She's my mystery

Chapter 19.

Ethan's P.O.V.

After having seen Layla and gotten to see how she was doing and talking with her, I had a lot of mixed emotions..

I was happy that she was saying she was okay, but hearing what happened to her, made me unbelievably mad and if Alex hadn't been caught I would have chased him down myself and made sure he never hurt her again..

When I got back home, I headed straight to bed, and on the way to my room, I passed Max in the hallway..

"Hey man, what has taken you so long.? The mall closed hours ago.." he asked as I passed him..

"Not tonight Max, I'll tell you in the morning.. Okay..?" I said, being very tired, and opened the door to my room..

"Yeah sure.. Godnight." he said and went into his room and closed the door..

When I had closed my door, I stripped out of my clothes and crawled under the cover and fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.. I was exhausted after visiting Layla, but my mind was more at ease after seeing her doing better than I first thought..

I slept like a rock all night and the next morning as I was driving, Max and I went to campus, Max couldnt wait any longer to hear about yesterday..

"Ethan, you have to tell me what the f**k happened yesterday, since you wouldnt tell me last night.! And I had a hard time sleeping last night because of it.!" he demanded..

"Okay, okay I will.. I somehow ended up driving to Layla's house after I finished at the mall with my sisters.. And I drafted a text, but didn't intend on sending it, but as I tossed my phone onto the seat I accidentally hit send.." I told him..

"Haha, dude what the hell.. haha.." Max laughed, "What happened then.?"

"Then she replied and invited me in for a cup of coffee before I headed home.." I said.

"And she wasn't creeped out..?" Max teased..

"No, in my text I first sent to her by accident, I told her that I wasn't intending on driving to her house, but somehow my mind had other plans.." I said a bit annoyed because he made it sound like I was stalking her..

"Oh okay.. How is she then..?" Max carefully asked, not knowing if I was allowed to tell him..

"She is doing a lot better than I thought, but she said that comparing 'this time' to the 'first time' Alex assaulted her, that this time wasn't that bad.. She was mostly focusing on surviving and hoping for the authorities to come and find her, because she knew if she struggled against him, that it would only set him off.." I told him, and forcefully held onto the staring wheel as the anger coursed through my body..

".. I see.. She really is a smart girl, and that makes it so much worse that all that has happened to her.." Max confessed and looked down at the car floor..

I nodded in agreement and the rest of the car ride to campus was silent..

When we pulled into the campus parking lot, we noticed a big group of people gathered around something towards the entrance of the main campus building..

Max and I gave each other a questioning look and then got out of the car.. We headed towards the group and then I could see Jackie trying to push through the crowd but with no luck..

"Hey Jackie, what are people fuzzing so much about..?" Max asked as we came up behind her..

"Max, Ethan..! It's not a thing, its Layla..! Mille is with her trying to get people away but we were suddenly surrounded and I got pushed away from them..."

I didnt hear anything else Jackie said...

"GET AWAY FROM HER...!" I roared, and everybody that heard me froze..

A lot of the crowd quickly ran off after laying eyes on me and they wouldnt want to be in my way.. But some people closer to the center hadn't heard me, so when I got to them, I grabbed them by their collars and began tossing them aside, and the ones facing me quickly squatted as I got closer..

When only a few people were left, I could hear some guys right next to the girls, asking Layla about how bad it actually could have been for her since she was back so soon..

Before I could get my hands on them, Max had pinned my arms behind me, "YOU LOSERS BETTER GO BEFORE I LOSE MY GRIB ON HIM.." Max yelled as I was kicking and twisting, trying to get lose from his firm grib..

When the guys saw me and the look in my eyes that I was ready to kill them from what I had just heard, they ran like if their pants were on fire..

"MAX..! Let me go..!" I snapped at him, but he just shook his head no..

"Ethan..?" the sound of her sweet voice calmed me down enough to have Max let go of my arms from behind my back..

"Are you guys okay..?" I asked, looking straight at Layla..

"Yeah thanks to you.." Layla said with a faint smile, still looking shaken up by what just happened..

"Hey Jackie, he is calmed down again." Max called back to Jackie, who was still standing where the circle of the crowd had begun 14 feet away..

She slowly approached us..

"How did you get to him so fast..?" Jackie then asked Max..

"Oh.. I saw his body make this small twitch and had a feeling like he would rip somebody's head off if he got the chance.. I guess knowing each other for so many years, you pick up on those things faster.." Max said, and everyone including myself looked at him stunned..

Then the campus bell rang, so our first classes were about to start..

"Maybe I should have just taken the exams at home like it had been offered to me.." Layla said in defeat..

"Why dont we go and talk to the Head-master and tell him what just happened..?" Mille said, trying to give her some hope..

"Okay.. Can we all meet up at lunch.?" Layla asked Max, Jackie and I..

"Sure.." we all said.. Then we all spilt up to go to our classes and Mille went with Layla to go see the headmaster..

I would rather have stayed with her to really make sure she was okay, but with Mille by her side and on the way to the Head masters office, I wasn't that worried, plus everyone would already be attending their classes by now..

My finals were first starting tomorrow, but Layla, Mille and Jackie had some that is starting today..

I just hope for Layla's sake that they can figure something out so she can get it over with and still be able to attend the graduation ceremony with the rest of us..