Pretend (79 page)

             
"Now I'm going to cut this short because quite frankly I don't want to waste much time talking to you especially when you're being a jerk," Kyle spat out as he stared at me with venom in his eyes.
I went to interrupt but he quickly continued, killing any chances of that.

             
"I love April and I will always love her but she has made it perfectly clear that she is in love with you. I don't understand why but I am not about to question it because as far as I'm concerned
she's happy and that is all that matters. What you witnessed today was April saying goodbye to our relationship but telling me that she would always love me as a friend. Now
,
you can either continue to be a moron and lose her like I did or you can be a man and fix it. Whatever your decision is just remember that someone is always willing to do the job that you failed at, trust me
,
I learnt the hard way," he continued before walking away and leaving me completely speechless.

             
As I took in the words that he
had
said
,
I suddenly felt an over whelming guilt wash over me. How could I be so stupid? I was supposed to love this girl and trust her not treat her the way that I did today. She must hate me right now for what I put her through. I didn't even consider how hard it must have been for her to have to face Kyle alone about the baby. Selfish didn't even begin to describe me right now but I knew one thing, Kyle was right, I couldn't lose her and I wasn't about to. I quickly slipped out my phone and opened
up
a new message.

             
I'm sorry, I was stupid. I love you. Can we talk?
x

             
I felt my stomach drop as I watched her pull her phone out of her pocket and read the screen. I prayed that she would forgive me for being such an idiot. I loved this girl and I couldn't lose her, I just couldn't. Not today, not ever.

             
"About time you jerk!" I heard Crystal shout to me after she'd finished peering over April's shoulder. Yeah
,
I definitely deserved that one.
I looked down at my feet
,
feeling rather
embarrassed
.

             
As I waited patiently for April to react in some way, I caught a glimpse of Kyle looking my way. Either I was dreaming or he just smiled at me. It was very small and almost so fast that I nearly missed it but no doubt it was a smile.

             
"Thanks," I mouthed
to him
as I smiled back and nodded my head.

             
As I turned my head to look at April I was completely distracted as I heard the loud screeching of car wheels. Suddenly I saw a red
pickup
truck heading full speed towards me. It was as if everything around me had gone into slow motion. I saw the terrified expression on different people's faces, I saw the scared look on Jess' face as she scre
amed something in my direction and
I
even heard the fear in Crystal's voice as she screamed my name. As I whipped my head back around and watched the evil smirk on Jake's face as he sat in the driver
’
s seat, heading towards me that wasn't what scared me the most.
 

             
As the impact hit my body and sent me crashing to the ground and as I struggled to keep my eyes open as the pain shot through my body, the thing that terrified me the most as my eyes finally closed was knowing that I would never see April again...

APRIL’S POINT OF VIEW
             

             
"Is she ok?" I heard Jess say as I struggled to open my eyes.

             
"I don't know," Jinnie replied, frantically.

             
"Wait, I think
that
she's ope
n
ing her eyes!" Jess screamed in a panicked voice.

             
"April, April, it's ok," I heard Erica whimper next to me.

I could hear the fear in all of their voices, I could hear that they had all been crying and that's when it came back to me. I had fainted.

             
As my eyes slowly flickered open and I took in all of the terrified expressions around me it all came flooding back.

             
Aiden...

             
Jake...

             
The truck...

             
I needed to get
up,
I needed to get to him.

             
"Aiden," I said frantically as I tried to get the strength to stand to my feet.

             
"April
,
don't-"

             
"No
,
where is he!" I screamed as I tried to push the different hands away as they tried to hold me down.

             
"Please
,
April," A lady dressed in what looked like a paramedic's uniform said gently as she looked at me with sad eyes.

             
"I need to get to him," I shouted as I began to try and get to my feet and ignore the banging that was currently taking over my head.

             
"April
,
just wait," Jess said as she looked at me with so much sympathy that my heart broke in that second.

             
My eyes scanned her tear filled face for a moment before I turned to look at the scene to my left. I don't know how long I had been out for but things had definitely changed.

             
I watched as Jake was
begin
dragged away from the truck in handcuffs. I searched for any sign of Crystal but I couldn't see her. I needed to get over there, something was wrong
,
something was really wrong.

             
"April you need to get checked over!" Jess shouted as I began to run at full speed towards where the crowd had gathered.

             
My heart beat seemed to increase with every step that I took and I literally felt like I could throw up at any minute. I recall watching films and people saying that they could sense that something was wrong, they didn't know how but they just could, well they were right. Every bone in my body told me that something was seriously wrong. As much as I didn't want to believe it, I knew that a part of me had to acce
pt what
ever I was about to face.

             
As I reached the crowd
,
I saw the sympathetic expressions on
everyone’s
faces as they slowly parted to make way for me to get through. I saw tears streaming down different people faces. There were teachers and pupils crying and my heart ached more as they stared at me with a pained look on their face.

             
"I'm so sorry," I heard Kayley whisper as she buried her face into her friends chest and let out more tears.

             
It was as if everything that was happening right now wasn't even real anymore, nothing made sense. I wanted to go back twenty four hours to before this day even existed. Maybe I could have changed something, done something differently.

             
"You can't be here," a police officer said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

             
"I have to," I
whispered
to myself as I stared at the ground, scared to face the reality of what was happening.

             
"Please madam, stay back," he repeated.

             
I could hear him but I didn't care, I needed to see for myself, I needed to know if it was real.

             
"April," I heard a fragile voice whimper as I saw Crystal's tear stained face.

             
I shook my head at her to say no, it's not true, you're lying but all she did was whisper sorry before turning away from me.

             
Suddenly as if a new force had entered my body and took over I ran, frantically. It was like I was crazy. I was on a mission, I needed to see him,
I
needed to know. Before I could say his name, before I could know that it was real, I had to see for myself.
As I pushed deeper into the crowd I felt a hand push me back and I lost it.

             
"Get off! He's my boyfriend!" I screamed frantically as I tried to claw my way free and get to where all
of
the paramedics were gathered on the ground. This was my fault, it was all my fault.

             
"April stop!" A voice screamed from behind me as I felt their hands wrap around my waist and hold me back.

             
"Get off! Get off me!" I screamed as I struggled to fight with them.

             
It was a man and I stood no
chance, I couldn't break free
and so instead
,
I broke down.
As he turned me round to comfort me I felt a pang of shock shoot through my entire body.

             
"Aiden?"
I asked in a state of shock.
 

             
This isn't real.

             
"It's ok I'm here-"

             
"No
,
but you can't be! Jake
,
he hit you, he-"

             
"No
,
he didn't, I'm fine look. Look at me, I'm fine April, I promise you," he said as he pulled me towards him in a tight embrace. As I took in the warmth of his body, I cried. I thought that I'd never feel those arms around me again, I thought that I'd never feel his beating heart against my chest or hear his voice in my ear ever again but I could.

             
"How?"
I managed to
whisper
as the tears flooded down my cheeks as I took in his face again.

             
He was completely pale and in shock, I could see that he had been crying. As he tried to get out the words, I knew that he was still trying to piece it all together in his head.

             
"It didn't hit me. He, he pushed me out of the way at the last minute," he finally managed to say as a look of shock took over his face.

             
"Who?"
I asked in a confused voice.

             
"He, he pushed me out the way, he pushed me and it hit him instead," he said as the tears began to fall down his cheeks.

             
"Who Aiden, who?"
I asked in a panicked tone as I knew what was coming. I just needed to hear it.

             
"Kyle, he pushed me out the way. He pushed me out the way," he whispered as I slowly slipped out of his arms.

             
I turned back around to where the paramedics were all gathered and took in the whole scene. Suddenly a feeling of fear shot through my entire body.

             
"No! Kyle! Kyle!" I screamed as I ripped through the crowd of staring eyes.

             
"Please!" I heard a police officer shout as he t
ried to grab me. I was too fast. H
e couldn't hold on for long enough.

             
Just as I
had
managed to get free and get to where all
of
the paramedics were gathered, I
froze
. As they used their defibrillator to shock Kyle over and over again, each time his body was rising and falling as though he were a lifeless puppet. I stood silently as I took in their panicked expressions and their sorrowful faces as they decided that there was nothing left to do.

             
As I looked down at where Kyle lay, my heart broke into a million pieces. I fel
t my insides scream as I
drop
ped
to my knees as the words were uttered into the atmosphere...

             
"Time of death..."