Cadaverous - Rewritten - P A Webster (free e novels TXT) 📗

the time. Jenny was one of the people I'd known since primary school, she was always nice enough to me to my face at least. She had always been way more popular than I had ever been. The other girls envied her beautiful shoulder-length wavy strawberry blonde hair that always seemed fit for a photoshoot. The boys chased after her because of her bubbly personality and runway-ready body. Despite her popularity she had never aligned herself with Taylor and her hoard of minions, Jenny was one of those nice popular people, she was rarely nasty to anybody. She was often open to conversation with me because our Mums were close friends.

 "I know it all sounds a little far-fetched Jenny, but--"

"Cruz isn't that sort of guy," she cut me off mid-sentence. "He would never act the way you said he did."

"Look, I really can't explain why he was like that either--" I started again.

"Also, even if all of this were true, why on earth would you just willingly throw yourself into a situation like that? Do you have a death-wish?!" She exclaimed. I cringed, hoping that none of our classmates nearby had overheard our conversation.

"I don't know," I sighed. I expected her to start ranting again, but she didn't so I seized the opportunity to defend myself. "I was already having a terrible day, I had Nate and Taylor causing me problems in class and then I made a fool out of myself in front of everybody by reacting. My day couldn’t have gotten any worse and I couldn't just stand by and watch, he was getting hit," I added, images of Cruz and his bloodied face flashed through my mind again. I did the right thing, didn't I?

"Even so, getting yourself involved in something like that is never a good idea. You should've ran back to school and got somebody to help," she pointed out. I couldn't argue with that, she was absolutely right.

"I guess so… but then I would've got in trouble for cutting class."

 "Wait a second," Jenny stopped walking, I also stopped and turned to look at her. "This all happened when you were cutting class? Since when have you been cutting class?" she interrogated me. I instantly regretted even mentioning it. That was another thing that separated Jenny from the rest of the popular people, she didn't think it was cool to break the rules.

"Yesterday was the first time," I explained. I kept my eyes on the ground as I spoke. "It's not something that I'm planning to get into the habit of doing. I just needed some space."

"Holly, maybe you should get some help. Perhaps you should visit the school counsellor again for a while," Jenny suggested. I know she didn't mean it in a malicious way, but I couldn't help but feel a little offended.

"What? This has nothing to do with that. I'm fine, really," I reassured her, hoping she'd change the subject. I could tell by the serious look on her face that she wasn't going to.

"You're not fooling anybody. You're not dealing with this properly if you're letting your grief get in the way of your life. It's concerning now that you've started putting yourself in dangerous situations."

"I'm okay. I'm fine. Really," I snapped, feeling quite irritated by her persistence.

"I'm sorry about bring this up but you need to know that this is not something Oliver would want to see you doing," she continued, much to my annoyance. "I know he often encouraged you to get out of your comfort zone and to go after guys but I'm sure he wouldn't have sent you after a bunch of sketchy thugs."

 "I wouldn't say that Cruz is a sketchy thug," I pointed out. "And I think that if Ollie were in my place he would've intervened as well."

"No, Cruz is not a sketchy thug, but he has obviously had some degree of involvement with these other guys," she stated, resurfacing my confusion about the whole situation. Cruz, a guy I thought I'd known quite well and had known almost my whole life, was somehow involved with those guys. What was bothering me the most about the whole situation was that I did not have a clue why he was involved with them and I had no idea what they were fighting about yesterday. From what I could gather, Chase and his friends were looking for somebody, but who? Were they looking for Ollie perhaps?

 "And if Ollie were in your place, would've at least been able to defend himself. Would you have been able to defend yourself If they'd turned on you?" Jenny asked. Now that she'd pointed it out, I realised that the prospect of having to defend myself had not even entered my mind yesterday. I was obviously too worked up to think clearly.

"No, I don't think so… I guess you're right," I gave in.

"Just be more careful, alright?"

"Alright," I sighed. We started to walk again. "Hey, are you busy tonight? I know you were talking about struggling with the maths homework so I was thinking I could come to your place and help you study."

"Ah, sorry my boyfriend is taking me out tonight," she replied. Strange, I could've sworn they broke up a week or two ago.

"Oh… well how about tomorrow then?" I suggested, hoping she'd accept the offer. I needed a distraction.

"Sorry, I'm very busy at the moment, I'll call or message you if I struggle too much with anything," she told me, pulling out her mobile phone. She pressed a button to bring up the lockscreen. Her lockscreen photo that was once of her and her boyfriend was now a picture of the lead guitarist from her favourite band. "Anyway, I've got to go, my bus will be leaving soon. I'll see you later," she smiled as she began to walk in a different direction.

"Sure thing. Bye!" I waved to her. I watched as she bumped into another one of her friends and started enthusiastically talking to them. I wondered if she really was going to catch the bus or if she just didn't want to bother talking to me anymore. If she doesn't want to hang out with me she could at least have been honest with me about it rather than pretending to be busy all the time.

 I continued to walk on my own, so many questions about Cruz and Chase continued to plague my mind. There were so many other things I probably should've been thinking about, and yet I was stuck on them. What if this Chase guy had some kind of problem with Ollie and was now looking for him? No, I would've known, Ollie never hid anything from me. If it was Ollie that he was looking for, wouldn't Cruz just tell him the truth? But if he isn't looking for Ollie, who is he looking for?

 There was a tap on my shoulder, jolting me out of my thoughts. I looked to the side of me to see Cruz smiling warmly at me just as he always did, as if he had completely forgotten yesterday's events. Now I was even more confused.

"Hey, would you mind if I walked with you for a while? I need to talk to you," he said, his eyes glistening like peridot in the sunlight. It was a stark difference to the eyes I'd seen yesterday, I couldn't help but feel slightly dazzled by them. Strangely, his face didn't show any signs of being hit by Chase. I want to say no… after the way that he treated me yesterday I should say no. Didn't he tell me to stay away from him?

"Uh… sure, go ahead," I replied, my curiosity getting the better of me. Maybe I could find out some more information about what went down yesterday.

"So, how has your day been," he asked, cocking his head to the side like a puppy. "Good? Bad?"

"Uh… average. How about you?"

"My day has been pretty good for once. There's nothing like catching up and hanging out with friends at school, don't you think?" he gushed. I winced, surely he'd heard that I wasn't doing so well in the friendship department at the moment. "I haven't seen you hanging out with your friends for a while now, did something happen?"

"School isn't always so enjoyable for some of us," I pointed out, he frowned at me. I wasn't sure if he was feigning concern or if he was being sincere. "It became pretty clear to me recently that my so-called friends only liked me when Ollie was around."

"He definitely was the kind of person that people were drawn to," he reflected, his voice soft as he stared ahead.

 For a moment I forgot all about the incident that'd happened the day before. Cruz was seemingly back to his old self, and it made me realise how much I had missed his company. If I wanted to, I could just act as if nothing had happened. If I chose to forget it all, could I go back to thinking of Cruz as a brother to me? But what had he done to deserve getting hit by those boys? It made me wonder if I should even be talking to him or if I should keep my distance.

"Sorry for putting this so bluntly, but what exactly do you want from me? Last time I checked you wanted me to stay away from you," I broke the short silence. I expected some sort of drastic reaction from him. I expected that maybe he wanted to act like it all never happened. His expression remained calm and composed.

"That's actually the reason that I came to talk to you. I just wanted to apologise for the way I acted yesterday. I'm grateful that you tried to 'save me' but you misjudged the situation. I had it under control, there was no need for you to get involved," he stated.

"Right. So what you're really trying to say is 'thanks but no thanks', am I right?" I retorted.

"No, I did just say that I was grateful. It just wasn't necessary, especially for a girl like you," he said. I don't think he was aiming to get on my nerves, but he certainly had. Had he always been like this?

"A girl like me, huh," I shook my head. "Look Cruz, I don't really have time for this and you're sort of making everything worse so I'll see you around," I told him. I tried to walk ahead of him, but he caught my arm, stopping me. His hand was cold.

 "I truly am sorry about the way I acted, but you got yourself involved in something… beyond your understanding," he explained. He should've just kept his mouth shut. Now that he was insinuating that I was dumb, I felt even more annoyed.

"Please, leave me alone," I sighed, trying to keep myself calm. "I get enough trouble from everybody else, I don't need you talking down to me and acting as if I'm some naïve little girl."

"But you are!" he snapped.

"Excuse me?" my mouth hung open in surprise. He closed his eyes and sighed, gathering himself before speaking again.

"You heard what I said, I meant it, and that's precisely the reason why I need to talk to you. You could be in danger. I'm trying to do you a favor," his grip on my arm tightened as his spoke, and his expression darkened. He was becoming the other Cruz again.

"As far as I'm concerned the only danger to me is you. Let go of me," I instructed him. My words were completely ignored and seemingly had no effect on him whatsoever.

"Those guys I was with, they know your face now, and they know where to find you. If you ever see them again, run," he warned me. I didn't care for his words, I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

"I said let go of me."

"You don't understand me at all, do you?" he scoffed, "You wonder why I call you