[ C h a p t e r - T w o ]

Chapter 2

“Run!” the word escaped my mouth without a trace of hesitation. I looked back to see Shaw chasing after us with two other football players on our heels.

“I’m not stupid!” Jonah snapped back, his grip on my arm digging into my skin so hard that it hurt.

“I beg to differ!” I retorted, trying to keep up with the guy. If it isn’t obvious, I’m not physically fit. This guy, on the other hand, was like an Olympic runner or a zombie from Dawn of the Dead, same thing.

“You’re the one that told him what I said!” Jonah told me, looking back over his shoulder as the loud footsteps came closer.

“You’re the one who started dragging me! I wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you!” I ranted, becoming winded.

We halted to a stop, or at least Jonah did and I came smashing into his hard back. I peeked out from behind him to see a football player nearing us with a malicious grin on his face. When he saw me, his eyebrows raised.

“Savannah Harp?” he asked, shock clear in his voice. The football players may or may not like me. I’m leaning towards the latter. It all goes back to a prank I pulled on them when I first earned my reputation, which was around mid-sophomore year. I put itching powder all over their new uniforms right before a big game. I put dish soap in their water coolers and I put freshly chewed gum in their helmets. We lost that game.

“The one and only,” I replied sheepishly. His glare deepened while his pace quickened. “Hey, look! Free footballs!” I shouted, pointing over his shoulder.

Surprisingly, he looked and I pushed Jonah to run into the corridor to the right of us. The hallway was dark and it was used for music classrooms and storing unused instruments. I heard the jock swear and start after us into the pitch black hallway.

“In here!” I hissed, yanking Jonah, whose hand was still locked around my wrist, into a large supply closet. I quietly closed the door.

My lungs were on fire and so were my legs. I walked towards the corner of the room and leaned over, my hands on my knees. “You’re such an idiot!” I hissed once I heard the three jock’s footsteps pass by.

“Me? How?” he replied instantly. It was like he was expecting it.

“You’re the one who wants to grab onto me and go all Speedy Gonzales off into the hallways. I don’t run!” I exclaimed, swinging my hand at my last sentence even though he couldn’t see me.

“How should I know that?” he hissed.

“Exactly, you shouldn’t know that, now shove off before you get me into even more trouble,” I snapped, ready to leave the closet.

When my hand reached for the door, I was yanked back. “Get off of me, you creep!” I started to shout.

“Shut up!” he hissed, placing his large hand over my mouth. I was going to go as far as to bite his palm and kick him where no boy should be kicked until I heard footsteps.

“They’re not there?” Shaw’s voice entered my hearing and I instantly cringed, pushing Jonah’s hand away from my face.

“No, we checked every classroom,” a winded voice replied. How did a football player get winded from running a 60 foot hallway?

“Somebody needs to shed a few pounds,” I whispered to no one in particular as we listened to them. Jonah snorted but shushed me.

“Did you check the supply closets?” Shaw responded, obviously he was annoyed. The guys stayed quiet for a minute. “How did you guys not check the supply closets?”

“They’re probably in there making out!” a new voice proposed; he sounded disgusted.

“Never going to happen,” I snapped with a shake of my head.

“I don’t care, go check!” Shaw demanded. I heard footsteps nearing the door we were leaning against.

I began to panic, turning to see Jonah doing the same thing I was. The outline of his body was looking frantically for a hiding spot. I felt around on the floor until I met a stray trombone; I stuffed it under the door handle before diving behind a few boxes.

Jonah squeezed into the spot beside me, too close for my liking. I didn’t complain though. I’d like him to be alive when he faces my wrath. “It’s locked," one of the voices informed him.

“Locked?” Shaw was now storming over to the door and shaking the floor that his feet touched. “Try harder!” he demanded.

“How is he going to try harder to unlock a locked door?” I whispered. Shaw’s stupidity shocked me.

“Shut up,” Jonah hissed, pushing me up against the wall with his arm. I smacked into the wall arm first and Jonah snickered quietly. “Sorry.”

He didn’t sound a bit sorry. “I’ll give away your spot. They can’t hit a girl.”

“It doesn’t mean they won’t," he snorted.

“I’ll just hide under your dead body,” I whispered while they jiggled the doorknob violently. I was just counting the moments until they opened the door, ripped our bodies from behind these boxes, and beat us to a bloody pulp.

“Necrophilia is sick, Savannah," Jonah whispered.

“You’re sick," was my amazing reply.

The instrument fell and the door cracked open. A shimmer of light peeked in and I realized somebody either had a flashlight or a cell phone. My thoughts were confirmed when a shiny iPhone was pushed into the room followed by three large bodies. I almost let out a whimper but I held it back.

“I don’t see them, Jeff,” somebody announced turning back.

“Are you sure? What about behind those boxes?” Shaw snapped and the guys made a weird nose.

“There are spiders behind there!" an idiot informed him. The thought occurred to me and I shifted towards Jonah a bit but then realized my actions and moved back.

“You guys are such wimps, get out,” Shaw demanded. They did as they were told, exiting the room. “Go check the other closets.”

Again, they followed his command while he walked over to the boxes we were tucked behind. He kneeled down and removed the box near my face. When he saw me, he smirked. “Where’s your little boyfriend?” I quickly jutted out my hand in the form of a fist and it came in contact with his face; a sickening crack and a groan sounded from the boy while I pushed Jonah who was watching in complete shock.

“Go!” I shouted, pushing him out of the closet. A light flashed behind us and I growled. “Saltines. Saltines. Saltines," I improvised for swear words.

“You just punched a guy in the face, yet you don’t swear?” Jonah asked, his voice was one of astonishment.

“Yes. Just go!” I told him, pushing his back as I ran behind him. The footsteps neared us and I let out a sound that I make when I leave a dark room. Why did I have to leave lunch fifteen minutes early? Why couldn't I sit outside at the stupid picnic table with this idiot beside me? Why am I so easily offended by stupid insults yet I dish them out like a diner? Saltines, saltines, salt-fudging-tines

We arrived at the end of the hallway, the option of stairs or the elevator greeting us. We could either hobble up the dark steps or wait a good 25 seconds for the elevator to meet us. I quickly started pressing the elevator button.

“What are you doing? The stairs are right here!” Jonah hissed into the darkness.

“Those stairs haven’t been used in ages! There could be a dead body in there!” I told him, watching as the elevator left the top floor and made it to the second, then the first, and finally the basement. The doors opened and Jonah and I jumped into the enclosed space, rapidly pressing the "close doors" button.

The light from the elevator illuminated the hallway, which revealed the football players running full speed like bulls towards the elevator. They were 20 feet away. I started pressing the "close doors" button even harder. “Come on!” I screeched at the buttons.

They were about 10 feet away and the doors were slowly closing. I grabbed a textbook that was lying lifelessly in the corner of the elevator and tossed it at one of them, hitting one of them in the foot. He toppled over, followed by the other football player. Strike!

The doors stopped closing for a moment from the movement between them before starting to close again. I saw a light from a phone in the distance and Jeff, the human train, was barreling towards us at full speed, an ounce of blood trickling from his nose.

“HERE’S JEFFREY!” Normally, I would’ve laughed at the fact that an idiot like Shaw would have made a comment like that but at that moment, I couldn’t. The only thing I was capable of was pressing a button and praying for the best.

“HOLY SALTINES!” I screeched and the doors finally closed. I let out a breath of relief as the elevator started moving. I leaned against the elevator door, running my hands through my hair repeatedly.

We were silent before Jonah had a look of terror etched onto his features. “What if he’s at the top?” he propsed.

“What if he knows that we think that he’s going to be at the top, so he stays at the bottom while we think he’s going to be at the top, so we come back down to the bottom and he’s already there?” I asked and he looked visibly pained by my realization. He was probably thinking of the bloody mess he’s going to be once Shaw gets his hands on him.

“Should we get off at the second floor?” Jonah asked me, his eyes wide. I shrugged, stammering stupidly. I haven't been in a situation like this since last year! I'm a little rusty when it comes to making up plans on the spot. “I have an idea. How about we skip? We just go to an abandoned warehouse and make out?” he asked. I wasn’t sure whether he was serious or not. He didn’t crack a smile.

“You’re such an idiot! I’m no star student but I know better than to just ditch!” I told him and he threw his hands up.

“So we can make out after school?” he asked

“I can punch you in the throat right now," I threatened.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do! It’s my first day and I’m already hated by 3 people!” he sighed.

“4,” I piped.

“Shut up,” he retorted.

The doors opened at the third floor and I peeked my head out. I was surprised to see that Jeff wasn’t there. Maybe I was right.

I exited the elevator the moment the bell rang. I hiked my bag over my shoulder and began walking to class.

“I left my books outside of the cafeteria!” Jonah let out a frustrated groan.

“Not my problem,” I told him as I walked to class, letting out a sigh of relief when I realized that neither Jonah nor Shaw had this class with me. But Francis did.

“Where’d you go during lunch?” he snorted the moment I sat in my seat, which also happened to be in the secluded part of the room. What can I say? I'm a sucker for desolated areas. The room was near empty, like Francis's head.

“Your face,” I retorted, grabbing my text book out of my bag. Francis glared at me before flipping me the bird. I just snorted in reply, listening to the teacher talk about tardiness as students filed in.

***

Still on edge, the walk to my jeep was nerve wracking. The twist and turns of the parking lot were a maze. I was waiting for Shaw to just pop out, rip my head off of my shoulders, and use it as a football for their next game.

“Nervous?” I nearly Superman jumped to Heaven and back at the sound of a voice, no matter who it belonged to.

“Not quite,” I snapped. Jonah was leaning against a bright blue car.

I continued walking towards my jeep which was a few cars down. “I think you’re stalking me,” I told him.

“Me? Stalking you? Yeah, I’ll stalk you when Hamilton moves out of that box,” he chuckled. I turned and stared at him. Did he just-?

“Did you just refer to Maggie and the Ferocious Beast?” I asked. My eyebrows rose.

“Did you just catch me referring to Maggie and the Ferocious Beast?” he asked, his eyes darting from car to car.

“Obviously or else I wouldn’t have said anything,” I glared.

“Is that your car?” he changed the subject swiftly, pointing to a red small buggy. I looked at the car and shook my head, adding in a snicker.

“No,” I answered him. I continued walking and he followed me, trailing behind. I arrived at my Jeep and smiled at it, patting the front. I walked over and unlocked the driver’s side door.

“This is your car?” he asked.

“Nope, I just have the keys to somebody else’s car, you know?” I sarcastically replied.

“This car is expensive. I kind of expected you to have a small car, like a buggy or a smart car," he told me, eyes widened as he ran his hand on the shiny black exterior. I nodded.

“I worked two jobs for a year and a half managed to save up $3,000. I was fired from one of them and managed to make a bit more. I also dipped into my savings account. In the end, I had $6,000 and my parents paid for the rest," I explained.

“This car is around $28,000 if you get it new," he told me and I laughed.

“This car is used and was a family friend’s,” I told him and he furrowed his eyebrows as he examined it.

“It still would go for a lot since it’s in nearly perfect condition,” he responded.

“My dad’s friend sold it to him for $12,000. They worked together for a while and he knew about my car situation with my brother,” I sighed.

Jonah stared at me for a minute before going back to admiring my car. I rolled my eyes but buckled myself in and closed the door. My bag was sitting in the passenger’s seat as I shoved the keys in the ignition. The car roared to life and I smiled at the familiar sound.

As I backed out of the lot, Jonah walked forward. He was standing in front of the car, about 10 feet away, and he was staring at me. I moved forward a foot and he fell backwards from surprise, hitting the pavement with his bottom. I snorted, pointing to him while I laughed loudly with a grin on my face.

His face was red and he glared at me while I drove out of the parking lot laughing. He’s such an idiot.