Chapter 10
“You shouldn’t let him get to you,” I told Joel with a sigh.
I’d found him sitting in his car, just staring ahead at nothing. Now we were both sitting in the car, our hands intertwined, watching each others every move.
He stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. “I know. I’m sorry, but… he just doesn’t understand how much I already hate myself for what I did, and he makes it worse.”
I gave him a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to hate yourself for it. I already forgave you. It’s okay now.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you forgive me or not, I still di—”
Suddenly he was cut off by a loud scream. We both jumped and looked up to see a girl of about 14 staring at us with wide eyes.
“OHMYYYGOOOD!!! IT’S JOEL EVANS!!!” she squealed.
“Shit,” Joel muttered. He grabbed his keys and shoved them in the ignition just as more screams erupted. I gasped as I looked up to see that a crowd of about ten girls had formed already, and they were all running towards the car.
Joel tried starting the car, but the engine sputtered and died. He tried again and again, but the car wouldn’t start. “Shit!” he cried again before opening the door.
“What are you doing?” I yelled over the screaming that was getting louder by the second.
“Getting out of here! Come on!”
I quickly opened the car door and jumped out. I ran to Joel’s side, the opposite side that the screaming fans were on, and he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards a long alleyway next to McDonald’s. We ran through it and the group of fan girls chased after us. We turned a corner and came to the end of the alley and ran out onto the street. Turning left, we just kept running and running, until we were out of breath and Joel pulled me into another alley. We stayed there, hidden by shadows until we saw some of the fan girls run past.
I sighed and laughed at the same time as I collapsed into Joel’s arms. He looked at me quizzically.
“Why are you laughing?” he asked.
His expression made me laugh even harder, and I gasped for breath as I shook my head. “Who knows,” I said when I could finally speak again.
“Come on. Let’s go see if my stupid car wants to work now,” he said as he laughed too.
I nodded and he took my hand as we left the alley, carefully searching for any stray fans. When we got back to the car, Joel tried starting it again, and this time it worked—the first time, too, when we weren’t trying to run away from anything. Typical.
I turned to Joel as we drove away. “Wait, why are we leaving anyway? Shouldn’t we be going back inside?”
“I don’t really want to go back in there right now.”
“Oh, yeah.” I’d forgotten about what had happened just half an hour ago.
“Do you want to go back to my place?” he asked with a mischievous smile.
I laughed. “Sure.”
Back at Joel’s house, he held my hand as he led me through the lounge room and upstairs. I squeezed my eyes shut as we walked past the bathroom; it brought back unpleasant memories. Joel continued leading me down the hallway and pulled me through his bedroom door, shutting it behind us.
“Why are we in here?” I asked with a giggle. I could only think of one reason why he would bring me in here. Jeez, I have a very dirty mind.
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Playing The Game
Teen Fiction(Not a Short Stack fan fiction, but some of the characters are based on them. So if you like Short Stack, please read) Life isn't easy, and when bad things happen and you're knocked to the ground, who is there to help you back up? When Rubi Denton g...
