50.

50.

I wanted to scream but no sound came out of my mouth. I could only watch the scene unfold before me with my mouth and eyes wide open.

Alice was holding the gun in her hands, her jaw hanging open in horror because she realized who was in the way of the bullet she had just fired.

At that moment, I wanted to curse Noah, I wanted to beat him up, I wanted to strangle him and kill him for doing what he did. But...he had even taken away that choice from me. All I could do was, watch him unblinkingly.

But, what I was not ready for, was the loud scream of 'no' I heard and then, just in a matter of milliseconds, a second figure appearing- more like falling in front of Noah and...taking the bullet.

I didn't know whether I was relieved or even more panicked.

"Chloe! Are you okay?" Caleb rushed to me, helping me get up from the floor.

I gave him the quick nod I could manage and made a dash towards Noah. A gasp left my lips when my eyes landed on the pool of blood surrounding...Charlie's body.

"NO! NO! NO!" Alice shrieked, dropping the gun and rushing to Charlie.

Everything and everyone was stunned to silence. For a few minutes, we stood still like a statue, watching Alice vigorously shaking Charlie's lifeless body.

And, then, slowly, the impact of everything dawned on me. The tight knot in my chest grew tighter as I turned to look at Noah. He was already facing me.

Without thinking, and without registering anything, I raised my hand and slapped him across the face. The silence that followed this time echoed with the reverberations of that slap.

"Damn..." I heard someone muttering in the crowd. And, I could bet my life that the only person brave enough to do that was Caleb.

Noah groaned, rubbing his cheek. "Fine. I deserved that."

I grabbed his collar, pulling him forward with all the strength left in my body. "How dare you? How could you?"

Noah raised his hands. "Look, I am fine. Not a scratch. See!"4

I couldn't control it anymore. The tears that I had been holding back started streaming down my face. "How can you joke about anything like this, Noah?" my voice broke at the end and then, it turned ugly- my crying, I mean. It must have been the ugliest cry in all the history of ugly crying. I mean, I was even offering competition to Alice, who was bawling her eyes out.15

"You don't love me!" I sobbed, hitting Noah's chest. "You were going t-to- I am never forgiving you for this."

Noah caught my fists with one hand and lifted up my chin, with his free hand. I sniffed, seeing hazily through my teary eyes.

"I love you, that's why I did what I did," he said softly, "I would prefer that it'd rather be me in harm's way than you."

"You have no right!" I sniffed. "It was my choice. It was our choice. But, you took the decision alone! Die!"

My eyes widened when I realized what I had said and I started crying even more. It got so bad that I had to hide my face in Noah's chest.

Noah was still for a second before he started patting my hair. "Chloe?"

"Don't talk to me!" my voice came out muffled through his shirt.

"Uh, okay," was his confused reply. "But, could you please look up for a second?"

"What?" I snapped, slightly looking up and refusing to let go of his shirt.

He sighed when he saw my face and fished something out of his pocket- a handkerchief. Before I could say anything, he was wiping off my tears and...snot.

"Ew, get off!" I swatted away his hand.

He started chuckling. "I should be the one saying 'ew', don't you think?"

I tried my best to glare at him, failing miserably. "You are one annoying SOB, don't you think?"

"Ah no, I prefer to go by 'the real prince charming.'"

I rolled my eyes and turned to look at the spectacle in front of us. Oh, right...Charlie...

From what I could make out, the cops had arrived and were restraining Alice while a team of paramedics carried Charlie away on a stretcher.

"What I don't understand is, why would Charlie take the bullet for Noah?" Mia voiced everyone's question at last.

Caleb let out an exaggerated sigh. "The same reason for which Noah was taking the bullet for Chloe."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"What the hell, Caleb?!" I exclaimed horrifically.

Caleb nodded his head solemnly. "I have always suspected-"

"Oh, shut up!" Sophia cut in, coming forward with Anna in tow. "Didn't you all hear Anna screaming 'no'?"

Oh, ...it was Anna...wait...what?!

"So, you are saying that our innocent sister Anna pushed Charlie in front of Noah?" Will asked.

To everyone's surprise, Anna nodded, then, gulped. "I- I really had no other choice. It all happened so fast. N-Noah was standing there a-and then my eyes landed on h-him," she pointed a shaky finger where Charlie's body had been lying a few moments ago.

It was clear that she was trying her best to hold up, but, her trembling body was visibly trembling.

"I-I shouldn't have- I- I am s-sorry-I-" Anna tried to continue but her voice had started breaking down, and I could see the all too familiar tears making an appearance on her face.

Before any of us could reach her though, an arm had snaked around her shoulder to steady her. Liam.

"You have nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong," Liam told her in a no-nonsense tone.

Anna's eyes found Liam's. "I got him killed. You don't understand. It's-"

"It's a crime and you will go to jail," Liam cut in, leveling her with a flat look.

All of us couldn't help snickering when Anna's eyes widened at that. then, she seemed to realized what Liam was doing and gasped at him, hitting his shoulder.

Liam chuckled, pulling her close. "You are still the same over thinking, over worrying, anxious Anna, I knew."

Oh...where was this going...

Realizing that all eyes were on her, Anna glanced towards us nervously. That was the moment when everyone was too quick to pretend that they were too interested in the floor.

"Oh man, my pizza is cold," Caleb suddenly groaned.

"Geez, what?!" he exclaimed when everyone gave him a look. "At least I am genuinely worried about the health of my pizza and not like you all, pretending to be taking interest in this bloody floor where Charlie died when all you want to do is watch Anna and Liam's shameless PDA." Then, he shook his head at our gaping mouths. "Seriously, get a life or simply get Netflix if you are that interested in romance."

"Damn, that guy" Will sighed after Caleb, "spills all the tea...every single time."

And, then, it was our turn to gape at Will and his enhanced vocabulary.

A/N: This chapter did not turn out as I wanted it to, but I didn't want to make you wait longer than this, so I updated as it is. THIS IS NOT THE END. I STILL HAVE TO WRAP UP A FEW THINGS. SO, ONE MORE CHAPTER, MAYBE. OR MAYBE, IT WILL BE AN EPILOGUE. WHATEVER. IT'S NOT OVER YET. WE STILL HAVE TO SEE MORE OF WILL AND SOPHIA, MORE OF CALEB AND EVEN ZAIN XD. AND, SORRY, FOR THE LATE UPDATE. I AM CRAMMED WITH ASSIGNMENTS FROM HEAD TO TOE. I WILL TRY TO UPDATE SOONER THIS TIME, AND YES, THE ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT MY NEW BOOK WILL BE MADE IN THE LAST CHAPTER. SEE YA!