Take Me With You Read Free Page A

and the minute her eyes look up, the light blue color locking on me, I feel sick to my stomach. Amy Evans. One of the girls I go to school with, the person that helped Dillon and the others make my life a living hell. She’s on her knees on the floor in front of me, eyes as usual full of hatred.
    “What the hell?” she asks again, but this time it’s different. She recognizes me now and she’s asking because my being here makes no sense to her.
    Resisting the urge to turn and run now that I’ve been caught, I step completely out of my comfort zone and stick my hand out, not bothering with a response. The sooner I help her up, the better. I need to get out of here before she decides to use my being here against me.
    Placing her hand into mine even though she looks none too pleased to be doing it, I pull her up and immediately let go. I’ve done the right thing. She’s standing on her own two feet. I can go now.
    “How did you know I was gonna be here?” she asks before I can turn and make my getaway.
    “I don’t know—w—what you’re t —talking about.” I stutter, the urge to get away from her even worse now that I’ve heard the way I sound. I’m giving her material to use against me. Great. 
    “S—sure you d— don’t.” she stammers, breaking out in a fit of laughter.
    This is supposed to be a safe place even though I hate it. No one is supposed to know that I come here, least of all one of the biggest bullies in the school. The girl that just two days ago managed to hurt another one of the people I go to class with.
    Hannah Michaels is the newest beat and burn victim. The girl that wouldn’t hurt a fly had been on the receiving end of this girl’s hatred for all things special needs and was now spending her days at home paying the price for doing absolutely nothing. Yeah, I definitely gotta get the heck out of here before she decides I’m next.
    “A—are you o—okay?” I stupidly ask even though it comes out just as choked up as before.
    “Yeah I’m fine.” She answers, her smile gone and a look of indifference in its place. My eyes fall from her face as she starts fiddling with her sleeves, but not before I catch what it is she’s obviously trying to hide.
    Marks up and down her arms, circular. Some of them pink, others red and then a few that must be old because they’re a real deep shade of brown. Marks I’ve seen more than once before. Flashing back to the way Isabelle’s arm looked after running into Amy last fall, it hits me.
    Burns. All over her arm. Amy’s burned.
    “Uh—okay.”
    Way to use your words, Eric.
    Moving around her, I attempt to get back to the routine; needing to get to the reception desk and Rose’s sympathetic face now more than ever. As I’m about to turn the corner and go completely out of her view, I hear her speak again and this time, there’s no hatred or loathing.
    “Eric,” she calls out, her voice pleading. “Do you think you could keep this between us?”
    Getting over the shock at hearing her call me by my actual name and not some of the hate filled ones she normally has for me, I nod my head. Of course I can keep this between us. The last thing I wanna do is admit that Amy caught me after I spent the last hour talking to a shrink.
    “Yeah sure. You’re not even here.”
    The strangest thing happens after I speak. It throws me off so completely that as she turns and makes her way down the hall, I’m still standing in the same exact place, unable to move.  Before she turned and walked away, she did the one thing I didn’t think was possible for her.
    She smiled.

Chapter Two
     
    Amelia
     
    I’m pretty sure he caught my arms before I got the stupid sweater sleeves to go down, which means he knows my secret. One of them anyway.
    Fuck. I knew coming here was going to be a mistake. Now the biggest retard in the school knows that there’s something seriously messed up about me and there’s nothing stopping him from telling everyone the