Chapter 23: Taken

(Ian's POV)

'Wait a sec' I gave Wanda a brief smile as I turned off the engine and opened my door. I walked around the front of the car, casually looking around at the students gathering at the front of the building…I knew he'd be waiting to swoop in as soon as she arrived, that was always his plan when we went to school together.

As I'd gotten round to the passenger side I noticed him sitting at a bench-table right by the entrance…Wanda had to pass him if she even wanted to get inside the building…jerk.

I opened Wanda's door and she hopped out, pulling her bag onto her shoulder.

'Be careful okay?' I held her shoulders and slowly rubbed circles with my thumbs.

'Ian, it's going to be fine, it's just one guy.' She placed a hand on my chest soothingly. I tried to ignore the fact that I could see Bernard staring at us out of the corner of my eye, 'I probably won't even talk to him today…I barely see him normally.'

Wanda shrugged her shoulders and tried to give me a convincing smile…I could tell she was lying. She was an awful liar. I knew she had at least one class with him every day, as well as seeing him after school sometimes.

'I can come pick you up later if you want?' I was going to pick her up anyway…she knew that. There was no real point in asking, but I wanted her to want me to come.

'Of course, I'll text you when I'm ready, okay?' She leaned up on her tip toes and pressed her lips to mine in a goodbye…I watched her walk towards the entrance and hated that Bernard's eyes followed her – thankfully he didn't make a move to follow…at least while I was standing there.

Reluctantly I got back into my truck and drove away…maybe I'll get off work a bit earlier to come and wait for her…

(Wanda's POV)

I knew Ian would worry all day…I wish he wouldn't. I knew that he trusted me to be careful, but I wanted to believe that Burns wasn't like he used to be – my brain reminded me of what happened with him and Mel and I couldn't help but sigh…I really hope he doesn't seek me out today.

I went through my locker as normal, depositing my completed assignments and study books so I could pick them up before each lesson – I kept my English and Math books as they were my first two classes, shut my locker and raced over to the classroom.

Thank god my seat was free today.

I stared out of the window while the classroom filled, not wanting to make any awkward eye contact as people came in. The bell rang and Mr Davis sauntered in and started the class – I released a breath I didn't realise I was holding and opened my text book.

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The first 5 hours of school went by pretty quickly; I barely spoke to anyone other than Mel & Jared, when we were on lunch break that is. I've only seen Burns twice, while I was walking into school and as I exited English class. He had barely even acknowledged me anyway when we saw each other – Ian's worrying over nothing.

Mel warned me again at the diner about being careful and ringing either her or Ian at the end of the day so they could be there when I walked out of school…it was ridiculous. I tried to convince her that nothing was going to happen but she was hearing none of it…the only thing I could do was let her rant while I ate my lunch.

I sat through the first 10 minutes of Chemistry bored out of my mind…I wish I didn't have to take this class but it's mandatory. My lab partner felt the same way I did about the subject – the only part we actually liked was all the practical experiments. Our teacher, Miss Stevens, had a habit of droning on about facts and chemicals and the safety of everything – normally well into the time put aside to actually complete the experiments.

Today's class was the same...I could sense a mutual boredom in the room as she spoke, for now nearly 15 minutes straight.

'Finally...' my lab partner muttered as we were told to start the experiment. As usual I grab all the safety stuff (lab coat, goggle, gloves) while she goes and fetches all the chemicals, Bunsen burners and beakers we need for the experiment.

Esterification – The reaction between alcohols and carboxylic acids to make esters. Who even needs to learn this stuff?! I will definitely not be remembering this lesson in 5 years …it seems like such a waste of time.

I donned a lab coat, goggles and gloves and made sure all my hair was tied back before beginning to measure out the chemicals. Acids and Alcohols were both involved so the teacher was making sure everyone was being safe and measuring correctly.

The only down side with these experiments is that we aren't allowed to sit down at all while the chemicals are out, meaning some girls start to moan if they thought coming to school in heels that morning would be a good idea, I'm so glad I'm not a girly-girl at times like these.

5 minutes into the experiment, everyone was talking, either discussing the lesson or just generally talking about other things, all while the teacher circled the classroom helping out each pair. My partner and I were getting on pretty well, we normally just get it over with so we can record our results and get out of class as quickly as possible.

'Oops.'

I heard more than felt the splash of liquid, I turned to see a generic female student – I didn't know her name but I've seen her in the classroom a couple of times. I looked towards the floor, my foot was wet as well as the area I was standing in.

'It's oka…ow.' I looked back to the girl, confused. She looked guilty and apologetic.

I only realised my foot was coated in Sulphuric Acid when I looked at the large bottle she was holding – 3quarters full, with a label on the side warning not to touch the liquid with bare skin.

I screamed. I didn't know what to do; it seemed that within seconds the small tingling in my foot had turned into a full blown fire. The skin of my foot felt like it was burning off.

'NOBODY MOVE – WANDA COME WITH ME' Our teacher grabbed my arm and guided me towards the front of the room, everyone was watching me; people were screaming…or was it just me?

I felt hot thick tears stream down my cheeks as the burning continued – she led me towards the eye-station in the lab and grabbed the hose, the cool clear water did little to ease the pain – I didn't dare look down towards my foot…I could barely stay upright due to the pain already, if I caught site of what felt like a mauled foot I would surely be on the floor in seconds.

I couldn't think straight from the pain anymore, Miss Stevens was talking to me nonstop, asking on a scale of 1-10 how much pain I was in, if I could feel my foot, if I could put weight on it. I could do little more than nod or shake my head…mostly shaking. I couldn't feel my toes to move them; all I could feel was the burning.

After what felt like hours under the hose my arm was lifted around someone's neck and I was being ushered towards the door, most of my weight was being carried but not all…every step was agony as blood pulsed towards my foot…I still didn't know what state it was in but I was scared to check – I knew from the teachers panic that it must be bad. I tried to remember the girl who spilled the acid in the first place but her face became a blur…everything became a blur.

(Burns POV)

I walked back up the path, trying to think over what I could do so I wouldn't be noticed later on…there needed to be no witnesses. I couldn't have anyone seeing me or knowing I was in the area. It had to be as though I was never there.

'AHH Wanda?!'

My head shot up as I heard the shriek. A tall girl was standing in the middle of the courtyard clutching…Wanda. That's what she said wasn't it? It was hard to tell…all I could see was that she was holding someone in a lab coat…trying to hold them anyway.

Maybe I didn't need to think this over anymore.

'Hey? Do you need some help?' I rushed up to the two people, what must be Wanda is now nearly touching the ground.

'Yes! God yes! I think she's passing out.' A small arm was draped loosely around her shoulders, the other girl could barely keep hold of Wanda as she sunk even further.

I could see the blonde hair now, even if it was tied up I could tell who it belonged to, the small face was relaxed, eyes closed…passed out.

I smelled the wound before I saw it, metallic and strong. 'What's wrong with her?!' I questioned the girl, looking up into her scared face.

'I-In Chemistry…her foot…someone must have tripped.'

My eyes glanced down and I wish they hadn't…her whole food was red, bright red. All of the skin looked damaged, welting and bleeding slowly. It was enough to turn my stomach, but I had to help her.

Before Wanda touched the ground I put her other arm around my neck, crouched and looped my arms around her waist and legs and lifted her against my chest.

'What're you-?' The girl took Wanda's other arm from around her neck and placed it on Wanda's body so it wouldn't fall and hurt her.

'You were barely keeping her upright, I'll take her to the nurse's office – that's where you were going right?' The girl nodded but looked wary, I didn't recognise her, and by the look on her face she didn't recognise me…good.

She hesitantly left, looking behind her a few times. I knew she wouldn't say anything to the teacher about leaving Wanda with me; she'd want to be the hero and say she left Wanda with the Nurse…everyone wants to be the hero.

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Once I'd explained everything that girl told me to the nurse…leaving out the part about me intervening outside…I was told to place Wanda on the nurse's bed/table.

I watched closely as the old nurse took different things out of her cupboards and dressed the wound, thankfully Wanda stayed oblivious throughout the whole ordeal. The Nurse occasionally noticed me stroking Wanda's hair, or face, or hand.

'Your girlfriend will be just fine young man.' She gave me a small smile, which I returned, failing to correct her that I wasn't her boyfriend…not yet anyway.

I went through with the nurse how to change her bandage, what kind of medicine/creams to use, what Wanda should take for pain. She also gave me a few extra bandages and ointment to use; luckily she had some extra in those cupboards. Unfortunately though she couldn't give me any extra painkillers – she had already injected a slight pain reliever into Wanda to help when she wakes up, 'to take the sting off' she had said.

'She should probably go home and rest through, when she wakes up that foot will still be hurting – are you okay to take her home? I can write you a note if you'd like?' She gave me another small smile and made her way over to the small desk opposite the door.

'That's fine; the teacher will know I would've taken her home.' I tried to look convincing and it obviously worked.

'Alright then. Just make sure she gets lots of rest.'

Wanda was still out cold so I carried her again…I liked feeling her head resting against my chest. I imagined what it would feel like to hold her as I went to sleep, to feel her in my arms all night…

I sat her in the back of my car, opposite the driver's seat so I could see her in the rear-view mirror, and clicked in the seatbelt before getting in myself.

I should take her back to her house… but wouldn't it look suspicious that I knew where she lived? Technically I've never been there…not that anyone knows of anyway.

I can't take her to my house my parents will see and then take her away…I need to keep her with me… she needs to get better.

I started to drive, I knew of somewhere secluded, somewhere no one would think to look, it was perfect…but what to do about the jock and the little bitch.

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I stopped off at home first…my parents would both still be at work, if I hurried we'd have enough time to drive their without getting seen by anybody irritating.

I had grabbed a couple of my mom's old yoga mats, it was a phase apparently, as well as some blankets and food. A couple of lanterns and torches too, we were pretty much set for a while, I still had all the medical supplies that the old nurse gave me back at the school…all we have to do is wait until she gets better, then we'll be fine, we can go off and be together without any unwanted distractions.

I smiled as I glanced in the rear-view mirror, my angel still sound asleep, I wanted to try and wake her to look into those beautiful eyes of hers…to see her cheeks flourish, but I resisted – the nurse was right, she needed to rest. We had forever to be together, the next couple of hours is nothing.

I thought about our lives together for the rest of the drive, about where we would go, what we would see. Anything out of this small town would be good enough to start with…but I wanted to see the world with her…

It was well after when the final bell would have rung at school that we reached our destination, but that wouldn't be suspicious – Wanda had after school classes almost every day…I found that out the hard way, having to sit in that tree for 2 hours straight just so I could see that she made it home okay was torture. I quickly learned her afterschool schedule.

I went in ahead, leaving Wanda in the car, I carried as much as I could – the sleeping mats and lanterns we first. Inside was one big room anyway but I set up the mats in the far corner, where the most stable roofing was. The lights made harsh shadows on the walls but we'd only be here for a short time.

After I had gotten everything out of the trunk and into the big room I gently undid the seatbelt and lifted Wanda from the car.

As I walked around towards the entrance she started to stir…mumbling and shifting in my arms. I slowed and tried to coo her back to sleep…it seemed to work for the moment but I didn't know how long I'd have to get the place nice for her.

I settled Wanda onto one of the mats, pulling a sheet over her so she wouldn't be cold, and went back out to try and find a secluded spot for my car so it wouldn't be seen by the road.

(A/n – I realise there are errors in this chapter…I'm sure if you had an acid burn you'd need to go to hospital etc. But I hope you liked it – let me know what you think?)