If You Tell Me to Stay, I Will Stay Right Through

“He fucking rose from the dead!” Chief yelled into the phone. “He was murdered by a rival gang! That’s what our detectives concluded!”

“Well obviously not. Remember, we thought the rival gang took his body to dispose of it without dignity…which was the signature they always used to humiliate each other. But our team never actually saw him dead….” My voice coming out in a whisper.

I was shivering, and I didn’t know if it was because the AC in my car was making me cold or I was scared.

After I had brought up to my Chief my theory, he pulled out some old files just to make sure. I was currently on the phone with him on my way to campus.

“Keep your eyes open Bauer. Wide open. He was always after you. In the meantime, I’ll send these files over to a detective that I know over there in California. Keep in touch,” He ordered.

I hung up as I parked my car. I closed my eyes to try to clear my head before making my way inside.

It wasn’t working. I cursed under my breath, this was fucking insane.

I grabbed my bag and headed in, shaking off the feeling that I was being watched.

“Get down! Get fucking down! She’s looking over here!!” Brian yelled as I pulled into the parking lot of Natalie’s campus.

We all slumped in our seats, peeking over the dashboard. We, without her consent, had secretly followed her to school.

Jimmy’s idea.

Well, okay mostly mine. But that’s not the point. It was Jimmy’s car so it was technically all his fault if we got in trouble.

“Did she see us?” Jimmy whispered from the back.

“I…don’t…think..so,” Zacky muttered as he peered through some binoculars.

“Did you-What the FUCK? You seriously brought binoculars?” I glared at him from the front seat.

“HEY! They’re helping right now aren’t they? So shut it!” He glared back. I seriously don’t know why they had bothered coming. He was right though, they could come in handy.

We watched as she walked into the building, wearing those black tights that made her ass look perfect along with combat boots and an off the shoulder shirt, which seemed to be her favorite kind of shirt. Not that I was complaining, she looked sexy. Her long hair flowed behind her as she pulled the door open. Her face was filled with worry. Had she received bad news?

“This is fun,” Johnny said while loudly munching on chips in the back seat. I rolled my eyes, they could be so annoying sometimes.

“This was a good idea though, I commend you Shadows,” Brian said as checked out some college girls making their way to class. “Hellooo ladies,” He muttered.

“Are we getting out?” Johnny asked.

“Of course not, she’s a trained ex cop…she would notice us in a heartbeat….or someone else will and then word would get to her,” Brian said with annoyance. “Give me some of those chips Short Shit.”

“No,” Johnny replied, crunching away.

“I wonder how long this class is,” Zacky asked to no one in particular. “Dude, fuck school.” We all nodded in agreement as we watched some kid balancing about ten books across the parking lot.

“Okay, question. If we weren’t in this band, and your only choice was to go to school what would you do?” Johnny asked.

Good question. What the fuck would I have done?

“I would be the Head Campus Janitor,” Jimmy announced without second thought. We all roared with laughter. Damn, he thought of the funniest shit. “What?? You said my only choice is to go to school right? Well I would be going to school as the janitor. Fuck books dude,” Jimmy laughed. “What about you Syn?”

“I don’t fucking know. Maybe like a music teacher or professor or whatever….the class would be Metal 101,” he laughed. “For chicks only,” He added.

He thought it was funny, but I could actually see him doing that. Syn was a fucking guitar genius.

“I would teach something in the sciences,” Zacky announced.

“Nice dude. I could see you doing that shit. Professor Vengeance,” I said grinning.

“What about you Shadz?” Zacky asked me.

“Well fuck…I would probably study Criminal Justice and go into law enforcement,” I admitted.

“Hell yeah, fucking Officer Hulk and shit,” Jimmy grinned. “Christ?”

“Well, I would go the first day and then drop out. Technically I went to school,” he said nonchalantly. We howled with laughter once again. Give it Johnny Christ to be the drop out. Just like high school. I grinned at the memory.

“Check out that creepy guy,” Zacky said as he looked through his binoculars.

“Oh shit! That’s the same guy from the beach!” Brian exclaimed. We watched as he made his way to Natalie’s car. He took a look around as if to make sure no one was watching and then slipped a piece of paper between the windshield wipers.

“What the fuck did he just put on her car?”

I sat up to get a closer look. “What the fuck? He disappeared,” I said looking around. The guy had disappeared into a fucking sea of students. I debated if I should get out and look for him. But then what? Natalie would be pissed that we followed her and he could be a student here for all I know.

“Fuccckkkk man, that’s some scary shit,” Johnny muttered.

“How does someone just disappear like that? Should we go see what he put on her window?” Zacky asked.

“I really fucking want to, but we shouldn’t. He could be watching and I don’t want him to know we’re on to him…yet,” I said angrily. “And if she doesn’t tell us about whatever it is he put on her window I’m going to be fucking PISSED.”

“Hell yeah, she said she wouldn’t keep anything from you,” Brian agreed.

“Guys, keep in mind that IF she doesn’t say anything to us it might be because she doesn’t want to put us in danger. Plus, Natalie seems to be the type of person that deals with her problems on her own. She hasn’t known us very long so she probably feels like she would be a burden. So before you all jump down her throat, think about that. Got it?” Jimmy, as always, wisely lectured us.

He was right. She was used to being on her own. But I wanted to be the person she would run to. I wanted to protect her.

“There she is!” Brian exclaimed as we once again slumped in our seats. I peeked over the dashboard and saw her take the note and then get into her car. She pulled out of the parking lot. I closed my eyes and sighed. That was close.

“She didn’t see us,” I assured everyone. Suddenly, my phone started going off. “Oh shit, she’s calling me. You all better shut the fuck up.” I quickly cleared my throat, “Hello?”

“Put it on speaker,” Brian whispered. I nodded. Her soft voice rang out, “Hey Matt, what are you up to?”

“Uhhh….nothing just here…at home,” I stuttered. Brian punched my arm. ‘WHAT?’ I mouthed to him.

‘ACT NORMAL!’ He mouthed back shaking his head.

“Oh. Well I’m heading home now. Want me to pick some food up for you and the guys? Following people has GOT to be exhausting. You must be famished,” She said uncaringly.

“Uhh…sorry I don’t know what you’re talking-“ There was a sudden loud bang on my window and we all jumped, the phone slipped out of my hands and I reluctantly and slowly turned to see Natalie standing next to Jimmy’s car.

She stood with her hand on her hip and an arched eyebrow. How the fuck did she know?

I rolled my window down. “Hi,” I said innocently.

“What’s going on here?” She asked leaning in the window to look at everyone.

Immediately, we all started talking at once. It was a whole bunch of rambling. Excuses were being thrown out of our asses. I could’ve sworn I heard Johnny say we came here all the time….

“Well what happened was…” Jimmy set off.

Followed by Zacky, “We are here because….”

“Becaauusee?? What?” She asked throwing her hands up.

We all looked at each other not knowing what the fuck to say.

“I’m thinking about enrolling here,” Johnny threw out.

I hid my face to try to cover my grin. Brian couldn’t hide it and began laughing loudly.
Zacky and Jimmy just smiled and looked away to avoid laughing. Johnny was definitely taking one for the team.

“Brian that’s not funny. If Johnny is thinking about school then I think that’s a great idea!” Natalie defended.

Wait, she actually believed that? I studied her face for any signs of her faking it but I didn’t see any.

“Johnny, we’ll start the application process as soon as we get home okay? I’ll help you through the whole thing!” She clapped her hands excitedly.

Holy fucking shit. Johnny was in deep trouble.

“Oh that would be great,” he smiled painfully. We all snickered and Natalie shook her head disapprovingly.

“So uhh, how long have you guys been here?” She asked nervously. Ha. Now it was her turn to be on the spot.

“A while,” I answered vaguely.

We waited quietly for her to say something, but she said nothing. I was disappointed. I had believed her when she said she wouldn’t keep anything else from me.

She sighed loudly. “What’s wrong?” I asked, giving her one more opportunity to tell me.

“Okay, I really don’t want to tell you BUT I guess shit is getting serious. We have a hunch that this guy is someone I dealt with a long time ago when I worked in Texas,” she explained, her eyebrows scrunched together.

I had to hold back a sigh of relief. It made me happy that she was staying true to her promise.

“Who is WE?” I asked.

“My old chief. We thought this guy was dead and- look it’s a long story but I promised I would tell you everything. Plus he left a note on my car that said to watch my back. Like seriously? He couldn’t be more creative?” she asked rolling her eyes.

“More creative?? Thank GOD he wasn’t more creative Natalie!” I growled. How could she say something like that? Like it wasn’t a big deal.

Her eyes widened slightly, “Sorry I said that without thinking. I just…I don’t know, that’s how we talk you know?”

By ‘we’ I guess she was referring to cops. But whatever, deep inside I was grateful for her honesty. I had been lied to a lot in the past, if anyone lied to me now…my trust for them was immediately gone.
I didn’t want to NOT trust Natalie….I liked her too much and it would just be a huge disappointment.

“Well we have your back Nat,” Jimmy said comfortingly. They all nodded in agreement.

She smiled softly, “Thanks guys. I really don’t want any of you in danger though.”

“Actually, you and I made a deal,” I reminded her. “If anything happened then that would give me the okay to help you.”

“I knooowww, but I feel that it would be better if you didn’t,” She pleaded.

“Nope. A deal is a deal, right guys?”

“Hell yeah. We’re not going to just back off,” Zacky said from the back seat.

She shook her head, “Alright well I’ll meet you guys at home.”

“We’ll follow you,” I stated.

She nodded once and headed to her car which she had sneakily parked behind us.

As we followed her home Johnny complained. And for the first time we actually pitied him.

“WHAT THE FUCK AM I GOING TO DO??” He exclaimed, almost whining.

“We’ll figure something out Short Shit. I can’t believe she actually fell for that excuse though. Something just doesn’t seem right,” Brian muttered.

“I know. I couldn’t believe it either, but I guess it was believable to her. I mean she doesn’t know Johnny like we do,” I concluded.

“So Johnny, what are you going to major in?” Zacky asked, his green eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Shut the fuck up,” Johnny glared.