'Sometimes, if you aren't sure about something, you have to just jump off the bridge and grow wings on your way down,'

- Danielle Steel

Chapter Five

Cole let out a loud groan as reality started crashing down around him, his head pounding in pain from the tiniest noise as his stomach turned and stretched making him feel sick - very sick indeed. It was safe to say that he was hungover, the drink from the previous night now making him feel sick. His forest green eyes opened slightly, trying to get used to the bright light in whatever room he had passed out in, Cole's brain trying to remember what the hell had happened last night, trying to piece together what he did remember.

It had all gotten out of control - far too much out of control, but some times that was what Cole needed - he needs a little bit of insanity to keep his feet firmly glued to the ground.

He opened his eyes fully, trying to take in his surroundings, as he pushing himself slightly off the cold, hard floor and looking around the room. Cole glanced around the bathroom, trying to remember what he had been doing before he had passed out - probably puking or trying to escape from the chaos of the party. Probably the former. Everything from the last night was now just a blur, something telling him deep inside that he didn't want to figure out exactly what his actions due to the drink had been. The last thing he could remember was terribly singing a random N-Sync sound from the 90's with an extremely intoxicated Kelly while Alex danced drunkenly around like a chicken or something.

Then the very blurry face of Leigh popped up into his head, and Cole knew for a fact that he didn't want to remember any more. Leigh was the one girl who both Cole and Alex avoided like the black death. If they saw her walking down a corridor, they would instantly turn around and run in the opposite direction. She was unusually easy to spot, with her bright blonde hair and pumpkin colored skin that looked like she had spent hours rubbing tomatoes all over her body in hope that the colour would look 'natural'. But she also had a habit of hiding behind corners and pouncing on Alex or Cole when they least expected it followed by her backing them into a dark corridor, both of them scared to shout 'rape' incase she did something worse to them - like stab them repeatedly with her five inch Jimmy Choos, something Cole had recurring nightmares about.

Cole pushed himself off the floor and on to his feet, finding it hard to do so without loosing his balance. He stood still for a few moments, his head spinning and his stomach threatening to give way. Once the spinning finally died down, he took a step towards the sink, turning the tap on before spraying some ice cold water on to his face, trying to wake himself up bit more. He glanced up into the mirror which hung over the sink, glancing at his messy brown hair which stuck out in random directions, not caring that it was pretty obvious that he had slept on a bathroom floor in a pool of his own drool.

Suddenly, somebody banged against the door, Cole instantly turning around, swearing under his breath from shock.

"Hey whoever is in there, open up!" The voice shouted. Cole looked around the bathroom, trying to figure out if he should open the door or not. "I swear to god I'm gonna puke!" the voice added, instantly making up Cole's mind. He stepped forward, unlocking the door. The door instantly swung open as the person on the other side stumbled into the bathroom, shoving Cole to the side, the person heading straight to the toilet. The sound of the person throwing up was Cole's signal to leave. He walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him, slowly trying to figure out how he would exit the huge house. He quickly remembered the route downstairs, and began to walk down the hall, heading down the staircase and making his way to the front door. He thought about searching for Kelly and Alex for a minuite, but decided to just dismissing the idea, they had probably ordered a taxi home like the usually did. Cole walked out over to where his car was parked while digging his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the doors. He opened the door of his car, climbing in and buckling up his seatbelt. Digging his phone out of his pocket, he read the time, trying to figure out how long he had to sneak in the house without his father noticing. Even though his father had practically forced him to go out, he didn't think he would appreciate his son crawling through the front door at 7AM.

Cole put his car into reverse, backing out of the parking space before speeding down the drive way. His radio blasted through the speakers from Kelly and Alex's sing song last night, the music making Cole's head ache even more. All he wanted to do was get home so he could crawl into his bed and sleep off the hangover that was causing him to feel like crap. He drove along the roads, realising that if wanted to get home as possible, he had to go the bridge way. The thought of driving over the bridge made his stomach turn, even more that it already was. Cole always tried to avoid having to drive over the bridge, the emotions it brought up just weren't worth the time it saved compared to going on the back road, which was Cole's usual route. He sucked in a breath as he passed the exit he would usually take, his hands gripping the steering wheel harder, his knuckles practically turning white.. If he wanted to get in before his father woke up, he was going to have to drive over the bridge, he wouldn't make it home in time if he didn't.

His heart slowed in his chest as the red, metal bridge came into view through the forest that surrounded the road, the sound of his heart thumping loud around him. His stomach sunk as the memories began to flood his mind. It had been five years, but he remembered everything as if it had happened only yesterday.

The strange autumn smell hanging in the light breeze, the stereo playing the Radiohead album, the screams. All of it.

He drove around the bend of the road while pressing down hard on the accelerator. He tried to stare straight ahead, trying to avoid looking out from the bridge and into the river, when something caught his eyes, a figure hanging off the bridge. His heart stopped dead in his chest as he hit the breaks, the car slowing instantly. His breathing turned heavy and he span around on his chair, making sure that his mind wasn't just playing tricks on him - that there was actually somebody there. He reversed the car to halfway down the bridge, where the person was.

His mind wasn't playing tricks on him. There was somebody there, on the other side of the bridge, barely holding on. Cole twisted the keys in the ignition, his noise of his car engine immediately dying. His hand stretched over and pushed down on the release button of his seatbelt while opening the door of his car and jumping out of the vehicle. Walking slowly around the back of the car, he noticed that the person hadn't even acknowledged his presence. It was a girl, her hair tied up in a bun behind her head. He slowly walked towards her, frightened that if he walked any quicker, she might turn around and jump before he had the chance to talk her down. He stopped in the middle of the road, scared to get any closer to her.

"Don't jump," He said, his voice breaking with emotion towards the end. He couldn't let her die. If she jumped in, so would he. She couldn't die, not here, anyway. The girl's head turned around to face Cole. Her golden brown eyes looked playfully into his, the golden flakes in her eyes shining in the morning sunlight. She may have been looking playfully into his eyes, but he could see the streams of tears on her cheeks. He was sure that he had seen her somewhere, maybe school? He raised his hands up, trying to comfort her slight. Cole really didn't know what he should do, what he should say. He was terrified of saying the wrong thing, of reminding her why she felt the need to end her life and causing her to let go of the rail she was clinging on to. "Don't do it. It's not worth it! Whatever it is that's pushing you to do this, it won't last, it will get better - I promise!" he pleaded, tears rising to his eyes but he managed to blink them away. Memories he had surpressed were playing over in his mind, Cole finding it hard to not run over to the girl and pull her back over. The girl smiled softly at him, sending his heart into a frenzy as panic took over.

"I'm not scared," the girl replied in a 'matter of fact' tone, turning around to look back down at the river below her, Cole desperately trying to figure out what to say next, what to do. "Somebody will catch me!" she added, Cole could hear the smile in her voice. He was frozen in his spot as he tried to battle the memories that were replaying in his head, trying to stop them and clear his head so he could concentrate on what he should be saying to talk her down from the bridge. She turned again, her gaze meeting his bright green eyes. He watched desperately as the smirk formed on her pink lips, his heart beating overtime in his chest. "See ya!" she added, her voice light as her hands slipped from the rails. It was at that point that Cole snapped into action, the memories in his head faded away as he concentrated on one thing - catching her before she fell out of his grasp, before he would have to jump in after her.

He ran forwards, leaning over the railing, grabbing her hand as she fell forward. He latched on to her cold hand, holding it tightly while pulling her back to the railing. She hadn't fallen down, her feet were still on the ledge but she had let go of the railing and had leaned forward. If Cole had reacted even a millisecond later, he would be jumping into the icy river after her. Her body slammed into the railing, but Cole didn't care. He wrapped his arm around her waist while pulling her over the rail. He fell back on to the road as his legs gave way, landing on the hard concrete road, his arms still wrapped around the girl, refusing to let her go. His heart rate began to slow as he lay down on the road. The girl was safe, everything was okay.

"Are you okay?" he questioned, pushing himself up slightly, still not releasing the girl from his grasp.

"Yeah," She replied, slightly breathless. Cole could feel her rapid heart beat in her chest, as held her on top of him. The girl turned around to face Cole, a slight smile on her lips, "Told you that somebody would catch me!" She may have been smiling; but the happiness did not reach her eyes. Anger surged through his body as his mind processed her words. Was this all some sick, twisted game to her?

"What do you mean, somebody would catch you? If I had been one second later, you would be in that water! Then what?" Cole shouted, unwrapping his arms from the girl. She turned fully around to face him, a smirk still on her lips.

"I don't know..."

"You would have drowned!" Cole replied, pushing himself off the road, walking slightly away from the girl. She just laughed slightly, rolling her eyes at Cole while climbing to her feet. "Do you not realise how dangerous that is? The river is deep and the water is flowing faster than it looks! There's rapids a bit further down!" He shouted angrily at the girl, turning away for a second. The girl looked away from the river, and back over to Cole.

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down, okay! Seriously, stop getting so worked up about it" the girl replied, pushing herself off the floor as she took a step closer to Cole, concern filling her for the guy who had caught her, "I just wanted to see what it was like to be on the other side," she admitted, the sound of the words turning sour in Azelie's mouth. That may have been the idea at the start; but it sure as hell wasn't the idea at the end. Why did he care so much? It was the questioned floating around her mind. He didn't even know her!

"You just wanted to see what it was like on the other side? Are you fucking insane? What if you had slipped? Then what?" Cole argued, running his hands through his hair. He felt bad for taking his anger out on the girl, blaming her for his frustration. He knew for a fact that something had made her climb behind the rail, something made her let go, and probably wasn't helping the situation.The girl fell silent, staring down at the bridge.

"Look, I'm sorry! Seriously, stop freaking out about it! I wasn't even going to jump! Hell, I wasn't even scared!" She said, grabbing Cole's attention.

"What do you mean you weren't scared?" Cole questioned, turning around to face her. The girls frowned slightly as she answered his question. "Of course you must of been scared! That's a blood long drop!"

Azelie slowly shook her head, looking up into his forest green eyes, "I'm not scared of anything really,"

"How can you not be scared of anything! Everyone is scared of something!" Cole replied, rolling his eyes at the girl.

"I'm not," she shrugged, her brown eyes staring directly into Cole's eyes. Cole let out a breath, trying to calm down slightly. He had gotten so angry at the girl and he didn't even know her.

"What's your name anyway?" He questioned, giving up on arguing with her and instead focusing on the fact that she seemed so familiar.

"Azelie, Azelie Ryans, yours?" she answered, sending a small smile to Cole.

"Cole Grey,"

"Hey, your Kelly's friend aren't you?" Azelie question, "I swear she speaks nonstop about you and your friend, Alex,"

"Yeah, she introduced us on Monday I think," Cole pointed out, the conversation dying as they both remembered the short introduction they had. Cole realised that his father would be up at any moment. He dug his phone out of his pocket to check the time, reassuring himself that he still had ten minutes left. "Hey, I'll give you a ride home,"

"Nah, it's okay, I'll just jog," Azelie smiled sweetly up at him, Cole only now realising that she was dressed in a pair of sweats and an oversized Beatles T-shirt.

"I just pulled you over from the other side of a bridge - do you seriously think I'm going to let you walk home?" Cole laughed slightly, his green eyes not leaving Azelie for a second.

"Thanks, but honestly I'll be fine," She smiled, opening her mouth to say something else, but Cole interrupted her.

"Azelie, just get in the car," he said bluntly. Azelie raised her eyebrows at his commanding tone. She didn't want to get a ride home, hell he could be some kind of serial rapist or something. Azelie quickly dismissed the idea of him being a serial rapist. He was rather cute with his messy, soft brown hair and his bright green eyes. He had no reason to be a rapist - the girls were all probably running after him! Azelie really just wanted to run home, needing to clear her head from everything that had happened. But then Cole shot her a look, and in that instant, Azelie knew that she wasn't going to get her way and instead caved in, marching over to the car and climbing inside. Cole smiled smugly as Azelie climbed into the car, following her movements as he climbed into the car at the driver's side. He may have won the battle; but he was yet to win the war.

He put on his seatbelt, while turning the key in the ignition and looking over to Azelie who was sat in the passenger seat beside him. His eyes quickly flickered down to where her seatbelt should be, noticing that she hadn't fasted her seatbelt.

"Seatbelt," he simply said, reminding her to put it on, his gaze floating back to the road as he began to drive.

"Huh?" She replied, her gaze brown eyes floating over to him as a look of confusion appeared on her face.

"Your seatbelt? The thing that keeps you strapped into the car if we get hit by a truck!" Cole replied in a 'isn't it obvious' tone, while pressing on the accelerator slightly, speeding up the car.

"I know what a seatbelt is! I'm not an idiot!" Azelie said, rolling her eyes at him before looking back out the window, thinking up the directions to her house.

"Well then use it!"

"Why? I literally live like three minutes away!"

"Because If we are in a car accident in the next three minutes, you'll go flying out my window!" Cole argued,"Just wear a damn seat belt!" He added..

"Fine then!" Azelie shouted, stretching her arm over while pulling the seatbelt over her body and clicking it into place. "Happy now?"

"Are you seriously not scared that we could get hit and you would hit your head on the road? Most accidents happen within 25 miles of the house!"

"I'm not scared," Azelie simply replied, crossing her hand while staring straight ahead out of the front window.

"Oh seriously! You're not scared of dying?"

"I'm not scared of anything!" she replied quietly, staring out of the window once again, praying in her head that Cole would just drop the subject

"Of course you are! Everyone scared of something! You're a girl, don't you all hate spiders?" Cole replied, rolling his eyes at the girl sitting in the passenger seat, not believing for a second that anyone could be completely fearless.

"My uncle has to call me down when there's spiders! Not all girls are scared of silly little spiders" Azelie replied bluntly, Cole's arguing annoying her more and more. Cole let the subject drop again, still not believing her. Silence filled the car, Azelie only speaking to give the final directions to her house.

A couple of minutes later and he pulled up outside her house, Azelie and Cole sat in silence outside her house.

"Well... see you around," Azelie shrugged, opening the passenger door. "Thanks for the ride,"

"No problem," Cole replied, a frown forming on his lips as he looked over at Azelie. His eyes caught her gaze, and for a second, his heart broke. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and well, Azelie was breaking down. The golden flakes in her eyes had disappeared, leaving the dull brown colour of her eyes, sadness filling them instead. But then a second later, it disappeared, the emotion blinked away, Azelie acting as if everything was fine. But it wasn't - everything was as far from 'fine' as possible.

Azelie slammed the door shut, trying to push the image of Cole looking at her out of her mind. She ran around the car, before running up the path to her house.All of his questions was driving Azelie insane when all she wanted to do was go for a jog and hang off the side of a bridge like any other normal person. She walked into her house, closing the front door behind her. She climbed up the stairs, and walked quietly along the corridor and entering her room, gently closing her door behind her.

Azelie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her mind down. She leaned backwards onto the door, slowly falling down to the ground before landing on the floor with a bump. She pulled her legs up close to her body, wrapping her arms around her knees, and her head resting on top of her knees as tears started rolling down her cheeks. How could she had been so stupid? Suicide had even been an option for her, no matter how bad things got, suicide would never be the answer. If he hadn't caught her, they would be fishing her body out of the river by now. If he hadn't of shown up... well Azelie couldn't even push herself to think about that. She cursed herself for being so idiotic, making herself promise, never to so such a thing again.

The problem with promises is that once you've made one, it's bound to be broken.