Chapter Eighteen Taylor
Chapter Eighteen
Taylor
Everything happened so quickly. All I knew was that I’d had no choice: I’d had to distract those fuckers so Ellie and Kami could escape.
I moved quickly, throwing books and chairs to get the guys’ attention, then ran toward the door myself.
I was grateful that some of the other kids had helped the girls get out instead of handing them over the way those three dickheads had wanted. If they hadn’t, I’d never have gotten out myself, because I couldn’t have just abandoned them.
Once in the hall, my mind took in everything instantly: Ellie and Kami at one end, turning the corner to find a hiding place, and Julian at the other, aiming his pistol in cold blood.
“NO!” I shouted, feeling my throat clamp up. I couldn’t let them die. I couldn’t bear the thought of either of them being gone. I had to save them. Protect them. But I didn’t know what more I could do.
When I saw them hit the ground, I thought the worst.
Two shots. One for each of them.
Had they been hit?
I wanted to run over to them, throw myself on top of them, but my survival instinct took over, and I found myself hiding from Julian.
Either he hadn’t seen me or hadn’t cared once he saw his real target in front of him.
The girl he blamed for all his problems. The girl he had been obsessed with for months.
The girl he’d dreamed of since he first saw her.
It was Kami he really wanted, and I wasn’t surprised he hadn’t wasted time on me when she was just a few feet away.
His obsession had saved me.
And my subconscious had taken advantage of that, even when my conscious mind had refused to.
I hid.
But I didn’t go far.
I ducked into the classroom right across the hall.
Through the window, I could see the kids who had been in the library—they were escaping. I saw Julian chasing Kami. She had gotten up, and I was praying she’d find a place to hide.
Then the two other shooters followed.
Once there was nothing but a deafening silence in the hallway, I hurried out to where Ellie lay, praying to God she wasn’t dead. I fell to my knees in a pool of her blood where her chestnut hair framed her face.
“Come on, Webber,” I said, my hand to her cheek, “don’t do this to me.”
She was unconscious, but when she heard my voice, she blinked her eyes open, giving me hope.
“Ellie, please,” I said, cradling her in my arms, “you’re going to be fine, I promise.” My voice cracked so much that she probably couldn’t even understand me. My face was awash in tears.
“T-Taylor…” she stuttered.
“Shhh,” I said, rocking her softly. “Don’t speak…”
“I like you, T-Taylor…” Blood trickled from her mouth, and more was seeping out of the bullet wounds in her torso.
“I know, I know…” I said with a sharp pain in my chest.
“I w-wish we could have g-gone out,” she confessed. Was she smiling at me? Was that really possible?
“I’d have liked that,” I responded, trying not to look at her wounds.
I looked beyond the blood, at the person she had been, the person she really was.
And my mind was flooded with images of her.
Ellie smiling. Ellie stopping on the court to say hi on her way to cheerleading.
Ellie getting into arguments with everyone in the cafeteria, Ellie pretending to grimace when I walked past her and made some dumb remark.
The way she’d nibble at her nails, the way she seemed able to use literally anything to pull her hair up: a pen, a pencil, a chopstick, a fork…
Her smile was gorgeous; I remembered her shining it on me once in a while when I cracked a joke. Had I been flirting with her without knowing it? Was that why I’d liked getting on her nerves?
“You’ve always been such a pain in the neck,” I said, and she winced in pain, trying to smile at me.
“Y-you always thought you were the sh—the shit,” she countered.
I smiled, stroking her hair, and said, “You should have told me you liked me.”
“Y-you f-fell for the wrong p-person.” She coughed, and I had to raise her torso so she could breathe better.
“Hey, easy… Don’t talk, OK?” I said in despair, because her life was slipping through my fingers and there was nothing I could do about it.
“Do me a f-favor?” she said. “H-have a good life.”
I nodded, looking into her bright, beautiful eyes.
I knew then I was losing a person that mattered. And it hurt more than I could have imagined.
Following my instincts, knowing I would never have that chance again, I leaned over and gently laid my lips on hers. She squeezed my hand and used all her strength to try and hold me closer. My heart was pounding.
I didn’t pull away until I knew she was no longer with me.
* * *
I didn’t know where to go or what to do.
I was desperate, I was sad, I was scared. I imagined finding Kami or my brother splayed out on the ground like Ellie.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the last words I’d spoken to Thiago, how little time we’d spent together since the school year started, the damage we had done to each other.
How had we come to this?
I swore to myself that if we lived through this, I’d start looking at life differently. I wouldn’t suffer over a girl. I wouldn’t allow a single day to pass without letting the people around me know that I loved them.
I’d watch TV with Mom, even if it was just that stupid romantic shit she couldn’t get enough of on Netflix.
I’d throw my arm around her on the couch and veg out until we fell asleep.
I’d plan trips with my brother, shoot hoops with him in our free time, do all the stuff we used to do when we were little.
As for Kami… Well, I’d do whatever it took, but if we couldn’t be together, I wasn’t going to force it.
I’d let her go, and if that meant letting my brother have her, then I’d accept it and go on with my life.
I had made a promise to Ellie, and I was going to keep that promise.
I raced through the halls, not knowing what to do, looking for a way out, an open door, anything. Other students stopped me, asked me where to go, what to do, but I ignored them and went on my way.
Every few minutes, I heard shouts—screams. I couldn’t imagine there were many people left alive, and worse, no one seemed to be doing anything to save the few of us left, fighting to survive. The cops were still outside; the ambulances were waiting—we were alone.
Why?
Why, dammit?!
Then they found me.
Julian and his cronies.
They beat me to a pulp, of course. Three against one…and the leader of those three hated me and blamed me for all his problems.
Looking back, I wondered what would have happened if Thiago had thought I was dead, if he hadn’t heard that message over the PA and knew I was still alive.
I bet everything would have been different.
Because he would have saved himself…
He’d have made it out with Kami and Cameron, and I’d be the one who was somewhere else, somewhere far, far away…
But things don’t always happen according to plan. Life surprises you, it smacks you across the face, and somehow, you’re just supposed to smile and keep going.
Well, screw that. And screw life for all its twists and turns.
And above all, screw those three psycho bastards.