The Wrong Path - By Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris Page 0,14

what was happening in front of Trevor, of all people? “Yeah,” she assured him, trying to control herself. If she burst into tears, she would never live down her humiliation.

“Do you want to go home?”

She shook her head. She could never, ever let her parents see her like this. “I-I’ll stay at Claire’s tonight.”

He nodded. She still felt adrenaline pumping through her system, making her restless. Her body wanted to move, but now that she knew why, she felt like she could control it. Or at least what she did about it. “Do you want to get some coffee or something?”

Again, she shook her head. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and stay there until everything faded out of her system. “I’m okay. Thank you, though.”

He nodded and smiled encouragingly. “At least nothing bad happened.”

She thought about the hands she had let travel her body and hung her head, feeling dirty and ashamed. She had never known what it meant to want to crawl out of her own skin until that moment, but she wished she could; could just claw it all off. She had embarrassed and humiliated herself in front of the entire school. How could she ever live that down?

There was a clattering in the trees from the direction of the lake house. She quickly turned away as they were joined by a panting, half-panicked boy. “Trev. Dude. Trev. You gotta help me. Zach and Cody are about to kill each other.”

There was a hesitation. “I-I—“

“Go,” Annabelle said quickly, turning back to offer a smile. “I’ll go back to the party, too. Find Claire and the others.”

Trevor looked torn, but he finally took her arm through the fabric of Will’s shirt and led her back to the group, following Marcus to a circle that had gathered. Trevor released her hesitantly and cut through the group, disappearing into the middle. Annabelle stood on the edge, clapping her hands together to try and get the dirt off. It was a futile effort, so after a moment, she turned and headed to the lake. She didn’t really want to be around anyone right now, anyway. Especially Trevor. Not until she was able to forget about everything that had happened.

She scrubbed her hands together in the water and was trying to shake them dry when the music suddenly stopped. She looked up, startled at the silence.

All at once, everyone seemed to hear the noise in the distance. Sirens. The crowd immediately broke up, people fleeing to their cars. Annabelle looked around wildly for her friends or for Trevor as she rushed back up, but in the flurry of activity, she could see nothing.

A hand grabbed her wet one, dragging her through the stampeding students. “Will?” she asked, bewildered, recognizing the white t-shirt clad back.

He unlocked the doors to his black convertible with his keyless entry and yanked the passenger door open. “Get in,” he urged quickly.

She did, feeling lost, even as he hurried to the driver’s side and jumped in behind the wheel. He gunned the engine and to her horror, cut through the cars all trying to get out on the small road at once. She screamed as he barely slid in-between two cars, covering her face with her hands even as she was tossed around the tiny two-door car. She reached quickly for the seat belt and snapped it on, a mixture of drug-induced and real adrenaline and fear coursing through her veins.

Once they were out on the open road, and the sound of sirens could no longer be heard, he reached into the backseat and produced an unopened bottle of water. “Drink this,” he said, handing it to her.

She looked down at it, frowning. “Why?” she asked, the idea of water making her stomach turn.

He glanced over at her. “And drink about five or six more before you go to bed. You need to rehydrate yourself.”

He didn’t need to say anymore. She flushed and dutifully twisted the top off of the bottle, forcing herself to drink it down even when her stomach protested.

He pulled up to a stoplight and slid his cell phone out of his pocket, texting someone. She waited until he was done before she finally spoke again. “Thank you for getting me out of there,” she said, feeling strangely shy. It seemed like such a trivial thing to say, but she couldn’t figure out any other words that would convey her gratitude.

He looked over at her, offering her a gentle smile. “You’re welcome.”

He