The Challenge (15 page)

"Am I ever okay?" I asked.

"I guess not," Lena said, resignedly. She hugged me then walked into her class, leaving me alone in the hall.

"Kris!" I turned and walked away. "Kris, wait up!" I didn't even look when Henry caught up, and fell into step next to me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...It's over," I informed him.

"Wait, what?" Henry asked, grabbing my arm lightly. I shook him off and kept walking. "Kristina!" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Bloody fucking hell, just stop!" He came in front of me and I had to stop.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked, taking a step back.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked. I refused to look into his eyes.

"What I mean is, now that you've got what you wanted, why aren't you with your little girlfriend?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I thought I was," Henry said, sounding confused. "Kris...what's wrong?" He put his hands on my upper arms, but I stepped away out of his reach.

"The deal is over, Henry. I'm not playing with you anymore."

"I'm trying to figure out what the bloody hell you're talking about!" Henry shouted.

"I'm just telling you that we don't have to pretend anymore. You got Lauren back; the deal's over." I went to go past him, but he grabbed me and spun me around to face him. "What do you want?" I asked in exasperation.

"What do you mean, I got Lauren back?" Henry asked.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me!" I said. "You know...you don't have to hide anything from me. It's not like we were ever real." His grip on me tightened and I fought back a whimper. "So there you go-no more pretending. I thought things had changed but I guess not. At least you won't have to fake break up with me, too!"

"Have you lost your bloody mind?" Henry asked.

"I saw you!" I said. "I saw you kissing her Friday night at the bar."

"Oh God...You saw?"

"What does it matter if I did or not?"

"Kris!" Henry pleaded in a forlorn voice.

"Don't! It's over. I don't want to go on with this stupid charade!"

Henry's grip increased slightly before he let go and threw his hands up. It was then that I realized we had an audience. I guess our voices had gotten pretty loud.

"Fine, then." Henry said. "Be a stubborn bitch. You don't want to be with me anymore, that's bloody well fine by me!" He spun around and stormed off.

"Fuck you!" I yelled at him and he threw his middle finger up. My jaw dropped. "Asshole!" I turned around and made my way through the crowd to Lena's class, where I knocked on the door and waited.

"Yes?" the teacher asked.

"Lena's needed in the library," I said without giving it much thought. A few seconds later, Lena was standing outside the class, her bag over her shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it here," I said. Lena just nodded. "Do you mind skipping Drama?"

"Nope," Lena said. We left the school and stood at the bus stop. Lena looked at me from time to time, but didn't say anything. We got on the bus, and rode it to our neighborhood in silence. We arrived at her place and that's when I broke down. I collapsed onto the couch and buried my face in my hands.

"Oh, Kris!" I felt Lena sit next to me and I buried my face in her shoulder.

I don't know how I managed it but I told her everything that had happened. The whole time she sat there, hugging me and listening. Once I finished, we sat in silence. Well...I still cried for a few minutes, but Lena said nothing as she patted my back.

"Did you love him?" she asked. I stared at her, unsure of what to say. "Oh, Krissy..." She hugged me again.

"I can't stay here, Le," I said, finally. I sat up, and tried to brush the tears off my face. "I don't want to put up with him."

"Where are you going to go?" Lena asked.

That's why I loved her so much. She never tried talking me out of things, unless she knew it was bad for me. She accepted who I was and supported my decisions. Sometimes she wouldn't be happy about it, but she did accept it.

"Some place where no one will know I am," I said.

Lena stared into my eyes with a look of understanding in her own.

I SAT ON the bus-not a city bus, but one of those big, cross-country buses with the onboard toilet-and tried to clear my head. Thank God for Lena; I told her not to, but she gave me money. My plan was to stay away for about three or four weeks. I had written notes to my friends and one for Uncle Ethan and Megan. None of them knew where I was going except for Lena.

I looked out the window at the setting sun. I had been on the bus for about three hours now. I had the whole row to myself, so my feet were curled up on the seat next to mine. Luckily, there were outlets on the bus so I was able to charge my phone, which was now vibrating on my lap. It was a text message from Sam wondering when I'd come back. I texted her back, saying I'd return in a few weeks.

"Do you know how much longer until the next stop?" I asked, looking at the lady on the other side of the bus. She had been really nice to me so far. Next to her was a sleeping seven year old girl.

"I'd say about another hour," the lady said. "You haven't said where you're going."

"My grandma's been sick lately, so I volunteered to stay with her for a while." I lied. Neither of my grandmothers had been sick since that fall awhile back.

"Well, aren't you a good girl!" the lady commented.

I smiled to hide the shame of lying to such a kind lady and looked back out the window. My phone rang and I checked Caller I.D. to see that it was Lena. She was the only one I'd talk to. Last time I ran away, Uncle Ethan called me and got me to talk for a few minutes. Someone then found me three hours later and I learned that Uncle Ethan had traced my call. I wasn't making that mistake again.

"Hey, Le," I said quietly.

"Hey. How's it going?" Lena asked.

"Still another hour," I grumbled.

"Oh that sucks," Lena said. "Hey, you remember where that dance friend of mine lives, right?"

"Which one?" I asked.

"Chelsea. Well, I gave her a shout and she said that if you needed to, you could stay with her." Lena said. "She told me to call her back with an answer after I finish talking with you. That way, she'd know when to expect you, and, if you needed, she can meet you at the bus terminal," Lena said.

"So she really doesn't mind?" I asked in disbelief. I was planning on spending the time in a hotel or something. To be honest, I hadn't really thought it through completely.

"Well...for the first week she's fine with it," Lena said. "But after that, it will be hard because she's got this competition coming up."

"A week is fine. I can spend the rest of the time in a motel, like I planned."

"I'll give her a call then," Lena said. "I'll call you back in like ten minutes."

"Okay, bye," I said, then hung up. I looked over at the lady near me and was glad that she wasn't paying attention. Then I relaxed and tried to get some rest.

By the time I got off the bus, my knees were sore from being curled up for so long.

"Hey, Kristina!"

I looked around for whoever called my name. Sure enough, there was Lena's friend, Chelsea. I had met her before when she visited Lena and she was gorgeous. Her parents were from Egypt, so she had an exotic look to her. She was taller than I was, with dark hair and hazel eyes. And you could definitely tell she was a dancer.

"Hey, Chelsea, long time, no see," I said, walking over to her, dragging my suitcase-on-wheels. "Thanks so much for letting me stay with you."

"Hey, it's no problem," Chelsea said. "Lena told me some of what happened. Sounds like a harsh split."

I feigned a smile. The next few weeks were going to be rough and it was nice to know I was in good hands. It would be the first time I'd spent more than a day away from family and friends.

HENRY

Kris wasn't at the school the next day, or the day after that. I was beginning to worry. I called her house, but her uncle said she had gone off somewhere and wouldn't answer her mobile. I tried her phone, but got what I expected-no answer. Now I had become really worried. I even risked talking to one of the girls, against my better judgement. They just told me, rather harshly, that the only communication they had with Kris was text messaging.

Things got worse when I realized that David was gone as well. Once I had noticed that, my mind traveled to the worst possible place. I was so distraught that I even asked Lauren about it.

"How the hell should I know where he is?" Lauren snapped. There was no way she would ever be pleasant with me after I shunned her. "I'm not dating him anymore."

"Whoever dates you next will likely try to kill himself to get away from you," I taunted her. She slapped me and stormed away.

On the third day of her being gone, Lena approached me. "What happened between you and Kris?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Lauren cornered me at the bar on Friday and she tried getting me back, but I wouldn't and..."

"You kissed her?" Lena asked.

"She snogged me!" I said. "And I was mental, because first I was thinking about the times that I had kissed her..." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Then I thought about the times I had kissed Kris and my mind just sort of switched to that mode. The next thing I know, I'm snogging her back!" I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. "God, am I ever going to stop getting myself into these messes?"

"Probably not," Lena said. I tilted my head and looked at her. "Henry, I'm gonna ask you something that I asked Kris."

"What?" I asked, lifting my head.

"Do you love her?" Lena gave me a frown that I mirrored.

That was the easiest question I'd been asked all year. Of course I did. She was a brilliant, sweet girl, whom I had developed such an intense chemistry with. She never ceased to make me laugh and I couldn't bare to see her cry. Plus, I couldn't think of any other reason why I would beat up David. I hadn't any other reason other than the fact that he hurt Kris very deeply somehow.

"Yeah," I said. "I really do love her."

"I'm worried," Lena said after a few minutes. I raised an eyebrow. "David's been gone as long as Kris has and I'm afraid of what might be going on. His parents have no clue where he is."

"Where's Kris?" I asked.

"I...I can't tell you right now," Lena said. "If things don't get any better by Friday, then I will tell you. She is in a safe place right now, so please don't worry."

"Lena, let's go!" Lukas suddenly yelled. Lena gave me one last sad look before running over to her brother.

After school, I decided to drive around L.A. I had nowhere to go and, as hard as I tried, I couldn't just drive away from myself and my...thoughts. I knew Kris wasn't in town anymore, but that still didn't stop me from looking around. By the time I got home, it was nearly six. On the fridge was a note for me.

I know where she is.

-D

I stared at the note. "D"? That had to stand for David. I knew it was from David and I knew what he was talking about. I grabbed my phone and called Lena, telling her to come to my house as soon as possible.

HENRY

It seemed like it took forever for Lena to get there. With her came James, Lukas and Amanda. Amanda was still giving me the death stare and James and Lukas looked more curious than angry.

"What's wrong?" Lena asked. I handed her the note. "Who's D?"

"Who else?" I asked.

"David," James said.

"Yeah," I replied. "He knows where Kris is."

"How would he know that?" Lena asked. "No one knows where she's gone."

"He could have followed her." I said, trying to remember. Was he in the crowd that had gathered during the fight? "Lena...what did he do?"

"What do you mean?" Lena asked.

"He did something...something awful...to Kristina," I said. "That's why I got into the fight with him. She never told me what it was but I saw it in her eyes that, whatever he did, it scarred her deeply."

"Well what do you think he did, exactly?" Lena asked.

"I don't know. Beat her? Blackmailed her? Threatened her?" I started wondering aloud.

Then Lena gave me the most immensely sad look I'd ever seen and it all hit me like a ton of bricks. It all made since, how she pushed me away the first time I came over drunk. How it took her so long to come off it. I had to sit down.

"He didn't...I mean...He couldn't..." I was starting to go mental "Did he-"

"Yeah, he did," Lena admitted.

"Will you two tell us what's going on!" James yelled.

"I can't...tell all of you," Lena said. "It's bad enough that Henry knows. Kris is gonna kill me."

"Here," I said, taking Lena's arm lightly and leading her into the kitchen. "So, how'd it happen?"

"About a year ago..." Lena whispered. "There was this party. Kris and David were sorta broken up." Lena looked uncomfortable and kept her arms folded across her chest. I waited patiently for her to continue; I wanted her to tell me everything. "And...after a while, he told her he was sorry, so she forgave him. Then they danced for a long time and he kept feeding her drinks."