Bullet

Chapter 5 - The Inevitable

Chapter 5
The Inevitable

A/N - Photo to the side is of Clay! 

The Night Before…

Although tonight’s mission was clearly in pursuit of my brother on his ‘date’ with Lily Powell, Marnie and I had made it just a bit more fun for ourselves.

It had been about a week since our outburst in the middle of math class and she was still on edge with me. She wasn’t back to the normal, bubbly girl I was so used to. She kept saying she had to ‘focus on her homework’ whenever I invited her over to hang out after school and didn’t talk much when we were together throughout the day. I knew it was something much bigger that was bothering her, and not just the fact that I basically barked at her for not reporting Carter’s behavior. We had fights before, most that lasted nothing longer than a day or two.

So something was eating her away inside, I just couldn’t place my finger on what.

I was hoping it had nothing to do with the fact that she and Carter were finished. He wasn’t anywhere near good for her, let alone enough of a man to keep around. He was a cocky, selfish bastard who got thrills out of scaring other people senseless. The way he was acting towards Marnie in their relationship was nothing short of a façade he must have put on for every girl that came in his path. You couldn’t believe anything he did had any positive justification behind it.

Carter Wayland would forever be the nastiest form of a monster.

While Marnie was still upset about things she wouldn’t clue me in on, she still accepted my invitation to crash the house party at one of the team player’s massive houses. We made it enjoyable for us, me picking out somewhat slutty outfits to wear and her doing daring things with my eye shadow and lip stick. Even though her smiles were faltered and her eyes weren’t as bright as before, she was still trying her hardest to make this night better for the both of us. The smiles, however small, were still there.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you lately?” I asked gently as she applied more dark eye shadow to the base of my lid.

She paused for a moment, her brush hanging in mid air as I glanced at her with one eye. She focused on all other parts of my face that didn’t include my wandering eye.

“Um…I’m not sure what you mean.”

Sighing heavily, I said, “Marn, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Ever since Carter grabbed you up like that this week, you’ve been…somewhere else.”

She switched colors on the palette, giving the creases of my eyes accentuations while she determined what would be the best way to key me in on what was bothering her. After she blew on the brush a bit before placing it on my eye, she murmured, “Carter’s just been acting weird lately.”

“What do you mean ‘weird’?”

I wished I could fully look at her instead of keeping my eyes shut for this makeover of hers. I wanted her to know that she had my full, undivided attention if this was too hard for her to talk about.

“After he gripped me up in the hallway the other day…he’s been following me around campus a lot. If it’s not him, it’s one of his football buddies. I keep feeling like if I make one wrong move…he’ll come after me or something,” she breathed, setting the palette down and finally letting me open my eyes.

When I did, her eyes were back to the sullen, almost sunken look like she hadn’t gotten sleep in weeks. She expertly covered the dark circles with concealer and made her eyes look beautiful beneath all of the make up, but I knew her long enough to know that this wasn’t just some small thing to be overlooked.