Page 176 of Vying Girls

It only takes a few steps back through the forest before it dawns on me, like a huge, icy bucket of water, the most probable reason for that unknown number text, then a few more steps before I realise I might have fallen into a trap. Especially when I spot the dark figure step out from behind a tree.

I don’t know if I’m glad for Nic unearthing that picture of Damien and finally showing me my faceless stalker, or not.

In that picture he had been smiling. Today, there’s nothing of that on his face.

There’s half a second where I’m frozen. Then, with a sharp inhale, I turn to run.

My arm is grabbed, making me yelp, then my feet are taken out from under me, my mouth seized by a hand when I open it to scream.

I hear his frantic breaths as he seeks to incapacitate me, my mouth covered tightly with cloth, my arms tied behind my back. In the space of a second, I’m immobilised, my body borne up into cruel arms.

I look around frantically as he hurries me deeper into the woods. They’re figures in the smoke but there’s no hope of them seeing me, not even when I shriek as hard as I can behind the cloth.

Nic!I scream uselessly in my mind.Nic!

Nic

Well, they did it.

I let a smile lift my lips. There’s grief, too, but I push it down, following Elly and Haz from the stands.

They wait for me to catch up, too busy as I was watching Tilda until I could no longer see her. She’d been formidable out there, just like I told her to be, easily carrying the team to victory.

It should have been my win, too, but there’s stuff you win in life, and others you lose. I’m trying to focus on what I’ve won, mainly the girl with the dark plaits and hockey stick down below.

I still wish I was down there in the scrum. I think Elly sees it as she flashes me a smile, taking my arm and tugging me along.

‘She did good,’ she states.

‘Fucking right she did,’ Haz exclaims.‘Fuck,that’s our girl!’

Ours.

How weird. How…nice?

It feels nice. Right now, it feels like a good thing.

Haz slaps her fist into her palm. ‘Right, so, get some bevvies, go back to ours, then wait for Tilda? Could just go meet her now. She needs a fucking kiss for that.’

‘She’s meeting Tommy. Let’s leave them for a bit. Meet up later.’

‘You good with that?’ Elly asks quietly.

Even with the hell she’s going through, she’s still looking out for me. I’m glad I was able to do the same, even just to lift their pain a little bit.

I give her a nod. ‘I’m good. Let me just text Tommy, make sure he’s with her.’

It’s ages before he replies. Reading his message, alarm immediately sets in.

Hey, Tilda’s still not here and isn’t replying. She with you guys?

I have to call the others twice to get their attention. It’s a fucking zoo out here. Someone’s got fireworks, setting them off on the path and making me jump when they explode mere metres away. Our first time winning Varsity, and probably our last if this keeps up.

‘Tilda’s not with Tommy,’ I tell them.

I dial her number. It rings and rings, then rings some more. With a curse, I find Tommy’s number instead.

‘Hello?’ he says, already sounding wary.