Chapter 11 – Olivia Clark

I walked out the library because I wanted to follow him and ask him if he wanted to hang out with me after school. Turns out that wasn’t the best idea, because I see him with Jackson at the end of the hallway. As I come closer, I notice that both of them look genuinely furious and Chase raises his voice at Jackson. I slightly flinch at the sound of his voice, because I have never witnessed him raising his voice at anyone, ever. “GET OFF OF HIM, CHASE”, I yell from the top of my lungs. I pull him off of Jackson and get him far away enough from Jackson, thinking about how I could help both of them later. “You stay here and don’t you dare and leave”, my adrenaline makes me snap at Chase. I quickly walk back to Jackson and help him up. As I start to investigate his bruises, I start to ramble and mumble out an apology for Chase. In my peripheral vision I can see Chase slowly approaching us, looking seriously enraged. I immediately turn around and stand in front of Jackson, knowing damn well that I’m way too small to cover his whole body, and way too weak to protect him in general. Why would I even want to protect Jackson? Why would I want to fight Chase? What is happening right now? There are way too many questions in my head right now. Like what kind of feelings do I have for Chase? And in what kind of situation am I with Jackson? ‘Please don’t make me choose, Universe, please make this easy for me’, I beg, lost in my thoughts. I snap back into reality and the only thing leaving my mouth is: “Why would you do that? I’m genuinely scared of you.” As I turn around, I grab Jackson’s hand and pull him with me. We are going to leave. I walk outside, still holding onto his hand. “Explanation. Right now”, I say gasping for air, though it looks like I’m the only one right now who needs this fresh air the most. “He punched me first.”, he answers calmly. “I don’t care. I do not have the nerves for this bullshit. What the fuck happened there just now?”, I ask trying to stay calm. “He bumped into me while walking around the corner and called me a ‘dumbass’ and punched me all of a sudden. I didn’t do any-” “Did you say something to him?”, I ask not even giving him enough time to finish what he was saying. “I told him that I was looking for you, that’s all”, he innocently exclaims. I knew it. “I fucking knew it”, my thoughts leave my mouth without permission. “Knew what?”, Jackson asks. I suddenly pull him into a hug and cry into his chest: “This was all because of me, Jackson…”, while I hear the door behind us open. “What is going on here?”, that voice sounds familiar.