by Mercy Amare
As soon as we get to the club, Gabe ditches us for a blonde girl.
“Does Gabe have a thing for blondes or something?” I ask Ty.
“Yeah,” Ty answers. “You were the first non-blonde he ever dated. Well, you’re blonde now.”
“I need to have Frank touch up my roots,” I say. “Do you still like the blonde?”
“Yeah. It’s super hot,” he answers. “But I’d like your hair any color.”
I grin at his words.
Yeah, okay, I definitely hit the boyfriend jackpot.
The club isn’t very full tonight, for which I am grateful. There is a pretty big stage up front, and I see Micah’s guitar set up, but I don’t see him, Chelsea or Simon around.
“Kihanna!” I hear.
I turn and see Chelsea and Simon coming towards me.
“Hey,” I say, meeting them halfway. Ty follows me, and I grab his hand.
I like holding Ty’s hand. I feel like my hand was made to fit inside his.
“I’m so glad you finally came to watch us play,” Chelsea says, pouting. “I was beginning to think you didn’t like us anymore.”
“No, it’s not that. I was just busy,” I say.
She looks at me and Ty’s linked hands. “I can see that. I guess that would’ve been kind of awkward, you know, considering Micah was crazy about you. But I’m glad you’re happy. You deserve it.”
“Thanks,” I say, feeling bad about hurting Micah’s feelings.
“Don’t stress about the whole Micah thing,” Chelsea says. “He’s dating somebody else, and I think he’s in love. The girl is so adorable. She’ll be here tonight. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
“Really? That’s awesome,” I say, feeling better. “What about you two? Are you guys dating anybody?”
Simon laughs. “Are you kidding? I’m too busy with the band to get a girlfriend.”
“And I’m too much of a whore to settle for one guy,” Chelsea says, then laughs. “I like to keep my options open.”
“You’re bad,” I say.
“So, when did this happen?” she asks. “And why did I have to read about it on Staying Connected?”
“It just happened.”
“She couldn’t resist my charms any longer,” Ty says.
“I almost forgot how arrogant you are,” Chelsea says. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“It’s his eyes,” I say. “I swear they have magical powers. One look, and I forget every flaw.”
“What flaws?” Ty asks.
“Allow me,” Chelsea says. “For starters, you’re cocky.”
“I have confidence. Big difference,” he says.
“Well, I think you’re as close to perfect as one can get,” I say.
Ty grins, and kisses me on the cheek. “Thanks.”
Chelsea makes a gagging noise.
“Well, this is depressing,” Simon says. “I’m going to go flirt with some girl and try to forget the fact that I’m single.”
“Me too,” Chelsea says. “Except, you know, I’ll find a guy.”
As Simon and Chelsea walk off, I think that I’m glad that Micah has a girlfriend. I want him to be happy, he deserves it. I hope that his girlfriend treats him well.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a blonde girl, and I swear she looks just like Olivia Asher. I jerk my head to the left, but the person is gone, as if they were never standing there. My imagination is on overdrive today. I shake my head.
“You okay?” Ty asks.
I nod. “Just thought I saw somebody.”
“Oh,” he says. “Are Andrea and Carter coming tonight?”
“No,” I answer. “They’re playing Grand Theft Auto. He’s pretending that all the people in the game are his ex. It’s kind of violent. Andrea keeps sending me video Snaps of it. I’m glad I’m not there.”
“I didn’t think Carter and Andrea got along,” Ty says.
“They didn’t,” I say. “But after Julie dumped him, he decided that he likes Andrea’s honesty, no matter how brutal she may be at times.”
“You think they’re fucking?”
“Ew,” I say. “It’s weird to think about it. But, no, I don’t think so. Julie was Carter’s first and only. I think he will wait a while before he does it with somebody else, just in case they decide to get back together.”
“He needs to get laid,” Ty says.
“I think the idea of only having sex with one person your whole life is romantic.”
“Your first was Gabe. Would you really want to be stuck with that forever?” he asks.
“Well, I obviously didn’t wait for the right person,” I say. “If I had, then yeah.”
“I didn’t wait either.”
“I guess not everybody gets a storybook romance.”
“Just because you have a past doesn’t mean your romance means less,” Ty says. “Our love story is pretty fucking epic if you ask me.”
I am pretty sure I just fell more in love with Ty.
“I just swooned.”
He smiles. “How you feel right now is how I want to make you feel fifty years from now.”
If anybody can do it, it’s Ty.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out.
Micah: Are you here? There is somebody I want you to meet.
Me: Here. Standing left of the stage.
Micah: Be right there.
“Micah is coming over. He’s going to introduce us to his girlfriend,” I tell Ty.
“Good,” he says. “Maybe he won’t flirt with you.”
“Micah never flirted with me.”
“Whatever you say.”
Before I can say anything else, Micah walks up to us.
“Hey,” he says.
I look from Ty to Micah, and nearly fall over when I see who is standing beside him.
Oh, my God.
Olivia.
Asher.
I did see her earlier.
And she is the one whom Micah is dating.
Ty squeezes my hand and I look over at him. He gives me a very discrete head shake. He’s reminding me that I am supposed to be pretending that I don’t know Olivia is my stalker. I have to keep pretending until we have hard evidence that it’s her.
“Olivia,” I say, not having to pretend to be surprised to see her. She is absolutely the last person I thought I would see tonight.
“Hey, Kihanna,” she says.
“You two know each other?” Micah asks, looking between us.
“Yeah, we went to school together,” I answer.
“She dated my brother.”
Micah looks at me. “Her brother...” his voice trails. “You mean that Brian guy?”
I nod.
He looks at Olivia. “Brian is your brother?”
“Yeah,” Olivia answers.
“I thought you were at UCLA,” I say, lying. I so lie.
“I’m pretty sure you knew I wasn’t there anymore,” she says. “Maybe next time Gabe decides to hack into my permanent record, he should cover his trail better.”
“You told me you went to Stanford,” Micah says.
Olivia rolls her eyes. “You are a very trusting person. You believed everything I told you.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” Micah asks.
I lean over to Ty and whisper, “We need to get out of here. Where is Gabe?”
“I have no idea what the two of you are saying,” Olivia says. “But if it’s anything about escaping, you’re too late.”
“Too late?” Micah asks.
Just as the words leave his mouth, there is a loud explosion by the entrance of the building, not too far from where we’re standing.
For a few seconds, everything goes black and I feel myself being thrown through the air.
When I open my eyes, I am lying on the floor, there is dust and ash falling down on top of me. I frantically look around, then sigh in relief when I see Ty is right beside me. Micah is not too far away, and he’s moving, trying to s
tand up.
But Olivia is gone.
I sit up, and when I do, the world spins. There is a loud ringing in my ears, making me realize how loud the explosion was.
As everybody around us realizes exactly what happened, people start panicking. People are running towards the emergency exits. In the back of my head, I know that I need to be doing the same thing. What if there is another bomb? But I can’t seem to make my body move.
Ty, who seems to be in a better headspace than I, gets up and pulls me up with him.
“Kihanna, come on. We have to get out of here,” Ty says.
“Where’s Gabe?” I ask. “We have to find him. I can’t leave without him.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. We don’t have time,” he says.
“No,” I say back, shaking my head. “Gabe wouldn’t leave without us. We aren’t leaving either.
“Kihanna, look at me,” Ty says.
I do.
It’s then that I see how serious he is.
“The building is on fire. If we don’t get out of here right now, we are going to die,” he says. “You can either come with me, or I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here. You decide.”
“But Gabe—”
Ty cuts me off. “Gabe can take care of himself.”
“Okay,” I say, realizing he’s right.
I take a step to follow him, but the room is still spinning. I nearly stumble, so Ty picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.
Hanging upside down on his back, I realize just how badly my head is hurting.
I can feel every heart beat pounding in my head.
Every step that Ty takes hurts.
“Ty, my head hurts so bad,” I say.
I reach up and touch the back of my head and feel something wet. I look at my hand and see that there is a lot of blood on it.
“I think I hit my head when I fell,” I say.
“It’s just a little farther,” Ty says.
“I’m sleepy. I think I’m going to take a nap.”
“No!” Ty yells. “Don’t go to sleep!”
But it’s too late.
I think that Ty is an awesome boyfriend for carrying me out of here, just as I drift to sleep.
Monday, November 15
6 a.m.
Somewhere safe.
Waking up in the hospital, unfortunately, is something I have done before. Somehow, I am not surprised when I wake up in a hospital bed. However, I am surprised to see Ty asleep in the bed beside me, and my dad asleep on the chair by my bed.
I start to sit up, but a sharp pain in the back of my head stops me.
My head fucking hurts.
Ty rolls over. “Kihanna, you okay?”
“My head hurts,” I answer.
He pushes a button the side of my bed and a few seconds later a nurse sticks her head in the door.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
“Her head hurts,” Ty answers.
The nurse comes over and pushes a button. “That’ll help in a few minutes,” she says. “Besides your head, how are you feeling?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I think I’m okay.”
“The doctor will be in soon to check on you,” she says, looking at the monitor, then walks out the door. As the door shuts, I hear my dad move. He looks over at me and sees that I’m awake.
“You’re awake,” he says, standing up and walking over to the bed.
“When did you get here?” Ty asks.
“About midnight,” he answers. “You were asleep.”
Ty gets out of my bed, as if just realizing he was sleeping beside me in the hospital bed with my dad in the room.
“Why am I here?” I ask. “What happened.”
“There was an explosion,” Ty says.
Memories of the night before rush back to me. Olivia, Micah, the bomb.
Olivia.
“Is Gabe okay?” I ask.
“He’s fine,” Ty answers. “He was in the bathroom with some girl when it happened. He wasn’t hurt.”
“And you’re okay?”
“Yes.”
“What about Micah? And Chelsea and Simon?”
“They’re all okay,” he answers.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Some people weren’t as lucky as you guys,” Dad tells me.
“How many people?” I ask, trying not to cry.
“Five people lost their lives,” Dad answers.
“It’s my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” Ty says.
“It’s not,” Dad agrees. “I just wish you had told me the truth about what was really going on.”
“You know?” I ask.
“Gabriel told me and the police everything,” Dad says.
“Everything?”
“Brian is alive. You wanted to move because somebody put poisonous snakes in your dorm room. You’ve been getting threatening notes again. Also, I learned that Brian never was your stalker and he was just covering for his sister,” he says. “Is that everything?”
I nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks.
“Because I was scared you would make me come home.”
“You need to be home,” Dad says.
My stomach drops. “Dad, no. I have to finish college. I can’t let Olivia bully me into quitting. The semester is almost over.”
“I talked to the college. They know everything that’s going on. For the safety of you and the other students, they think it’s best if you finish the semester from home. Just until Christmas. Then we can talk about you going back,” he says.
I frown.
What about my apartment?
My friends?
My boyfriend?
My life?
“Ty and Gabe will be finishing the semester off campus as well,” Dad says, as if reading my thoughts.
Well, at least Ty will still be with me.
“I believe that Micah Miller will also be finishing the semester from home and will be transferring to another school in January,” he says. “He seemed pretty freaked out about what happened.”
Ugh, yeah, I bet he is.
Poor Micah.
“Can I talk to him?” I ask.
“Actually, his parents don’t want him having any contact with you,” Dad says, frowning. He’s obviously upset about having to tell me this.
“Oh,” I say.
It’s probably for the best.
Death and destruction follow me everywhere I go, and nobody around me is safe.
For once though, I don’t blame myself.
I blame Olivia Asher.
She is the reason all the bad things have happened.
I fucking hate her for it.
“The doctor should be releasing you later this afternoon,” Dad says. “I’m going to send somebody to get your things from your apartment, so we will be leaving as soon as you’re released.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Somewhere safe,” he answers, simply. “I don’t want to say out loud. I don’t know if the room has been bugged.”
I can’t believe this is happening.
The door opens up, and Gabe walks in. It’s then I notice there are a couple of guys dressed in black standing outside of my hospital room.
“Dad, what’s going on?” I ask.
“Olivia Asher had access to a bomb,” Dad says. “This is no longer just an issue of a stalker. She blew up a public building and killed five people. She is a terrorist. We don’t know how far she is willing to go to kill you, so we are getting you somewhere safe.”
“No,” I say. “Dad... this can’t be happening to me. Why is it happening?”
“I don’t know. I’m sorry. She is obviously a very sick person,” he says, frowning. “But, I still don’t think you fully understand the severity of the situation. We will talk once you’re released.”
“Okay,” I say, knowing that I won’t get anything else out of him. I turn to look at Gab
e. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he answers. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I say. “I had a headache, but it’s gone now. The medicine here is awesome.”
Gabe grins, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “You just focus on getting better,” he says, then looks at Ty. “We need to talk outside.”
It’s then that I realize they’re hiding something from me.
But the medicine is making me sleepy.
I start to ask what’s going on, but instead I close my eyes.
I’ll ask them after I take a nap.
4 p.m.
Home.
I don’t get the opportunity to ask what’s going on. As soon as I wake up, the doctor looks at my head and I’m released from the hospital. From there, Ty, Gabe, Dad, and I get on a helicopter that is waiting for us on the roof.
Seeing the chopper scares the crap out of me.
It was never like this before.
But then again, I was never stalked by somebody considered a terrorist before.
It’s too loud to talk in the helicopter, plus I doubt I would be getting any answers. Everybody is still in serious mode.
From the hospital, we fly straight to the airport. There are four guys in suits waiting for us. One of the guys helps me out, and the four of them walk around me as we walk to the plane.
They’re treating me like I’m the freaking president or something.
I get on the plane, followed by the guys in suits, Ty, Gabe, and my dad.
“Where are Veronica, Toby, and Kailee?” I ask, when I get on and notice they aren’t on board.
“They’re somewhere safe. They left early this morning,” he says.
“Are we going to be with them?”
“Afraid not,” Dad says.
I look at Ty. When I make eye contact with him, he looks away.
“What’s really going on, Dad?”
“Last night, while you were being transferred to the hospital, Brian Asher started a fire at our home,” Dad answers, finally looking at me. “Veronica and Kailee weren’t home, but Toby was. He barely made it out alive. He jumped from the second story window.”
“Is he okay?” I ask, trying not to cry over the fact that my home was destroyed by a monster. I can’t believe I ever believed Brian when he said he was innocent. The whole time he was working with Olivia.