Chapter 49- Taunting Parties (2)

[] A M E L I A []

I was frozen to the ground. The sound of my laboured breath seemed to be the only noise in the once loud room.

"Isn't it funny, that this girl is allowed to be here, knowing that her brother killed her best friend?"

Collective gasps were heard around the room. Stares were directed at me. Fingers were pointed in my direction, as people whispered to each other.

I couldn't think.

My mind could not decipher what was happening right now.

I felt a nudge to my side, and I vaguely saw Gemma from the corner of my eye.

Was she saying something?

I wouldn't know.

Because my ears were ringing, and my head felt like it was going to split in half.

All of a sudden, a person came through the crowd, another spotlight on them.

And it made sense that he was here.

His face was bruised, yet the rest of him looked pristine, as if he was a normal boy who was just attending a friend's party. But I saw it in his sinister smile. I saw the crazy in his eyes. The vileness that was shining in his demeanor.

I saw how he wanted to hurt me.

Jackson stepped closer to me, the microphone still in his hand.

"How is it, Amelia Harrison, that you're allowed to be here?" he spoke menacingly.

I felt like I was going to throw up.

No, I was going to die.

That's it.

Because there was no other way to describe the splitting ache in my chest.

He took another step closer.

Just then, another figure came in front of me, facing him.

"Stop it Jackson. Amelia had nothing to do with Brittany's death," Gemma said with a glower.

Jackson glared at her. She held her ground, her fists clenched beside her as she stood up to Jackson for me. However, the moment was short lived.

I gasped with surprise as he took a hold of her wrist and pushed her away. She fell into a group of girls, who all caught her with surprise.

"No," I gasped out, turning to Gemma.

However, before I could even take a step forward, Jackson's hand latched onto my wrist and tugged me back. I panicked as he held me, but instead of doing anything, I froze in fear. Jackson sneered down at me, his hand tightening on my wrist.

He finally took the microphone away from his lips and leaned in closer to me, his face inches from mine. I wanted to do something. Push him away, scream, or do anything else. But I couldn't. I was paralyzed with fear.

"And why is it Amelia Harrison, that you have no remorse for what you did to my sister?" he said quietly to me.

I sucked in a whimper, tears falling down my cheeks in a frenzy. I shook my head at him.

'I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it-'

Another step closer.

Mustering enough courage, I spoke up to him.

"Stop this Jackson. This won't bring her back," I whimpered.

Instead of him softening as I was hoping, his eyes hardened even more.

"You fucking bitch. You knew everything. You knew what was fucking going to happen that night. You didn't tell anyone. It's all your fucking fault!" he yelled.

And then he raised his free hand, bringing it down to my face.

I closed my eyes in fear, a shriek escaping me as I did so.

And I waited for the impact to come.

However, it never did.

Instead, when I opened my eyes after a few moments, all I saw was Jackson falling to the ground as a figure loomed over him. I froze in surprise, and stared at the figure before me. He turned around slowly, and I sucked in a whimper when my eyes came in contact with Leo's wild ones. A low growl escaped him as he saw me, and in a split second, he turned back to Jackson.

And without waiting for more, I turned away from the scene and ran. I ran through the susprised crowd and to the first door I saw, which lead me straight outside. I heard footsteps behind me, but at this point, I didn't care. I had to get away from him.

I had to.

As soon as I made it outside, I ran to the nearest bushes, and threw up all the contents of my stomach. Between the tears and vomiting, I barely noticed a hand patting my back softly. Moments later, the ringing in my ear stopped, and I finally heard Gemma's voice seep through my haze of panic.

"It's okay Amelia. We're here. We got you."

* * *

[] L E O []

I had found Jamal and Andre by an electric bonfire outside. They were sitting alongside Joe and some more of Andre's friends, all of whom I hated, except for Joe. However, when I made it around the bonfire and sat down, I couldn't help but think of when Amelia came with to my house a couple weeks ago, and we made smores out in the cold. All of sudden, Andre's friends didn't seem so bad anymore, and I actually found myself enjoying this gathering.

It didn't last long though.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Eric came stumbling out of the back door, his eyes looking frantically around the place. I watched in confusion as he ran outside, searching for someone. Andre noticed this too, and called out to him.

"Yo Eric!" Andre yelled.

Eric turned to his voice immediately, frantically searching for Andre's face in the dark. When he saw him, Eric's eyes widened and he started running over to us. To me, specifically. I stared at him in confusion, wondering why he would be looking for me. He came to a stop in front of me, breathing heavily. Everyone in the circle froze as they stared at Eric in confusion.

"Leo," Eric said breathing heavily.

And the next words he said, left me shattered.

"Amelia allowed her brother to murder her best friend?"

I scrambled up, my seat getting knocked over behind me. Jamal and Andre stood up as well, their eyes wide in shock. However, I was quicker than them. I grabbed Eric's collar without a second thought, hoping my glare would be enough to make him piss his pants. And by the horrified look on his face, maybe I won't be wrong.

"What the fuck are you saying Eric?" I glowered.

Eric swallowed loudly, his eyes still wide with fear as he stared at me. I felt hands on my shoulders, but I shook off whoever it was. I tightened my hold on Eric's collar, trying to get an answer out of him.

"Inside..." Eric wheezed out. "Someone made an announcemnet about Amelia and-"

I let Eric go in a swift movement, and before I knew it, my feet were making their way back to the house. I ran inside as fast as I could, hoping to find Amelia where I last left her.

When I entered the house again, I was surprised to see that that the music was off, the lights were dimmed further, and only one light remained in the room. Just then, I heard someone come behind me, and I briefly turned to see that it was Jamal and Joe. Jamal nodded his head over to the middle of the room, where the light was shining.

Dread filled my stomach as I started making my way there. I pushed people out of the way as I needed to, wanting to get to the scene as fast as I could.

I was hoping that what I thought wasn't true. I was hoping Amelia was somewhere far away from all of this, maybe in a corner with Gemma.

However, when I finally reached the front of the crowd, what I saw had me seeing red.

Amelia stood in the spotlight of the room, Jackson holding her wrist as he leaned in towards her. And before my mind could even conjure up an explanation for this scene, I was already running up to him and ripping him off of Amelia. He fell to the ground with a thud in front of me, his view of Amelia blocked by me.

I glowered at him, my teeth grinding together as I tried to get a grip on myself. Just enough to not kill him.

However, one brief look behind me at Amelia had me changing my mind.

Her tear-stricken face, her messy hair that looked as if it was manhandled, and her trembling form, was the last thing I saw before I lunged at the piece of shit in front of me.

Jackson wasn't quick enough to react to my punches. He fell back with a thud as I landed the first punch across his face and the fucker stayed on the ground holding his nose. After that, I couldn't remember how many times I hit him. He lay beneath me on the ground, trying to block whatever I was throwing at him, but he wasn't strong enough.

He was a fucking weakling.

And he had the audacity to hurt my girlfriend.

All for something that was no where near her fault.

All these thoughts caused me to punch him harder and harder. I felt hands trying to stop me, but I pounded through them to get to Jackson.

That fucker was going to die today.

Before I could accomplish this however, a voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Fuck Leo, he isn't inportant right now! Amelia needs you!"

And that's when I froze. My fist stopped midair and I slumped back against the floor.

It was then that I noticed that Jamal and Joe, and two more guys were holding me back all this time. When I let go of Jackson, they slowly eased their way off of me.

I stood up roughly and turned to face Jackson, who was now spitting up blood on the floor beside him. His face was bloody, his eyes barely open. A few guys were trying to help him, but he arrogantly pushed them off.

I watched the scene in sinister amusement.

"Is it fun? Waiting for her to be alone so you can corner her?" I voiced out loud. "Fucking coward."

After few moments, Jackson turned to me, an enraged look peaking through the red on his face.

"Y-you fu-gher," he slurred out. "You don't kno-ow what you're taghing bout'."

'I didn't know what I was talking about? Is he fucking serious?'

My jaw ticked and I started heading for him again. Hands grabbed me again, this time effectively holding me back. Jamal stepped in front of me, his hand pushing against my chest.

I glowered at him, silently telling him to move. He shook his head at me and nudged his head behind me, in the direction Amelia left.

My jaw ticked. On the one hand, Jackson was here. The guy that caused Amelia so much pain was here, and I could easily hurt him for what he's done to Amelia. But on the other hand, Amelia was God knows where, probably traumatized from whatever happened down here.

I felt another hand on my shoulder, and I turned to see Joe giving me a stern look.

"Go Leo. We'll deal with this crackhead."

One last time, I turned to face Jackson. His friends were trying to pull him to a standing position, but he was diminishing at this point. His nose was bleeding profusely, his eyes were swollen, and his arm looked discolated. There was no way he'd be able to see properly for weeks. With one last glare at him, I turned around and stepped away from the scene.

"Anything you all heard today is not true. Get on with your fucking lives!" I heard Jamal yell out from behind me.

I ignored everything else, the confused stares of the people behind me, the bleeding of my knuckles, and the hushed whispers. All I could focus on was getting to Amelia.

I ran outside, hoping she would be near the front of the house. To my luck, I spotted two figures sat on a bench in the front lawn. One had her arm around the other girl, her head resting on her shoulder. The rest of the lawn was bare since it was too cold to be outside.

I could hear the sounds of her wretched sobs from my position by the door.

An animalistc rage grew in me when I heard Amelia crying. It made me want to turn around, find that piece of shit Jackson and make sure he lands in the hospital. Or in hell.

However, I consumed my rage for now and jogged my way over to Amelia and Gemma. As they heard me approaching, Gemma and Amelia both turned to see who was coming their way. I didn't miss how Amelia's shoulders constricted in fear, or how she completely froze in Gemma's arms. But once they saw me approaching, both of them relaxed.

However, what I didn't expect was for Amelia to detach herself from Gemma, quickly wipe away her tears, and turn away from me.

There was a long silence then. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Amelia, and for some reason, hers strayed from mine. Gemma was silent too, her eyes shifting between the two of us. After a moment, I finally turned to her.

"Can we..." I trailed off, wanting Gemma to get the hint.

Gemma nodded in understanding and quickly stood up. Just then, we heard the front door opening behind us. Gemma and I turned to see who was coming out, while Amelia simply tensed.

To my relief, Jamal, Joe, and Andre were making their way out. Gemma started making her way over to them, meeting them halfway and stopping them from coming further.

I sighed and turned back to Amelia, who still wouldn't look up at me. She simply sat on the bench silently, her lips trembling and tears trickling down her face.

I stared at her. How did this night, our date, end this way?

Deciding quick that this wasn't the end yet, I made my way in front of Amelia. Her eyes stayed downcast, her body trembling due to the cold. I boldly took a step forward and kneeled down on the ground before her. Her eyes widened, and out of surprise, her eyes locked onto mine.

I took in her appearance. She had tied her hair back in a loose bun, innocent tendrils framing her face. She had her arms wrapped around herself, her dress doing little to cover her up. The makeup she had on was barely visible now. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her cheeks blotchy due to the cold, along with the crying she did.

I sighed and reached up on my knees to brush a stray hair away from her face.

Despite it all, how is it that I can't see her as anything less than beautiful?

Even with all that's just happened, she looked like an enigma.

Without thinking twice, I reached up and grabbed the back of her head to pull her closer to me. The other hand wrapped around her waist, shielding her from the cold. Not being able to help myself, I slowly leaned forward and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"L-Leo," she whispered shakily, her hands reaching up to clutch my arm.

"Shh. Just, just don't say anything. I might just lose control and kiss you all over," I whispered against her head.

The last part wasn't meant for her to hear, but seeing as she completely froze up in my arms, I'm guessing she did. Unbothered by that, I pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. I wrapped my other arm around her as well to provide as much as warmth as I could.

"Now listen to me, and listen good." I said, and waited for her to make and keep eye contact with me. Once she did, I let out a breath and spoke.

"You don't deserve it. He is making the same mistakes your brother once made. Hurting someone who's completely innocent. And you can't succumb to it. I won't allow you to. What your brother did, doesn't define who you are. Amelia, you're you. You are the most sincere, honest, and the most beautiful person I have ever met in my life. The person you are, is someone who people aspire to be, but they just don't have that quality in them. That sparkle. That gift of being so incredibly human."

She was sobbing my arms now, her tears falling down in between us. I brought my hand down from her head to cup her face. Using my thumb, I wiped away as many tears as I could. Her eyes shifted to mine again, this time staying there.

"You saved my sister, you saved my friends, you saved me. You have it Amelia. That's what makes people love you so easily. That's what makes me love you easily."

Now she froze. Every inch of her body that was pressed against me, was frozen solid. Her tears, her breathing, and her hands tightened on my arms. But I didn't regret it. I didn't regret telling her how I feel. Because it was truly, and completely true.

I loved Amelia Harrison, with all my heart.

"I love you Amelia Harrison. Because you're you."