Chapter 121

I arrive at the park with a few sentences in mind of what I’m going to say. Now that it’s actually come to talking to Conor, I just feel like running back home and letting him do what he’s got to do but I know I’ll regret that more than anything. I can’t stop thinking of the advantages that this could give me.

I scan my eyes across the almost empty field, people huddled in groups here and there. This park has always intimidated me, even if I was with the biggest crowd.

I finally spot Zac, Adrian and Leo sat together at the park shelter, smoking as usual. I’m dreading it but I’ll have to ask them where Conor is. I’m praying he’s at home so I can talk to him more confidently than I am right now. It doesn’t help that I’m only in my leggings and a top, and I’m practically cuddling myself to keep warm.

I casually walk over to Zac’s group to seem more confident than I am, and when he spots me, his eyes almost shoot out of his head. God knows why. I almost roll my eyes but I just look away to avoid being rude and getting into an argument or something. I’m here to talk to Conor, not let these fools hold me back.

“Have you seen Conor?” I frown, trying to avoid eye contact with Zac by aiming the question at the two boys sat with him. Although, I know they won’t tell me. I think I’ve only heard them say a couple of sentences.

“Maybe we have, maybe we haven’t” Zac shrugs. “What do we get if we tell you?”

“Zac, stop messing about and just tell me” I huff, trying to keep as calm as possible. Why does he have to torment me about this? I want to know where Conor is for god’s sake.

“I’m not messing about” he raises his hands in defence. “I just want to know what we’ll get in return”

“Do you two know where he is?” I ignore Zac, turning to Adrian and Leo. They both smirk and look away from me, blowing out a puff of smoke. “Forget it, I’ll check his house” I sigh, turning around to walk home.

“Well you’ll be wasting your time because he’s not there” Zac laughs dryly. I turn back around in frustration.

“I’m wasting my time stood here trying to talk to you so it won’t really make much of a difference” I snap making him laugh.

“Calm down. I’m only joking” he chuckles. “Get in the car” he nods towards the small black, Ford Fiesta 96.

I only know the name because my Dad’s obsessed with cars. He’s always teaching me new things about them and stuff which I secretly love knowing. Whenever we have long car journeys or something and a car passes us, we always try and see who can name the car first, just to pass a bit of time. I’m pretty good at it but it also kind of helps that my Dad can know what type of car it is just by looking at the headlights, but that trick only works at night.

“You stole that?” I frown. I would’ve thought it was something a bit more worth stealing. This thing looks like it’s on its last legs. I think I’d be glad if someone stole that off me.

“Yeah, do you like it?” he says casually, strolling over to it and flicking his cigarette on the floor. If he thinks I’m getting in that, he’s so wrong.

“It’s beautiful” I say sarcastically, following him to the car, mainly just so I can get a closer look at the battered thing. “How did you steal it?” I frown.

“The owner just left the keys in so I thought, why not? It’s like he’s asking for it to be stolen” he shrugs, unlocking the door. “Get in”

“No” I scoff, looking at him from the other side of the car. “Just tell me where Conor is”

“I’m going to take you there” he says as if I’m stupid, leaning on the roof of the car with the driver’s seat door open.

“How old are you?” I frown in confusion. He says he’s going to drive me to where Conor is but is he even old enough to drive? I thought he was the same age as Conor.

“Sixteen” he frowns in confusion, making my face almost drop.

“I’m not letting a sixteen year old drive me anywhere” I scoff, stepping away from the car that Tweedledum and Tweedledee are just about to hop into.

“Why? I’ve heard you’ve done it before” he smirks. Oh, so I’m guessing Conor’s told him about driving me to the doctors... Fab.

“That’s different. This thing looks like it’s about to fall apart, and I can’t trust you as far as I can throw you” I roll my eyes, looking around the area to try and see any sight of Conor.

“Well at least I’m straight up with you about trust” he shrugs.

“What do you mean by that?” I mutter, knowing he’s referring to Conor.

“Well, you thought you could trust Conor but look what he’s done” he smirks. I know he’s right so I won’t argue with him about it. Although, I also know that Zac had a bit of participation in what Conor did. But hey, it was still Conor’s choice to do what he did.

I shake my head, “Look, are you going to tell me where Conor is or not?”

“Yes, I’m about to take you. Now get in the car” he demands.

“I’ve already told you, you’re not driving me anywhere. Just tell me where he is” I snap. As if I’m going to let a 16 year old psychopath drive me in a stolen vehicle that looks like it’s about to fall apart any second.

“Why do you want him anyway?” he frowns, shaking his head in frustration. I’m clearly annoying him by not getting into the car that he desperately wants me to get in. That’s what makes me not want to get in even more. The fact he’s practically begging me to get in with him. Why does he think that I’d actually do it?

“None of your business”

“Aw, you think he’s going to take you back?” he coos. I frown and turn away. “Not going to happen, Princess. Now get in”

“Don’t tell me what to fucking do” I snap, beginning to walk back onto the park so I can try and find Conor.

“Adrian” I hear Zac say, before a strong hand grips my arm and yanks me back towards the car.

“Get off me!” I raise my voice, trying to wriggle out of his grip but I’m too small and too weak to do anything. I’m hurting myself more by moving.

“Lucy, just get in the fucking car” Zac rolls his eyes but before I can even snap back at him, I’m practically thrown into the car by Adrian. The door slams shut behind me so I immediately sit up and try and open the door but it won’t open. “Child lock, Luce” Zac turns around from the driver’s seat and smirks at me. The name he called me makes me shiver, making me forget the fact that I’m actually locked in the car with a psycho and his two sidekicks.

“Zac, just let me out” I bang my hands against the back of the passenger seat. This car stinks.

I’m not so much scared of being in the car with Zac, I’m just panicking at the fact I’m locked in. I know he’s not going to kill me or anything...  Well, unless he’s really bad at driving (which he probably is), then I might die. Oh god, please help me. I think the most he’ll do is leave me stranded somewhere which is pretty pointless so I’d doubt he’ll even do that. I’ll just call Jack if there are any problems. There’s a pretty big problem now but as long as we’re only going to see Conor, I have nothing to worry about. I hope...

“You said you wanted to fucking see Conor so that’s what we’re doing. We were all just about to meet him anyway so you might as well come with us” he frowns, shaking his head at me. “I’m doing you a fucking favour” he snaps. He puts the keys in the engine as Leo sits in the middle seat beside me, and Adrian sits behind the driver’s seat.

“Are we definitely going to see Conor?” I ask, trying to calm myself down.

“Yes, fucking hell. Shut up” he snaps so I just turn to look out of the window. “Have you got the stuff?” he mutters to Leo.

“Yeah” Leo says but before I can ask any questions about what they’re talking about, I spot Conor turning the corner to where the car’s parked. He has his backpack on his back and looks as if he’s searching for someone.

I bang on the car window, “Conor!”

He snaps his head to the side and spots me in the car he’s not noticed until now. His face almost drops as he races over to the car in panic. Thank god he cares.

“Fuck sake” Zac mutters. Conor opens the passenger door and leans in.

“What the fuck are you all doing?” he frowns in confusion. I’m panicking like crazy now. Zac was supposed to be driving us to meet Conor when Conor was already here. Where the hell was he going to take me!?

“Conor, I need to get out” I panic, my breathing pattern becoming uneven. My head is banging at this point.

“Don’t you dare open that door” Zac snaps at Conor.

“Where are you going!?” Conor snaps back at Zac.

“We need to deliver that stuff” Zac frowns. What ‘stuff’? Forget it, I don’t want to know.

“Fuck that. What’s Lucy doing in here?” he nods towards me.

“She wanted a ride” Zac smirks. I just shake my head and roll my eyes, knowing that Conor doesn’t believe him. “Look, are you getting in or what?”

“Zac-“

“What do you think I’m going to do? All I want to do is deliver this stuff and get some fucking food. If she shuts up then we’ll have a safe journey” he refers to me. Conor sighs and looks at the back of the car where I’m sat.

“Leo, get to the front” Conor snaps.

“What? Hell no” he shakes his head in refusement. It scares me that even Leo doesn’t want to get in the front of the car. Something bad’s going to happen, I know it.

“Get to the fucking front” he raises his voice, scaring me slightly. Leo mutters a few things to himself before climbing to the front of the car. Conor walks around the car and opens the door at Adrian’s side, probably knowing that if he opens my door, I’ll escape. Besides, it would be awkward having him climb over me to get in the middle. He climbs over Adrian and sits next to me in the middle of the car, instantly making my body tense.

“Awkward” Zac mutters to himself, smirking at me slightly in the rear view mirror. I roll my eyes and turn to look out of the window. I can’t believe I’m still actually sat in this car after Conor could’ve easily just let me out. Thanks Conor.

“Go then!” Conor snaps, making me jump slightly. Zac immediately turns the keys in the car and drives slowly out of the small car park we were just kind of parked up in. I say ‘kind of’, we weren’t really in a parking space. It was just parked up in a random place which makes me question why I’m not panicking like crazy right now. I panicked more when I was sat in a car with Conor driving.

We drive kind of slowly through all the small roads which I’m very thankful for, but the car’s literally deadly silent. I hate it. I can just hear things rattling in the car that shouldn’t be rattling.

“Are you alright?” Conor mumbles to me. I just nod, not turning to look at him. I keep my eyes locked outside the window as we go down streets I don’t recognise. You’d think I’d know these streets by now after living here for seven months. “Lucy, I’m sorry” he sighs.

“What for?” I mumble, trying to sound uninterested in this conversation. I continue to stare out of the window.

“Fucking up. I didn’t want any of this to happen” he sighs. This makes me realise that he actually hasn’t changed at all. He just puts up some different act whenever he’s with Zac. It just annoys me how he’s talking so quietly now as if he actually cares about what Zac thinks about what he’s saying.

“Yeah, well it did” I frown, still looking out of the car. I’m not going to have this conversation with him in this deathly car with everyone listening in. Especially Zac.

The car suddenly begins to speed up as we come to a long road. My head shoots up from where I was looking and I instantly look out of the front window, only realising how fast we’re actually going.

“Zac, slow the fuck down” Conor says exactly what I‘m thinking. Zac just laughs and speeds up a bit more. If he goes any faster, I swear I’ll be jumping on Conor for protection. “Stop it, fucking hell!”

“We’re only going forty” Zac frowns, meaning 40mph. I don’t think I trust the thing telling him it’s 40mph. I feel like we’re going 100.

“Yeah well go twenty. You don’t even know how to fucking drive”

“Oh and you do?” he questions, turning around to face Conor, making the car swerve slightly. I grab onto Conor’s arm in fear and he just looks down at me in panic. Ooo, someone’s been working out.

“Zac, get me out of the car, now” Conor says sternly, snapping me out of my thoughts of how big his muscles have gotten.

“Shut the fuck up, it’ll take us forever to get there if we go twenty” he retaliates.

“I don’t care how long it takes! Slow down or let me out” Conor demands but Zac just speeds up further. “Zac, it’s not funny anymore”

“Yeah Zac, slow down” Leo panics. God knows how he feels, he has to sit in the passenger seat.

“Who the fuck asked you to talk?” Zac snaps, silencing Leo.

“Put on your seatbelt” Conor glances at me, grabbing my seatbelt I forgot to put on, and strapping it around me.

“There we go. Now your little Princess is safe, you have nothing to worry about do you?” Zac teases.

“Oh fuck off, Zac. Pull over now you fucking psycho” Conor raises his voice. I can tell he’s absolutely fuming right now, and I still haven’t let go of his arm. I decide to release from his arm slightly before I stop his blood circulation but he immediately grabs my hand and locks it with his, which I don’t reject.

“Conor, I’m scared” I mutter. I’m way past panicking right now, I’m literally shaking in fear. I’d have probably passed out if Conor didn’t turn up. He glances at me then back to Zac.

“Pull over now!” Conor exasperates. I see Adrian lock his seatbelt which makes me think that Conor should probably do the same now.

“Conor, I swear to god. Complain one more time, I fucking dare you” Zac spits venomously, making the car swerve again, more forcefully.

“Conor, put on your seatbelt” I manage to say.

“Just stop the fucking car!” he shouts.

“Shut up!” Zac screams, slamming his foot on the break making the car stop almost immediately. He quickly turns the car making us skid to the other side of the road.

I put my arm across Conor to try and stop him from flying forward but I’m not strong enough to hold him back, making him shoot forwards. I see Zac shoot forward but his seatbelt that I didn’t notice him putting on holds him back. That’s all I see before my eyes screw shut and I black out.