Chapter 22

Zach:

I hear him.

He's yelling your name.

You don't think it's who I think it is, do you?

Why would he be...?

Crap!

"Gray's the shooter."

"Who's the shooter? You know the shooter?" Angela whisper-yelled as she sat up straighter, her face lighting up in interest. I was stuck. She already suspected that I had a relationship with the shooter so I had to fill her in, but all I wanted to do was forget that my dark past even existed. Olive already talked to me about him this morning. That was enough for me.

The voice in my head was encouraging me to keep quiet until I saw Angela's interrogating stare boring into the side of my eyes. She was surveying me up and down and I could tell that she was seconds away from bombarding me with questions about my affiliation with the shooter.

Telling myself that she would be the last person to tell kept me going. We were making progress in our friendship, so I knew she wasn't going to use this against me.

"I... had an abusive boyfriend in middle school. Gray Vance. He beat me, raped me repeatedly, tormented me." I asked God for the hundredth time what I did to deserve to be treated like that. I never did anything to anyone. Why did he show up in my life only to destroy it?

"Everything ended with him throwing me out the back door and a neighbor calling nine one one." We all thought he was gone for good. After watching him be hauled away in a police car, we thought we had nothing to worry about anymore. I was safe from that sad excuse of a human. Until I wasn't.

"Zach, Kayden and I recently found out he escaped from prison. He was actually the one who touched Olive that day."

She was remembering the man who she saw harassing Olive and inhaled a big gasp. "Shit! Does she—?"

"She knows. I told her everything after."

"Do you know what motive he would have for shooting up the whole damn school? Is he pissed you put him in jail in the first place? Does he want revenge?"

He already got his revenge that day at his apartment.

"I don't know why the hell he would take it that far as to show up to my school with a gun. Honestly."

It looked like Angela's mind was elsewhere, like she was too busy trying to figure something out to say. Soon enough, her face lit up and recognition flashed in her eyes. Recognition and remorse.

"That's why Kayden said I don't know anything. He was talking about your... abuser."

"Exactly."

Silence permeated the room. My phone kept lighting up with more texts from Zach about how it couldn't have been Gray. One from Kayden rolled in in our private conversation thread, checking in on us again.

Olive remained radio silent since the group chat at the very beginning, but I was sure she was okay as long as she remained in her classroom following the teacher's rules. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." She wasn't looking at me.

She was more focused on her twiddling thumbs and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. The corners of her lips lifted into a small smile as she let out a scoff. "But... I admire you for how strong you are. You've... looked evil in the eyes and survived. The world needs more strong women like you."

That was nice of her to say, but strong was the last word I'd use to describe myself. If anything, I was too fucked up. Too many nightmares about my past haunt me. Too many tears had been shed. Too many blows to my face with black eyes and bruises to prove it. I didn't want to respond to her compliment with negativity so I allowed a ghost of a smile to touch my lips.

"You know... you and Kayden go great together. It's a match made in heaven." She scoffed, but I could tell it was hard for her to say. She tried to keep it hidden but sorrow was clearly displayed all over her face.

"The time that we were together, even though he didn't really like me that much, he was the best. A true gentleman. The kind of guy your parents would feel proud of you for bringing home."

She was looking at the wall opposite of us, but she was deep in her thoughts. "You deserve someone who'll treat you a million times better than that asshole. Every woman does. And Kayden is that someone."

-

"Attention students. The shooter has vacated the property and it is now safe to exit your classroom. All students must meet outside. I repeat. All students must meet outside." The principal announced through the PA system.

Angela wasted no time in springing up from her seat on the floor and swinging the door open hard enough to hit the wall. As I walked out, I was searching for any news on my phone. There had to be some footage of Gray being arrested somewhere. Maybe news reporters caught it or someone who was passing by.

Nothing.

I followed the crowd of students onto the front lawn of the school and made sure to send a text to my parents.

Bella:

The shooter left. The principal's having everyone meet outside. Everything's fine now. You don't need to worry about me anymore.

They didn't need to know that Gray was the shooter. I was safe. That was all they needed to know. There were still police cars surrounding the building and officers placing caution tape around the edges of the lawn, marking this as a crime scene. There was no sign of Gray anywhere. Zach's voice yelled my name and before I could blink, he squeezed me in his arms.

"You're okay. You're okay. I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered.

"I'm glad you're okay too." I let out a sigh of relief with him in my arms. Gray could've shot my best friends and there was no way I'd be able to live with myself if he did. Over his shoulder, I noticed Kayden embracing Angela in his arms.

A blush spread across her cheeks when he peppered the crown of her head with kisses and she rested her head on his chest as he rubbed her back. My lips curled into a smile while I watched them. They would've been a beautiful couple if things worked out between them.

I pulled away from Zach when I heard someone nearby cleared their throat.

It was a police officer.

"Are you Bella Price?"

"Uh... yes. Is everything okay?"

"We need you to come to the station to answer some questions."

-

Mom was yelling at the police officers and dad was trying to calm her down before they got kicked out. It was cold in the questioning room. I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to block out mom's voice as much as possible, but it was a challenge.

Mom's face was a fuming red and a vein was bulging out of dad's forehead when they first arrived. I should've thought they would be told that Gray was the shooter eventually. It was inevitable.

"Were you even looking for this bastard after he escaped?"

"Of course we were, ma'am. We tracked him to his new apartment, but when we went to arrest him again, the apartment was completely empty."

That didn't surprise me. He must've escaped a long time ago and got a new apartment before the one I visited him at. Then, he moved again to a third one just to be safe. He was smart. Cunning. He was wise enough to know not to stay in one place for too long which was good for him, but bad for me.

"Is he, at least, gonna be put in a more secure cell in a higher security prison this time? We can't risk anything else happening to our daughter and her friends," my dad joined in.

"I can assure you that we are taking extra precautions to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."

"Like hell you are."

I sunk down in my chair and used my hands as a shield to cover the mortified blush on my cheeks. Gray was gone. The bad guy they were worried would hurt me again was gone. He was left in a cell to rot. Mom didn't need to make a scene in front of the police officers who were trying to help.

"Natalie." Dad rested a comforting hand on her shoulder to soothe her. "Thank you." With his hand on mom's back, he led us out of the room and into the office where everyone was waiting for us.

Olive was slumped in her chair with her arms folded, Zach couldn't stop his knee from bouncing up and down or his hand from tapping the armrest and Kayden was leaned over with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

"What did they say?" Zach asked.

"They put him in a maximum security prison. There's no way in hell he could escape again. He's gone for good and for real this time," Dad explained.

"Thank God." Olive dragged out the word 'God' as she threw her arms around me and maintained a vice grip. It was like she feared something bad would happen to me and she was holding onto me for dear life. She peeled away from me, but her hands remainded holding mine. "At least now, you can relax knowing that he can't hurt you anymore."

Zach chimed in. "What do you say about going to the beach to celebrate?"

With Gray being behind bars in a tougher prison, it was like the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. I would no longer feel the terror of going to his apartment, the pain of bloody noses after a hard punch or the suffering of him on top of me. I could finally move on.

Celebrating with my parents, my best friends and my boyfriend at the beach, listening to music with the volume on low and the soothing sound of the waves still audible sounded ideal.

We stopped by my house on the way to pick up our bathing suits, Zach lending Kayden one of his swim trunks and me lending Olive the yellow two-piece with high-waisted bottoms. Even though it was almost the end of the year and it wasn't tanning weather, we would've felt out-of-place being fully-clothed with jackets and jeans on the beach.

Seagulls were surrounding the area, scrounging for food that other beach-goers left and Unstoppable by Sia was softly playing through Olive's small speaker.

The more I listened to the lyrics, the more I felt like I could relate to them. Maybe Angela was right. I was a strong woman after all. Sure I had my weak moments, but I made it through. I was pulled out of my reverie when mom handed me a bottle of Seagrams.

"Mama, are you sure I should have this?"

She waved me off. "It's only one bottle, three percent alcohol and... this event is well worth celebrating." She kissed my cheek and had a bounce in her step as she reunited with my father. I had never seen her wear a smile so big.

It was like a flip was switched. One minute, she was yelling at the police officer for not finding Gray sooner. The next, she was twirling under their joined hands and laughing like she didn't have a care in the world. I didn't question it. As long as she was happy, so was I.

I took a double take when I spotted movement at the corner of my eye and realized it was Kayden coming out of the water after he and Zach finished surfing. Everything went in slow motion.

He was ruffling his soaking wet hair and water was dripping down each bump of his abs. A mischievous smirk crawled across my lips when he offered me a wink. It was hard to believe that he was mine. That I was his.

Kayden took my wrist and led me where everyone else was out of earshot. After everything that happened with Angela, the school shooting, finding out it was Gray, I needed to be alone with Kayden right now.

He pulled me closer to his chest with his hands on my waist. It was a miracle that I was still standing with how close my knees were to giving out. It was like all of my insides turned into liquid. Hot shivers shot up my spine as he played with my hair and leaned in closer.

My hands fisted the material of his t-shirt and connected my lips with his. It was a more passionate kiss with our lips slowly moving in sync and his hands on my lower back. I didn't want to pull away. I needed to savor the moment with my arms around his neck for as long as possible.

Our lips separated, but our foreheads were still touching. "I'd been waiting to do that since the school lockdown ended."

His warm breath fanned my face and his fingers lightly trailed up my arm, triggering a shiver to go up my spine. A chuckle rumbled in his chest. "Belles, are you drinking alcohol?" His eyes settled on the bottle of red, strawberry daiquiri-flavored drink in my hand and his head tilted to the side. "That's actually kind of hot."

I scoffed.

"Are you going to testify against he-who-shall-not-be-named in court?"

"Yes. He brought a gun to our school, Kayden." My fingers were running through his hair and my stomach twisted into knots at the sight of his eyes staring into mine. "You could've gotten hurt. Zach could've. Olive could've. I need to make sure that man burns in Hell for all eternity."

-

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AUTHOR'S NOTE-

Also, I don't know if anything about the second scene, the police officers tracking him and Gray having time to move out makes logical sense. If anything in this or previous chapters doesn't make sense, let me know in the comments. I want this to be as realistic as possible.