All the air escaped me as the bullet traveled towards Ash.

it wasn't like those moments on tv and in movies that everything happened in slow motion. It all happened really fast. 

my eyes claimed the eyes of Ash who was not scared at all, I could feel it. And he was fine. 

The bullet had whizzed past his ear and I collapsed on the ground making my gun drop with a clatter. I was breathing heavily as Ash ran towards me.

I had taken my aim and shot the gun out of this crazy man's hand just as he had pulled his trigger.

Seeing himself widely outnumbered he ran towards the door. He stood at the threshold for a second and looked back.

"This is not over," he promised as he ran for his dear life.

Nate was about to chase after him when his eyes fell on Ethan. Both of them embraced each other tightly and I looked at Ash.

He was staring in my eyes.

"You are the most dangerous little thing I have ever encountered in my life," he said in my ear as I hugged him tightly. Taking all of him in my arms.

"I am never letting you go, ever!!" I growled into his t-shirt.

He pulled me to my feet and I encircled my arms around his neck and kissed him.
I had so many butterflies in my stomach and my arms felt like steel around his neck and I could not hear anything accept him, then he pulled me closer and I gasped.

He was immediately out if my arms. "What happened? Did I hurt you?" he asked urgently looking panicked.

Uhh my stupid back hurt. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I am not that delicate!" I grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him for another kiss with a groan.

He kept his hands to himself but I wished he wouldn't.

I felt him smiling against me when he pulled away and looked in my eyes. "Rose everyone left I think we should get out of this wretched place as well."

I looked over his shoulder and sure enough there was no one in here.

I laughed with him and hand in hand we exited out.

I got the gun from the floor which he took from me and I rolled my eyes again. Men and their prejudices.

"Wait how did you two find us though?" I asked looking up to him.

Ethan, Nate, and Zoe were standing near Andrew's sleek black bike.

"Oh Zoe called us panicked about something that went along the lines of 'She is about to kill someone, I am going to stop her.'" Nate did a very bad imitation of Zoe.

She made a face. Ash gave the gun to Nate.

"So we called Andrew back to where you left us and got here as fast as we could and that reminds me that both of them are probably still stuck at that crappy gas station." Ash finished.

"But you are never leaving me like this Rose. Ever." he was looking at me intently.

"Never," I breathed.

"Oh my god, Ash you are bleeding look your ear." I pointed at it, afraid to touch the little graze the bullet had made.

He touched it unconsciously and his finger turned red. He smiled at me. "You are in no position to talk, look at yourself."

"It looks like someone just beat the crap out of you," Nate laughed. 

"Oh but I am still capable of beating the crap out of you," I yelled and made a lunge for him but two steel-like hands gripped me around the waist and held me back. Nate rolled his eyes and muttered something like 'get away from my sister' but did not push it.

"We need to take you both to the hospital," Ash said pointing his finger at me and Ethan who was just leaning against the bike looking like he could pass out any second now.

"I don't think we should do that. Mom can patch them both up without any problem," Nate said.

We stood there for a moment but then Nate started the bike and left for Edgewood. I and Ethan sat at the back seat, that was something Ash had enforced he was still not sure about the no hospital idea.

He drove and Zoe took shotgun.

I peeked at Ethan from sideways and he smiled back reassuringly.

***

"Oh man!! what the fuck happened to you kids?" and then she blinked in shock as she took in Ethan.

"My mom people," Nate announced proudly at the swearing part.

She took two steps towards Ethan, unsure, as if he would disappear and then she hugged him tightly.

"Aa-ouch Keeley that h-hurts," he chocked out as my mom released her hold. Yeah, he even looked like he had just taken a trip to Tartarus.

She took both his cheeks in his hands. "You are never disappearing like that again," she said to him with tears in her eyes.

He just nodded his head.

Ethan took shower in Nate's room while mom bandaged me up. Nothing in me was broken just badly scraped and bruised and probably a sprain in my shoulder. It was nothing I had never dealt with in the past. I was all good, it was Ethan that I was worried about.

After he had taken the shower I went into Nate's room he was sitting there on the bed alone.

"Hey," I said in a small voice.

I had been dreading this part since the moment we had gotten in the car together but I knew I had to talk to him.

"Hi," he said looking up. I sat beside him on the bed. His blond hair was long and wet, he looked much cleaner now but the hallows in his cheeks and shadows under his eyes were still there and much more prominent.

"Mom called you downstairs so she can check your wounds too," I said looking down at the carpet.

"Rose?" his tone was questing. I looked up.

"You and Ash..." he trailed off.

"Yeah," I answered guessing his question and feeling guilty.

"I am happy for you," he looked down smiling at me.

"Really," I asked taken aback.

"Rose I love you more than anything, if Ash is what makes you happy then that is all I care about," he said taking my bandaged hand in his hand. His knuckles were standing out, not in a skinny way but in a sick malnutritioned way. It hurt me to see him in this condition and here he was comforting me trying to make me happy.

I looked up, my eyes almost brimming.

"Hey no need to cry," he hugged my sobbing frame. "I will always be here now, if you need me to be a best friend or a brother then that's what I will be, but I will be right here," I cried harder at his words.

"Shh Shh, everything will be alright," he said patting my hair.

***

It was Monday we were at school. As I passed the corridors everyone started at me, I was still all beat up and all my bruises felt like they were on display. Which they were.

It was time for swimming. So I went ahead and changed quickly. When I was about to take my pre-shower I encountered Zoe.

She smirked at me and I smirked back. A new friendship had established ever since our fight together. Instead of being at each other's throats as enemies we were always at each others throats as friends. 

Banners hung everywhere indicating the upcoming Halloween dance that was to take place at school. Violet and the school committee had been busy with all the work for over a week now.

I still had no idea what I would dress up as, maybe I could just wrap my self up in a blanket and claim to be a burrito, but of course, I should have known that when you have a friend name Violet Grace, you can't escape being groomed like a monkey.

She had forced me in a Harley Quinn outfit complete with a wig and a baseball bat.
Diya was Tinker Bell and irritated about the pun about her height and looked completely different in the blonde wig bun on her head.
Sofia was rocking in a badass super sexy black widow catsuit.
While Violet had her hairs in perfect curls in exact replication of Bellatrix Lestrange.

That's how we boarded my car and drove to school.

It was super crowded and you could see teachers in giant mickey mouse characters roaming and moving through the crowd easily. It was a superb idea to put them in such outfits, you could see a teacher coming from a mile away.

Everything was dark and covered in scary-looking fake stuff and the disco lights were on in the dark.

We all waited there for boys to arrive and I spotted Nate soon near a group of over friendly-looking girls.

I dragged him away making the herd of girls irritated. He was dressed as a doctor or should I say he was wearing his normal clothes with a white lab coat and a (probably stolen) stethoscope around his neck.

"Have you seen Ash?" I yelled over the music.

"Do I look like his assistant?" he questioned back.

I sighed and left him alone.

"Looking for me," a voice whispered in my ear as I turned and saw him standing there in harry potter costume but his fake glasses were tucked in his collar.

I reached for them and put them on winding my arms around him in the process.

"You tell me," I whispered back in his ear pulling myself up.

"You look hot like 'you should be in jail not on the streets hot'!" he smirked wrapping his hands around my waist and dragging me back in the crowd.

After a lot and lot of dancing we were all standing near the wall as everyone else went crazy on the floor.

"And who are you supposed to be?" I asked looking up at Ryder, he was in his normal clothes and had a cup of orange punch in his hand.

"A guy who is definitely not interested in Halloween," he stated.

"Really?" Sofia asked beside me. He didn't answer Sofia.

I looked up to see his reaction, it was indifferent as he just shrugged at her and turned away.

'And here I thought he seemed interested in her,' Dunkers commented dressed up as a big mouse. (Don't ask, I have what so ever no explanation for this.)

'I thought so too,' I thought to myself.

Mason was dressed as a minion and Andrew had wrapped himself in a blanket and was actually claiming to be a burrito. (Thank lord Violet dressed me up)

As a slow song picked up, Ash dragged me to the dance floor.

We were dancing arms in arms. He looked down in my eyes.

"Are you ready?" I asked him. He raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" he asked.

I laughed before dumping it on him. "To tell our parents about us silly."

We both grimaced and swayed back and forth.

"Do we have to?" he asked leaning and placing his head on my shoulder.

I nodded my head and looked in his eyes. He kissed me and we danced all night.

I am sooo fudging sorry for the late update people. My phone decided it was a good time to ditch me, it just stopped working so I had to get it repaired. The announcement about my second book is in the next chapter. Don't miss it. Please stay tuned and bear with me.

My insta account for the Wattpad related stuff is @_bodhika_bhargava_

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