Fourteen

CHAPTER 14

Alicia sniffed the surface of Elena's paper cup. The sheer volume of coffee in the cup indicated how little Elena had drunk. Perhaps because it tasted a little different, Elena chose not to drink any more.

The faint scent of almonds touched Alicia's sense of smell. Even though the coffee that Carl was holding tightly was no longer billowing hot steam.

"Did you have any almond-based food or drink today?" Alicia asked, without leaving her fingerprints on the cup.

Carl shook his head slowly and put the paper cup back on the table. "No, no. We only have waffles and espresso because the other barista took the day off." He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "You know, right, I'd have a really hard time making a lot of drinks for--" Carl paused, as Alicia again gave him a serious look. "Alright, I'll stop talking right now. I'm sorry," he said sarcastically.

Alicia shook her head in disbelief. For the first time in her life, she had found a man who liked to talk more than the women. This was rare. But that didn't mean Alicia liked him.

"What should we do for him?" Carl asked frantically. " She's starting to close her eyes."

Alicia's two blue bead eyes darted around. And as he saw, all eyes were now on Alicia, seemingly waiting for her to say something--or do something right away. "I'll do CPR."

Alicia then shifted her position slightly, getting closer to Elena's chest. "Elena is indicated to have drunk coffee with potassium cyanide poisoning," she added.

Everyone around Alicia threw shocked looks at each other and voices like what, how come, huhampun began to overlap behind her. Given that the substance is something that is not easily available over the counter (especially for teenagers who are still in school).

Her blue eyes then looked at Elena's two friends who were still in place. Didn't one of them know something? Alicia thought.

"I'll start." Alicia knelt and placed her hands on Elena's chest. "Elena, hold on," she whispered, right into the now unconscious Elena's ear.

The ash-haired girl immediately lowered herself and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as a form of first aid without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for Elena.

She carefully pumped Elena's heart several times to prevent heart failure due to the poison. Alicia counted in her heart, one, two, three and then pressed Elena's heart hard. She counted again, one, two, three and then pressed again. And so on for several times.

After that, Alicia tried to open Elena's breathing path, by raising her head slightly and positioning her chin forward. "Elena, do you hear me?!" Alicia tried to provoke Elena's reaction.

Nothing. There was no response. Elena was silent as if her body was here, but her soul was gone. And just to be sure, Alicia quickly brought her cheek to Elena's mouth. And although it sounded faint, Alicia was sure that she could still feel the warm breath coming from the green-eyed girl's body.

"ELENA! HOLD ON!" Alicia encouraged, before deciding to try CPR again.

Jake, however, suddenly arrived and pulled Alicia to her back while she was performing CPR on Elena. He apparently managed to break through the crowd of Golden High students with Mr. Wilson and Brittany trailing behind him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" snapped Jake at Alicia.

"I..." Alicia paused, feeling no need to say anything. She then pushed Jake's body away and returned to kneeling near Elena's chest. "Move, Jake! I have to save her."

But Jake, who didn't understand the situation, got carried away. The man wearing the gold varsity shirt pulled Alicia's body back--even more violently than before--until the girl's elbows hit the floor hard. "STOP! YOU'RE HURTING HER!" Jake stood up and pointed angrily at Alicia's face.

Without giving Jake a chance to get up, Ace pulled Jake's jacket by the collar until their eyes met. "WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THE SITUATION, huh?!" and pulled him in front of Alicia's body. "She..." Ace pointed at Alicia with one hand, while the other was still gripping the collar of Jake's jacket. "Trying to help your girlfriend!"

Ace then violently threw Jake's body to the floor. "Look, your lover is dying!" Ace said in a high tone. He then kicked Jake's body vigorously. "Open your eyes, asshole!"

Before Ace could attack Jake again, Luke quickly ran to prevent him. With some pushing and shoving (because Ace was still annoyed with Jake), Luke desperately held his best friend's body and called out, "Calm yourself down, Ace!"

Ace chuckled scornfully. "This jerk, instead of thanking her, hurt her." Ace pointed at Alicia who slowly got up and approached Elena again. "Let go, Luke! Let me teach her a lesson!" Ace again pushed Luke's body that was blocking him.

"Enough, Ace!" snapped Alicia.

The cafeteria suddenly turned silent as Alicia's voice echoed amidst the commotion Ace and Jake were making. Ace slowly turned around and found Alicia's blue eyes staring at him seriously. "That's enough," Alicia said in a hoarse voice. "It's all over."

Ace bent his forehead deeply. "What do you mean?"

Alicia removed her hand from Elena's chest and shook her head weakly. She got up and showed her teary eyes to Jake. "Be strong, Jake," she said softly.

Ace who was standing between the two decided to keep his mouth shut tightly. Just like the other students. Especially when Alicia started dripping beads of water from her dim eyes.

"Because..." Alicia took a heavy breath. Then let out a sigh along with the sentence, "Elena has left us all."

Jake laughed bitterly. "You're kidding, hm?"

Ace now understood the situation in front of him. Elena's two friends immediately screamed hysterically and cried in front of Elena's body after hearing Alicia's statement. Meanwhile, Carl, the counter guard just bowed his head sadly. And Brittany slowly moved forward to rub Alicia's back;strengthening her.

"I'm sorry, Jake,"

"Because I couldn't save her."