Lessons Learned (27 page)

Fear gripped me, nearly buckling my knees.

Suddenly, Lucas was there. His arms wrapped around my waist as he tried to hold me steady.

“Sarah, what is it?”

My sweater was suddenly too tight, and I couldn’t breathe.

“I think Matt . . . and Patrick . . . are inside the building.”

Why can’t I breathe?

Horror flickered across his face. Lucas turned his attention to the frightened student at my side.

“Howie, I need you to go find Mrs. Bryant and bring her to me.”

Howie nodded and ran across the grass. It didn’t take long before Aubrey’s class joined mine, and I felt her take my hand.

“A panic attack?” Aubrey whispered.

“Stay with her,” Lucas said.

He’d just turned to go when I grabbed onto his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going inside.”

Panic seized me. “I want to go with you!”

His gentle hands framed my face.

“I don’t know what I’ll find when I get inside,” he murmured. “Please, sweetheart, stay here. Stay here for me. Promise me.”

Tears filled my eyes, and I nodded as Aubrey helped me sit down on the grass. Fear threatened to suffocate me as he ran into the building.

If anything happens to him . . .

My entire body began to shake, and Aubrey squeezed my hand reassuringly. She was talking, but it was like white noise in my roaring ears.

The air was suddenly filled with the siren of a fire engine, which made the kids laugh since everyone knew it was a false alarm.

“Why aren’t they letting us go back inside?” Carrie whined from her place in line. “It was just some stupid freshman pulling a prank.”

My heart was beating frantically in my chest, and it only raced faster when, moments later, I saw Tommy sprinting toward the building.

“Why’s Coach going inside?”

That got Aubrey’s attention. Suddenly, she looked terrified.

“It’s Matt, isn’t it?” Aubrey whispered in my ear.

I could only nod.

Time passed. I had no idea how long we stood out there, but it was long enough that the kids finally dropped to the ground and made themselves comfortable. Most of them were texting and taking pictures of the completely unnecessary fire truck.

Suddenly, more sirens filled the air, and the kids got excited when the police cruisers rumbled onto the parking lot.

Sirens.

Screams.

Blood.

My vision began to blur.

“Sarah, stay with me,” Aubrey coaxed, her hand now gripping mine. “You’re safe. Lucas is safe. Everything is going to be fine.”

More sirens, and this time, it was an ambulance. Finally understanding the situation was serious, a hush fell over the student body as the paramedics pulled up to the front entrance of the school.

I felt someone’s arm brush mine. Through my tears, I could see Howie sitting by my side on the grass, and his face was ashen. I easily recognized the expression on his face.

Guilt.

I knew the feeling so well.

I prayed for words of optimism to flood my tongue. I wanted to tell him everything would be fine. I wanted to say everything was under control, and his friend was safe.

But I knew that would be a lie.

Chapter 20

Buses rolled out of the parking lot and the less interested students headed to their cars as the school day finally came to an end. The school had gone into full lockdown mode, but since everyone was outside anyway, the principal saw no reason not to dismiss the students to go home. Those of us who remained were instructed to stay outside. It was mostly seniors, I noticed, and many of them were members of the football team. The expressions on their faces were a mixture of confusion and grief, and I wondered how many of them had been directly involved.

    Over time, my frantic anxiety had drifted into a numb bewilderment. Howie and Aubrey remained at my side, both texting furiously on their phones. There were plenty of rumors circulating, but none of them could be considered legitimate information.

The lack of news was horrible.

The waiting was worse.

Several students gasped when the front doors finally burst open, and everyone jumped to their feet as we watched the paramedics carry someone out on a gurney. It was impossible to see anything from a distance, and the students groaned with disappointment as the sirens blared and the paramedics raced off school grounds.

“There’s Mr. Miller!”

Relief flowed through me as Lucas’s eyes scanned the grass, his eyes locking with mine. Tommy and Mr. Mullins followed behind him, and seconds later, four policemen walked out onto the sidewalk with Mr. and Mrs. Stuart.

A student wearing a Panthers hoodie stood between two of the officers, and when the boy raised his head, a horrified gasp echoed from the students and teachers on the lawn.

Matt was bandaged and bruised, but he was standing. He was walking. He was talking.

Most importantly, he was alive.

Lucas’s arms wrapped around me, and I sagged with relief against him while we watched the officers lead Matt to the cruiser.

“They’re both okay, baby.”

Both?

“I don’t understand,” Aubrey said, echoing all of our thoughts, “if that’s Matt . . . who was in the ambulance?”

Lucas held me a little tighter.

“Patrick,” he murmured.

“Drink this,” Lucas said gently, offering me a mug. He’d insisted on following me home, and I’d been confined to the couch ever since.

Hopeful, I peered into the cup. “Is it alcohol?”

“No, it’s hot chocolate.”

Sipping slowly, I hummed in gratitude as the liquid warmed me. Lucas adjusted the blanket around my shoulders before taking a seat next to me on the couch. I could feel his eyes on me while I quietly drank my cocoa.

“I’m okay.”

Reaching for me, he wrapped both of his hands over mine, trying to warm me.

“Didn’t you have a jacket?”

“Yeah, I just didn’t bother grabbing it. I figured it was just a drill.”

Lucas nodded.

I placed my mug on the end table. Needing to be closer, I climbed into his lap, tugging the blanket around us.

“This is my favorite place to sit,” I whispered with a grin.

“I love it, too.” Kissing my temple, he buried his nose in my hair. “How are you, really?”

“I’ll be better once you give me all the details.”

“I don’t have all of them,” Lucas reminded me. “I just know what I saw.”

“What did you see?”

Lucas sighed softly and held me close.

“It was all pre-meditated. Apparently, Patrick had been waiting to get Matt alone. He saw Matt go into the restroom between classes, and Patrick convinced one of his friends to pay a freshman to pull the fire alarm. When I arrived, Matt was beaten and bloody, but he was the one holding the weapon as he stood over Patrick’s body.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“A metal pipe,” Lucas replied. “I have no idea where it came from. Patrick’s friends had apparently followed him into the bathroom, but they’d deserted him the moment he pulled the pipe out of his jacket. That’s what Matt told the police, anyway.”

“So there were no witnesses.”

“Well, the police consider me a witness, since I was the person who saw Matt with the weapon.”

“That’s not helpful at all.”

“I know.”

“He was just defending himself!”

“I know, sweetheart. Unfortunately, just
knowing
isn’t enough. They want physical evidence, and while Matt was obviously beaten, Patrick was the one taken to the emergency room, so . . .”

I closed my eyes. This was so bad.

“I
told
them something was going to happen. I told them!”

Lucas’s forehead creased. “You told who?”

“Principal Mullins and Tommy.” I then told him all about my confrontation with Shellie and the other teachers, which led to an even bigger confrontation with the principal.

“I’m not surprised,” Lucas said after I told him about the principal’s reaction. “I am a little disappointed in Tommy, though.
That’s
why you were so upset when you returned to class.”

I nodded and snuggled close to his chest.

“Will you still love me when I’m unemployed?”

He laughed lightly.

“I’m serious. I was definitely insubordinate. I’m a new hire. Even if I somehow survive this school year, I can’t imagine Principal Mullins will recommend hiring me back.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” he said, kissing my cheek softly.

He was right. We had much bigger issues to deal with at the moment.

“What will happen to Matt?”

“I don’t know. He’s eighteen, and Patrick could press charges.”

“It was self-defense!”

“Can you prove it?” Lucas asked. “You can’t, baby. And if they use me as a witness, I will have to admit I found Matt standing over Patrick’s body with a pipe in his hands.”

“Matt’s arm was still in a cast. How much damage could he really do?”

His eyes looked haunted. “A metal pipe can do a lot of damage.”

Lucas fell silent then, and I knew the discussion was over. Protecting me had become a religion to him, and there was no way I was going to get the gory details.

Trying to soothe him, I gently stroked his face.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Sarah, it was terrible,” he said, swallowing hard. “I don’t particularly like Patrick—and I can’t say he didn’t deserve to have his ass kicked—but it was still hard to see him like that.”

“Beating him with a metal pipe isn’t an ass kicking. That’s aggravated battery, and Matt could go to jail.”

Lucas’s cell phone rang, and I climbed off his lap and took my mug to the kitchen while he answered it. I was exhausted and emotional, and all I really wanted to do was crawl into bed with Lucas and ignore the rest of the world for the next four days.

Unfortunately, that was impossible, because I had a Thanksgiving dinner to prepare and parents to meet.

Opening the refrigerator, I made a quick note of some things I still needed to pick up from the store. What would they like for breakfast? Did they like coffee? I didn’t even own a coffee maker.

“That was my mom,” Lucas said as he walked into the kitchen. “They offered to postpone their trip until Christmas if we’d rather wait.”

I spun around. “Why would we want to wait?”

“It’s been a hell of a week, Sarah. Maybe it’d be nice to just have the holiday to ourselves.”

It was so tempting, but I really did want to meet his parents. Besides, spending time with family was important. It was one of those lessons you didn’t learn until your entire family was gone.

“What do you want to do?” They were his parents, after all, and he’d had a traumatic day, too.

He pressed his forehead against mine. “I want to do whatever will make you happy.”

I rolled my eyes and grinned. “That’s your answer for everything.”

Smiling, he kissed me softly.

“We have a lot to be thankful for,” I said. Despite the drama, and despite the fact I’m probably going to be flipping burgers at the diner next school year . . .”

Lucas laughed.

“. . . the one thing that’s perfect is
us
, and I want them to see how happy their son makes me. I want to be surrounded by family this Thanksgiving, even if it isn’t my own.”

Tilting my head up toward his, he kissed me tenderly. When he finally pulled away, his eyes were full of emotion.

Excitement. Happiness. Love.

So much love.

“
You
are my family,” he whispered sincerely.

I smiled. “And you are mine.”