that's why I have been able to get out of hospital really quickly.
"What have you done you fool?" Trevor roared at Daniel. Daniel's face looked pain stricken by what he was seeing.
"What have I done? You were the one that punched me first! You started it!" Daniel roared back. What was happening now? Now they were fighting over who started the fight. Crap! What was with these boys? Maybe it was them who needed the mental hospital, not me.
"You were about to kiss her! You started it! This is your fault!" Trevor shot back angrily and accusingly.
"Oh God, you two are whiny little babies. Did you know that?" I said to the both of them. They stopped fighting. They both had no blood what so ever on them but how with all those punches at each other? The bleeding from my nose had stopped completely now and I could feel that the blood on the back of my hand had dried. Great. That was going to hurt when I tried to get that off later. I better make sure my nose heals properly, I thought. So I held my nose and cracked it back into place. I grunted in pain. I could literally feel my bones crack again. They must have been already healing but they were healing wrong. I could literally feel my bones healing under my skin. Both boys look at each other, their heads not moving away from me they just looked out the corner of their eye as if in disbelief at the other. It was like they looked at each other as if they'd heard me wrong and they looked at each other to see if the other had the same reaction.
"What?" they both said, the disbelief showing clearly in their voices. I felt so angry at them but I didn't know what to say. What could I say? Thanks for not killing each other? I couldn't look at them so I turned on my heel and stomped away from them. It just felt like the right thing to do. Yeah, that's right Willow; leave the guys who were fighting over you by themselves, yeah that'll do so much good. But thankfully, I didn't have to turn back. Footsteps followed behind me and that's how I knew they were following me but I didn't expect them to grab me. One of them grabbed one upper arm and the other grabbed the other upper arm. I knew it was the both of them because the grips that held my arms were different. One felt bone-crushingly tight and cold while the other felt soft compared to the other, it was still hard of course, and warm. They nearly ripped my arms off as they both pulled me their way to turn me around.
"Ow!" I exclaimed as my shoulder blades went back. As soon as I said it their gripped loosened on my arms then weren't there a second later. I started walking again, without looking back at them. I couldn't give them the satisfaction. Geez I felt like a mother ignoring her children because they were being naughty. I heard soft footfalls behind me which meant they were following me. The right side of my mouth curved up slightly as I realised I could tell who was where by their footfall. Daniel on the right and Trevor on the left, but they weren't behind me, they were off to the sides, like making a V shape with me leading and they were my followers or my posse. I laughed on the inside. Posse, yeah that's what I had because I was a popular chick. My mouth had this nasty taste in it as I thought of Sarah, Queen of the Bitches everywhere; well she liked to think so anyway. I reached out to open the door to the outside tables for lunch but before my hand reached the double door handle, two arms reached the handles before mine then pulled them inward to open them. I didn't stop, I kept walking and I felt them both take up the position they were in before the door. Oh God, it felt like I was walking in slow motion and everyone- everyone - was staring at me- at us - as we walked by them. I looked out the corner of my eye and saw Trevor. I was a little relieved that they were still there. I knew if he was there Daniel was on my other side as well as somehow I knew that either one of them wouldn't leave me alone with the other which was very strange yet comforting. I was headed toward Sonny who was at our usual spot under the big old tree which shaded us with a five foot radius. We could lie down, sit up, stretch out our legs and still be comfortably embedded in the shade. We sat away from everyone else so they wouldn't bother or overhear us, not that anybody really cared. Everyone over looked us, we were lost in the crowd; we were the loners and the freaks to everyone at school. That's why we became friends. When we were younger we use to call ourselves The Loner Freaks. I was only a few tables and a couple of meters away from the tree when Queen Bitch and her posse stepped into my path. I groaned internally and thought, here we go. Daniel and Trevor were still a few feet behind me. See what I got? I got all the attention because Trevor and Daniel were with me. The new hot guys at school were walking with me and she didn't like that. She didn't like that a 'loser' like me could get them to walk with me and not her because she was the best- in her mind. I just thought she was a try hard.
"So, how are you Willow?" she said in a sweet voice. Oh it's gonna be like this aye? Was she seriously being nice to me to get Trevor's and Daniel's attention? She just hit an all-time low. Bring it, bitch. We were once friends, best friends actually, when in sixth grade things changed. After six years of being friends she betrayed me by ditching me in front of the whole grade. It was like some kind of initiation, embarrassing your best friend in front of the grade, to become a part of the 'it' group. The girl who was in charge at the time, Cathy, got what she deserved. Sarah overthrew her in seventh grade and has been in charge ever since. Cathy got to be second in command of course and Brittney, Cathy's second in command in sixth grade, was still around in Sarah's third in command. They were all Bitches.
"I'm fine, Sarah." I replied in a fake happy voice. I couldn't pretend with her. Not after what she did. I tried to walk around her but she grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. She tried to push me back in front of her but I wouldn't budge. I had planted my feet and my werewolf genes made it easier for me to stay in place. She did not like that. Everyone was looking our way and I'm sure they were whispering about the situation and how I wasn't listening to her.
"Come on Sarah. You gonna let some freak win? You gonna take this from a nothing, like her." Cathy said. Wow, ouch, that hurt more than it should have. I knew she only said it to make herself feel better and also to get the attention away from how I wasn't listening to Sarah. They were really made for each other. How were we ever friends? Sarah smiled, met Cathy and Brittney's eyes then made a sound of disbelief. She straightened and flipped her light blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Hell no Cathy, she isn't winning.'" Sarah said and to prove her point a little more her grip tightened and she dug her finger nails into my arm. I didn't move, just kept staring into her eyes as she dug in harder, but my stare shifted to an open mouthed, bouncing, waving Sonny behind Sarah at our spot. I gave her a quick and brief smile then went back to staring Sarah in the eye. Something thick and slow trailed down my arm. Blood, again. For the second time in less than five minutes I was bleeding. I could smell the blood and it smelt good. Oh my God, did I just think that? And it disgusted me more when I had to take another breath and all I could smell was blood then I had to take another and another and another with the same smell going into my nostrils. I felt like an addict sniffing meth- I couldn't stop. What made it worse was that it was my own blood I was sniffing. I looked down and saw it running down my arm and I was instantly fascinated and horrified. I was horrified by the sight of Sarah's fingernails so far into my skin that I could only see a couple of centimetres from the base of her fingernails. How is that even possible? How could ones fingernails go that far into another's skin? She didn't have claws or anything that could rip apart flesh like I did with mine. Hey, there's an idea! But I couldn't. For me and Todd's safety. I could never hurt Todd on purpose. I felt the sudden urge to raise my other hand to my blood, touch it then lick my hand. I saw my other hand come into view as I stared at the blood on my arm, just as I was about to touch it, Trevor's right hand wrapped around Sarah's hand. I briefly looked up as she made a noise that sounded as if she was hurt from the grip.
"Oh, hey Trev." Sarah said with a smile; most likely trying to show Trevor's grip didn't hurt. I don't even think she realised he or Daniel were even there after putting her nails into my skin. "Wow, your pretty strong. You work out? What three, four times a week?" she continued. Trevor just looked at her, his disgust for her showing on his face clear as day. He pulled her hand out of my arm slowly and carefully, not to hurt me but it just hurt more. He didn't let go of her hand but he did smile at her and I felt jealously boil up inside me because he gave her the smile he gave me when we first met. I felt as if he betrayed me by showing her that smile because it felt like it was our smile, our secret and I swore he knew what it made me feel. He was still standing a little behind me and as he pasted me to go to her, he placed his left hand on my back and trailed it around to the back of my hip before he dropped it back to his side then walked away with Sarah. She looked back over her shoulder at me and gave me her well known Bitch look. That look also helped her become popular really fast. She clung to his left arm, the same arm he just touched me with and she was laughing at the things he was saying. Cathy and Brittney trailed along after them clearly unhappy. Everyone went back to their conversations now that Sarah had left. She went and sat at one of the tables with Trevor and all the jocks and all the other popular people. I just stood there watching as Trevor and Sarah laughed and smiled with everyone at that table. Sarah put her hand on Trevor's arm and he turned his head to look at her smiling face. He put on a smile and slung his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. I felt myself deflate at the site of them. I looked over to my spot, at Sonny. She looked more deflated than I felt. She had really liked him. I bet she thought she had a chance if he was hanging out with me because I'd put in a good word for her. Any good friend would. She looked back over at me with sad eyes. She shrugged and raised her hands in a what-can-you-do way. I gave her a shrug in return. She nodded and sat down and I lost sight of her. When I saw Trevor next I was going to kill him for hurting her.
"Hey? Come on; let's go get you cleaned up ok?" Daniel said softly. I was still confused and extremely furious about what Trevor had just done. Daniel didn't wait for an answer just slipped his arm around me and steered me back toward the building we came from. I let him lead me back to the building; I didn't do anything except one foot in front of the other. He led me to the bathrooms, stopped outside the men's room and made a 'stay there' gesture. He went in then I heard some shouts of protests before he came out pushing out two other guys zipping up there flies. I looked away. Awkward. He kind of pushed them towards the exit of the building then opened the door for me. I looked at him then at the open door then back to him and lastly back to the open door. Oh hell no. I'm not going in there; I've seen the movies and heard the rumours about their bathrooms. He was still waiting for me to enter. I looked at him funny.
"I'm not going in there." I said simply.
"Why not? No one's in there." He said sounding surprised.
"Yeah but still, it's the men's room." I said. He rolled his eyes and made a motion but what got me moving were those eyes. Grr, I thought, why did he have to have eyes like that? "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm doing this." I said, sighed and entered. He locked the door behind us and oh God, it was worse than what I thought. I tried not to breathe too much. The stench of the room overwhelmed me and I was so close to dry reaching, the only thing that made me not do it was the fact that Daniel was there and I didn't want to do it in front of him. But that almost didn't matter.
"Wow what a pleasant smell! Guess I'm sorry about that." He said trying not to dry reach himself which made it better, somehow, but I don't think he smelt it like I did- my werewolf senses made everything ten times stronger sometimes and of course, now they were amped up to ten while I was in the men's room of all places. He walked over to the sinks, grabbed a handful of paper towels and wet them. He squeezed excess water out of the handful then walked back over to me and placed the wet handmade sponge to the blood. I gasped and my eyes fluttered shut for a second and I felt him freeze in place.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." He said apologetically.
"No its ok. My blood's dry so when you tried to wipe it off it hurt." I said. I nearly hit my forehead with my palm. I cannot believe I just said that to him.
"Oh, again, sorry." He said and touched my hand. I don't know why but I turned my hand over so he was touching my palm, not the back of my hand, and when he went to drop his hand back to his side, I grabbed it and held on. We both looked at our clasped hands in the middle of us. I was embarrassed but didn't let go. He didn't pull away either; and when I looked up at him, he didn't react except he just let a little smile slip onto his lips. I was thinking about raising my other hand to his face then thought, nah don't make it weird Willow. Well weirder then you did when you grabbed his hand when he was dropping it back at his side! He won't want you now, he'll think your clingy, said the stupid little voice in my head. So I left my hand at my side and looked back down at our still clasped hands. I was surprised that the hand I left at my side wasn't there anymore. I watched as Daniel's hand moved mine to his check then trapped it there by holding his hand over mine. I looked at our hands then took a few long seconds looking at his expression. His eyes were closed, he had the same small happy smile on his lips but overall his expression looked calm and peaceful and happy but it had a hint of something that seemed out of place. I realised what the other feeling was- pain, but how did I cause him pain? It seemed like old pain and I didn't understand why it was in his expression because we hadn't known each other all that long. He opened his eyes and I saw that there were tears in his eyes. He saw me looking at him and he shifted his gaze. He closed his eyes again and a tear escaped. I got my left hand free of his hand and raised my hand to his check and wiped away the tear. I didn't know what else to do but I just did it. It just happened. I stepped closer to him and he opened his eyes and stilled. He didn't even breathe. I leaned into him and at the last moment I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. It took him a moment to realise what had happened. I chuckled softly in his ear as he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground then set me down. We stayed in the embrace. Why did I do that? Why did I hug him? He buried his head in the curve of my neck and tightened his grip on me. I was left doing the same thing. I rested my head on his shoulder. His shoulder was firm. And he smelled good. He smelled kind of like the woods, like pine trees and freshness. But there was a hint of freshly cut grass. It was hard to explain. His breath was warm on the bare skin of my neck where my T shirt didn't cover it and it tickled. I think he knew because I felt him smile against my neck. I didn't like people touching anywhere near my neck but this just felt right. It was like he was the exception. Remember like ten minutes ago? Him, me, wall? No? Crap, how could I have forgotten? I had to get out of here.
"You totally thought I was going to kiss you just then, didn't you?" I whispered in his ear. Why did I have to mention kissing? He chuckled against my neck which tickled more. He leaned back but I couldn't see his face. He still had me in his arms.
"No! I totally knew you were gonna hug me!" he whispered back.
"I know your lying! I can hear it in your voice! You totally thought I was going to kiss you!" I giggled and leaned back to see his face. Again, I mentioned kissing. His face mirrored the grin I wore on mine. He shook his head, still smiling and his eyes were lit up. He moved his hands from my waist to trail up my back then go down my arms to my hands- well that's what was going to happen anyway if he hadn't been stopped by the blood. I felt his hand go over it and my skin felt as if it was being peeled off. I blinked. I totally forgot about it. Stupid blood, stopping the moment, but I didn't expect anything else, something's always there when it came to me.
"Oh um, I should um keep cleaning that up for you." He said as we stepped apart. He rubbed the back of his neck trying to get me to look at that and not at his face which was going red.
"You don't have to. It's ok, I'll do it." I said but he didn't seem to have heard me. He was crouched down picking up the now dry handful of paper towel.
"Guess I dropped this." He said in a wicked voice. He was smirking and not trying to hide it either. The redness in his face had gone down a bit. Now it was only a light pink.
"Must have." I said biting my lip trying not to show him my smile and how much I wanted him. I thought my eyes let me down though. He stood up and walked by me to the sinks, but he walked close enough to grab my waist and spin me around to face them as he past. Just before he let go of my waist and continue his journey to the sinks he whispered in my ear, "Sorry, I have to", before he kissed my check. I looked into the mirror opposite me and saw a girl with wide brown eyes that were sparkling, looking back. His eyes were closed. It was just a peck and only lasted a few seconds but it still gave me a shiver that ran down my spine and made my heart flutter. He threw the dry and ripping paper towel in the bin under the bench and washed his hands- with soap. He looked up into the mirror and met my eyes and his smile got wider as he saw that I'd gone red from the peck. I blushed even more as his smile turned into his dazzling one and he winked at me. I'd never been pecked before by someone not related to me. It felt... nice. I couldn't believe he just did that! One thing I know for sure was that I will never forget it, or the stench of this bathroom. My poor nose won't be able to smell another thing after this. I looked down at the disgusting floor and made a mental note to burn my shoes when I got home. I glanced back up and saw that Daniel was repeating what he did with the first one. He came back over to me, grabbed my blood stained arm and raised it to his shoulder where he left it. What... ? How was there so much blood? It was all down my forearm!
"How are you gonna clean my arm if it's like that?" I asked him. He looked me in the eye and I knew the fun was over. His eyes were serious and had turned a darker blue. Why did he turn so serious when I asked that question? I was just, well, trying to flirt with him I guess. See what you get for asking questions, the voice said. I was getting tired of that voice.
"Trust me, ok?" he said still serious. I hesitated then nodded. I remembered how just fifteen minutes ago he was beating up Trevor. God, he had different personalities and mood swings. Willow, signs, killers! I went into full protective mode. Crap, could he be one? Could I make it to the door before he does? I glanced at the door. No, I didn't think so. He'd get me before I took more than three steps. Stay calm, do exactly as he says and play along; it's the best chance you have. You'll be fine, you've seen Criminal Minds heaps of times, just do what Derek Morgan tells the 'victims' of a hostage situation to do. Well he doesn't really tell them because their being held hostage but he does say it and the audience hears it. Derek Morgan, another fine man. Focus Willow focus! Don't start thinking of him... shirtless... You just did, that voice said. Man, that voice inside my head was annoying. My heart would've melted but I couldn't let it show. But he's so good looking. What the hell are you trying to do? Get yourself killed? As soon as you get out of this- alive -you can go home and watch Derek Morgan on Criminal Minds. You're such a creep, I thought, but I have to hand it to you; you go after fine men, I thought to myself. I sure did. Derek Morgan... I was bought out of my weird Derek Morgan thing when Daniel very gently, scrubbed the dried blood off my arm. He had to use two more wet paper towel handfuls to get all the blood off my arm then had to use dry paper towels to dry the water off. It hurt. Dry blood getting scrubbed off is like scrubbing off your own skin.
"Ok. I think I'm all cleaned up now. I'll um go now. Thanks Daniel for um the help." I said fake happily and headed toward the door. He grabbed my hand and stopped me.
"Hey, did I do something wrong?" he asked me again, confused.
"Ah, no you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that um Sonny, yes Sonny, will be waiting for me and we don't have a lot of time left for lunch. So I better go. Again thanks for the help." I said off the top of my head.
"Ok. Catch up soon?"
"Sure." I said and he smiled and nodded. He walked in front of me, unlocked the door and peeked outside into the hallway. He pushed the door open wider, went out and held the door open for me. I went out into the hallway and kept walking. I was halfway between the bathrooms and the door to the outside lunch tables and I hadn't heard a single footfall behind me. I stopped and looked over my shoulder and saw Daniel still standing there holding the door open by leaning against it. He had his head on the door too which just made him look sad. He was watching me walk away and when he realised I'd stop, he smiled but it was a sad smile and he gave a sad little wave. I flashed a smile at him and then turned back around and went out the door. I walked unnoticed now through the tables of students to the tree. Sonny was sitting down in her usual spot and I plonked down into mine. Here we go... she was just about to explode with questions. Three, two, one... she burst.
"Oh my God, what happened? What did you two do? Where'd you two go?" she whispered excitedly, as she asked the last two questions she moved her eyebrows up and down.
"Nothing happened except he cleaned the blood off my arm and you know, other stuff." I answered. Her eyes went anime style wide and her mouth was open a little.
"What do you mean 'and you know, other stuff'?" she said still in that excited voice. I pointed at my check. I didn't think that her eyes could get any bigger but they did. She started to say something but I cut her off.
"Oh and a hug. By the way, he smells so good." I added to tease her. She grabbed my hand in a bone-crushing hold and squealed for a couple of seconds before I silenced her. She gave me a one armed hug and ruffled my hair.
"You go girl! Ok I have to know. Details. Now." She said as she shook me gently. I sighed and told her the story.