Chapter 53: Fistfight
JADE:
My first instinct was right. I have seen this number before…
I fumbled through my bag, trying to locate my purse. Once I’ve seen it, I pulled out a card that had faint blood splatters on the edges.
This was the card that was stuck at my red shoes after Marian was killed.
I had already deciphered some of the information on this card. It led me successfully into Marian’s locker.
I stared at the information written at the bottom of the card – the only other information whose significance I have yet to discover.
??????98756
I looked back at the combination of numbers comprising Gary Eduardo’s phone, and I confirmed my hunches.
I finally had the first few numbers that’ll complete this puzzle… Now I know what these numbers had meant…
I laughed softly at this realization. Kix was staring at me like I had suddenly turned into a lunatic.
“What is it? Why are you laughing? And what is that,” he said, pointing to the card in my hands.
I proceeded to tell him how I got the card and what I had found out so far.
“So you mean you don’t know who gave this card to you?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea. I went to the hospital after fainting when I saw Marian’s body… I only noticed the card and the blood on my shoes after talking to the police chief back then…”
“Who went with you to the police office?”
“No one. There were still classes in the afternoon so Liam, Ally, Nina, and Dianna had to go back. I went there by myself.”
I stared at the numbers. I was itching to do something absurd…
“Jade… What are you up to,” Kix said when he saw the wild look in my eyes.
I wanted to know it… I wanted to make sure it was him…
Before Kix could stop me, I hit the dial button on my phone where the number of Gary Eduardo had been recently saved.
I put the phone closer to my ears. It began to ring in time with my palpitating heart.
One… Two… Three rings. It just kept on ringing… Why won’t he ever answer?...
“No one’s picking up,” I mouthed to Kix.
Kix only watched me with worried eyes.
It was already like the eighth ring.
I swore I would give up calling if no one answered, but then I heard a click from the other side followed by a man’s voice…
“Hello?”
“Hel-… Hey!”
Before I could even finish my word, a hand took my smart phone away from my ears.
I thought it was Kix. I was prepared to give him a piece of my mind as I uttered a yell. However, Kix was in front of me. I turned around to face my intruder.
Rats. It was Liam!
He held my phone towards his own ears. I could clearly hear someone from the other line speak.
“Who is this?”
“Sorry. Wrong number,” Liam said curtly. He then proceeded to do something as he shuffled through my phone. He began to erase Gary’s number.
“Liam, no!”
I raised my hand in an attempt to snatch my phone from him, but Liam was taller than me. He only had to hold my phone higher, so I was not able to get it.
I jumped for my phone, but Liam just evaded me as he swerved to the left.
I could see his fingers just hovering on the DELETE button. My eyes began to water in frustration that it was nearly becoming impossible to see clearly.
Just before he could hit the ‘Yes’ for the ‘Are you sure you want to delete this permanently’ option. I saw an arm reach out towards Liam to yank my phone away. It was Kix.
“Give the phone back, you creep,” he said in a very hateful voice.
“Quit coming between me and my girlfriend,” Liam said in an equally spiteful manner.
They were eyeing each other in a horrible way that what happened next was not really a surprise.
Kix’s closed fist landed on Liam’s face just in time as I caught my phone from Liam’s hand.
“No,” I screamed as they started to get more physical on the ground.
I lost count how many fists landed on each of their faces, but so far it doesn’t seem like they had any plans on stopping.
Just now, Kix has gone on top of Liam. I was already shouting at the top of my lungs.
“No! Stop it!”
People from the security personnel finally came in. They were able to separate the two – a feat that none of the other students who tried to help were able to do so.
“You stay away from my girlfriend!”
“No, you stay away from Jade, unless you want her to know what you really are,” Kix thundered as he was dragged away from Liam.
I kneeled towards Liam’s sprawled figure in the ground. I knew Kix could survive the fistfight. He was also a few inches taller than Liam. Plus, he was a werewolf whereas Liam was human. I was afraid Kix wasn’t able to stop his strength as he landed does awful punches in Liam’s body.
To my utter relief, Liam did not seem to have any cuts, although a large part of his face and lip was swollen.
“Jade, stay away from that monster!” I could hear Kix say as they dragged him away.
I didn’t know what else to do or say. As far as I’m concerned, they were both monsters in their own respect.
“Liam, what the hell did you do that for,” I said as people from the security team half carried him to the infirmary.
“How about you, Jade? Why did you lie to me? Didn’t you say you will stop this? Didn’t you promise me you won’t put yourself in danger? So what were you doing just now?”
I held my tongue. Liam was right. I lied to him. I was caught red-handed…
“I just… I just want to make sure…”
“Make sure what, Jade? We talked about this. Did you really want to get hurt that badly?”
“Of course not!”
“Or was it Kix? Did you do that just to be with him? Do you… Do you still like him that much?”
My heart stopped. It was as if my tongue was caught in my throat…
