Chapter 9

                                    

                                          
3:30P.M.
                          
I get off at my bus stop and start walking home with my ear buds in. Only a few people take the bus home so the streets are empty for the most part right now. While one of my songs is changing, I hear a truck engine roar behind me. Instantly, I turn around and see a black truck with tinted windows just sitting on the corner with the engine running. I turn back around and keep walking toward my house as the truck engine gets louder. Whether it was paranoia or not I couldn't tell but I feel like whoever is in the car is just watching me. I don't turn around until I reach home then look back when I reach the drive way. The truck drives toward my house really fast and I feel my heart start to race in my chest as it comes closer. Right before he reach's my house, he makes a quick turn onto a road near by. I stand there paralyzed in fear as I hear his truck roaring a few roads over. I inhale hard. Does Jacob have people watching me like he said he would? Am I just paranoid? Was someone stalking me? I walk into the house and right to my room, locking the door behind me, trying to catch my breath. 

                          
After sitting in my room for about half an hour, I start to wonder if maybe there is someone sitting outside my house right now, watching me. I look out the window then hear foot steps behind me and jump.
                          
"Hey." Steven says opening my door. I jump up and close my curtains as quickly as I can. He turns the lights on and I run over to the door and slam it closed. "Everything okay?"
                          
"He had someone follow me home." I said when he sits on my bed. I start to chew my nail as he looks at me confused. I lean back and forth trying to find a comfortable way to stand but just keep shifting.
                          
"What do you mean?" He asks.
                          
"I mean he had one of his friends sitting in his truck on the corner watching me as I walked home." I say and he just looks at me.
                          
"Are you sure it wasn't just someone who parked their car there..?"
                          
"No, the engine was still running. I couldn't see the person because of the tinted windows, but I could feel them watching me. When I got home, I turned around and he sped off down the street over like he was trying to scare me." He just stares at me not knowing what to say. "Maybe I'm just crazy."
                          
"Your not crazy." He says standing up and hugging me. I feel comfort in his arms, more comfort then I would ever have with Jacob. "We will figure this out..."
                          
"You don't understand." I say and he lets go to look at me. I feel cold the second he leaves. "He said if he finds out I am talking to you or Brody he will hurt you... he can't know anything about this."
                          
"We should go to the police." He says and I look at him. Does he not remember what happened last time we tried that?
                          
"And say what? 'My boyfriend smacked my head into the dash board?' If they question him he can just say that he hit the breaks hard and I got a concussion or something. He has a way out of everything. Plus then he will come at me mad when he gets a visit from the Police." I hear my phone buzz on the bed. He walks over and looks at it then shows me. Jacob. 
                          
"Answer and ask about the after school thing. He needs to know that he can't control you. He thinks of you as a small little girl he can do anything to and get away with. You need to make sure he knows that you are a fighter and not the same girl you were when you dated last time." I take the phone all jacked up on his pep talk.
                          
"Your right! He doesn't control me anymore." I say answering the phone.

                          
"Hello baby girl." Jacob says in a quiet voice on the line. "What's up..."
                          
"Don't call me your baby girl." I say before he can finish. I hear him inhale about to say something but I speak before he has the chance. "Why are you making people follow me? Are you seriously that much of an asshole that you force me into a relationship, threaten my friends, then have people follow me around? If I see or hear from you again I will call..."
                          
"What are you going to do?" He asks quietly on the other line. Why is he so quiet and calm? Normally he would be screaming at me to the point I have to pull the phone away from me ear. I look at Steven as he can't hear him and gives me a weird look. I pull the phone away and put it on speaker.
                          
"Call the cops. I know a couple people who would love to hand your ass to you too." I look at my phone as he is quiet. For some odd reason the quiet is killer with him. 
                          
"Oh really? And what will happen to your so called friends?" He asks.
                          
"You do realize with one call I can have our phone calls found and you arrested for threating lives right? I'm not the same stupid girl..."
                          
"You listen hear you slut," he screams. He has lost his calm and now all hell is going to break loose. I knew it was going to happen. I never expected him to even stay cool for that long. "You are going to do as I say and nothing else. You will not resist against me because we both know..."
                          
"You don't scare me. What are you going to do? Hit me? You need a new threat. Oh also, were done. You can't force me into this anymore. I'm done." I say and he start to say something then I hang up and throw the phone on the bed. I stand there for a minute incomplete shock of what I just did. Stevens hugs me not saying anything because even he is shocked I did that. "Holy shit."

                          
"I'm so proud of you." He says and I look at the wall. 
                          
"How am I going to face him tomorrow?" I ask.
                          
"How about tomorrow I come to your house and give you a ride to school. We can go to first hour then when your mom goes to work we will come back here. She will be at work so she can't get calls saying your not in class."
                          
"Are you sure?" I ask him.
                          
"Ya. Then we can get around Jacob and figure something to do." He says.
                          
"But if he doesn't see me in passing after first he will look for me." I say making a valid point. "First place would be here. Plus, if you are not at school too, second would be your house. He will assume right away I am with you"
                          
"We can go to my cousins house for the day and stay the night there tell we get stuff figured out. They are on vacation across country and won't be home for a couple weeks." He says hugging me again as I shiver after thinking about what Jacob is going to do when I have to face him.
                          
"That works." I say then start trying to process everything. "Wait, I just pissed off Jacob."
                          
"And?" He asks as I look around while we still hug.

                          
"You need to leave." I say pushing him away lightly.
                          
"What?" He asks and I look at him.
                          
"You have to go. He is pissed off and the first place he will come is here. You have to go." I say. "He can't know you were here."
                          
"What about you.."
                          
"I have a car. As soon as you leave I will drive to the mall or something. But you have to go." I say walking him downstairs and out the back.
                          
"Stay safe." He says and I nod.
                          
"You too." I say then close the door as he runs through my back yard and to his house. I lock the door then run upstairs and grab my phone, keys, and wallet. I open the door and someone is standing there, towering over me. I look up at them and see one of Jacobs friends, of course. Please tell me they didn't see him running home.
                          
"Going somewhere?" He asks as I just look at him.