�Hello?� I asked as my mom handed me the phone.
�Hey, Lee, it�s Ray,� the other voice said.
�What�s goin� on, man?�
�Not much with me, but I just had the weirdest talk with Nikki at the park.�
�Thought you had band,� I commented.
�Did. After band.�
�Oh. What�d she say?�
�Whole lotta stuff,� Ray told me. �Mostly how she�s got this weird feeling that something bad is gonna happen tomorrow.�
Ray went on to tell me all the things that Nikki had told him, including some stuff that she�d told me before. Ray and Nikki rarely ever had long conversations, so he told me that it was kind of weird for her to be telling him all the stuff she had only entrusted with me and her best girl friend previously.
�How long were you guys talking?� I asked as Ray drew to a close about what she had said.
�I�d guess close to two hours.�
�Did she want me to call her?�
�She didn�t say anything to me about it. But it is pretty late, so I don�t know if you should or not.�
�Alright, I�ll just see her tomorrow and ask her how�s she�s feeling.�
�Cool, man. See ya later.�
Nikki had already left the school by the time I had gotten to our regular meeting spot, so I started uptown with Ray and our other friend, Steve. I didn�t really pay any attention to anything that Ray and Steve were talking about, but I caught bits and pieces of gossip they�d picked up from the girls earlier in the day. There was something about how Amber had been arrested for grand theft auto and something about how Mr. Richards had supposedly hit on Jen during third hour.
When we got right up to the empty lot next to Pizza Hut, I saw Nikki talking to her ex-boyfriend John. John went to another school, but would sometimes come to town during lunch. Usually he would just sit in his car with his friends, gawking at her as she walked into and out of Pizza Hut. I didn�t know why he was talking to her today, but I began to feel really uneasy.
I paused for a second as I saw the look on Nikki�s face change. She looked really scared. The next thing I knew, John had a gun pointed at Nikki. As she screamed out in terror and Ray, Steve, and I began to run toward the both of them, he pulled the trigger. My entire life with Nikki flashed before me as she fell toward the ground. Steve and Ray were running right at John, ready to tackle him. The rest of the kids around us began shrieking at the top of their lungs to call 911 and started running into Pizza Hut.
I got to Nikki as soon as Ray and Steve tackled John. They pushed the gun away from him and another kid reached in through John�s open car door and pulled out his car keys so his friends couldn�t drive away. Even when they all tried to get out of the car, there were about eight other guys waiting to knock them down so they couldn�t get away.
Tears streaming down my face, I kneeled down next to Nikki and took her into my arms. I looked her body up and down and put my hand over the gunshot wound in her stomach. I finally looked her right in the eyes, barely able to see past the tears in my own eyes.
�Nikki, babe,� I said. �It�s gonna be okay. You�re gonna be okay.�
�Lee,� she whispered, blood coming out of her mouth. �Tell everybody I love �em.�
I shook me head. �Nah, you can tell �em yourself. �Cuz you�re gonna make it. You ain�t leavin� me now. You can�t leave me now.�
�I�m so cold, Lee. I�m so cold.�
�Hold on babe,� I told her. Looking away for a few seconds I screamed, �Get the ambulance here now! And somebody give me a coat or something!�
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