Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ella was tense. It was her first day back at school after her breakdown and she was more nervous than she had been on her very first day. Her friends had offered to drive her to school, even Damon had offered, but Ella had declined. She wanted everything to appear normal, arriving with an entourage wouldn't seem normal. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now faced with walking into school on her own Ella had wished she'd agreed to let them pick her up.

She sat in the driver's seat of her car with her head resting against the steering wheel, not wanting to face the rest of the world. Most of the school had been at the party, had seen Ella collapse and had undoubtedly told everyone they knew that the new girl passed out and ended up in hospital. Of course no one but her closest friends knew why she had been in hospital but that didn't stop the rumours.

Then of course she would have to face Jamie for the first time since their failed date. He had seemed ok on the phone with her, a little cold maybe, but it was very different seeing him in person again. Sighing, Ella looked up and straight at the guy in question.

Jamie stood a few feet into front of Ella's car talking to his friends. She knew that it would be better to get it over with quickly so Ella took a deep breath and climbed out of the car. One of Jamie's friends nudged him and nodded to where Ella stood beside her car. Jamie turned in her direction; his smile vanished almost instantly replaced by a cold, hard look.

Ella's blood ran cold as she felt the anger and hatred rolling off of him in waves. He left his group of friends, marching over to Ella; he stopped in front of her, getting in her face.

"You owe me a hundred bucks," he growled in her face.

"What?" Ella asked, puzzled and scared. She took a step backwards, recoiling against the rage.

"You humiliated me you little bitch," Jamie spat, grabbing her arm. "Do you know what it's like when your date has some mental breakdown then breaks up with you for Jeremy Gilbert? Not to mention I had to pay out a hundred bucks to my friends because of you!"

"What are you talking about?" Ella demanded. She let his anger wash over her, using it against him, giving her strength.

"You were supposed to be an easy lay, give you a few drinks, drive you home and get you between the sheets," he explained with a cold humour.

"That's sick," Ella snarled, her anger impressive. Jamie flinched away, but didn't drop her arm. "That's a bet you never would have won you pathetic little bitch. God just the thought of it is making my skin crawl."

A look of rage twisted Jamie's once handsome features and he shook Ella hard, her teeth rattling in her head as it snapped backward. She felt a flash of her own fear before Jamie's anger washed over her again. Her hands balled into white knuckled fists at her side and she fought the urge to drive her fist straight through his chest.

"Hey!" Someone yelled from a few feet away and Ella felt relief drive away everything else. She recognised that voice, she loved that voice. "Get your hands off my girlfriend!"

And then he was there, standing beside Ella, a look of anger she had never seen shadowing his face. He grabbed Jamie's arm and pulled it off of Ella. Jamie looked down at Jeremy's hand on his arm then swung with his free hand, his fist connecting with the side of Jeremy's head.

Surprised, Jeremy was thrown off balance and tumbled to the ground as Jamie rounded on him, poised to strike again. What happened next happened so fast that Ella wasn't even aware it had happened until she was looking down at Jamie's still form crumpled on the ground.

When she had seen Jamie's fist connect with Jeremy's head, something inside of her had snapped. As he threw back his fist for a second blow, Ella had reached out and grabbed his head in her hands, squeezing tightly. Jamie had had time for one quick gasp of shock, then Ella had flicked her wrists and the loud crack of his neck snapping filled the air before he crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.

"NO!"

Ella screamed and then she was sitting up in bed, her skin drenched in a cold sweat, her pyjamas clinging to her damp skin, tears streaming from her eyes. It took a few moments for her to calm her breathing and realise that she was at home and not standing in front of the school staring down at the lifeless corpse of the boy she had just murdered.

"Just a dream," she whispered to herself. "Not real. Please let it have just been a dream."

Unfortunately Ella couldn't be sure. She knew that it hadn't actually happened, but she couldn't be sure that it wasn't going to happen. It was becoming more and more difficult to differentiate between dreams and visions.

Throwing back her quilt, Ella swung her legs around so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed; she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and checked the display. It was two a.m. but she couldn't wait, she needed to speak with someone. Her first instinct was to call Damon; of all her friends he was the one most likely to be awake at this ungodly hour, but as Ella opened the phone's directory it wasn't Damon's number she chose.

"Hello." The greeting came after only two rings, the voice was heavy and thick with sleep but Ella couldn't feel guilty. A calm had already spread over her at the sound of the simple greeting.

"Jeremy?" she whispered, trying and failing to keep her voice steady.

"Ella?" Jeremy asked, his voice suddenly clear and sharp. "What's wrong?"

"Can't a girl call just to talk?" Ella laughed, the sound a little hysterical.

"At two a.m.?" Jeremy questioned, his voice sceptical. "What's wrong?"

"I just needed to hear your voice," she admitted and it was the truth.

"Where are you?"

"At home."

"I'll be right there."

"No you don't…" Ella started, but Jeremy had already disconnected.

Ten minutes later Jeremy was at the door, he was fully dressed but looked tired and dishevelled. Ella had changed out of her wet pyjamas into a clean pair and had washed her face and pulled a brush through her hair, not that it mattered. Her cheeks were still spotted with red and she couldn't get rid of the wild haunted look in her eyes.

"Jeremy," she breathed when she'd opened the door for him. Ella all but fell into his arms as soon as he was over the threshold and began sobbing into his shoulder.

Jeremy didn't speak, he scooped her up into his arms, kicking the door closed, then carried her into the living room. He took a seat on the large corner sofa, cradling her in his arms and whispering soothing words in her ear whilst rubbing her back gently. After a few minutes Ella finally calmed and was able to lift her head to look into his worried brown eyes.

"Ella?" he asked, his voice rough with concern. "What happened?"

"Nothing," she whispered. "It's what's going to happen."

TBC…