CHAPTER 14 | THE ACCIDENT

NEVAEH STOLLY

"I know that the type of people with Zaiah's personality may seem like a pain in the ass but they also have their funny side," I explain to the girl who has her gaze glued to my face. 

Zaiah throws a little water on my face and I smile, raising my gaze towards him. "Neve, love, when she says I'm not her type it refers to the fact that she doesn't like boys at all." 

"Oh. Oh," the moment of realization hits me and now it's like it all makes sense. She wasn't jealous of me but she was of Zaiah. 

"That's the first time a girl likes me. I feel a little nervous, I'm not going to lie." a wave of warmth fills my body and when I look at Love I see how she smiles in the corner of her mouth. 

"Now that you've seen how Neve feels, you can leave." Zaiah's voice seems a little grumpy and I don't understand why. 

"Jealous puppet?" The girl with the piercing in her nose whispers with a grin on her face. 

Zaiah didn't get to answer her because the toilet door opened and Tamara entered her and Carl was behind her. They both breathe heavily and seem relieved when they see us. 

"Here you are." my best friend says through her breath.

"I told you to look for them here for the first time. But you said they certainly wouldn't go here." Carl teases Tamara and she turns her gaze to him. "Let's not talk about the past, okay?"

I feel Zaiah's hands in my hair again and I close my eyes to the pleasant feeling. "You should do this more often, pretty boy."

"I'm not your head washer." 

"And what are you doing here, Love? Have you come to see how humiliated my Nevaeh feels? You can leave. We don't need you or your arrogance. And you tell Delaynia that if she ever hurts Nevaeh again she's going to have to deal with me." Her words are harsh and you can feel the threat in them.

"I'm not going to do this again." She turns her gaze to me and speaks again. "I'm really sorry about what happened, doll. I hope you'll be fine." With that said, she's leaving the bathroom and everyone's watching her.

"Doll? Who does she think she is? She never had dolls and now she thinks people are her toys?" Carl says the words confidently behind Tamara.

"I didn't think you'd hit her back, Neve." Zaiah changes the subject.

Many did not expect to hit her. 

"Well, my father taught me to be kind to the people around me. To respect everyone. Because we don't know what they went through. How hard they tried not to end their lives every day. We don't know how hard they worked to get to where they are now. But he also taught me that when someone is bad to me, I should be bad to them. Because if I don't do anything to stop them, then I'm just like them. Because if I don't do anything, they'll think I'm weak and play with me like I'm their own puppet. And I don't want to live up to someone else's decisions." 

After I finish my speech, I feel like everyone's eyes are on me. A slightly awkward silence sets in between us, but Carl interrupts it. "Zaiah, can I borrow your motorcycle today? And you can come home with my car. Please!" He tied his hands together in a sign of prayer.

"Why?" Zaiah has finally finished washing my hair so I want to get up but he stops me. "We have to dry it somehow." 

"No need. It's not very wet. It will dry until the end of class." 

"It's going to get cold, Neve."

"I didn't catch a cold when I danced in the rain. Being in my pyjamas. Do you think I'm going to catch a cold from wet hair? I'm made of steel." I straighten my back to look more serious.

"She is right." Tamara supports me.

I look back at her and I give her a thumbs up.

"Are you lending me your motorcycle or not?" Carl asked the question earlier.

Zaiah sighs and runs his hand over his face. "Why do you want my motorcycle?"

Carl approaches his brother and whispers something. I don't understand what they're saying, but Zaiah seems to be paying attention.

"Okay, you can have my motorcycle." Carl starts clapping and hugging his brother. He ran the short distance between himself and Tamara and grabbed her face, kissing her for a few seconds. He takes a few steps and reaches me. "I'm not going to kiss you." Instead, he hugs me and I put my hands around him.

"You really smell like orange juice," he says as he walks away from me, but I keep slapping him on the shoulder.

The bell rang and only now did I realize I couldn't eat anything. I'll probably get Zaiah to buy me some pancakes when school's over.

"I have Geography. I have to go." Zaiah announces to us and before he leaves he comes next to me. "If your hair doesn't dry out by the end of class, give me a message. I'll get something, okay?" His voice is more of a whisper as if he doesn't want Tam and Carl to hear him.

"It's going to dry but okay. Now go to your class." I know his Geography teacher is very strict.

When he leaves, he touches my hair. A light touch that passed quickly. Like it's never been there.

The bell announces the end of class and everyone rushes to leave the classroom. I wait for all the fuss to go away and then I leave the class. At the door, I see Zaiah waiting for me.

"Hi there, pretty boy." His gaze is on me.

"Your hair has dried out." He seems a little disappointed that he is wrong, but I feel victorious.

"Come buy me some pancakes. I'm hungry." I can't wait for his answer and start walking out.

"Again? I'm afraid you're going to get diabetes." 

"I can also get diabetes based on stress. If I don't eat pancakes, I'm going to be stressed. So both options lead to the same place." I hear Zaiah sigh and I grin.

We arrive in the parking lot and Zaiah unlocks Carl's car. He opened the door for me. "How nice of you." 

"Shut up!" He rolls his eyes playfully and then goes around the car, reaching the driver's seat.

He puts the key in the contact and the car makes its normal sound.

"Someone asked me to take a picture with her. She told me she liked what I did in the canteen." I feel like I'm famous now. I kind of like that feeling.

"Looks like I'm not going to be the only popular one in our relationship." He tells me as he pulls the car out of the parking lot.

"Do you want an autograph? You'd be the first person to have my autograph. If we don't count the autograph notebooks from when I was little." When I was 6, I used to buy notebooks and I pretended to be a celebrity and gave autographs to my fans.

To my surprise, Zaiah stretches out his hand. "If you insist." 

I hurry to find a marker in my backpack and then write my name on his hand.

"You should tattoo it. It's too beautiful." I admire my writing.

"Stop being so narcissistic." Zaiah puts his hand on his lap but I notice that he stealthily looks at the writing with a short smile on his lips.

"Says the narcissist," I whisper to myself.

When I look back out the window, I notice a car bravely coming toward us. Although we should have priority.

"Zaiah stops the car!" I scream though I don't know why. I should be calm but I can't. Fear grips me and I feel my whole body tremble. Not just hands. But all my body. Hands, feet, fingers, head, fingers, breathing. Everything in me was shaking. The buzzing scratches my ears and everything sounds muffled.

"Why-?" 

The impact occurs. The foreign car hits us. Our car starts to roll a few meters further. But I had forgotten to put on my seat belt. So my body gets detached from the car until I get on the road and my body hits the asphalt.

"Zaiah!" I try to scream but I don't know if my voice is heard or if it's just a whisper. 

My head explodes, my whole body stings, and I can feel my blood flowing. I don't know exactly where.

"Help!" I start screaming again but I can't open my mouth.

My eyes close slowly, though I try to keep them open.