So, my parents weren't entirely happy about my grades as we walked out from the parent teacher conferences. They weren't mad, but they weren't happy either. I have got to find a way of getting my grades up otherwise my position in the swim team could be revoked. "It's not that I'm not trying." I tried to explain to them as we all began to head out to the car park. "I just find it difficult to concentrate, that's all. The teacher admitted that I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so it's not because I'm not working hard that my grades are poor, right?"
"Honey, we know that you're not tapping into your full potential. Your father and I have been thinking that perhaps you should get a tutor to help you work through some things." Mom said to me as she brushed back my hair affectionately, taking the understanding route rather than being angry with me. That was something at least, just please don't revoke my car privileges or take away my credit card.
"A tutor? Seriously mom? If I get a tutor then everyone will know that I'm one of the dumbest kids in school despite the fact that my parents are both high class academics." Complaining and genuinely fearful that I'd lose some of my image if I got a tutor. "How about you guys just punish me with doing some chores or something, okay? I'm sure I can do that, I'll even wash…" When screams started to sound from the car park, I stopped talking and looked towards where a commotion was beginning to unfurl.
For a moment I was confused, looking around me as people started to rush to their cars with my parents also looking perplexed until suddenly, we all heard the sinister low growl of a wild animal. Blood rushed to my head and a chill made my spine quiver in dread as my dad quickly grabbed hold of my mom and me to pull us close, instinctively protecting us whilst mom hugged me too her. In the next second, chaos ensued. Everybody was running and screaming, rushing to get away as the animal growled and snarled, pushing against us as dad used his broad shouldered frame to shelter mom and I to get us to the car, but somehow in the mass onslaught of panicked parents and kids, I was torn from their grasp. "Cordelia!"
"Mom!" I tried to jump back towards her but I was pushed back and pulled away by the crowd, having no choice but to go with the flow before breaking away back at the school front, running towards the lights in a bid to keep away from the animal that had invaded the parking lot. As I ran, I felt my heel give way underneath me and I immediately lost my footing, plummeting into the ground face first. Of all the times for my shoes to betray me, why now? I could feel that I'd scraped both my knees, however as I began to push myself back up, I heard a low growl dauntingly close behind me.
Almost too frightened to move, I gradually began to look back over my shoulder, as if looking would somehow magically reveal that I had just imagined that growl and that there was nothing behind me, but I was proved terribly wrong. The cougar was crouched low to the ground between two cars, partially cast within the shadows which made its yellow eyes all the more luminous as I gasped and turned onto my back, feeling my breath coming in ragged gasps as I struggled to do anything but panic. My heart was racing, blood thundering through my veins as I stared into the face of a wild animal which was flexing its claws and shifting its hindquarters. I've seen cats do the exact same thing.
Right before they go for their prey. Oh god, am I going to die here?
Now I will admit that what I did next was quite undignified and will no way contribute towards my reputation of being a stone cold badass, but in that moment I didn't care. I screamed with everything I had, feeling the high pitch pierce the air as it only continued to ascend. I could feel and almost see the glass windows of the cars and school trembling, shaking as they resonated against the shrillness of my scream as the cougar pounced, stretching its jaw wide to reveal yellowed fangs dripping with saliva. I really thought I was going to die right there on the ground with tears streaming down my face, a broken shoe on my right foot whilst screaming like a lunatic.
Two bursts of sounds shocked me out of my scream, seeing the cougar drop almost instantly though its claws caught my leg and raked through the skin, causing me to cry out again from the pain as blood started to gush from the injury and I clutched it instinctively, sobbing as the fear and terror of everyone around me seemed to collide full force against me. "Cordelia! Cordy!" My parents came flying to my side when they finally saw where I was and quickly put together what had happened, my mother bawling just as pathetically as I was whilst she wrapped me up in her arms and my dad tried to take a look at the injury, helping to stop the bleeding with his larger and stronger hands.
Somehow I managed to clear my vision long enough to see that it had been Chris Argent who had shot the cougar, directly saving my life in the process. I am never going to take my life for granted again, I swear to god. I wanted to get up and thank him but my legs wouldn't move, feeling little more than trembling matchsticks as my dad yelled for help of some kind. McCall's mother came rushing forwards, jumping in to help and quickly took charge of the injury, apologising to me before ripping my tights so that she could get a better look at the claw marks before deciding what needed to be done.
I barely noticed what was going on, looking directly at Mr Argent as he looked at the cougar, then glanced at me. Briefly, I saw something flicker in his eyes, brow furrowing in a puzzled contortion of thought which I did not understand, but somehow knew that it was not a good thing for me. He seemed almost…wary. I couldn't explain how I knew this, or why he felt like he needed to be suspicious of me, but next thing I knew he was pulling Allison towards his car as she had stood there with her hands over her mouth, equally as shocked and stunned as I was.
Before long an ambulance arrived and undid all the bandaging McCall's mom had done for me in order to properly clean it and apply emergency treatment before rushing me into hospital with my mom in the back with me and my dad following behind. I totally passed out at some point, or went into shock because I had very little memory of the journey there, or getting treatment for the injuries which had required stitches, fresh bandages and a couple of shots to make sure I didn't catch rabies or tetanus or whatever.
Quite honestly, I just wanted to crawl back into my own bed and stay there until all the craziness in the world disappeared, and if it never did, then I was more than happy to commit to staying in bed forever.