06

...........Next Day.

"She said, get out and never come back," I replied. 

Noelle raised her brows and scoffed. 

"Like I care, huh." She said and I shrugged. 

We were huddled at our table in the cafeteria. I had gone to my workplace and was shocked when Mrs. Marcel wouldn't let me back after all my pleas to continue. 

I sipped my coffee and dropped the mug on the table. "We need the money, you know." She shook her head. 

"I can always ask my parents", she responded.

"Aren't you big for that? Gosh!, you got to quit that gig and start a reasonable job." I said and she rolled her eyes at me. 

I huffed and looked up. 

Two cute guys walked into the café and my memory recoiled at the familiar brown hair and body-built statue. My eyes widened when I remembered him, and I gasped. 

"Are you okay? Is everything fine?" Noelle asked and looked back. She gasped and turned to look at me. 

"They're fucking handsome." She squealed. I hit her on her arm and she winced, "Oww!! What's that for?"

"Stop drooling, get up. We are leaving." I said, grabbing my phone from the table, and she looked at me as if I had gone crazy. 

"Are you mad? What is wrong with you? Do you know them?." She asked suspiciously, her questions were almost driving me crazy, and I didn't have time to explain right there, "I'll explain later, but right now I'm gonna walk through that door whether you like it or not." I almost yelled. 

She still hesitated. I grabbed her arm, and started walking towards the door. She winced and began shouting at me to let her go, and I couldn't stand there and watch this man catch me. There's no way I'm doing that. 

When we got outside the café, she pushed me away, and I staggered back, "What is it? Why are you causing a scene?" She yelled. I looked around and found people looking at us. I cleared my throat, turned without a word, and started walking toward our car. 

"Come back here! Young lady." Noelle raced after me. I climbed into the car and jammed the door. I raked my hands over my hair and sighed deeply. I do sigh a lot, it makes me calm my nerves. Noelle opened the door and went in. 

"What did you do?" She demanded and gasped dramatically, "Did you steal?" She shouted. My hands clasped at her mouth instantly as she struggled and only muffled out words." Shut up and stop being dramatic." I yelled angrily. She kept quiet and stared into my eyes. I removed my hand from her lips. 

"I didn't steal from them, I don't know them." I simply said, not looking at her eyes. 

"Don't you dare lie to me, Kat. I know you enough to know when you're lying. Sometimes I wonder what you take me for. You do not tell me things, not even about your private life. Kat, we've been friends for fucking 6 years, you know everything about me, but what do I tell you? The only damn thing I know about you is how your parents died in college, and how did I know? I was there when it happened." She yelled. 

My eyes furrowed when she finished her last statement. 

"Don't you ever mention my parents in our conversation ever again." I warned her strictly, ignited the car, and drove off.

……TWO DAYS LATER.

It's been two days since my little fight with Noelle. We'd not been speaking to each other, and none of us cared to apologize, but at some point, we would be pushed to say something to one another but couldn't find the right way to say it. 

But today, I bought her a nice necklace and prayed she'd forgive me. Yeah, I needed her forgiveness. We've lived for years and yet, I couldn't tell her things about me. It's not like she'd snitch, nor did I not trust her, but this is just me being me. 

As I walked along the dark road, after coming back from the part-time job I got from Harry Smith, my boss at the bar downtown, I couldn't find a cab home, so I walked since it wasn't that far from my apartment. 

I looked up and noticed some guys walking towards me, with bottles of alcohol in their hands. I bent down and took my walk behind the pole, they laughed past me and I sighed out in relief, thinking I'd avoided a disaster.

"Hey." One of them called, my heart skipped, and I started walking faster.

"Hey, are you deaf? I'm talking to you." 

At this time, I started running as fast as I could. I dived into another street and continued running. They were running after me.

Right now, I know that I am going to be dead in a few minutes from now, because I am currently standing in the middle of nowhere. There was no escape route and I could hear running footsteps over there. I looked around, searching for a safer place to hide, and my eyes met some bags stacked on the wall. I quickly went and squeezed myself into any space I could find. 

"Where's she?" I heard one of the men ask. I swallowed up a big lump of spit as my heart kept beating at a faster rate. 

"I saw her take this way. She couldn't have gone far." I blinked my eyes as I listened. My boss had warned me against walking alone at night before, but I didn't listen. "She must be hiding in one of those bags." Another said, and my heart jumped into my mouth. 

"Hey beautiful, come out! We won't hurt you." I heard footsteps approaching me and I almost screamed out in fear. My hand clasped to my mouth and heat was beginning to form on my forehead. I shut my eyes, anxiety and fear almost making me short of breath. 

"If I were you, I would leave immediately." A deadly voice said among them.

"What did you say?"

"Who are you?" 

There was hope. 

Someone was here to save me. 

"Leave immediately." The voice was strong and bold. But how was he going to fight those boys? 

"Are you her boyfriend? And who the fuck are you to order me around?" Their leader asked in anger.

There was no response. Instantly, I heard a blow and a groan. They were beating him. I'm doomed. Just when I tried to creep out, a human being was thrown over my eyes and toward the wall. I screamed and ran out. 

I stood and watched this man beat up six men right in front of me. My throat dried up, my head was beginning to tumble, and I staggered back and fell. I could only see the handsome face of the stranger before I lost consciousness.