2 2 Hurts Most

"Iris!" Rosie greets.

"It's Amber, Rosie." I glumly sit beside her near the wall.

"But Iris suits you better." She winks to which I roll my eyes.

Rosie is one of my new friends who were nice enough to show me around during my first day. She is the usual country girl with freckles and red hair always in a side braid and blue eyes. She is pretty cute and charming.

"Yeah, and you should be called pinchy cheeks. Your cheeks look like been pinched several times."

"Hey!" She pouts, holding both her cheeks with her palm. I laugh at that.

"A girl's gotta paint her cheeks." She says defensively while wiping her face with the back of her hand.

I shrug, just as Miss Evans comes in with a young man holding her things.

"Thanks, Dimitri." She smiles, as he puts her things on the table.

"No problem, Miss Evans." He makes that lop-sided smile, quite charming. But he did not leave, he stands there, scanning the crowd as if he is looking for someone until his eyes meet mine. Suddenly, it feels like all the noise in the room died down, and all I can see is him squinting his eyes, something crosses his dark orbs but he blinks twice, and just like that, the spell is broken.

"What the hell is that?" Rosie whispers, distracting me for a moment.

"Huh?" I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. When I look back, he is gone. Miss Evans is distributing the surprise exam she gave yesterday with a stern look. Must be mostly bad scores by her demeanor, who can blame us? It was a surprise exam after all.

"Don't play numb Amber." She scowls and lowers her voice. "You just had a staring match with the hottest guy in school."

"You must be kidding."

"Am not." Hurt laces on her tone, she stares at me longer than usual, I can see her thoughts swirling into 'what did she have that I don't' lines.

She likes him obviously. Just as I thought she would say something remarkably hurtful enough to end our friendship, she smiles. "Let's just forget it."

I raise an eyebrow at her.

Suddenly, a paper slams down in front of me with a hand attached above it, I hold my breath being caught off guard. "No talking." Miss Evans firmly instructs, to which we both nod our head. After she left, I turn the paper and above my name written in red marks. A+

Maybe the test was not so bad after all I thought, as I grin like a Cheshire cat.

SCHOOL ENDS at four, I gladly shove the books inside my locker. The halls are almost empty as most students ha out at the parking lot, either busy flirting or boasting. Typical.

"You shouldn't be alone. It's not safe."

I almost jump at a sudden voice whisper in my ear. Goosebumps crawl into my skin and my heart beats erratically. I can feel his presence on my back as he reaches into my locker putting two books that probably fell.

Slowly, I turn around and sure enough, Dimitri is standing a breath away. On instinct, I step back, not comfortable with his proximity but my back collides with the lockers. He inches closer and leans his forearm beside my head, gazing at me intently.

"I like your eyes. Oddly beautiful."

Ignoring his remarks, I excuse myself and move around him on my way to the parking lot. Mom is already there, waving at me. But her smile falls when she notices someone behind me. Looking back, there standing against the lockers, Dimitri himself, watching me with prey eyes. A shudder runs down my spine but I ignore it and walk towards the car.

"Who's the young man?" She asks as she closes the door, putting the seat belt on.

"Answer my question, Amber. Who's that guy?" She asks again anxiously.

"I don't know him," I reply. I don't know Dimitri at all.

"And his name is?" She maneuvers the car away from school, clutching the steering wheel tightly. She is like this again. She’s been behaving rather strangely.

"Dimitri. Happy now?"

"Stay away from him. He's bad news."

A humorless chuckle escapes my lips. "Says the one who doesn't stay out of trouble."

She glares at me yet there's no power in it. She looks more scared, paranoid even. "You don't talk to me like that young lady. I won't tolerate this nonsense-"

"Nonsense? You ruined everything!" I almost shout.

"You don't know anything." She sighs, her voice breaking. She is clutching her free hand over her chest as if she is in pain.

"Great! You're treating me like a child again." I slump on my seat. My reflection in the window is glaring back at me.

"Oh, dear." She appears on the brink of tears. "I wish to tell you but I can't risk it."

"Tell me what? You - ruining our family with your affairs?" I could not help it. I know I am overboard but words just flow out of my mouth.

Tears fall on her eyes and she eagerly wipes them with the back of her hand. For a moment, my stubbornness is shaken, I feel guilty and I am not proud of what I did.

After a moment, her sniffing stops, and with a croak voice says. "Your father is the only man I love; never did I ever dream of hurting him."

Her words fall on deaf ears as I busy myself counting trees passing by.

"We love you so much that we will do everything just to keep you safe."

My sight catches a figure on the windshield and I quickly look behind, I can hardly believe my eyes. A man is standing right behind our car. And I am struck dumb when faster than a blink of an eye, the man disappears as if he was never there. Impossible! The car is moving. My eyes must have tricked me.

"Oh my golly!" Mom says out of nowhere, terrified beyond words. She is looking behind our car the same I did moments ago. My instinct tells me something is amiss, badly wrong. My heart beats uncontrollably out of my chest as if something bad will happen. She was fumbling with the brakes, obviously not in control.

"The brakes were broken."

Fear crawls in my insides and I grip the handle tightly. We are on a hilly road and the car is getting faster each moment.

Amber listen to me!" Mom says, desperately. Her face is so pale. "Don't come home, call your dad, he'll know what to do. He'll explain everything to you I promise."

"Mom." Is all I utter, full of panic.

She gazes at me longingly; a sad smile crosses her features as she mumbles the words which would forever break my heart. "I love you, Amber."

Then she wraps her arms around my head, shielding me from the impact, shielding me from the world. Her arms around me made me feel secure, at peace, like nothing will happen to me as long as she is here. I felt like a child again with my mom always there when things get out of hand.

The car tosses and turns around several times before it collides with something, yet she did not let go of me. Even if it hurt her the most.