Chapter 14 – Could be worse
"You're babysitting or something?" she whispers on Peyton's ear.
"Hey! I'm not a baby!" I mumble, annoyed, while Peyton seems to be having fun with this whole thing.
"No, I'm not. Megan's… well… you know, she…" she stops and looks at me, smiling, before she looks back at her friend and says it, "she's my sister."
Yeah, that totally took me by surprise. I thought she was gonna come up with some excuse, like I did, before. I can only smile, be happy. The other girl doesn't seem to understand anything any better than she did two minutes ago.
"Very funny. You don't have siblings, remember? So she just popped out of nowhere?"
"Well, if I can have birth moms popping out of nowhere, why can't I have siblings, too?"
"You have the weirdest life", Bevin girl states, making Peyton laugh, but then turns a little more serious, "We've been missing you at school, you know? Cheer practice's hell lately, Brooke's gone crazy, especially today"
"Yeah, she probably has some stuff in her mind. Don't worry. It's Cheer Nazi, after all, we should all be used to it by now"
"I guess… but you didn't answer my question"
"Bev… you didn't ask me a question", Peyton looks at her, amused.
"Oh, sure. I was wondering, when are you going back? Maybe it'll be better for you, get your mind off things", she says it, sweetly, while elbowing Peyton lightly.
"Maybe… I'll think about it, ok?"
"Ok", she replies, simply, then we see a younger girl walking out of school, "Oh, there she is", she waves to the girl, who sees her and smiles, then walks on her direction, but not before turning back to face us, "Take care, Peyton. And you", she points at me, "Take care of her, will you?"
I nod and smile, and she smiles back, waving goodbye. I open the car's door and get in, she does the same and puts on some random music.
"You said you were going to school", I start. It's not like I can blame her, but sometimes people need a little push.
"I said I was gonna try"
"Did you?"
"Hey, what's with the inquisition?" she says, defensively, while turning on the ignition and driving out of the school parking lot.
"Just wondering. Geez, calm down!"
We don't say anything else till she stops in front of my house, and doesn't move. I sigh, grab my backpack and leave the car. I'm halfway to the house when I hear the sound of her door, and then the alarm being turned on. I turn around, confused, to see her coming in my direction.
"I promised your mom I'd watch out for you till she got back, didn't I?" she says, almost coldly, and enters the house right after me.
"What's wrong with you? You were just fine, and I ask one simple question…"
"You said it like I'm not even trying, but you have no idea…" her voice starts to break, I can hear it, "You just don't understand, so don't pretend that you do, ok?"
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not saying I know what it's like, I just wanna help", my voice gets a little louder, "Sorry I cared", I roll my eyes and sit on the couch, my back turned to her. I grab my stuff and start writing something on my notebook. I don't even look at her, just try to let the words come. But then I hear steps coming closer, and lift my head up to see her right in front of me. She sits beside me.
"Ok, I'm sorry. I'm just nervous, I tried to go to school, but I couldn't, ok? I still can't, I don't feel safe. And I don't wanna talk about it."
I shrug my shoulders slowly. "It's up to you. It's just that you were talking before, so I didn't think it'd be such a big deal"
"Well, it is", she replies, bluntly, and goes to the kitchen to get some water. I sigh and go back to writing, in silence.
And that's all the talking we do till my mom gets back home. She seems nervous, which is totally understandable, considering the circumstances. I'm writing and Peyton's watching TV when we hear the door opening. It startles us at first, I instinctively go closer to Peyton, but then we see my mom there. The two of them talk by the kitchen for several minutes, and then Peyton goes away, just like that. Not even saying goodbye. Guess I really pissed her off this time. It's not like I was judging or anything, but I guess she might've taken things this way. I sigh heavily. Maybe she just needs some time. My mom sits near me and I rest my head on her shoulder.
"How was school?"
"Not that bad. How was work?"
"Not good. I couldn't stop worrying about my girl", she kisses my forehead and holds me closer. "Maybe you should go to work with me instead of school, you know, at least until this whole thing's over"
I actually smile. My mom's never been this protective of me before. She never cared that much, and it's good to feel that I actually have a mother now. In spite of what I feel, though, I try to act as if I'm not that worried.
"It's ok, mom. He can't get me when I'm at school, and even if I walk back home, there's always someone with me, he wouldn't risk it."
"Ok…" she tries to convince herself there's no danger. "I just don't want anything else to happen to you. Hopefully they'll get this guy soon enough"
"Mom? What did you and Peyton talk about just now?" I can't help asking it.
"I was just checking on her. You two fight or something? She said she wanted to be by herself for a while. She didn't sound mad, though, just a little upset"
"She really said that? She wants to stay away?" I can't hide the disappointment in my voice.
"This whole thing's a lot to take, Meg. For everyone. I guess each one of us has their own way of dealing with it, you know?" she looks at me and sees I don't seem convinced, "It's just a matter of time till they get him, and then things will get better"
"Promise?" I ask, as if I were 5 years old again. I just need a grown up around for once, so that I don't have to feel like one anymore.
"Yeah. I promise"
My cell phone suddenly rings, I almost jump out of the couch. I don't recognize the number, and when I pick up, no one says anything. That doesn't make me feel any more relaxed.
"Everything ok?" Mom asks.
"Yeah, just… wrong number, that's all", I manage to give her a weak smile.
We keep watching TV, or just browsing through the channels, with me constantly falling asleep only to wake up five minutes later with some loud music playing or an explosion scene in a movie or whatever. Then I finally go to bed. Sleep doesn't come easy, and when it finally comes, I almost wish it hadn't. It's like the guy's inside my mind. Everywhere, there he is. I hate it, I hate him, and I hate the damn police for not being able to get him. And he's still there. Every time I close my eyes, I wake up again. So I pull my covers to my head and curl up in bed, trying to think of anything but that. I look at the door and almost go to my mom's, but I decide I gotta be strong for now. Then I grab my cell and almost call Peyton, but I don't think she'd be very happy. Especially at this time of the night. When I look at my cell, I see the number that called me a couple of hours ago. It doesn't seem to be from Tree Hill, so I don't really think it was him. But who could it be? And why didn't they say anything when I answered? I doze in and out of sleep, and before I know it, it's time to get up already.
I can't blame anyone in school for the way they're looking at me, I totally look like a zombie. The circles around my eyes don't help my case.
"Gee, Megan, did you party up all night or something?" Sarah comes near me with the rest of the girls.
"Leave it, Sarah", Natalie replies, suddenly appearing behind me as I smile thankfully. Then she looks at the other girls and motions for us to go somewhere else. "Come on, we gotta talk."
"Oh my god! Meg, is this true?" all the girls' attention suddenly turn from Natalie, who just told everything she knew, to me. I'm glad I didn't get to talk much, cause I really didn't wanna have to tell the story all over again. I can only nod to their question, and wait for whatever reactions they might have.
"So this guy is like… after you? He could be watching you right now? He could be watching us?" Nikkie asks.
"I don't know, I guess so…" suddenly I'm feeling really uncomfortable, "That's why I didn't say anything before, I didn't want you to be in danger…"
"But now you decided it was ok that we were in danger?"
"Nicole! What the hell's wrong with you?" Sam and Mel talk at the same time.
"Look, Megan, I'm sorry you got into this situation, ok? But I don't see why we should be thrown in the middle of this, too. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't wanna have to look over my shoulders every time I'm walking on the street", I hear some mumbles, agreeing with her. Great decision, Meg. Go on and babble it all out to them. The not trusting people I used to do is getting better and better, maybe I should try going back to that. I don't reply, I don't try to make her stop as she turns around to leave. And I don't even move when Jasmin and Sarah follow Nikkie. Mel turns around, too, and runs to the girls. I just sigh heavily. I see Nat, Emily and Sam's faces as they look at the other ones in disbelief.
"It's ok. I can't blame them. They just wanna be safe", I shrug, trying to brush the feeling off. Pretty naïve of me to actually think they'd risk being around me after that.
"If they wanna be safe they'd better not come anywhere near me from now on", I look back and see Mel coming back, bringing a small smile back to my face, "I tried talking to them, they're idiots", she says, still looking at the three girls who left, before turning back to me and winking. "Don't worry. The four of us have always been the toughest ones anyway, this guy doesn't stand a chance"
I swear to god I'd cry if I wasn't so used at blocking my tears all the time. They all smile at me and Sam hugs me. "You'll be fine"
Then Mel and Sam lock arms with me and Emily runs in front of us. "Come on, losers. We're gonna be late"
To that, we all laugh and run through the halls. On the way to class, I can see Nikkie, Sarah and Jasmin from the corner of my eyes, but I don't do or say anything. I'm not sure how to feel about them. They're just scared. I'm really not mad, I'm just sad that it came to that. But I don't have much time to feel sad, cause Sam pulls me inside the class to tell me the latest gossip till the class starts. Things could definitely be worse.