#Chapter 25: Speechless
At night, Corona University Auditorium
Jack's POV
At first, I thought the party wouldn't become loud and wild like a typical teenage party, but it was turning out to be. Tadashi and I sat awkwardly in our chairs as we watched in astonishment seeing the rest drinking a little more than they should have, before bouncing from their chairs to dance and sing to Boogie and Woogie and old Elvis Presley songs, even more wilder when 'Tremor' by Martin Garrix and 'New Thang' by Redfoo blasted through the speakers. It was mostly the younger teachers shaking their butts and swinging their hair around while the seniors just watched in embarrassment.
We were just glad none of the students would get to see this.
I wasn't in the mood to dance. Moving my body to any beat at all brought back too many memories. Memories of me and a platinum blond whom I...
I should just drink this down. Yes, that'd be better than doing nothing.
I went to take a shot of beerbat the buffet table before returning to my seat to chug it down. I turned down my cup to see the teachers obnoxious boogying cooling down to a slow dance, and I felt sick all over again. I just wanted more and more beer to wash it all away.
Tadashi was drinking beside me, but it's soda instead of beer and he took in only just a few sips every once in a while as he enjoyed the scene before us. "Man, I didn't expect that the party's gonna get so crazy. But now look, they're danging to Lionel Richie. At this rate, anything can happen to this get together."
My chest still felt heavy again looking at all the people stepping their feet and swaying their bodies to the music, but the drink helped making it go away. My head got lighter and the music got fuzzier, like someone stuffed the softest pillows between the neurons of my brain and under the lids of my eyes. It was a great, addictive sensation.
I walked to the buffet table again for another refill, but the sparkling, golden goodness was gone and all that's left was this dark, red-colored dullness filling a fancy glass dispenser. I shrug and took that instead.
It was even better
The darkness of the room was as dark as the shadow of the anonymoys attacker from this morning. My mind diverted to the time when Beth made her sudden entrance. After hearing her conversation with the mysterious identity behind the screen, I had a feeling that she had a ton of even darker secrets. How did she know the attacker? What was she hiding? Did this have anything to do with why she out distances between us? Ugh, there, my head hurt again. I needed to stop figuring out about her. She was an introvert. She's too difficult in the first place
...Am I seeing pigs flying around...?
Wait, flying pigs?!
"You okay there Jack?" Tadashi lightly shook me back and forth. "Oh god no, you're drunk. I'll give you a lift home."
I didn't want anyone to give me a lift, I wasn't in the mood to be in a tiny space alone with anybody. Let alone with a whole bunch of people at a party.
Time's up, I had enough. I grabbed my backpack and car keys. "I'm going now. If they ask, tell them I got a headache."
Tadashi hesitated, but nodded in the end. "Be careful."
Taking a look at my watch, I strode down the corridor. It was 7.45. I was going to be so late
I took a turn to my left, and felt a hard throb at my head. The soft, feathery feel back then was replaced by a deeply sinking pain. Like someone injected a long needle thicker than a thumb and didn't bother to pull it out of my skull.
The pain kept getting worse, and I remembered that I didn't take any painkillers before the party. I also didn't tell my parents that I would be out late. They were probably giving me a marathon of miscalls, and judging by the endless list of unanswered phone calls I was seeing right now on my phone, I was right. Above all the agony I'm feeling right now, guilt managed to push in.
I tried to dial a number, but I could only see wobbly blobs of white on the keypad. I was getting weaker and weaker by the second, and I couldn't support my own weight. I slid down and clawed my head, feeling sweat rolling down my temples. My vision couldn't stop blurring and swirling. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a petite figure in the distance
Beth's POV
After a coupe hours on the internet, I finally completed my research. I turned off my laptop to draw on my sketchbook, but then my mother called me and Hiro downstairs to help her make green apple pie and mint chocolate chip ice cream.
I washed the fruits under fast water, sliced it to thin layers, then made the crust. Afterwards, I helped out my brother with the ingredients and made the ice cream with him.
"Man, Tadashi hasn't been around all day. You've seen him?"
"He's got this get-together with the other teachers. Nothing big." I stopped stirring the ingredients as something clicked. "Wait, what time is it?"
"7.40"
I dashed upstairs in panic. "Oh my God, I gotta go! I'm supposed yo pick him up at 7.30! Shit shit shit..."
"No swearing in the house young lady!" I heard my mom yell as I changed into a pair of jeans and a black shirt, fitted my arms into a navy blue jacket, shoes, and snug in my car keys.
Hiro's laughing could be heard from here, yelling, "Next time, stop saying 'Shit' and change it to 'Fuck' instead!"
There was a loud smack and a long speech about 'inappropriate language' from mom. I snickered as I went out of my room, seeing Mom with a perfectly scowling face scolding Hiro who had his head down to hide his own chuckling. I said a quick bye and went to the car, turning on the engines and speeding away
Time passed and I arrived in Corona University. I heard a couple of beeps from my phone and I took it out. I scrolled down the screen, but there weren't any messages from Tadashi, but there was some from Wilbur. I ran my eyes over it
Yo Beth, srry to tell u this but I left ur guitar cuz I went home on a motorcycle. Driver couldnt pick me up so my parents hired another guy instead. Rlly srry, but ur guitar is safe in the classroom. Oh & if u dun mind, pls pick mine up 2? Left mine there with urs. Stay awesome :3
-Wilbur-
I groaned at the request, but replied 'fine' to him. I shoved my phone back into my jeans pocket. My hand reached down to below the driver seat and pull out a stun gun. What? I didn't want to risk myself meeting a psychopath. Running in the building, I go up the stairs as quickly as I could, and arrived to the top floor.
I switched on flashlight on my phone and ducked under wood and plank of unfinished construction and hopped over broken glass scattered across the floor. Entering the classroom, I stepped to the corner where all the desks and chairs piled up. I pushed and pulled some desks out of the way and found two guitar bags with the straps from each tied into one another. I slung over both untied straps and got my butt hella out of the place.
I put the guitars in the car and went to the left side of the main corridor, right to the other side. Pressing my back against the wall, I dialed Tadashi's number to which he picked up in a flash
"Hey bro! Gosh, sorry I'm late. Where are you? I'm near the main corridor if you're looking for me."
"It's okay Beth, the party's still on. Gonna go to the bathrooms for a bit, okay? Where are you again?"
"At the end of the left side of the main corridor"
"Got it. See ya."
He hung up.
I put back my phone and counted the cars on the parking lot. There's about 25 cars, including mine. So there could be about 30-35 teachers, because some of them might not have a car and took buses home or drove motorcycles. The black one was mine. The dark green one with some glittery, girly stickers must be Ms. Fairy. The one big and red had got to be Mr. North's. The one that's grey and competitively similar in size might be Mr. Bunnymud's. And the dark blue sports...
Is that, Jack's car?!
Something inside me triggered. 'He actually stayed for the party. Is he well? He's usually busy, why isn't he home yet?'
Many more questions swam to my mind as my worries grew for the silver-haired teacher. Realizing what I was doing, I snapped myself out of it and shrugged it off. 'It's just Jack. Why do you care?' With this thought, my mind calmed down and the blue-eyed teacher was out of my head.
Since Tadashi's not showing up yet, I decided to play music while I waited. I swiped my phone screen with a manicured finger looking for the cool new megamixes I downloaded the other day, but before I could select one, I heard a thud sound and the sound of something falling hard to the ground. I looked up to see what it was, and there was a dropped black phone on the ground before a person who was on his knees trying to stand up.
I didn't know what to do. Should I help or maybe I didn't have to? Before I could even decide, he was already up on his feet and lifted his chin to give me a very piercing gaze, making me still in my place
I awkwardly raised a brow. "Umm, sir? Are you alright?" He didn't answer me anything, and just chuckled. He chuckled. This guy was totally drunk. I gotta be careful around him
Third Person's POV
Thinking that there was no reasoning him, Beth was about to leave the guy alone, but then the male stopped chuckling amd uttered words that made her froze
"You're still as beautiful as the first time I met you."
It was that voice. The voice of the person who made her days complete in the past. Who she avoided all these months. A sound that she tried with her every muscle and will to ignore, but kept on echoing and haunting in her ears and ached a scar in her heart.
She slowly twirled around to meet his form in it's messed up glory. His tie was loosened and a backpack slung limp with one strap around his elbow. His car keys hung from his fingers. He was paler than the last she had seen him. His nose was red and his lips were a sickened blue. A dark purple color rests under his waterline, giving away the fact that he hadn't had enough rest
A tiny pulse rang her heart at the sight, and Beth wished nothing more than to help him. But her mind sent big 'no' signals to try and stop her. Sighing, she shook her head, and accepted the consequence of what she was about to do.
"You're drunk. Let me help," she offered. He was in a critical condition, and she just couldn't hold herself back but help him. She might be ignoring him, but that never meant that every part of her would forget to love him
Love. Well, that sounded a bit too strong, but it was the truth. It was what she felt for him
She loved him, but he didn't love her back. At least that was what she thought
She held his backpack in one hand and supported his body with the other, the guy looping an arm around her shoulder in cooperation. His face became dangerously close to hers and the tips of his hair tickled her cheeks. She could feel her face grow hot, but she kept it under control
"Don't leave me, Beth. Don't leave me," he mumbled over and over as they reached his car. Beth tried to release him so she could move better, but he kept clinging to her back, making her tired and cranky at the same time. She asked for his keys. He told her he had no keys but he was in fact curling and uncurling them in his fingers. Drunk people are difficult to reason with.
"I'm serious here Jack, give me your car keys!" she whisper-yelled, downright annoyed with his behavior. Jack giggled and swung the car keys to and fro. Growling, Beth reached for the metal object, but the teacher raised it higher before she could
"If you want it, come and get it~" he cooed with a smirk.
Beth huffed, really not wanting to deal with him like this for too long. She felt for her stun gun and pushed it a bit out of her pocket. She always had it there in case things would happen.
Making a second attempt, she jumped once more. Since Jack was drunk, Beth held a hand to his back in case he fell since he wouldn't pay attention to his own balance. And it also made her closer to her target. The car keys.
Short story, she successfully grabbed it, but she definitely didn't expect the outcome. Jack snaked a hand around her waist, his grip locking her to his body. Beth widened her eyes to saucers and Jack watched as they only grew wider kn amusement
"I've been waiting for this for so long."
Struck to reality by his words, Beth hurriely went for her stun gun and intend to aim it at the side of his chest. But before he could even touch her weapon, Jack turned both of them around and slammed both their forms to his car and kiss her right at the lips
Beth screamed and tried to struggle out of the kiss, but it was hard with his body squishing her at the front and the car at the back. Even worse, the stun gun fell from her grip, but Jack's hold over hear never loosened as he kept kissing her. His alcoholic breath made her sink
Beth never stopped squirming the entire kiss, it just didn't feel right for her. She also never expected the kiss to be this...forceful. How could he be kissing her when his heart belonged to someone else? The beer messed his mind, and the kiss was messing Beth's own. She needed her mind to work and convince her to move, but it wasn't listening, hence enjoying it. The only thing she was hearing from it was to kiss him back.
Jack pressed into the kiss with more greed to which Beth slowly, shyly surrendered to. Her feelings spiraled as she allowed herself to be more enveloped in Jack's hold
Beth felt Jack's lips curve into a smile, before parting from the kiss and letting her go at last, but his hand still pinned her to the window of his car. He moved closer to her ear and whispered gently.
"I love you Beth, forever and always."
He then blacked out and dropped all his weight to her body with a small snore out of his lips. Beth heaved him up with a shaky breath, wiping the few tears that escaped from her eyes. Listening to what he had said felt as sweet as a taste of bittersweet candy, but really it would only be as good as rotten bread if she believed in it. It was a huge lie that punctured deeply in her heart, leaving a gaping, throbbing hole
'It's just a lie, Beth. Just another lie.'
Clap, clap, clap...
Beth turned to the slow sound of applause and her gaze met Tadashi leaning on one of the cars, a huge smug look on his face. "Didn't want to interrupt the make out session so I just watched from here." He stepped closer, his eyes raised with worry now that he saw her puffy eyes. "Hey, are you alright? If you're not-"
"I'm alright! Everything is alright!" Beth snapped. Tadashi timidly cleared his throat, a little guilty that he had ever teased her. He guessed Beth didn't really enjoy what she just experienced. "So, what are we going to do with him?"
"I got a plan. I'll heave him into his car and I'll drive him to his house, you follow from behind. When we get there, you'll wait outside and I'll go in. After I drop him off, I'll signal you to pick me up. How's that?"
"Good for me. C'mon."
He pulled Jack's body from me and curved his arm around his neck. Beth unlocked the car and opened the door to allow Tadashi to put him inside and fasten the seat belt. Beth placed his backpack at his feet and passed her own car keys to Tadashi. She hopped in Jack's sports car and turned on the engine. She then sped off in fast, but steady pace so Tadashi could still catch up from behind. This was the first time she rode a sports car, it would forever be an unforgettable moment.
Shortly, they reached the front gate of the Overland residence. Tadashi parked nearby whilst Beth strode towards the front gate. The guards spotted Mr Overland's son's vehicle, but the driver wasn't him and that made them cautious.
"Excuse me miss, but may I ask what are you doing in Young Sire's car? And why is he unmoving in the backseat?" one of them questioned in a mighty, firm tone
"I'm one of Jackson Frost Overland's friends, I'm here to take him home. He's heavily drunk and he can't really drive his own care right now. I'm here to volunteer him. And his a little sick so please treat him immediately."
"How are we supposed to confirm anything you say?"
"Can't you see him behind me yourself?"
One of them examined the silver-haired young man from the window, and nodded solemnly. He pointed a small remote toward the door
"You're permitted in then. You may come in, miss...?"
"Beth, Elisabeth Winters."
"You may come in, Ms. Winters."
I huffed at them before stepping on the gas pedal and ran the wheels through the main door. There were about two guards and three boys in their suits. They were taken aback to see someone like me entering the property in the household's own car. I went out of it and opened the door to the backseat to see how Jack was. Seeing he was alright, I nodded towards the men and they carried Jack's body away and drove his car to park it in it's place
"Ms. Winters, may you please stay for a while-"
I cutted in. "I'm sorry, I can't. I have to leavd now. Please take good care of Jack."
"But-"
He was cut short once again by a light, but firm voice that boomed with power and utter professionalism. Instantly, everyone around the entrance fell to silence
The voice belonged to a woman. Beth stared as her heeled feet walking closer from the bottom of a grand staircase. "Who are you?"
For some reason, it was as if everything became less taller and the skies looked lower and closer. Like they were giving their respect to the woman before her. She had the wrinkled under eyes and lightly visible veins of a lady in her fifties. Her work attire was simply of a white shirt, red pencil skirt, red blazer, and a pair of white heels to balance her feet
A guard stepped to her and bowed his head. "A-apologize for the noise madam. This is Elisabeth Winters. She's a friend of the young sire."
"How is Jack?"
"Young sire is not in the best condition, but it isn't anything to worry too much for."
"Very well. Thank you for your report. You may leave."
The men gave a final bow before walking away, leaving me with this woman.
There was only an awkward silence between us, since she was just staring at me with a very studious look.
"Uh, pardon if I'm asking, but can I know your name?"
The woman raised her brows like she had finally returned to reality, and covered her fluster with a smile.
"I'm Emily Overland, mother of Jackson." She gave a small nod. "Now, if you've nothing to do, let's have a small chat? I've always wanted to talk with you, about Jackson."
I swallowed hard at how she said the last sentence.
This was going to take a while.
Hello my loyal readers! welcome back~
gosh, I'm sooo sorry leaving you all hanging like that. I'm soo sorry X( school gave me no mercy and in the couple next week I'll have to facing end semester exam, gave me no time for stuff and fun's
honestly, I was kinda awkward writing this part, sorry if it doesn't like your expectations 0/0 please do tell me in the comment section how this chapter is! I'm curious...
Anyway, this time I promise you to update the next chapter right after I finish the exams, wish me luck X)!