Chapter 15: The Rain Doesn’t Rinse The Memories

They walked into school like it were any other day. However, in the back of Lola's mind, she had yesterday's events painfully pressuring her.

Students stopped in the corridors and eyed them. At first, Lola couldn't figure out why they were staring so openly, but then she saw how their eyes fell over Jax as he stopped next to her. Persephone, who had classes with Melissa, walked over with a smile.

"Hi!" They started talking about the upcoming test while Lola stood stiff like a pole, wanting to disappear from everyone's judging eyes. She shrunk into the floor but didn't disappear. In her head, she had run, but her feet wouldn't move.

Jax was looking around, a deep scowl on his face, and his shoulders slowly raised.

Anytime their gazes met him, they looked away, understandably so. He looked murderous.

However, he wasn't looking at them, his eyes were fixated on something else.

"You're staring," Lola said and nudged his arm.

Jax turned his head, but his eyes still scoured the halls.

Instead, he looked toward the end of the hall, where a door opened, and a teacher came out.

She had someone with her. Jax's eyes narrowed to slits.

"Who is that?" Lola asked and took a step out from the wall to see better.

"Lola, get out," Jax ordered.

"What?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. They walked out of the hallway, out through the doors, until he had them in the parking lot.

"What is going on with you?! If you don't want attention drawn to you, do you really think pulling me like a rag doll out of school is the way to go?" She had many more choice words for him but was too exhausted to share them.

"We need to go." Jax dialed a number on his phone and walked to the car.

Lola scoffed, crossed her arms over her chest, and shook her head. He really thought she was going to get in there because he wanted her to?

He turned around, holding the car door open for her.

"I still don't trust you," she said and stepped back.

"I don't care if you trust me as long as you let me keep you safe," he groaned. Jax stared desperately, wishing for Lola to step into the car.

She, on the other hand, had no intention of going with him.

"It's too much," she murmured under her breath. Lola turned around and walked toward the school, but she never entered. Instead, she went around the corner and started walking.

Werewolves... packs... vampires... danger.

Her eyes flickered over the ground as she walked. The conversations were playing in her head.

The clouds in the sky were thick with rain that had yet to fall. She waited for the drops, and begged for them to hit her skin because that was the only thing that could calm her nerves. Even as a child, she would go out and lay on the ground when it rained. The heaviness from the pouring rain eased any worry that her body held on to.

Lola didn't think to look behind her as she walked home. Was Jax following her? Maybe, but her mind was too far away to care.

One drop fell, hitting her shoulder. She smiled, feeling the peace that was about to come. Another drop fell, bouncing on the top of her head.

"Please," she begged silently without stopping.

She could see her building. Lola was almost home.

"Come on," she prayed.

The sky listened, and it opened the stream. The rain fell so willingly in large drops and covered the ground instantly.

Water pooled along the sidewalk, and Lola laughed to herself and could finally stop. This was her tranquility when everything else only seemed to close her in.

She raised her palms to the sky and caught the rain.

Her eyes closed, and she leaned back her head.

Now, no one could see her tears because they were masked as raindrops-equally peaceful and carriers of secrets and pain.

"Thank you," she whispered and lay on the grass outside the building.

She heard the sound of a car pulling up on the road. The engine turned off, and a door opened.

"Lola?" Jax walked over and fell to his knees next to her.

"Please leave," she said with her eyes closed, breathing in the serenity that only came once in a long while.

Jax didn't say another word. He didn't try to pull her up or take her inside. He didn't ask her to get in the car. She felt him moving beside her, his hands pressing down into the grass.

When it stopped, Lola turned her head and looked to the side. There he was, lying on the wet grass, with his eyes closed right beside her.

Lola smiled, watching his cheeks turn rosy and his face relaxing under the weight of the rain.

"You're staring," Jax said. She turned her head and closed her eyes.

While the rain poured, all worries were surpassed. Nothing could bring her to her knees or make her want to run. Only the rain had managed to keep her put in one place.

The sound of another car driving up caught their attention. It slowed down on the street in front of the building.

Jax audibly sighed. The sky reciprocated with a loud roaring thunder, and Lola decided to stay put.

Whoever it was could wait, if it was even there for her.

Her first thought was Melissa coming to check on her for bailing school, but she didn't hear a voice.

Jax opened his eyes. He leaned on his elbows, and his hand shot out to the side.

"Lola, get inside!" Her eyes opened in panic, and she sat up on the grass.

Three men stepped out of the car. All of them wore the same resentful expressions.

"Get inside!" Jax growled, his eyes turned yellow, lighting up in the storm around them. Lola fought to stand on her feet despite the slippery terrain the rain had made by covering the grass. She finally managed to stabilize herself and threw a quick look over her shoulder.

One of the men, the one in the front, was watching her. His eyes glowed as Jax's had, but not in yellow. His eyes were red. He came at her at a speed that shouldn't be physically possible. Jax growled, his whole face changed into that of a beast with canines made to cut through bones. He knocked the man to the ground, his body rolling only for a second before he stood up. Jax turned to Lola.

"LEAVE!"

"Oh my god," she breathed and ran as fast as she could to the building. She pushed through the doors and ran up the stairs until she reached her apartment.

"The door. Fuck." Lola ran inside. Someone had just put a blanket over the opening. The door still hung off its hinge against the wall, and everything in the apartment had been ransacked.

"No," Lola breathed.

She didn't have much to begin with, but what she had was all there was. Now, it was gone-clothes, books, her school computer. Left were pieces of things that used to be.