Sudden Hope (4 page)

“Jenny
, what are ya doing?” I ask, not being able to control the nervousness in my voice. You never know what Jenny has in store.

“You have to meet these guys.” She is giddy, something is going on. We walk over and the tall blond one is staring at Jenny. She is blushing. I know she likes him the second I look at her. Jenny doesn’t get giddy or blush around guys. She is always confident, strong, and she always holds her head high. Right now she looks like a thirteen year old meeting Liam from One Direction.

“CC, this is James.” Jenny says as she twists back and forth on her heels. She is fiddling with her bracelets so I really know something is up, she only play’s with her bracelets when she is really nervous. I have to admit he is good looking. But, something about him doesn’t seem right. I have that feeling he will break her heart or hurt her in some way. I am probably being overprotective so I shake the feeling out of my mind.

“Hi! I'm CC.” I sa
y as I stick out my hand. James gives me a curt nod never taking his eyes off Jenny. “Okay then.” I say under my breath as I lower my hand and look at his friend.

The shorter brown haired guy puts his hand out to me and leans in to me whisper, “Don’t mind him. I think he likes your friend.” He winks.

“Ya think?” I agree with a smirk and a raise of my eyebrow.

“Hi. I’m Dave,” he sa
ys with a smile.

“CC.” I reply.

“So what brings you here, don’t think I've seen you around before?” I ask, trying to make polite conversation.

“Our friend invited us. We came down for the weekend with him
,” he answers.

“Oh, and who’s your friend?” I really hate small talk.

“Matt Jacobs, do you know him?” Of course, they would be Matt's friends.

“Yea I know him
,” my voice becomes quiet.

“Cool. We're good friends.”

“Ah.” Is all I can get out before I see Matt walking over.

“So I see you’ve met CC
,” Matt says while almost smirking. He looks at me and slaps my bottom.

“Don’t touch me
, Matt. You lost that privilege a long time ago,” I hiss at him.

“Happy to see you too, Princess.”

“I’m not your Princess, Matt.” I look up at Dave he seems confused for a second then I see the recognition cross his face.

“Oh crap Matt, I didn’t realize this was that CC. Sorry man.” Why is he apologizing to Matt and what does 'THAT CC' mean? I look at Matt and he has that look on his face. His eyes turn to slants.

“Yea she’s that CC
,” he replies with a wink. Dave holds up his hands in a surrender type of motion while looking at Matt.

“Alright
, dude, I'm out, see you later.” Dave fist pumps Matt and walks off. I am standing here with the last person in the world I want to be near. I look around for Jenny but quickly realize she is so involved with James she doesn’t notice Matt is next to me. I am standing here trying to think of something to say, but before I can walk away Matt is inches from me.

“What was that all about
, Matt? That CC. What did he mean?” He smiles. Ugh, I hate his smile, there was a time I lived for it.

“I want you back, I miss you!” He is being demanding not asking.

“Well too bad. You can miss me all you want but I'll never be yours, Matt, never again.” I try to walk away as he grabs my hand. “Let. Go. Of. Me. Now. Matt!”

“What is your problem
, CC?” I rip my hand from his.

“What is my problem? What.
Is. My. Problem. Are you kidding me?” Now I am the one yelling. “Who the hell do you think you are? You screw some girl while you're dating me. Then walk back in here expecting me to pretend nothing is wrong. What did you think? I would come running back to you with open arms? Did you think you could come back and all would be forgotten? That I'd forgive you and come running back to you just because you showed up here!” I am getting more and more pissed off by the second. Already I am beyond mad. I never talked to him after the Sondra incident so every emotion is flowing back like it happened yesterday. “I moved on, Matt. Now it’s time you did too.” I try to walk away for the second time when he grabs me again.

“Are you screwing Chris? He always wanted my girl!”
he is yelling back now. This has to end before it escalates into more than it already is.

“I’m not your girl
. Now let go of me, Matt.” I try to pull away but his grip just gets tighter.

“No
.” His eyes are black now and his grip on me is starting to hurt. I look around for someone to help me but we have walked so far from the fire and it is so dark. No one can see us or hear us over the music. I do the only thing I can think of, I concede.

“Alright
, Matt. What do you really want?” My stomach flips and I feel like I am going to throw up.

“Like I said
, I want you. Listen I screwed up-” I cut him off.

“You screwed up! No
, Matt. You screwed someone!” I am yelling again. As much as I want to calm the situation, my emotions are a wreck. He leans into me and I can smell the alcohol on his breath.

“You will always be mine
, Celeste, don’t you know that! No matter where you go or how much time has passed, I will always own you!” He is beyond drunk and I am starting to get scared. Matt has never talked to me like this and I really need a way just to calm him down and get on with the night. Tomorrow he will forget about me and go back to school. All will be normal again. I take a step into him and put my arms around his neck. I can smell the beer all over him and wonder how much he has actually drank tonight.

“Listen
, Matt, let’s just have a good time tonight. I'll go to the fire, you go hang out, we will talk later, I promise.” He looks at me with a spark in his eye. He leans in and kisses me on my forehead as bile comes rushing to my throat. Just hold it together CC, I keep telling myself. “We'll talk later,” I whisper.

“Okay, Princess.” He slaps me on my bottom again. I don't know what I hate more, him putting his hands on me or him calling me Princess. I’ve always hated being called Princess.

“I'm going to the fire. We can talk later, okay Matt? Go find your friends.” He lets go and lets me walk away but I can feel his eyes on me. I can’t get away from his evil glare fast enough.

Chapter Five

Dead tree logs make a perfect square surrounding the most outrageous fire. It has to be four to five feet tall. The colors are beautiful, dancing blues, reds, and the brightest yellows I've ever seen. The football players and the cheerleaders are all together in one area acting like the fools they always are. It makes me laugh to watch them.

The preppy girls are doing their best to flirt with any guy they can find. They are tossing their hair around like Barbie doll wannabes. I have never understood them. It always seems to me if you want a guy’s attention you just act like yourself. If they don't like you for that then it isn't worth it anyway.

Our group is always the same pretty much. We always seem to be close to the fire and away from any drama. There are always the few stragglers who will join us and the girls who are crushing on our guys, but we never care much, as long as they behave and don’t get out of control. Tonight is no exception to the rule. The only drama is with me and I hate every minute of it.

At least I am away from Matt for the time being. Now I just want to enjoy myself. Jenny has returned with a flare in her step and walks by me holding her hand to her ear like she is calling someone.

She mouths the words 'he said he would call me'. I giggle and look down shaking my head. She is grinning ear to ear.

Chris sits next to me of course. He never sits too far away from where I am, and Danny is sitting a few people down across from me, next to Anthony. I can feel him every second, his eyes on me, his glare penetrating into me. I wonder if he is thinking about dinner as much as I am, and the conversation I really want to continue more than anything else. I should have talked about it on the way here but I couldn't. We sat in silence the whole way here. I had to turn up the music just to get the awkwardness out of the air. He stared out the window and I wanted to ask him what he was thinking about, but at the same time I was too nervous to really want to know.

It is hard sitting this close to him and not being able to walk over and put my arms around him. To tell him I feel the same way. To tell him I want nothing more than to be with him. Especially when I know he fe
els the same way. I know now is not the right time. Chris is looking at me with his eyes all glazed over like he has every time I am around. Matt is hovering around somewhere close. I can feel him. My skin is crawling with just the thought.

Jenny saves me from my thoughts, again. It is like she always knows the moment I need a distraction. “You want a beer?” Jenny asks. “Nah I’ve got to drive
,” I answer back quickly.

“
Alrighty then.” She flash’s a wink and walks over to the group of guys arguing about the music that is playing, ugh some R and B group. Jenny knows I really don’t like drinking but she will always ask me anyways. She once told me she would always ask just in case one day I wanted one.

She is the best friend a girl could ask for. She always looks out for me, whenever she can anyway. I want to tell her what just happened with Matt but I figure it can wait till we get back to her house. It will make for a great conversation and I don’t want to ruin her night. It is the happiest I have seen her in so long.
Just thinking about the fact that she is happy makes me smile.

That’s when I take a quick glance around and notice more people are drinking tonight than usual, this is definitely going to lead to an interesting evening. The next few hours were great and we laughed, joked and had the night of our lives. Jenny even got the jocks in charge of the music to play King Diamond. Their faces made us laugh till our sides felt like they were being ripped out of us when the music started. It
is our senior year and I want to enjoy every minute of it. Times like this make me feel like everyone was right.

But story of my life, just as I began to think everything is great
he just had to show up again. Drunk! Great! Matt comes stumbling up to the six of us like he belongs in our group still, he puts his arm around me and tries to kiss me, like really kiss me, Danny losses control. “Keep. Your. Hands. Off. Her,” he growls.

“Or what
, Danny? What the hell are you gonna do to me? I’ll do whatever I want to her. She’s mine.”

“Excuse me?” I
ask. “Who the hell do you think you are?” Chris jumps to attention and Lea comes running over. I jump to my feet along with the rest of the group.

“Matt
, stop,” Lea begs, but it is too late. He is way too drunk.

“Who the hell do I think I am? I am the man that is going to screw you tonight. I told you I was going to have you back
, CC, and I will.” The look in his eyes is pure hate, rage even. I am scared as I look at Danny. His eyes are boring into Matt. He is going to snap.

“What CC? You wouldn’t give it up last year so I went elsewhere. Now I’ll get what I really wanted, that hot little ass of yours.”

He tries to grab me but Danny is in front of him before I can even blink. He steps in between us like a brick wall but Matt can still lean around him and he shoots a look at me and spits directly in my face. “So it’s Danny you’re screwing, not Chris, huh? I should have known, bitch. That’s all you are anyway!” he’s yelling at me with a drunken slur. That is the straw, Danny breaks.

It is the fight of the decade. Danny lunge’s towards Matt
, catching him in the gut flinging him on his back at least three feet away. Matt shoves Danny off of him and jumps to his feet. Everyone notices by this time and the hooting and hollering is so loud it is ear piercing. Matt catches Danny with a left hook to the jaw. Danny doesn’t budge. He doesn’t blink. He looks at him dead in the eye, rub’s his face and smirk’s.

“Is that all you got?” He laughs. Matt looks shocked, scared even. I think everyone is.

“I've been waiting for this since you broke CC's heart and her spirit.”

“She'll always be mine,” Matt hisses.

“That's where you’re wrong, Matt. She’s mine,” he hisses back. Jenny turn’s towards me, her eyes wide as saucers. Chris look’s confused and I can’t believe Danny seriously said that out loud.

With that, Matt swings again but Danny
maneuvers out of the way and then in something I never dreamed I would witness, Danny unleashes a barrage of punches. His hands are moving so fast it is like watching Bruce Lee on speed.

Matt fall’s to the ground
as Danny jump’s on top of him, and starts punching him over and over again. Matt is bleeding, not moving, and Lea is screaming. Anthony jump’s in trying to pull Danny off but Danny isn’t stopping. Anthony flies backwards. Chris is helping Anthony up and Matt's friends are now in front of Chris and Anthony.

Lea look’s at Jenny, tears streaming down her face. “Someone’s got to do something!”

“CC, please.” She cries. “Do something please.” I jump forward and Jenny grab’s my arm. “No CC, you'll get hurt.” I don’t care at this point. This is my fault.