Caught In Your Chaos ✓

Chapter Fifty

I had become a beacon for unexpected things. That's the reason I was surprised to spot my mom's car revving out of the campus. I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed under my breath. Jake turned his head sideways towards me and frowned. Thank god! He decided to put on a decent black t-shirt over his bruised body. All that stock of t-shirts he kept in his car's trunk was beyond my reasoning. Maybe, he was used to spending nights outside his room. The cuts on his face still looked ugly, and it wasn't eye candy for my mom either.

"Are you okay?" He asked, pulling on the campus. And even before I could tell him, 'Yes, I'm, but I won't be in a few seconds,' my mom's voice pulled both of our attention towards the car that was parallel to us.

"Amy!" She yelled, followed by the sound of her car screeching and coming to a halt. I didn't have time to check the expression on Jake's face. All I could think of was a way to deal with my mom. The look on her face as she turned off the gas and unbuckled her seatbelt in a flash turned my blood cold. "Get out of that car right at this moment!" She looked furious. What was she even doing there at midnight? The least she could have done was to send me a text or call me. Well! Bummer.

In all the mayhem of the night, I didn't even bother to check my cellphone even once. I pulled it out from my jeans pocket. My eyes bugged out with the number of messages and missed calls she had sent me. Why the hell did I keep my cellphone silent? Jake was right I did like trouble.

"Shit!" I fumbled with my seatbelt as it stuck at the wrong moment. I gave a nervous and helpless look at Jake, who by then had understood the situation. I scanned my mom's deadly stature over his shoulder as she glared at us with her hands on her hips. He sighed and leaned over the divider with a surprisingly sober look. While I was practically cold with nervousness and my mom bubbled with anger(or concern), Jake appeared relaxed. How could he be so calm?

"Hey, don't worry, it's just your mom." He coaxed me with his charcoal eyes filled with the reassurance he was there. But wasn't that the main problem?

I nodded while he helped me unbuckle the seatbelt. Tucking the loose and unruly strands behind my ear and taking a deep sigh, I stepped out of the car. I took the suit jacket with me; I still had to get it dry cleaned and return it to its owner. The moment I reached her, she gritted her teeth and scanned me from head to toe. I squirmed under her scrutinizing gaze, knowing very well how she was going to react. My heart thumped the moment I heard the sound of Jake's car door opening and closing. Why did he have to join the show? The thought of getting scolded in front of him burned my cheeks.

"So this is the reason you haven't been responding to my calls and messages. Do you have any idea how worried I was? You made me drive at this time of the day only to see my daughter with this hooligan!" She yelled, pointing towards Jake.

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned back to give an apologetic look. It was my mistake that I didn't bother about the repercussions of my actions. The borrowed version from Arya was crumbling under the strong words of my mother. I was back to the good girl version of me who lived by the rules set for her.

"Mom, he is not a...a hooligan," I mumbled, looking at my feet. The word 'Hooligan' left a bitter taste on my tongue.

"What? Now, you are speaking on behalf of him. When did you start rolling with the lowlife like him? I think we taught you better." She said, crossing her arms.

I looked up at her with wide eyes. She tended to lose control of her words when she was angry. But when she used those words for Jake, it stung my heart. No matter how indecent he might have looked for my mom, he wasn't a lowlife.

"Mrs. Henderson, she was just helping me with my wounds." It was Jake's deep but calm voice.

I had almost forgotten he was still there and heard all the rude comments she passed on him. The bandages around his knuckles and the wounds on his face spoke for him. I quickly hid my palm under the oversized sleeves of the hoodie I was wearing. If her eyes caught sight of that, she would go livid.

"Does my daughter look like a doctor to you? And I would like you not to talk on behalf of her." She retorted, gnashing her teeth.

"Mom, please, it's not his fault. It was me who went to him, and the only indecent one here is me." I dug my nails in my palm to gain some control over my nerves. My mom had that crazy obsessive power over me, and it wasn't pleasant at all.

She took two steps towards me. "Don't speak to me like a brat, Amelia. I don't blame you, though. It's the company you are keeping. Starting today, you are no more allowed to be around such guys. You have disappointed me enough already."

"Mom! I don't -" I said through gritted teeth, but before I could say anything else, an icy cold voice cut me off.

"Amy," Jake's voice never sounded that heavy before. His deep voice had an undertone of authoritative weight. It somehow made me swallow all the fiery words I was about to spell out.

"Listen to your mother, and please calm down." He emphasized more on the word 'mother' as if trying to indicate its relevance. I looked into his cold eyes, and they lit with something that I could only tag as a reprimand. Don't lose control, his black orbs spoke.

"I apologize for the trouble caused." He tossed in my mother's direction before turning on his heels. I watched him in an utter state of shock with that side of him. He stepped inside the car without even giving me a last look and revved up, jerking away from the campus. Even in my crazy fantasy, I had never imagined such decency from Jake. Not a moment before, my mom used all the degrading words she could gather for him, and in return, he reminded me of the respect that I should give my mother.

"If you sobered enough, I would like to have a word with you. It wasn't the reason why you joined this college, did you?" She asked more like warned me.

I turned off my Jake daze and nodded, knowing very well that the good girl she always wanted me to be, had somehow gone missing.