Chad hurried to take off his jacket, wrapping it around her.
"Thanks." Scarlett swallowed hard and made a face. "My clothes are… out there." She gestured out the way she had come. She had to take them off before transforming, otherwise she'd end up all tangled up in her clothing.
"I'll get them." Jay volunteered, hopping up and running out into the woods. Sure enough he quickly saw her jeans. He followed the trail, finding each piece. The last thing he found was her hoodie, tossed aside.
Jay gathered it all and carried it back to where the three of them were still huddled.
"Thanks." Scarlett grabbed the t-shirt she had been wearing and used it to wipe the blood from her mouth. "Do you guys mind…" Jay and Chad quickly turned around and she stood, getting dressed. She didn't bother putting on the t-shirt, simply getting into her bra and then her hoodie, zipping it up. "Okay, I'm good." She ran a hand through her hair and looked at them.
"Scarlett…" Chad started. Scarlett held up a hand. She took a deep shaky breath, trying to gather all her thoughts, trying to figure out how to best explain it all.
"I need… It's a long story and I need to start from the beginning." She slipped her hands into the pocket of her hoodie and she told them everything. She told them about being left on her grandmother's porch, about being stalked by Zeke since she was a kid, about how he drove her friends away. She told them every last detail that she could remember, not leaving anything out.
When she finished, Scarlett wiped the tears from her eyes.
"When we get back to the school I will pack up my stuff and get out of here." She promised
"What?" Audrey frowned. "Why would you do that?"
"Audrey, I'm a monster. I'm a-"
"You are not a monster." Audrey stood up, looking Scarlett in the eye, as best she could anyway. She was a few inches shorter than her best friend. "You have had it rough, you've been stalked and harassed by a terrible person, that's not your fault. Scarlett you are my best friend and I will not let you run away. The school is the safest place you can be-"
"Audrey he could have killed you. He could have killed you and Chad and if anything happens to either of you-" She stopped and turned away from the group. Trying to keep from breaking down. "If anything ever happened to either of you I don't know what I would do." She finally finished. Chad and Audrey meant more to her than… even her childhood friends had. If anything happened to either of them she could never forgive herself. She wasn't about to risk either of them to Ezekiel James.
"Nothing is going to happen to us. We were in the woods, we didn't know we needed to be on guard. We know now. We know what is going on and we can protect ourselves. Despite what you might think, we do have the ability to protect ourselves. We've just never had to do it before." Chad shrugged.
"I just-"
"We will be fine, Scarlett. We aren't going to let you go anywhere. We won't tell anyone your secret but… you can't just run off. We are your friends." Audrey insisted, taking her best friend's hand. Scarlett stared at her a moment, then looked to Chad, unsure of what to say.
"Um- I mean I know we aren't that close, but I'm not going to tell anyone anything either." Jay spoke up. "And for what it's worth. I grew up with people like that guy too, complete psychos that don't know when to stop. None of it is your fault and isolating yourself won't actually help. Being around people who are willing to help and protect you, that's what really makes the difference."
Scarlett, Audrey and Chad all fell silent and looked at the man. Audrey broken into a grin and let go of Scarlett's hand to go hug Jay.
"Alright, He's pretty okay." Scarlett smiled softly at Audrey.
"He's more than Okay." Audrey argued.
"He's a little bit more than Okay." Scarlett agreed. The four of them headed towards the camp site, Audrey trying to smooth down Scarlett's hair.
"They're all going to think that you were out with Chad doing inappropriate things in the woods." She warned. Chad blushed, his pale face turning bright red.
"So what?" Scarlett shrugged.
"So…" Audrey trailed off realizing she didn't have an answer to that.
"Anyway, Hopefully Zeke decides to leave, He's going to have some recovery time, I literally bit a chunk out of his side." Scarlett raked her hands through her hair, kind of fixing the messy problem, more for Chad's sake than anyone else's.
"Ew." Audrey wrinkled her nose.
"Very ew." Scarlett agreed, they walked into the campsite, where everyone was standing around, waiting. The fire completely dead now.
"Where's the firewood?" Carlos asked, confused.
"The what?" Jay frowned.
"You guys… went into the woods for firewood." Evie replied. The four of them glanced back at the trees then to the other students.
"Oh… right… Our bad." Jay turned and scrambled back into the forest to gather firewood again.
"Hey, is everything okay?" Ben asked later that night, sitting down next to Scarlett on one of the Logs they had gathered to use for seating.
"Yeah?" Scarlett quirked an eyebrow.
"You guys seemed really… upset when you came back out from gathering firewood." Ben rested his elbows on his knees, his eyes on his friend's girl.
"It's a long story, but everything is fine, Ben." Scarlett replied, at least she hoped it was going to be fine. There was movement at the edge of the tree line and Scarlett straightened.
"Scarlett?" Ben frowned, turning to look at the trees.
"I'll be right back." She stood up and headed for the trees, hurrying, trying not to let Audrey or Chad see.
A/N - It's been a long time. But here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
