whirlwind (an Eddie Munson x OC love story)

5. Blackmail

Eddie and I met up in the library after school twice the next week and managed to finish our poster. It was Thursday and our poster was due for hand in. We looked at it proudly before we handed it to the teacher. We high fived. The teacher told us that because we had finished our projects, we would all be watching Romeo and Juliet. She wheeled in the little tv and started marking everyone's posters. We would be given our grades at the end of the class. Eddie and I could barely see the movie because we were sitting in the back of the room so instead, we whispered about how nervous we were to get our grade.

"So, did you end up deciding on a book?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I decided to try the one you picked." I replied smiling at him. He grinned and starting drawing random little smiley faces on his page. He was clearly just doing it out of boredom. I opened my book and started sketching Juliet. My main focus was getting her dress right. I couldn't see much of the screen, but I decided I was going to draw how I imagined her from the book. I noticed Eddie watching and felt embarrassed. I wasn't very good. I looked up at him and he looked up at me. He grinned at me.

"I didn't know you could draw, Roberts." I can't draw. My characters are all just cartoony doodles. I quickly shut my book and stuck my tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue out back at me. Then I felt eyes on me. From the front of the room, Mitchell had turned around and was watching us. I gulped. He wasn't smiling. He had a cold look on his face. Eddie realized and patted my shoulder gently. I had gotten a little better with being touched as long as it wasn't too sudden or for too long. Eddie knew that and moved his hand back to the table. Mitchell scowled and started whispering to his friend who turned slightly to glace at us. I heard the words 'freak' and 'how dare'. He said my name too and they turned around. The teacher walked around quietly to give us our grades. Eddie looked at me and we both looked at the paper together. There on the top of the page in red pen was an 'A'. Eddie looked up excitedly.

"We did it, Roberts!" I grinned and patted his shoulder.

"Hell yeah!" class ended soon after that and as we were leaving the room Mitchell shoved past Eddie, muttering "Freak" under his breath. His friend pushed into Eddie too and I heard the words "don't touch her, pervert." I was confused. Eddie looked confused too.

"Sorry." I whispered to him. He shrugged and walked to his locker. I met Amanda and Sarah for lunch, and we discussed the fact that I'd gotten an 'A' in English. It wasn't uncommon for me to do well in English, but they were still proud of me. Mitchell was sitting with his basketball friends, and they kept glancing over at me and then Eddie's table. Jason got up from the table and walked over to us.

"So, is it true? Has that freak been bothering you?" Jason asked.

"What? No, we did a project together, that's all."

"Well Mitchell says he saw him touching you and he thinks he was going to try something on you." I look at Jason, shocked. "You're clearly embarrassed about it, don't worry Liz. We will deal with it." Jason walks off. I was really confused. I didn't know what they meant by that. The bell rang and we walked to gym. I wore my bike shorts under my shorts. I had cut again since last time, I had a nightmare and couldn't get rid of the feeling. It was almost becoming a regular occurrence. The teacher didn't care much. We were outside today. The boys were playing soccer and we were doing laps around the oval. As the boys always did, they were playing shirts VS no shirts. I always found it strange that they didn't give them colored vests like the girls, but I suppose it meant less washing. Most of the girls were jogging very slowly or walking as they stared at the boys. I found myself looking too. My eyes drifted to a shirtless Eddie. I caught sight of the tattoos on his chest and my eyes dropped a little, I don't know what it was I was feeling but wow. I'd never looked at a shirtless guy and felt that before. Sure, I'd had crushes and I found guys attractive, but this feeling was different. I turned away and started running. Amanda and Sarah sped up a little but gave up as I sped off. I felt a boost of adrenaline and just couldn't stop. I kept running as it started hurting. I finally started to slow as I couldn't keep running. What the hell was that? I needed to distract myself from that weird feeling. I should have found another way to distract myself. I fell into the mud in an exhausted heap. I was breathing heavily. Amanda and Sarah jogged over and hauled me to my feet. We all laughed at my strange outburst. I told them I had a random energy boost and we all laughed more. Some of the boys had stopped to watch me running but most had gone back to their game now. Except Eddie, Mitchell, and Jason. Mitchell noticed Eddie watching me and nudged Jason. They whispered to each other a bit and then went back to the game. The teachers sent us all to go get changed. I stayed sitting in the mud for a bit longer to catch my breath. Hopefully giving myself time to have the change rooms to myself. I cleaned myself off and as I was alone, I heard someone walk in, I didn't think much of it until I heard a camera shutter click. I turned and saw Mitchell. I screamed. He grinned at me and moved closer. I realized how naked and exposed I was. I grabbed my towel and covered myself. He grabbed my face.

"I'll keep this quick; you go on a date with me tonight or I'll show everyone these pictures." He hissed in my ear. I nodded shakily. He smiled.

"Pick you up at seven, we're going to the movies. Wear something pretty." I sat on the floor of the showers, and he left. I sat sobbing for what seemed like ages. I didn't have anything sharp, so I scratched open my old cuts and watched the blood drip down the drain. After a few more minutes of holding the towel to my leg, I got dressed and left.

I found Amanda and Sarah waiting for me at the car. Amanda gave me a strange look.

"Are you going on a date with Mitchell? After what he did?" I nodded. I couldn't tell them what he did to get me to go. They shook their heads at me. I didn't feel like driving with them after that, so I decided to walk home. My jeans rubbed against my newly opened cuts as I started walking. I decided to go somewhere for a little while before I went home. I needed to be alone. I walked to the picnic table Eddie had shown me and sat down. I sobbed into my arms for a while. Then I heard a branch snap behind me. I swung my head around to see Eddie.

"Sorry." he chuckled but he stopped as soon as he saw my face. "Hey, are you okay?" I shook my head. He sat down beside me and looked at me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he looked concerned. I shook my head, choking back a sob. He reached his hand out over the table, offering it to me. Giving me the option of taking it. I did and we sat in silence for a while as I cried. I sniffled and removed my hand from his to wipe my eyes. He looked at me sadly then looked down at my thigh. His face changed. I looked down to see what he was looking at and saw that blood had seeped through my jeans from my reopened cuts.

"Shit." I muttered. I started to stand but Eddie grabbed my hand.

"Hey, you can talk to me. What's going on? What happened?" I started to cry again. I didn't want to tell him.

"I'm your friend, you can tell me." He whispered. Friend? He was my friend?

"You're my friend?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"I guess, if you want to be." I nodded. I did want to be friends. He was the only person who cared at the moment. I sat back down at the picnic table.

"Can... can I please have a hug?" I asked quietly. He seemed a bit surprised at the request but pulled me into his chest. I could smell his top as I clung to him. I hadn't realized how touch starved I had been. I was too scared to let anyone near me, but I still needed that comfort. He smelt like weed and cologne and him. He was warm and surprisingly comfortable. His arms were around my shoulders, and I felt almost safe here.

"Does it hurt?" he whispered. I knew he was thinking about the blood on my leg. He didn't know what it was from, but he was still worried. I shook my head and pulled back from the hug.

"Thank you." I said quietly. "I have to go." He nodded and watched me leave. He still couldn't do much.