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Chapter Seven….
Class couldn't seem to take any longer. It felt like each second took a lot longer than it should for Chloe. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched the clock. She didn't want to keep feeling the stares on the back of her head, much less think of the appointment with that man she had seen at her house the night before.
There were a lot of things she didn't want to do. She didn't want Liam harassing her, she didn't want Derek to have to always stand up for her when it came to Liam. She didn't want to make the mistake of having a friend that made rumors about her again, and she didn't want to feel like she was different from everyone else.
All of these thoughts were swirling through her head, bombarding her at every chance they got. It was ultimately making her feel sick. Chloe leaned her head on her hand and looked away from the clock, setting her gaze to the window.
A tree stood in front of the window, blocking a lot of the view of everything else beyond it. She stared at it, liking the view better than that of the classroom or the clock.
Closing her eyes for a moment, or for what felt like a moment, Chloe sighed tiredly. The ring of the bell made her flinch slightly as she opened her eyes. After gathering her things she made her way out of the door, avoiding the strange looks she received. Tori came up to her side and leaned down slightly as she spoke to her. "I think I have a good enough rumor for now."
"Oh, what about?" Chloe felt like she should feel guilty about it, but at the same time, she believed that Rae kind of deserved what was coming for her.
Tori shrugged slightly, glaring at the people who stared as they walked by. "It'll be Rae going lesbian, trying to get on my friend which will be Liz."
For once, Chloe had something to laugh about. She muffled her giggles with her hand. She knew it was horrible and very untrue, but she couldn't help it. The desire to get some type of revenge clawed at her.
She shook her head at Tori. "That is just…wow."
Tori smirked, "I know. Well, see you later. We'll get the rumor going after lunch."
Chloe nodded and waved, seeing Tori roll her eyes in response. She headed into her classroom without a word to anyone and sat in her seat. Rae went to her table and stood there for a moment before clearing her throat. "I want to apologize to you Chloe."
Chloe lifted her head up to look at her. She scanned her figure, her eyes narrowing. "I-It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters," She replied, "I need you to know that I didn't mean for this to happen."
Her temper flared, it didn't always seem so easy to get this…angry at someone. But Rae had crossed a line, you don't befriend someone and pretend like you're friends and then go and spread a rumor about them, especially one that was so untrue that it made her sick to even look at Rae.
Clearing her thoughts she looked away from Rae and took in a small breath. "If you t-truly didn't mean for this to h-happen you wouldn't have spread this lie."
Rae bit her lip and then set her full attention on her. "Maybe it's possible that I thought I saw you with Derek at the carnival."
"That's because I was with him, but not for the reason you're thinking of. But, you know w-what? I don't need to explain this to you. One thing I-I should explain is though, is that y-you shouldn't make up rumors or spread something y-you have no idea what you're t-talking about. It will only bite you back, Rae."
She seemed almost startled by Chloe's little outburst. Rae turned and walked away, not giving another look toward her. Liz came over and took Rae's place.
"Hey, so how did that go?" Liz asked, a small smile playing at her lips
Chloe smiled at her warmly, keeping her cool. "It went well except I'm pretty sure you heard the whole thing."
Liz sighed and then winked at her, "Yep, sorry Chloe couldn't help it. You were so close and it was getting a bit interesting so…"
"It's okay. I don't care, but I'm a bit worried about the rumor revenge thing." Chloe confessed, looking at her desk.
"Me too," She put her hand over Chloe's and gave her a look of reassurance. "It'll be fine, promise."
Chloe tucked a piece of her blond hair behind her ear and nodded, "Okay, thanks."
Liz nodded and faced forward as the teacher walked in, considerably late. Sitting next to Liz, she felt a tiny bit better about the rumors and all that was going on. But it didn't extinguish the thoughts of everything running through her head, not one bit.
The class seemed to go by faster and soon it was lunch. By now, everyone knew about the rumor and was going on about it with strange stares toward her and others that were worse for Derek that were all full of horror. Even though she wasn't that close to the guy, it still made her mad that people would judge before knowing the full truth.
It wasn't like she knew what had happened, much less the reason why he would do such a thing. It could've been accident from self defense, or anything on those terms. She couldn't really picture him breaking someone's back on purpose. But then again people can be what you think they aren't.
Chloe shook her head. It was wrong to keep thinking of it, no matter how much she wanted to know. It wasn't her business.
She sat at the first table she saw in the left side corner of the room. Taking a look around her at all of the teens eating and talking, some glancing at her, she took it in and sighed. Chloe took out her journal, rereading where she had left off again in her notes for the idea she had gotten.
Feeling someone behind her, she turned her head and nearly jumped. Liam went and took a seat next to her, his smile intact. "Chloe, it's so nice to…see you."
Chloe picked up her things and got up to leave, but he stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Where are you going, cutie? How about this, you stay here and I'll leave, but you have to meet me outside of the gym after school and if you don't. I will beat the living shit out of your little friend Derek and then some more. Understand?"
Angry, but frightened by the threat, she nodded, not having any words to say. Liam left then, squeezing her shoulder a bit too hard making her want to cry out in pain. But she held it in and whimpered as she lightly touched the spot but cringed as it spread with pain. She bit her lip hard and turned around on the bench putting her head down on her notebook. His presence and threat was quick and firmly frightening. She just sat there for how ever many minutes went by hearing his words run through her head.
"Hey Chloe." Liz said smiling as she sat down on the bench in front of her with Tori at her side. She looked at her again as Chloe lifted her head from the table. "You okay? Was Liam here?"
Chloe looked up and smiled weakly, "Yeah, but I'm fine no worries."
Liz raised a hesitant brow, "You sure?"
She nodded and smiled fixing her hair back in place. "Yeah,"
Tori suddenly smirked at something and glanced over at Chloe and Liz. She winked at her and cleared her throat as she turned toward Simon who was walking near by. "Simon why don't you come sit by Liz?"
Simon narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, "What is your problem Tori?"
"What do you mean? I'm just trying to be nice, jeez." She responded flippantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
He held a hand to his forehead shaking his head, "That's the point. You don't do nice."
Tori glared at him, "Well I am right now, so sit next to her damn it."
"Okay, okay!" Simon gave in and after flashing a smile at Liz sat where Tori had been. Chloe looked at Tori strangely for a moment but then sighed and didn't care anymore about Tori's strange motives or ideas. Her shoulder hurt too much to care and the little drenched dead boy was staring at her from the window. Chloe wanted nothing more than to make it all go away.
Chloe focused on the table and watched as Liz blushed as Simon scooted a bit closer to her. Chloe smiled a little, seeing her recent friend seem so happy.
"So I heard you saying Liz's name in your sleep last night Simon, what were dreaming of anyways?" The smile on Tori's face was smug as Simon's mouth dropped open and his face flamed a bright red.
Liz blushed brightly and looked down at her hands. Simon sputtered and shook his head, "Shut the hell up, Tori."
Tori raised her hands in front of her and smirked, "Whatever you say, Wimp." Then she asked Simon, "Where's Derek?"
Simon took a bite of his sandwich and breathed in before speaking, "In line, over there."
She nodded and beckoned Derek over once he was out of the line. He had an irritated look etched over his face as he came over. Chloe wondered if it was from the rumors too. Then again, he always seemed a bit annoyed.
"I don't usually sit with you guys, but this is slightly important." Tori said, glancing between everyone.
Derek took his seat next to Simon across from her. He rolled his eyes, "I don't see how this is important, you're just making a rumor of your own until it's a war of who can make the best rumor between you and that girl."
Simon finished his sandwich and took a gulp of water. "It'll be funny to watch, Bro."
"It's not funny when there's already a set of rumors about you."
Chloe closed her journal and put it back in her bag, "I second that."
Simon glanced over at Liz, sending her small smile and then turned back to Derek and Chloe, "Well, now we know that everyone knows who you guys are."
Without even trying to hold back, Chloe groaned and held a hand to her head. She didn't want everyone to know who she was. She wanted to be hidden in the crowd, not be noticed. And yet just the opposite was happening.
Liz reached across the small table and laid a hand on her shoulder, but Chloe flinched at the contact feeling the small burst of pain swell in her shoulder and tried not to make a sound.
Her blonde friend quickly retracted her hand, "Are you okay?"
"Um yeah, I'm fine thanks." Chloe replied stiffly, touching her shoulder a little, remembering who had done it so easily.
Liz didn't seem to believe her, but nodded slowly. Chloe could feel Derek's eyes on her, so she stopped touching her shoulder and laid her hands in her lap.
Simon took another drink of his water and then glanced over at Tori hearing her mumbling to herself about something. "What are you doing?"
Tori shook her head slightly, "None of your business, now that you guys are done talking we're gonna start the rumor."
Simon and Derek both rolled their eyes and shared a similar look. Chloe watched silently, wondering how this would turn out. "Okay so Liz you're gonna be the victim here and I'm gonna be the witness to Rae trying to get you to make out with her okay?"
"This is the dumbest thing you've ever done." Derek said with a sigh.
Tori seemed to have ignored the remark and left the table, going over to a girl Chloe recognized as Amber. She leaned down and whispered in the girl's ear, nodding when Amber had said something, her eyes wide.
Liz shook her head and then took a drink of her soda, "And now it's in motion."
Chloe watched as the rumor spread like wild fire, someone tapped her on her unhurt shoulder. It was a guy in their grade, Nate. "Hey, I don't know you very well, but did you hear about Rae? I've seen you guys hang out with her before so I wasn't sure if you had heard that she's gone lesbo."
Feeling pretty bad, she decided to go with it anyways and said, "Yeah, I d-did. My friend actually was getting pressured to make out with her, crazy right?"
He nodded and turned all the way around with a smile, "Yep, definitely. I'm Nate, and you're Chloe right?"
She nodded timidly, but smiled. "T-that's me."
"Awesome, so maybe we should hang out sometime." Nate said with a wink.
Liz came over and sat next to Chloe her smile brightening Chloe's mood somewhat. "Hey, Chloe can I talk to you? It's important."
"Yes, of course." Chloe replied, sending an apologetic look towards Nate.
She pulled Chloe away right as the bell rang, and leaned toward her. "He's desperate."
Chloe scrunched her eyes together in confusion, "What?"
"Nate asks out every girl he sees and tries to get with them. He's really desperate and believe me, you can do a lot better Chloe. I don't have to know you a long time to figure that out."
Chloe nodded and smiled at the compliment, thankful that Liz had saved her from something that could've been another mistake to deal with. "He didn't seem that bad though."
Liz licked her lips and smiled at Simon as he passed, "Well, that's until he won't stop bugging you. Soon, you'll want to find a way to escape his presence."
"I already have to do that, but not with h-him." Chloe replied distractedly as she thought of her shoulder and Liam's threat on Derek.
Her friend nodded in agreement, "That's why you don't want two guys now! That would really suck."
Chloe pulled her hair to the side and murmured, "It would, well I'm gonna go to class, later."
"Bye Chloe," Liz smiled and quickly hugged her, giving her a short wave as she went the opposite way.
Out of all the places to go in the school, she liked the library the best. It was quiet and somewhere she could finish her work in. Finding her seat, the one she usually sat in, Chloe took out her Math homework begrudgingly. What she hated most about math was how she couldn't seem to comprehend it very well or grasp it. When it came to English, it was easy, simple even, for her.
Trying her hand at the first problem she didn't realize someone had sat down next to her. She lifted her head from her work and glanced over at the person in wonder. But she gasped and nearly screamed. It was him again.
Why? She asked in thought, utterly and completely freaked out. It was only her imagination she tried to reason with herself. But then he touched her, or at least tried to. But his hand went right through her. Covering her mouth and scooting away from it quickly, she almost fell out of her chair.
Her breath hitched as he came face to face with her. She swallowed and held her breath. "Why do I keep seeing you?" She whispered.
The guy, she bit her lip and nearly groaned, Ryan laughed, pulling back slightly away from her face. If she wasn't crazy and he wasn't apart of her crazy imagination, she'd think that he was pretty good looking. But then again, she did pretty good creating some imaginary freak that enjoyed bugging the hell out of her.
Ryan rolled his eyes at her expression and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Okay Necro, it seems like I'm gonna have to spell this out for you. And maybe you can actually think you're not crazy, because you're not unless you want to kill and experiment on people than you are completely fucked up. And there's no way I'd help you there."
Chloe opened her mouth to speak but he held up a hand and shook his head, "I'm not done. Now, like I said, you aren't crazy, but different. You are a Necromancer, it's the reason why you can see me and other ghosts and soon, raise the dead as well as control them. Hopefully I could say that in simple enough terms for you to understand. So now you can help me."
"Help you? Why w-would I help you, I have e-enough of my own p-problems." Chloe said in a hushed whisper, looking around to make sure no one would see her talking.
Ryan tilted his head to the side slightly and sent her an irritated look. "You know your stutter's really annoying. And you need to help me there is no one else to. I'm not about to get on my knees and beg, but I have been through things that you can't even begin to fathom. I have done things against my will and even killed my own brother. You try going through that and not be mentally screwed up."
Chloe's eyes widened and she gasped, just picturing someone do something like that to their own flesh and blood was so horrible, it was something that didn't seem possible. No matter the things she heard about crazy moms killing their own kids, it still was not comprehensible.
She stood and grabbed her bag, stuffing her papers in carelessly, running out of the library. She saw a glimpse of Derek look up at her, and some other people, but she didn't stop. Ryan had disappeared, an angry look set upon his features.
Pushing open the girls' bathroom door she went over to the sink and splashed water on her face. She breathed heavily and stared at the mirror.
"I wouldn't go to the appointment after school." Someone said, popping up near the mirror, a girl's reflection showing.
Chloe jumped and screamed, but calmed down seeing the girl. "S-sorry, wait w-what did you say?"
The girl had long brown hair and pale skin, with blue eyes. She sighed and put a hand on Chloe's shoulder, but it went right through, the girl shook her head, "Please don't scream." She pleaded, her eyes almost begging.
Nodding slightly, she bit back another shriek but complied and moved away from her, the ghost or whatever it was. If Ryan was truly real, then she had to at least give the thought a chance. "W-who are you?"
"I'm Haley Thompson." She said, her eyes filled with a deep sadness as she looked away from Chloe.
The shock of hearing her name was beginning to make her freak out. "You're the girl who-"
"Yeah, I am."
Chloe started to laugh hysterically, on the verge of crying. "W-why me? H-how is this possible?"
Haley closed her eyes for a moment and spoke, "Being what you are isn't a bad thing Chloe."
"H-how do you know m-my name?"
"I've been following you. There's something different about you, besides being a Necro, that much is obviously clear. But, you can't go to that appointment." Haley replied, fixing her gaze back on her.
Chloe gulped, "Why can't I? I-I mean I don't want to, but…" She trailed off not sure where to go from there.
"You just can't. Don't go, it will only lead to bad things." Haley sent her a lingering look and then disappeared."
"I wouldn't go to that appointment either, Necro. That girl's right and I need you alive to help me." Ryan said, coming out of no where into the girl's bathroom.
Chloe had about enough, her heart was racing and her sanity felt like it was draining. She pushed him away, remembering how it had worked before. He quickly disappeared, leaving Chloe to lean against the wall, breathing heavily. After a few minutes of trying to gather her thoughts and feelings together, she made her way out of the bathroom and back to the library. No one seemed to notice her come back luckily. She sat at the same table, knowing full well that it wouldn't matter if Ryan tried to come back, that he would come either way anywhere she was.
All of this almost made her believe that maybe all of those stupid shows she had seen about ghosts and movies based on true stories could somehow be real. When she was younger she thought she used to see the craziest things and it was always thought to be just apart of her imagination, but maybe it was what she was seeing now. What she was going through.
This wasn't an easy thing to accept on a dime, but if it was consistent then maybe she had no choice than to take it in stride. If this somehow happened to be the truth then why should she live scared of it, if it's apart of her life then she needs to accept it and move on.
But in the end if she was crazy, then how could she deal with that? It would be hard, it was already hard. Just trying to figure out whether you were essentially crazy or somehow not screwed up in the head was already as confusing as it could get.
The bell rang and her stomach turned, it was getting closer to the end of the day. Closer to the appointment she was warned not to go to and what she had almost forgotten, Liam meeting her and then seeing Derek for the project. Walking slowly, seeing people pass her by in almost a different perspective she tried to calm herself.
Derek strode in next to her through the hallway filled with crowded teens and practically cleared the hallway as people avoided him. "I've started the model. How far are you on the paper?"
Clearing her thoughts and focusing on Derek she said, "Um, I'm almost done, but it's only the rough draft. I'll get it done over the weekend though."
He nodded, seeming to be deep in thought. Chloe glanced at him again, "So we should s-start the presentation board Monday I guess and n-not meet today right?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
She nodded and turned to her classroom, "Well, uh later." Chloe quickly turned into the theater room before he could say another word and sighed as she took her seat.
After a long period, a period that couldn't last long enough, it was finally the last bell. Chloe was dreading it, she wasn't sure how she'd get out of going to the appointment, but she'd find a way. Somehow it felt like it wouldn't be right to go. But at the moment she couldn't think of that. She had to focus on hopefully getting herself out of the situation she was about to be in with Liam, that was much worse.
She tried to walk as slow as possible, hoping that he would forget, hoping that maybe he would just leave if she took long enough, but Liam was waiting in an area without anyone by the gym. It was obscured by shadows from under the trees. She slowed her pace upon seeing him, her heart clenched and sped.
I have to get through this. Chloe thought. If she didn't then Derek would get beaten and she didn't want that and if she ran now the consequences could only get worse. It didn't matter that Derek was a big guy and could probably hold his own, but there was something about Liam that was scary, threatening. And she really didn't want or need something bad to happen to him because of her. It wasn't right and she'd feel more than guilty.
Walking faster and taking a deep breath, straightening her posture and trying to be strong, she stood in front of him. "I'm here, n-now what do y-you want?" His smirk, all in all made her sick. It was one of those looks that you just knew deep down in your gut that it wasn't good. It meant something wrong was mostly going through their head.
Liam walked toward her, pulling her farther to the side of the school. The gym doors were out of her sight, where no one went to for some reason she noticed. He leaned flush against her, after getting her back to the wall.
She gulped and turned away from him. He nudged her with his nose, "Hmm, you smell good enough to eat. But what I really want is a good time, Cutie."
Chloe was scared out of her mind. Was she going to get molested or even raped right outside of the school with no one to help her, to hear her, because they were on the side that no one went to? Just because it was dark and it was also where Haley, the crazy girl, had died?
She shook her head, her heart pounding so hard against her chest that she thought it'd burst and come right out of her chest, that or self combust.
Chloe shook as he leaned close and began to kiss her neck and dip his hand down under shirt. She tried to scream and struggle herself away from him, but he pulled back and put a hand to her mouth, giving her a look of hostility that shook her in fear from the inside out.
She bit his hand without a second thought and tried to get away from him, but he grabbed her by the arm and slammed her back into the wall with a growl, "I will get what I want and you aren't going to stop me."
Screaming, before he could put his hand to her mouth again, she yelled out as loud as she could, "H-help!"
He smacked her across the face, her head banging back forcefully against the wall. She yelped in pain and felt the stream of tears fall from her cheeks as her vision blurred slightly.
"No one can hear you. Now be a good little girl and stay still." Liam brushed her hair to the side, touching her cheek as she stopped squirming, knowing it was useless. "That wasn't so hard was it?"
There was nothing she could do now. He overpowered her by a ton. It was useless to try and fight, it was a lost cause. In her thoughts she pleaded for someone to come, for someone to rescue her somehow. This was stupid of her, how could she think that coming here by herself would be a good idea.
Liam pulled back a little and grinned at her, his hand going up her shirt higher, he started to pull off his belt with one hand but he didn't get far enough, because at one moment Liam was standing there ready to take off his pants and then the next someone came and tackled him to the ground. The sound of his large body smacking into the asphalt produced a extremely loud thud to echo in the secluded area.
In utter shock she watched as Derek starting swinging his fists at Liam's face over and over again, the sound of flesh hitting flesh was loud and painful. She heard Simon come over not far from where Derek was on top of Liam. His eyes widened as he took in the scene and then he saw her.
He ran over, his eyes filled with a worry that she couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty for, "Are you okay?"
Chloe's throat was tight and thick. She felt like there was something in it blocking her from speaking. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, nothing but the stream of tears. Simon embraced her then and rubbed her back in small soothing circles. "Shh, it's okay Chloe. Everything will be alright."
She couldn't help the sobs that came out. She vaguely heard Simon call for Tori and Liz as her body froze from realizing what would've really happened if they hadn't come. If Derek hadn't stopped him when he did.
"Oh my god, Chloe!" Liz exclaimed and took Chloe from Simon in a hug. The hug hurt, everything in her body seemed to hurt. Liz walked with Chloe, but she was numb, her mind felt like it was shutting down, everything was shutting down. Nothing like that had ever even come close to happening and for it to almost happen like that, it made her sick. It was like the little scene that had just occurred had taken such a toll on her, including the ghost incidents that she blacked out, hearing Liz's panicked voice and Tori's demanding one above her. But above all she heard the punches of Derek and Liam as they fought on the ground, and she was afraid, afraid that things would end badly.
Please REVIEW! :)
-Vanessa:D
