Save Me

*NOTE: This isn’t an error or anything. I deleted the original chapter 19 because I wasn’t happy with how I wrote it. So I’ve re-written it, well actually I’ve only re-written like the last half, from where Matt has the little chat with Liz to the end.

{Rainy}

The ride to school today was full of Bri and Jimmy taunting me about Matt writing me a note. They kept teasing me that Matt’s got a crush on me but I know he doesn’t. He just wants to get to know a new friend better and since I don’t talk, notes are the only way we can converse. Why would he have any interest in me other then that of friendship? Matt Sanders could have any girl he wanted and I am definitely not that girl.

For the last half of Science, Matt and I asked each other questions. We just asked simple questions and to be honest, I was surprised that his first questions weren’t about why I don’t talk and all that. I’m pretty sure that Liz told him about how my dad killed my mom, so why wasn’t he asking about that? Not that I would tell him about it or anything, but that’s normally what people are always asking.

When Science was over Matt and I walked to Math class together. People kept giving us weird looks, probably wondering why he was walking with me. I just shrugged the looks off and continued to walk. After we got in the room we took our seats. Brian and Zacky were a little late coming to class, making it in the door just as the bell rang. They were probably having a quick smoke in the boy’s bathroom.

A couple minutes after the teacher started class, a piece of paper fell on my desk. I looked up and saw Matt looking at me with a smile. I saw Brian turn his head towards me and when I looked at him he had a smirk on his face. I opened it up and saw that is was his reply to what I last wrote in Science.

‘My favorite subject is English my worst is Math.
I love steak and potatoes. You?
Crispen is my only pet. I’m surprised you remembered his name.
My birthday is July 31. When’s yours?
The clover is my favorite Lucky Charm marshmallow.
Chucky is awesome. How did you get back at Brian and Jimmy?
Why would you want to hang in a tree all day? Do you like climbing trees?
I think it’s cool that your mom taught you how to draw. Do you think that I could ever see any of your drawings?
Are Brian and Zack in a band? I heard them once talking about practice.
Where do you work?
Does Liz Davis have a problem with you? I’ve noticed that she seems to glare at you quite often. Do you know why?’

I wrote down my reply saving the bit about Liz till last. Of course I know why she’s always glaring at me. She did warn me to stay away from Matt, that he was hers and I would regret it if I didn’t stay away. Like I would really listen to her anyway. Liz has been saying shit like that to me for years and I’ve yet to see her do anything. I actually would love to see what she’d do to me.

{Matt}

It wasn’t till the end of Math when Rainy gave me the note back so I had to wait till next period to read it. When the bell rang me, Rainy and Zack walked to History class. I still think it sucks that I have to sit on the other side of the room from them.

Once I was sitting in my seat, I opened the note up and read.

‘Ha. Ha. My worst subject is Math also. Tell me, when the hell are we ever going to use 95% of the shit they teach after we graduate? My favorite subject is History.
My favorite food is ham and mashed potatoes.
Of course I remembered Crispen’s name. He’s a kick ass dog. I wish I could have a dog but my aunt won’t let me. Briand and I aren’t allowed to have any pets but I found a kitten abandoned on the street so I snuck him into my room and I’ve been hiding him in there. His name is Church and I’ve had him about three months now and my aunt and uncle still don’t know about him.
Ha. Ha. I’m older than you. My birthday is July 7.
The clover’s my favorite marshmallow too.
Hanging in trees is fun. I loved climbing trees when I was younger. You would always find me in one.
Maybe someday I’ll show you some of my drawings. I don’t really show that many of them, not even to the guys.
I work at a family owned diner called Ma and Pa’s. I’ve worked there for almost two years.
Yes Brian and Zacky are in a band, along with Jimmy and Johnny. They had a fifth member but he’s not in the band anymore. He was their singer, but now the guys just play for fun. Sometimes Brian or Jimmy will sing but they don’t do any gigs or anything anymore.

When Brian and Jimmy shaved Chucky’s head I waited till one night when Jimmy slept over. After they went to sleep I snuck into Brian’s room and placed Chucky on the floor in front of the bed. His curtains were open so the light form the moon was shinning in and with Chucky standing in the light he looked a little bit creepier. I had taped one of my mom’s kitchen knives to Chucky’s hand and then hid in one of the dark corners of the room. Then I made some noise till they woke up. When they did they saw Chucky standing there with a knife and it scared the hell out of them. They then went running from the room still screaming and waking mom and dad up. I grabbed up Chucky, went back into my room and hid him under my bed. Then I walked out of my room acting like I just woke up and asked what was going on. It was so freaking funny. Jimmy didn’t sleep over our house for about three weeks and Brian didn’t sleep in his room for about one.

The reason why Liz is always glaring at me is because I didn’t heed her warning. On your first day here after gym while we were in the locker room, Liz and some of her friends came up to me. To make a long story short, she told me to ‘stay away form him. He’s mine’. Those were her exact word and she was talking about you. So since I didn’t listen to her and I’m conversing with you, she doesn’t like it. But it’s whatever. Like I’ll really listen to what she tells me to do, please.’

I almost laughed out loud when I read what Rainy did to Brian and Jimmy. Man I wish I could have seen that. I find it pretty cool that our birthdays are in the same month and yeah, technically she is older than me, but that’s okay. I loved that she thought Crispen is a kick ass dog. I’ve had him so long and he means so much to me.

When I read about why Liz has a problem with Rainy my mood turned sour real fast. I already knew that Liz had warned Rainy to stay away from me and it still pisses me off. I still can’t believe that she did that. But for some reason, I didn’t think that was the whole reason why Liz didn’t like Rainy.

I had spent the whole period thinking about what a bitch Liz is and how pissed I am, that I didn’t write back to Rainy. I’ll just write back to her in Spanish class but first I want to ask her about something I just remembered. Rainy said that Liz had warned her on my first day here at school. I remember after gym when the guys stopped Rainy and how she had that red mark on her cheek. I remember Zack saying that he bet it was Liz who did it and the others agreeing. I wanted to ask Rainy if Liz did do it.

I was still fuming when the bell rang and also as Rainy, Zack and I walked to our lockers. After I got my books for Spanish I walked across the hall and over to Rainy, who was just shutting her locker.

“Hey can I ask you something?” I asked. Rainy nodded her head and followed me down the hall a little ways. We had a few minutes before the bell rang.

I started off explaining about how I saw the red mark on her cheek that day and what Zack said. “So, is Liz the one who hit you?” I asked needing to know. Just knowing that Liz warned Rainy away from me is one thing but if she hit Rainy, that’s a whole different game.

Rainy was silent for a minute before she nodded her head. That got me even more pissed. Where do these people get the idea that they can touch Rainy? That they can hurt her? Before I could say anything the bell rang and Rainy walked off to where Zack and Johnny were waiting for her. I watched as she walked down the hall before I made my way to Spanish class.

When I got to the class room I saw Liz was already sitting in her seat that was next to mine. She was smiling at me as I sat down but didn’t have the chance to say anything cause the teacher came in and started class.

While the teacher talked I tore a small piece of paper and wrote: ‘I need to talk to you after class’ and passed it to Liz. She gave me a big smile and a slight nod of her head. All through the rest of class I would notice out of the corner of my eye that Liz would keep looking at me but I didn’t look her way once since I passed her that little note. I was busy writing back to Rainy.

When the class was over, Brian and Jimmy walked over to me and I told them I’d meet them out by the tree in a few minutes. They nodded and walked out of the room. I waited for everyone including the teacher to leave before I said anything to Liz. She had this weird smile on her face. It looked like she was trying to be seductive but it wasn’t working.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked walking closer to me.

“Rainy.” I simply said.

“Rainy? Why the hell do you want to talk about her? I thought maybe you wanted to talk about us.”

“Look I told you before, there is no us. I want to know why you slapped Rainy last week.”

“Because the bitch rolled her eyes at me.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“It was disrespectful of her.” She said and I laughed at her. Liz just pouted at me. “Come on Matt. Just give me a chance. I’m sure I can change your mind about you not wanting to get with me.” She said as she walked closer to me until she was right in front of me.

“I will never give you a chance and we will never be together. The faster you learn that the better it will be.” I said pushing her away from me.

“You’ll regret turning me down.” She seethed.

“No, I assure you I won’t.” I turned around and was about to make my way to the door but I turned to face her again. “Stay the hell away from her or you will regret it.”

“Oh, so now you’re threatening me to stay away from her?” she asked with an amused smirk on her face.

“It’s not a threat, just merely a fact. And I’ll tell you what I told Cole.” I walked right up to her. “If you ever touch Rainy again, I will end your life.” I hissed quietly at her. And just like with Cole, I could see the fear in her eyes, but there was also something else in her eyes as well. I couldn’t tell what it was though.

Without another look at her I turned and walked out of the room. I went outside and saw Rainy and the guys sitting under the tree. I made my way over to them and sat down. Zack asked why I was late and I just told him I was taking care of some business.

When lunch ended we all headed to our classes. English went by fast and soon it was time for gym. The guys and me changed into our gym clothes and went out to the gym. We just sat and waited for class to start. Rainy though, hadn’t come out of the locker room yet.

Five minutes later when the teacher was about to start class, the girls came into the gym but I saw that Rainy wasn’t with them. They were all talking excitedly about something. Rainy still hadn’t come into the gym and I noticed that Liz also wasn’t here. The female gym teachers weren’t even here.

“Where’s Rainy?” Johnny asked, curiously.

I watched as they teachers talked with a few of the girls. One of the teachers briefly looked down our end and right at Brian. It wasn’t even five minutes later when Brian’s name was called over the intercom, telling him to go to the office. I was starting to get a bad feeling.

“Get going Mr. Haner.” The teacher said. Brian looked over at us and we all shrugged.

As Brian walked to the door, some girl ran up to him. She grabbed his arm and started telling him something. We couldn’t hear what she was saying cause they were to far away. Brian walked out of the gym a minute later and the girl started heading back to her friends.

“Yo, Lauren.” Jimmy called out. The girl that was talking to Brian looked over at him. “Come here.”

“What happened?” Zack asked once she was standing in front of us.

She laughed a little before replying. “Rainy kicked Liz’s ass, that’s what happened.” Still laughing, she walked away. I looked over at the guys, shocked by what I just heard, but it seems that they’re not as shocked as I am.

“What do you think the fight was about?” Johnny asked a few minutes later as class started. We were sitting on the bleachers cause we didn’t feel like participating in class today.

I have a feeling I might know what the fight was about. I just hope I’m wrong. If Rainy got hurt because of something I did, I’d never forgive myself.

“I don’t know, but I hope Rainy beat the shit out of her.” Jimmy said.

“I think I might know why they fought.” I said quietly. The guys looked at me questioningly, so I told them about the ‘business’ I had to take care of at lunch. I saw Jimmy’s jaw harden and his eyes light up in anger.

“Look, don’t worry about it okay? Rainy’s tough. She can take care of herself.” Zack said.

I couldn’t make myself stop thinking that it was my fault Rainy got into a fight. The guys and I just sat watching the other students play basketball. It was about twenty minutes before class ended when we saw Brian walk into the gym. I saw that he wasn’t wearing his gym clothes anymore. He must have changed. Brian walked over to one of the gym teachers and handed something to him. They talked for about two minutes before Brian made his way over to us.

“Hey, I’m taking Rainy home, so can we borrow your car?” he asked Jimmy.

“Yeah, sure. The keys are in my gym locker. Is Rainy okay?”

“Yeah. She’s fine.” Brian said with a chuckle. He told us about what happened in the principals’ office. He said he doesn’t know what the fight was about, but he said that he saw Liz when they left the office and she looks bad. I hope that Rainy isn’t hurt, though Brian did said she’s fine.

“What did Lauren tell you before you left here?” Zack asked.

“Oh, she told me that she saw the whole fight. Her locker is in the same isle as Rainy’s, but she couldn’t hear what Liz was saying” Brian said. Just then the teacher came over and told Brian to get going.

Brian said bye to us and walked to the door. About halfway there though he called for Johnny to come over. Johnny came back two minutes later and sat back down. We all just continued watching the other students. I don’t know about the others but I was thinking about the fight. Sure Brian said that Liz was worse off, but still, if it was because of me... I don’t know.

“Dude, we should celebrate tonight.” Johnny said after five minutes of silence.

“Hell yeah! A celebration is definitely in order.” Jimmy exclaimed.

“I’ll call Jeremy when we get to my house. Brian and Rainy are going to be waiting there.” Johnny said. I’ve heard them talk about him before, but I don’t know who Jeremy is.

“You gonna come too, Matt?” Zack asked me.

“Yeah, you should come.” Johnny said.

“Yeah. I’ll come.” I told them. I had a wave of guilt wash through me. I had warned Liz to not touch Rainy and about an hour later they get into a fight. I feel like it’s my fault. I hope school ends quickly so that I can see Rainy.

I need to see Rainy.