When Things Get Real, a strange angels, lili st. crow fanfic

When Things Get Real

Ashley Noe

When Things Get Real

Chapter 1 TJ

It happened quickly, the accident did. I remember being in Strafford, MO. I was in my bright orange ford escort. Where I was headed, I don't remember. At all. Not anymore, that is, heck, I may never remember where I was headed that afternoon.

I did realize that I was on a stretcher, in the back of a moving vehicle. Opening my eyes conformed what I already figured out. The effort of opening my eyes was exhausting. When I closed my eyes again, my flash back started.

I was driving on Route 66, headed to meet Mom and Dad. My IPhone started to ring. It was Mom. "Hey, Mom...no I'm on my way...yeah I'll be there in a little while...Don't worry, I'm five minutes away right now...okay, I love you too...tell dad I love him...alright I will see you in a few minutes...love you, bye."

Where was I going? The question popped in my head and stuck. The flash back however continued.

I had just passed the Strafford school campus. I smiled to myself, and thought about how I would graduate this year. It struck me as funny when my phone decided to start ringing again. "Hello...no that's not me...sorry you must have the wrong number...no my name is not Zoey...no I do not know anyone named Zoey...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? NO! I AM NOT HER; WOULD YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?! CAN YOU NOT GET IT THRU YOUR SICKLY THICK SKULL THAT I AM NOT ZOEY!" I hung up the phone, pissed at the idiot that was on the other end of the line. Still distracted by the fact that someone had the gut to call me Zoey really concerned me, I never saw the kid stopped in the middle of my lane.

Stepping on the brakes and turning the wheel, I thankfully missed the kid. The stupid guy finally got his wits about him and sprinted off the road. As he turned to run, I got a glimpse of his t-shirt. It was a light blue, with JROTC 2012-13 printed on the front. The back was more complex, but the surprising thing was is that I had recognized the shirt from somewhere. It had a buff looking blue jay on the back, with a weird ribbon framing it. The top of the ribbon had GUTHRIE ARMY printed on it. Below the ribbon and the blue jay, there were two boxes; one said "pain is temporary." The other box said "pride is forever." He shouted something to me that I didn't understand.

An oncoming car didn't see me, and hit my side of the car, spinning me. My head hit something, because I then developed a major migraine, so not cool. It sucked royally. Finally I stopped spinning, and was awake long enough to see the guy I had almost-but-thank-goodness-I-didn't-hit start running to my car. Something warm ran down the side of my face. Gingerly, I reached up to touch it. It was wet, slimy, and gross. When I pulled my hand away, it was covered in my blood. I screamed like the little girl I-thankfully-am-not, and then I passed out.

That was it, all I could remember, which was surprising to me that I remembered what the guy's t-shirt looked like. I wondered what happed to him when I heard someone start talking to me. The voice was strangely familiar to me.

"Miss, I am Cadet Major Casey Davis." It was the guy I had almost hit. "Can you open your eyes?" when I opened them; I saw his gorgeous eyes filled with concern at first then flood with relief that my eyes were open. His eyes were a pretty bright blue-green color. Vaguely I wondered what he was doing in Strafford, when that soothing voice of his sounded again.

"Hey, can you tell me your name and what the last thing you remember?

I nodded. "TJ. My name is TJ, it's really Telirose Jemianise, but as you can tell that's not a name I've been called since I was younger. Everyone has always called me TJ. I remember you running to the side of my Escort and feeling blood run down the side of my face."

He nodded, suppressing a smile. His eyes flashed with humor, and he didn't bother hiding the smile. It made him look younger himself, and cuter. The thought popped up and stuck in my mind.

"Could you help me sit up? I am tiered of lying down like this. It's starting to hurt my back."

"Yeah, hold on though. I had to restrain you while you were out, you kept struggling. Sorry about that. Here, let me help you."

He reached over and undid the restraints and straps holding me down. Offering me a warm and comforting hand, he helped me sit up. Silently, he offered me a cup of water. I graciously accepted it.

"Careful, don't want you to overdo it. Easy does it, there you go." Casey held me steady while I drank my cup of water.

Wishing that we weren't in a truck bed that had a camper cover over it, I tried to stand up, but I quickly lost the little balance I had. Instead of keeping it, I was toppled over; thankfully, Casey was there to catch me as I fell into him. His arms were so muscular that I felt the power that they carried as he protectively wrapped them around me. Oh my goodness gracious great big balls of fire, they were so comforting around my shoulders. Suddenly the thought came to me that it felt right to be held by him like this.

Now all that is missing is the annoying interference that pops up when things get good. I thought about that for a while. I must have fallen asleep in that warm a protective shield his arms created, because when I woke up, he still held me beside him. Only now, we were on the floor of the truck bed, not me in his lap. Casey wasn't asleep, he was just watching me. Now that felt weird.

"Hey, you okay?" his voice was filled with concern again. "You scared me when you fell. I thought that you had passed out or something. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to make it feel as if we were, you know, sleeping together. I just..." Did he just blush? "Never mind."

"Yeah I'm fine. I must have passed out again or something because I fell, and then lights out I guess."

Carefully, as if I would break like a piece of glass, he reluctantly unwrapped his arms from around me and stood up. After he stood, Casey offered me his hand to help me stand. We must have stopped either that or got to wherever we were going, because when I stood up I wasn't thrown into Casey like last time.

We got out of the back of the truck, and I saw the sign. I was not in Strafford, Missouri. I was now in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The realization of this almost made me pass out again. Thankfully Casey had put his arm around me to help hold me up.

Chapter 2 Casey

It felt good to be back home, with TJ beside him and his arm around her shoulders. He could sense her shock about no longer being in Missouri. It was the same shock he had when he was sent on the mission of getting her to Guthrie. That shock had doubled and tripled its self when the accident happened and when he found out that TJ was a girl.

TJ was a pretty girl. She had a tall masculine build that runners tend to have. Her hair was a brownish-blonde color. He couldn't even begin to describe her eyes, they were a striking green. They had him captured the moment that she opened her eyes and she saw him.

The clothes she wore were bloody and torn from the wreck. Guilt washed over him; after all, if he hadn't been in the middle of the road, she wouldn't have been in a wreck. She had on orange basketball shorts and an orange tank top that made her look even more muscular. He loved how she looked in the fading light, mysterious, with the light behind her, she looked like an orange angel.

He guessed that since her car was orange, and that she wore all orange, orange was her favorite color. She looked good in it. He dropped his arm from her shoulders and reached back into the truck bed and pulled out the orange duffle bag that had a bunch of her clothes in it.

She was obviously scared when he dropped his arm from her shoulders, but he saw relief flood her face when she saw the bag. He put it on the ground at her feet, then walked back to the truck bed and pulled out a second orange bag that had her orange blankets in it, he had found it in the trunk of her car.

She sure as hell is hooked on orange. Even her bedroom in Missouri was painted bright orange according to a picture he had seen. Her car was orange, well except for the trunk. That was interesting to him. The trunk was wood cameo with the words you can't see me in bright orange letters on it. On the driver's side, the words were in big bold black letters can you see me now? He thought it was a joke; but really funny at that.

"Here, you can change out of those clothes at my place. Right now though, I am going to introduce you to Command Sergeant Major Kristopherson. He is in the JROTC building out back behind the high school. Come on, I will take you there." When he offered TJ his hand, he expected her to refuse it. Instead she surprised him by taking it.

On the way to the JROTC room, they stopped at his car and put her stuff in it. She surprised him again by quickly pulling out a new pair of orange running shoes, a pair of socks, some Navy sweatpants, a Navy hoodie, and a dark blue tank top.

"Can I change first? I mean I don't want to look like this when I meet the CSM. It would not be respectful to him, especially when he earned the title with hard work. The least I can do is look decent. Please, I promise I won't take that long to change."

"Yeah, okay. I'll show where you can change. We'll go to the guy's locker room in the east wing. There is a basketball game tonight so all the girl's and all but one boy's locker rooms are being used. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah. It would probably be best if you were in the locker room with me, in case I fall or something."

He headed towards the south entrance to make sure it was all clear and that they could get in unnoticed by others. She caught up to him quicker than he expected her to. With her clothes wrapped up in the hoodie in one hand, she took his hand in the other hand. Obviously scared about what was going on, she kept a firm grip on Casey's hand.

Casey let her hold his hand and enjoyed the pleasure of the feel of her calloused hand in his. He led her to a door that only a few people used and that was never monitored. Quietly entering the high school, he looked around and made sure that no one was coming. Thankfully no one came.

Taking the familiar route to the locker room, he soon had her in the safety of the place. She quickly located the changing room, almost as if she had been here before, and began to change. Sooner he expected she emerged from the stall. TJ looked good in the sweatpants and light green tank top. The hoodie was tied around her waist. She walked up to him, and took his hands.

They stood there like that for a few minutes. TJ had his hands and was studying them carefully. His hands were scared from the hard work he did. Being ever so gentle, she dropped one hand and traced the scars on his other hand. Standing this close to her made him want to hug her. She lifted her gaze to meet his, mesmerized by the respect and her gentle manner, he let her touch his face. There were a few scars there too, but those didn't matter to him at the moment. What did matter was the fact that she was doing this herself. Most girls he met were repulsed by the ugly scars on him.

TJ was different than those girls. She had more compassion, more sympathy, and to his major surprise, more understanding of the pain that came with scars.

"Where did you get these scars?" Her question was simple. She was standing so close to him that he could feel the heat radiating off her. Her voice had a sweet French accent to it when she spoke.

"Working and training to join the Army, most of them anyway. Some are from working at Jiffy Lube here in town." His voice was suddenly husky and raw. "Where did you get yours?"

"Most of mine are from working on my farm. The rest are from the regular play-and-fall-down-and-come-up-crying-and-run-to-mommy kind of thing."

She took his hands and placed them on either side of her beautiful face. It was soft, and warm. His eyes slid down her gorgeous face to her had nice lips. He briefly wondered what it might be like to hold her and kiss her.

As he leaned in to kiss her, she cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we go meet the CSM?"

With that he took her hand and led her to the back of the high school and out to the JROTC building.

Chapter 3 TJ

As Casey led me to the JROTC building, my thoughts went back to earlier, while we were in the back of the truck. The feel of his arms around me and how safe I felt there in his arms. Then I remembered how his voice sounded when he asked me where my scars came from. It had taken a husky tone that I have never heard in a guy's voice.

"Okay, here we are. This is where CSM Kristopherson is. Hey are you sure about this? I mean, we can come tomorrow when other people will be here."

"Yeah, I'm sure about this. Besides it's not like you won't be there for me." I turned so that I was facing him. "Thanks, for everything. No, I am not saying goodbye or anything; I just want to show you my gratitude for your help in Missouri."

With that I closed the space between us and put my arms around his neck. I was standing so close to him that I could feel his heart beat through our shirts. My eyes went down his face to his mouth. They looked soft; I had never wanted to kiss a guy so badly in my life. Never before had I wanted a guy to kiss me so badly in my life.

I felt his arms side around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Unable to bear the desire to taste him, I quickly closed the short distance between our mouths. At first it was awkward, because I had never kissed a guy before. The kiss deepened, and became more passionate. One of his hands found the hair tie that held up my waist-length hair in a very messy bun, and pulled it free. He put the hair tie around his wrist and his fingers started to get tangled into my usually silky hair.

Distantly I heard a door open and slam shut. Then I realized that someone was walking towards us. I quickly noted that the person was angry about something. Whoever it was, had stopped right beside us. Suddenly I was pulled out of Casey's embrace to face man that approached us.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. Why it's Cadet Major Davis and...Who are you?"

I did not like the edge his voice had taken. That alone made me want to punch him. My second reason I wanted to punch him was that he had just ruined the moment and my first kiss.

"Sergeant Major," Casey obviously didn't like the edge in the other guy's voice because he matched the guy in tone. This made me want to kiss Casey again. "This is Telirose Jemianise Daniels. She is from Missouri. TJ, this is CSM Kristopherson. Kristopherson is the guy who wanted you to be brought to Guthrie. Now that you've met her, can I take her home now?"

"Yes, Telirose, it is a pleasure to meet you." Lust, desire, and jealousy flashed through his brown eyes. "I must say Teli-"

"TJ. You can call me TJ, that's what everyone calls me." I said to the CSM and yanked my arm out of his cold grip.

"TJ, let's go." Casey said with a firm no-nonsense tone in his voice. He had a hate edging his voice, while he stared at the CSM.

"Yes I do believe it is time for you to go get settled, I will look forward to seeing you tomorrow." With that, Kristopherson turned on his heal and left me and Casey alone again.

"TJ, I am sorry. He gets like that a lot. Most especially when the thing he longs for the most is taken by someone else."

"Let's go. I want to go to bed. I might as well crash at your place, seeing that I have nowhere else to go."

I walked beside him, loving his solid feel. As we walked together, he put his arm around my shoulders and led me back to his car. About halfway there, I stopped and turned to face him again. This time no one could interrupt us. Stepping closer to him, I put my arms around his neck and kissed him again.

Casey didn't hesitate to put his arms around me like last time. He drew me as close to his body as he possibly could as he deepened our kiss. When we finally stopped, I buried my face in his neck and let him hold me there. That was the only place I felt safe, in the embrace of him.

Feeling more worn out, mostly from the emotion that the CSM made me feel, and unhealed injuries form the crash, I leaned into Casey. I didn't have the strength to fight him when he lifted me into his arms and carried me to his car.

Cradling me close to him, he walked back to the car with me in his arms. He managed to open the passenger door without too much trouble, and set me gently in the seat. After that I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I went to sleep and woke to him lifting me out of the car and carrying me inside. Casey set me down to open the door to his apartment, then picked me back up and didn't put me down again until he had carried me into a bedroom and set me on the bed.

I went right back to sleep. When I woke up he was saying something about pajamas. Tired and blurry eyed I got up and quickly got into my pajamas, the mossy oaks cameo ones. Then crawled back in bed and after I was back in the bed did I realize that he was in the bed too.

"Casey, do you want me to sleep on the floor or something?"

"No" he practically growled at me. Then gently he took a hold of my hand and pulled me to him. "I want you to sleep right here, so that I can keep you safe."

Too tired to argue I crawled back in beside him. He wrapped an arm around me and drew me closer to him. We fell asleep like that.

Chapter 4 James Kristopherson

TJ was not at all what he had expected. She had the athletic height and build. Her small arm was smooth and tan. The shock in her eyes was clear as he jerked her away from Davis. She was his. TJ belonged to him, not Davis. He had found them halfway between the high school building and the JROTC building making out.

After he had left her to the mercy of Davis, he wondered if it might be possible to get her to trust him. It bugged him that she already chose to trust Davis instead of him.

For a moment, Kristopherson considered following her to his place, just to see what would happen between them. The thought was erased as quickly as it had come. He didn't need his prey to begin to think of him as a stalker, although that was exactly how he had found the very athletic girl who was quite the competitor.

With the battalion games coming up so soon, he needed to get her convinced to compete for them. What James really wanted was to get to the point where he could coach her alone, without Davis there to interfere He knew that he needed to get busy if he was going to have her competing by the time the games rolled around. Instead of sulking, he got down to business.

James needed to call the school that she had attended to get her records, and to inform them that the girl would no longer attending the school. He googled Strafford, MO for information and quickly found the school's web site. After calling and explaining to the person he spoke with that TJ would no longer attending the school, James told them that she would be in the same classes except that they didn't have a wood working class.

He did however offer to have her put in his JROTC class. It should have been harder to convince them to do that, but he was pleased that they allowed her to be in JROTC as a LET 4. That would be important when it came time to submit the names of the people competing in the games.

More relaxed, he got his stuff ready to go and was about to walk out the door. Then the phone rang. Oh shit, I think that it's her parents. What will I say? I could just leave and act like I wasn't here to answer. Yes, I think that is what I will do.

What James had not realized is that he just told the secretary of the high school who he was and how to contact him. He also didn't realize that the secretary could easily call her parents and inform them about where she is. That was his first mistake.

Chapter 5 Casey

When he woke up, he forgot about the previous day's events, the wreck, saving TJ, catching her when she fell, holding her while she was passed out, both kisses, and taking her to his apartment. As he shifted, he felt someone beside him move as well. His military training kicked in on high. Quickly and quietly he leapt off his bed and turned to face the intruder in his bed.

As soon as he turned around and saw the intruder was TJ, he immediately relaxed. She had obviously felt the sudden movements, because she rolled on her side so that she was facing him. She looks young. It's amazing really how young someone can look in their sleep.

Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, he saw it was only 3:00 a.m. in the morning. Casey had a weird feeling, like he was on a show or movie and did not know it. He quickly checked his small apartment for anything out of the ordinary. After he went back to the bedroom to where TJ was.

The second time he was awoken was the feel of TJ getting out of the bed.

"Where you going?" he asked her still half asleep. "Why are you up at 4:30?"

"I am going for a run, want to join, army boy?" the teasing in her voice was so obvious he had to smile at it.

"Sure, runner girl. Give me five minutes to get changed. 'Kay?"

"Okay. Your time starts now. I want to back in time to see the sun rise."

He absolutely loved the dedication to the sport she had in her voice. Casey quickly located his running gear and put it on. By the time he was ready, and got to the kitchen, she had out two bananas, two glasses, and the chocolate powder to mix in milk. When he reached for a banana, she lightly smacked his hand.

"Oh, no you don't. Not now, buddy, those are for after we run. Not before. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's do this." And with that, they walked out of his apartment, down the stairs, and started their run into the early morning fog.

Chapter 6 TJ

It felt good to be running again, as always, it helped clear my mind so that I could think clearly. Running with Casey, however, I couldn't even think about anything but about how good it felt to be running with him. I still felt weird after my wreck yesterday, but there are a few things that remain clear: one, I was in Guthrie, two I kissed Casey and still loved the way his arms felt around me. Three that I had slept in the same bed as Casey.

We ran about five miles out and five in, finishing with just enough time to get the bananas and make chocolate milk, then head outside to watch the sunrise. About 5:10 I asked him what time we needed to be at school, he said that we didn't have to be there for a whole two hours. Perfect, that was enough time to shower, get ready, make breakfast then still have about an hour to clean.

Casey showed me where the shower was and everything and told me to holler if I needed anything. After he left me in the room, I went to the bedroom and was about to walk in and get my clothes, towel, and shower stuff when I saw the door was cracked open. As I looked through the crack of the door, I watched as he took off his sweat soaked shirt.

Curious, I watched as he went to the closet and pulled out a t-shirt. When he turned back around so that he could see the door opening, I walked in. His shirt was still in his hands, so I got the full view of that muscular stomach of his.

"Oh, sorry, I just need…" I lost my voice as I watched him move. Oh my goodness gracious, he was fine.

Now that he had seen me walk in to the room, he continued to rifle through his clothes and found the pair of sweats he wanted. Carefully so that I wouldn't startle him I made sure he was facing the door before I timidly walked in to the room to him, and put my arms around him. He hesitated but only for a millisecond, before he put those strong arms around me.

The embrace was overly warm, since we had just finished running ten miles. I looked up at him and smiled. I could love him. The thought popped in my head and stuck. I let my hands drift down his strong, broad, and muscular back, enjoying and savoring the feel of it. Resting my head against his chest, my arms wound around his waist, I felt safe. Looking up at him I saw that he was grinning from ear to ear.

"What is so funny?" I heard the suspicion in my voice.

"You, you are just so funny. I mean yesterday you were in a severe car wreck and this morning you woke up at 4:30 to go running. Your true dedication to running amazes me. Then just five minutes ago, you were about to take a shower and I came in here to get my clothes into after I showered. Now look at us, we are both shirtless and don't care about that."

When he said that, I looked down and sure enough, I had already taken my shirt off. I hadn't realized that because I was so used to running alone that I got in the habit of taking it off when I ran. Suddenly the warmth of him hit me, his smell was a sweaty guy scent. It was delicious.

I reached up and put my arms around his neck and shyly drew closer. He reacted immediately, his arms tightened around me bringing me even closer to him. This time he was the one to close the short distance between our mouths. Letting the sensations wash over me I pulled myself up even further into his arms.

Chapter 7 Casey

The feel of her in his arms was shockingly good to him. When she had walked in on him without a shirt on, she looked a little flushed. He had just gotten the shirt and sweats he wanted to wear out and was about to change. She had walked right up to him when he had turned to throw his clothes on his bed and change when she put her slim, tan arms around him. The fact that she wasn't grossed out by all the scars on his chest, back and arms impressed him.

As he pulled her as close to him as physically possible, TJ deepened her kiss making him hungry for more. Instead of just standing, she practically climbed into his arms so that he was holding her. Slowly, he started to walk across the room to the bed. As if sensing the movement, TJ clung tighter to him. Gently, as if she were glass, he sat down on the bed with her in his lap

She shifted just enough to tell him that she wasn't ready for it. He pulled back, just slightly, to see what her reaction would be. She surprised him; she glanced quickly at the clock on the table. It was only 5:45. There was still time to shower. He got the feeling that she should go ahead and start to get ready.

"I need to take my shower." She said, still kissing him sweetly.

"So go take it, I am not stopping you." He managed to say before she cut him off with another wave of kisses. I could live like this forever.

She slowly, painfully climbed off his lap while giving him one long sweet kiss before she grabbed her stuff and went to go shower. When she left the room, he stayed where he was thinking. He heard the shower running, so he went to the kitchen to cook up something to eat.

Casey was humming his favorite Florida Georgia Line song. As he got the stuff out to make two egg, sausage, bacon, and onion omelet, he listened to the song on his IPod. Good thing he at least had a set of speakers. He was about to start cooking when he heard a sweet voice behind him.

"If you want me to, I can cook while you take a shower."

He must not have heard the water turn off, because she had for the second time that morning managed to sneak up on him. When he turned around he saw what she was wearing. TJ looked amazing. She had on a pair of boot-cut blue jeans, a light green cut off t-shirt, boots, and a jean jacket.

She walked up to him with a smile on her face. Her hair, he noticed was not in a messy bun, like yesterday, but in one long French braid. It made her facial features stand out. High cheek bones, strong chin, adorable nose, and those eyes. Her eyes seemed to be a bright cat like-green shade. She looked good like that.

"I should take a shower, but I want to make you breakfast instead."

Her eyes narrowed at him.

"Should I be scared?" he knew by the smile on her face she was teasing.

"No, you should be happy. I am going to make you the best omelet you have ever had before." He said, taking her in his arms.

She chuckled. He just enjoyed listening to her laugh. Feeling good, he leaned down and kissed her on her absolutely adorable nose. TJ stepped out of the embrace, smiling. Knowing that he needed to get started if they were going to make it to the school enough time before the bell rang to get her schedule, he got busy.

"Hey, Casey, since you are in JROTC, I was wondering that if I joined the class, if I could be in the same hour as you. I mean since you know your way around here and that you are my boyfriend and all. I just want to be in the same classes as you. This may sound silly, but I haven't felt as safe in my life like I have felt the past day."

He saw tears forming in her gorgeous eyes.

"Baby, you don't sound silly, that sounds normal. Well, people usually try to avoid me because of the scars on my face and arms. What I mean to say is that I've never been marked as a 'safe' person. Most just mark me as 'the danger of the school'. To hear you say that you feel safe around me is different. But, it is a different I can adjust to. When we get to school, all the girls will be jealous of your natural beauty. Don't take it personal. To them, you are exotic. You are to me as well, but that is beside the point."

He took her in his arms again, and held her there for a long time. When they broke the embrace, she didn't look on the edge of crying. It was then that he realized that maybe it was no coincidence that they met; maybe it was meant to be. After eating, she went back to the room to get her school bag.

Quickly he finished cooking and eating so that he could still catch a quick shower. After he was ready, he went into the bedroom to see her sitting on the bed, crying.

Chapter 8 JamesKristopherson

When he got to the school that morning, his thoughts immediately went to TJ. He vaguely thought about calling her to see if she needed a ride, but then remembered that she was with him. It wasn't that he did not like Casey Davis, just the fact that he stole his gold medal. Davis had stolen his champion.

As he sat there and thought about things, he realized that maybe letting her be with Davis will encourage her to be in JROTC and compete in the battalion games later on in the school year. The least he could do was hope. He would find out about that later in the morning. Right now, he needed to get ready for the school day.

Casey had been right about several things. As soon as I had stepped out of his car, I heard the ripple effect of gasps from many girls. Smiling to myself, I saw Casey come around the car to where I was standing. When I took his hand, I heard even more gasps and murmurs.

While waiting in the office, I noticed that a lot of people were staring at me. I didn't care what they think, that didn't mean that I would put up with it. As I stood up to adjust, more people stared. When I turned and started for the largest group of girls around, knowing with experience that a first expression was the most important, I smiled at them pleasantly. When I reached them, I knew that everyone was staring; I was the 'new kid' at school.

"Hi, I am TJ. Hope you don't mind me saying this right off the bat, but I am not going to tolerate you pushing me around just because I am the "new kid". No I don't go tell the teachers, I handle it myself, and trust me when I say you won't like my handling of the situation. So you are better off leaving me alone. I find it easier to handle that way."

"Quick question, TJ," one of the girls responded before the others could say something, "What do you mean that you're not going to tolerate it when you get the 'welcome to Guthrie' welcoming?"

"Exactly what she said." I knew before I turned around that Casey was there by the kids backing up a few inches. "Could you guys give people a brake and quit pestering them for your own enjoyment? It would save a lot of people a lot of things. Come on TJ let's go."

After we turned a corner, I no longer could contain it, I burst out laughing.

"What is so funny to you after you just stood up to the most dangerous kids here at this school?" Casey's question had a weird tone to it.

"Oh, you know what so funny. The looks on their faces when I told not to mess with me made them look silly. Then you came up behind me causing them to back away looking like a rabbit scared to death trapped in its own cage waiting to be skinned and cooked for dinner."

We had stopped walking, and I turned to face him. He looked upset about something. The look on his face began to scare me. It was full of confusion, worry, agitation, annoyance, and frustration. Looking deep into his eyes I saw anger, boiling op to the top of the pot of emotion.

"Look, I am sorry; I just know from past experience that if you set your ground, then people don't mess with you. I didn't realize that confronting them first would upset you. If you had said something about that before, I probably wouldn't have done it that way. Hey, baby, I'm sorry. I love you."

"Yeah, you are right, I could have warned you. And, sweetheart, you don't need to say sorry to me or them. All you had to do was point out that I hadn't warned you. That's all."

His words to me made me want to cry. He had noticed before I could hide it, because the next thing I knew was his arms going around me pulling me in close. We stood there for a long time. When I reached up with my arms, he got my vibe, I wanted his kisses. His kisses were exactly what I got.

When we finally broke apart, he looked happier.

"What was the matter?"

"Is, what is the matter? The problem here is that I think that Kristopherson is the guy behind your schedule. Here, take a look." He handed me a piece of copy paper with my schedule on it.

It had all of my other classes on it. Except for woodwork and wielding, that hour was the hour I had JROTC. That was just great.

"Casey, what hour do you have JROTC? Please say that it is 6th hour."

"You see, that's the thing. I'm in... Oh, wait, never mind, I'm in Charlie Company. So yeah, I'm in 6th hour JROTC. I was confused there because look at your seventh hour. JROTC again, what is up with that?"

His confusion about my schedule matched mine. We were still wondering about my schedule when Kristopherson had walked up to where we were standing in the middle of the hallway and scared us.

"What are you two doing in here, alone?" he put a lot of emphasis on the word alone. "I should assume that you need help with something." Then he acted as though he had just realized who he was talking to. "Oh, TJ, nice to see you again, I truly am glad that you were feeling good enough to come to school today. Davis, hello."

When Kristopherson greeted Casey, the edge in his voice was deadly. To me, it seemed as though he, the CSM, was thinking that he owned me or something. Now I understood what Casey was saying about Kristopherson being behind something with me schedule. He wanted to be near me as much as he could possibly without making obvious that he wanted me.

Chapter 9 Casey

He saw the way that CSM Kristopherson had looked at TJ, and he didn't like it at all. Casey knew that there was always something wrong with the guy, but he hadn't realized that it was this bad. When Casey spoke to the teacher, it was emotionless.

"Sergeant Major. No, is the answer to your question. Oh and TJ wants to be in all of my classes. Not most. ALL. Got that? Good, because she will be in Charlie Company with me, then we are going to gym."

When he looked at TJ, he saw her smile full of love and gratitude. He loved it when she smiled. Even though they had only known each other for a day, it felt like they had known each other their entire lives. The look on her face when Kristopherson had walked up was full of fear.

"Well, if you don't need help with anything, then get going. You shouldn't be standing in the middle of the hallway, especially alone; people will begin to think things." With that, Kristopherson did an about face and left them standing there.

"He's right you know; we shouldn't be standing here. Can we go to first hour and wait there for the bell to ring?" TJ looked at him with true concern that made him agree with her.

"Come on, I'll show you where it is." He turned around and headed down the hallway towards the class.

She caught up with him quickly, and threaded her fingers through his. He glanced at her through the corner of his eye and smiled. TJ had a goofy grin on her face that made him smile through the frustrations about Kristopherson.

When they approached the class room, she stopped outside of the room. He turned to her with a look of concern on his face.

"TJ, what is wrong? This is the class. No one is in here right now, well besides the teacher. It is going to be okay. I promise you."

"It isn't the class that has me concerned. What is bugging me is the way that Kristopherson was looking at me earlier. The look on his face was disgusting. The way I feel around him is weird, like he is radiating with lust for me or something. This is stupid, I don't need to pester you with how I feel."

TJ looked scared, almost as if she were scared that Kristopherson would pop up like he did earlier.

"It's not stupid, if he doesn't feel right to you, then stay away from him as much as possible. Or, I can get your schedule changed so that you are not in Delta Company also. TJ, I love you, and I promise you that I will protect you from him."

Chapter 10 James Kristopherson

As he headed back to his office, he wondered just what he was doing messing around with TJ like he was some sort of stalker. He wanted her to trust him, for her to grow close to him. Acting like a stalker wasn't helping his case.

She had seemed surprised, even angry to see his face when she saw who it was. Her expression had surprised him. It had taken him by complete surprise so much so that he almost faltered. Almost, but not quite, he was expressionless during the encounter.

Thinking about the schedule he had seen in her hands, he knew that TJ and Casey were not happy about the results of the classes she had been put in.

But what classes was she worried about? The terrifying thought that occurred to him was that she might not be happy to have him for the last two hours of the school day. Why would TJ not want to become trained by him? Surely she wasn't afraid of him. Training with him, TJ could and will easily become the best runner.

As Casey led me to the class, I pondered over the schedule. When he abruptly stopped, I nearly ran into his hard, muscled back. He turned to face me. I obviously had fear over my schedule written all over my face, because he took my face between his soft, strong, calloused hand and stared directly into my eyes.

"Hey, you don't need to be afraid, TJ, everything is fine. I'll talk to the counselor today and get your schedule fixed so that it is just like mine. Okay?"

"Okay."

Anything else on my mind became erased then because he had started kissing me. As the kiss deepened, we moved closer together. Pretty soon, we were so close that we were practically glued together. Finally, my common sense returned to me and reluctantly, I broke away.

"PDA is not a way I want to get into trouble. It's not that I don't love you because I do, it's because anyone could walk by and we could get into big trouble."

"Yeah, okay, just don't worry so much about Kristopherson. I will get it all sorted out for you." His eyes told me that he was telling me the truth.

Just before the bell rang for first hour, the teacher for the class walked in. I didn't want to bring any attention to myself, so I pulled out my schedule and took another look at it to memorize it. The schedule that they gave me looked like this:

Chemistry

English AP

Vo Ag

Defensive Fighting

Calculus

JROTC
JROTC

Build. 8

n. gym

Build. 2

I was surprised by the truth in Casey's words about having JROTC for the last two hours of my school day. Honestly, was the CSM trying to make my life miserable by putting me into two straight hours? Fear about facing Kristopherson and getting to admit the reason about why I was here would be a large challenge but not one that I was going to let slip between my fingers.

Suddenly I was excited about having him for two hours of my day. I swore to myself that I was going to surprise him by what I could do. As I thought about it, it became clear that maybe he wanted to use my in the battalion games that Casey had told me about.

Now I had a plan. I would request that I train with Casey for three hours of my school day. One hour being defensive fighting, the other hours being the two hours of JROTC that I had. Soon I had it all laid out about how I would get this to come about, now all I had to do is to convince Casey to do it with me.

"Hey, Casey, I have an idea, and before you deny it you should listen to it first. I want to train with you for the battalion games during the day. Don't change my schedule, see if you can get yours changed. Maybe if you act as though I am your sister that lived with your mom and step-dad in Missouri, then people would understand your presence with me more. That way, people don't think that we are doing things that we did earlier this morning. That way we might be able to get Kristopherson to admit that he wants me here for more than just the competition of the battalions. It makes perfect sense."

"That is a good plan, but how am I to convince that you are my sister, not that I am complaining or anything it just seems like a pretty big fetch to reach. Especially since my file clearly states that I don't have any siblings. Yours does, however, so maybe we can pull off the whole possibility that Mom didn't want us to get to know each other because she was afraid that if you got to know me then you would become a rebel daughter and she didn't want you like me. Yeah I think that we could pull it off."

"My only concern about that is how are we to say how we got in touch with each other? That right there is the only weakness. I think that we could say that because I am graduating, Mom took me on a trip here and while I was at Wal-Mart I happened to run into you. We both fell and you helped me up and gave me your number in case I was ever back in town. After that I started to call you in secrecy and we got to know about each other that way."

Chapter 11 Casey

After their talk about how they were going to pull off the whole 'we swear that we are only brother and sister' role. Later that day they were in Defensive Fighting, he was getting changed for the training. He thought about where TJ was in the fighting range.

She was tallish and had the build of a runner, not much room for defensive fighting. He decided that he would go easy on his 'sister' and teach her the basics about stances and positioning the body correctly. As he walked out of the locker room, he saw her in regular clothes. TJ looked at him with patience, and wonder about him being in other clothes.

"Why are you still in your regular clothes?" his question was genuine and to the point.

"Because I don't have other clothes to practice in and I don't think that if I do have to go defensive on someone that they will give me time to change out. To me changing out is utterly pointless."

He understood where she was coming from.

"Okay then, let's head into the gym and start before the coach gets here that way he doesn't have to worry about getting you started."

The way that Casey was talking to me was shocking. I mean, come on, I may be a girl, correction, the only girl in the class, but seriously, I can fight. No way was I going to let Casey make me look weak, so when we got to real fights, I am going to show him exactly where I am when it comes down to actual defense and protection.

The class stopped what they were doing as soon as I walked in the door. Wow, talk about astonishment and confusion (on their part that is). I wasn't that scared, just worried about how bad I was about to make Casey look.

"Okay, let's start with the basics about the fighting. Your stance has to be balanced correctly or else-"

"You'll fall over." I finished for him. "Casey, I may have transferred, but I am not stupid. I know all the basics and more of the advanced stuff. So can we get on with it?"

"Yeah, sure sorry I didn't know where you were in the fighting and I didn't want to ask." He flushed a little bit.

I already had my hair up and ready to go when Casey got into position. When I fell in to the position, he launched himself at me that is where his 'lesson' became a lesson for him. When the instructor for the class came in and saw us sort of dancing in the fighter's circle, he came over to see what was going on.

"Why is there a girl in our boys fighting class?" that bugged me. His question startled me, but not enough so that I couldn't speak for myself.

"I'm TJ, your new student and the other class for defensive fighting was a beginner's class for girls, but I am too advanced for that class. Besides, even in Strafford, I was in the guy's class. They teach, I excel." My answer bothered him more, than the fact that I was in the class I could tell.

"Well then, if you are as advanced as you say you are then continuing your fight with Mr. Davis. I will determine if you are advanced enough for this class. Might I point out however, you are facing a dangerous opponent. Davis is our best fighter here at Guthrie."

"Then I will try not to hurt him too bad for you to repair him." I smiled at him as he backed away, giving us the room that we would need for the fight.

I turned back to face my enemy, and steeled myself as he again launched himself at me. Gebbers, he could be an idiot sometimes, this time being one of those times. All those years of training that were drilled into me kicked in.

My fist connected with his face with a horrible CRUNCH. Dimly I heard gasps and barely aware of the guys gathering around to watch. They obviously had been starved of a good fight. This was my chance to give them a fight that they could and tell their friends about.

Casey backed up in astonishment that I had actually hit him. He got ready to attack again, and I prepared to counter-attack him. As he charged, I skipped back just enough steps to give me enough room for the counter-attack I was going to launch. When I had enough room, I paused then right at the perfect moment, I put my hands on his shoulders and flipped over him.

It was a surprise to Casey and the others as well, because one second I was in front of Casey and the next I had flipped over him, landed perfectly and had gotten a good kick in the heel in. With that, I knew that he had been going easy on me because then he launched a series of seven attacks with no delay, each time I landed a new move that the others had not seen before. Casey hadn't noticed because he was focused on defeating me.

At last, he launched the attack that I was waiting for the whole time. Making me feel like the cat toying with the mouse. Everything was perfect; the punch to his arm, my flip, and the move that took the mighty Casey Davis down was a hard round-house kick to his chest causing him to fall. The only down side to my final move was that I got my feet and legs tangled together and fell on top of him.

To say that he was astonished would be a major understatement. The look in his eyes was full of awe, respect, a little fear and well never mind about that last part I was about to say.

I got up and helped Casey stand up, only to be fully confronted with Coach Harris. His face was full of rage that I had defeated his number one student, but also full of astonishment that I had defeated his best student.

"Miss Daniels, I would like a word with you and Davis in my office, now."

As he walked off, people began to depart talking about the excitement of the fight between the 'new girl in town" and the 'undefeated' Casey Davis. Walking beside Casey, I could feel a new apprehension in the air between the other students.

"Sorry about your nose, Casey, I-"I tried to tell him that I was sorry, because I was, but he cut me off before I could.

"Don't worry about me, worry about what Coach is going to say to you about training." His hand was on the small of my back gently guiding me forward to here Coach's office was. "Besides, all those move you did were astonishing. The guys are going to spread it around that I am no longer worthy of the 'top gun at Guthrie High School' title. It will quickly become known that TJ has defeated me and won the title. You are now officially the 'Alpha' at school with a capitol A."

When we got to the Coach's office he was already in there with another teacher. As we walked in the door, we froze at who the teacher was, it was Kristopherson. Goodness, that guy was everywhere. It was starting to freak me out.

"Ah, here they are now," the coach sounded delighted to see us walk in the door. "Yes, I do believe that Miss TJ Daniels would do well in the fighting events of the battalion games."

"Is it true, Mr. Davis, that she defeated you in this battle?"

"Yes, it is true. Can we go now? I need to see the nurse about my nose and I want TJ to come with me."

"Oh, um, yeah, go ahead. Casey, I will talk to the counselor and see if she will change your schedule so that you have JROTC 6th and 7th hours. That's all, you are dismissed." Kristopherson sounded really pleased when he told Casey about the schedule change.

After he changed, we walked down the hall towards the nurse's office. We were walking so close to each other that our arms kept brushing against each other. At some point, our hands found each other and we walked silently to the nurse like that. Her office was in a separate building, and to enter you had to walk between two close buildings that caused both of us to be even closer.

Suddenly, Casey pulled me to a stop and into his arms, kissing me before I could say anything. I loved him, and I loved the way his strong, now bruised arms wrapped around me pulling me even closer to him. A small sound escaped my lips, as I pressed myself even closer to him.

Chapter 12 Kristopherson

He walked back to the JROTC building alone pleased that TJ had proven herself at defensive work and had beaten the 'Alpha'. James was overly pleased with the fact that he was easily defeated, and by a girl at that. However, he still needed to get her to fight him to make sure and prove that this was not a set up to see him fail.

Just before he reached the JROTC building, the C Lunch bell rang. James watched as all the kids that had C Lunch pour out of the high school and head for the tables and benches outside. He knew that Casey and TJ had C Lunch, but he couldn't find them anywhere. Then, he remembered that they had gone off to see the nurse for Davis's nose.

He still couldn't believe that TJ had gotten the best of Davis. That amazed him to no end. Maybe with her being so defensive, then the battalion might stand a chance in the battalion games. Walking into the building, he continued to think about the way that the coach had explained how TJ had defeated Casey. Her style was intriguing.

Even more intriguing than her fighting style was the fact that in a matter of, according to Erik Harris, he had timed the fight to see how long it would take and in eleven minutes she had defeated Davis and become the most popular girl here with style. He liked that. Even deeper inside, James wondered how she would deal with the fact that she is now the new "hot topic" here at the school.

We stood there making out for the last few minutes of the class period. When the bell rang for fifth hour to end, we very reluctantly broke apart, resuming our 'sibling' roles. Thankfully, no one had gone towards the nurse's office.

At Strafford, being the 'dangerous girl' at school meant I had never had the time or the attraction for boys and vice versa. Now, here in Guthrie, Casey seemed interested in me for being me. The guys in defense class also had held a large respect for Casey, now that respect was weakened because of me.

"So, um, my defeating you isn't going to hurt you, is it? I mean well, I don't think that I should have pulled off that last move. It's a move that I learned it last year just before school ended, but I've been dying to try it out. Now I can already hear Mr. Sempi chewing me out for not using my balancing technique right at the end. I really am sorry-"

I didn't have a chance to finish what I was saying because I was for the second time in the last ten minutes I was in his warm arms. His mouth was warm and gentle. When he stopped kissing me he took my face in his hands and made me look him in his glorious eyes.

"Hey, my reputation is not that big of a deal. The fact that I was defeated by you makes things even better. More people will be inclined to believe that we really are siblings. People will believe that because we are 'siblings' that means the fighter's gene got passed on through blood. Lots of people fall for that all the time. So don't worry about me, worry about impressing the coach."

The fact that he was so confident about the fact that my defeating him would help us with our sibling roles calmed me down a good bit. Setting off again we reached the nurse before we could do anything else.

After meeting the nurse, we headed to lunch. Everyone had gotten wind of Casey's defeat and wanted me to demonstrate the final blow that I had taken him down with. I didn't want to use Casey for fear that I would hurt him, and I definitely didn't want to use someone who wasn't trained for the fighting role.

When someone did volunteer, I was shocked by who it was. The JROTC instructor had come out here and was urging on a fight to break out. Wow, never heard of that one before. I looked at Casey for help, but I could tell he wanted to see if I could beat a military trained officer.

The second I agreed, people cheered and gathered in a circle around us. I remained in a relaxed position, remembering what Sempi had drilled into me. His position was one that was so off balance that someone could have poked him and he would have done a face-plant. Over his shoulder, I saw Casey, meeting his gaze I saw him make the smallest of nods that only anyone paying close attention could have caught it.

Kristopherson launched himself at me in a similar fashion that Casey had, giving me the advantage.

Chapter 13 TJ

For the second time that day, my fist made a nasty crunching noise with the contact of meeting someone's face. This time I was relentless. I gave him no advantage. I had gone easy on Casey, I didn't have a reason to hate him to the point that I wanted to fight him. With Kristopherson, I had a reason to fight him. Casey had told me that he was the reason I was brought to Guthrie in the first place.

It was obvious to anyone paying attention to his moves that Kristopherson had not trained properly in the art of fighting.

His next attack was similar to Casey's, just more off balance. Again, I skipped back a couple of paces to make sure I had enough room. I was done being 'little nice girl' Kristopherson was about to get it big time from me. This time I gave him just a half second more than he should have needed to be prepared for my moves.

Running at him I put my hands on his shoulders, which were taller than Casey's, I launched myself over him, using him as my vault, and flipped over him with such grace that I might as well of been a wild cat jumping from a tree very gracefully.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Coach Harris and some other administrators walking over to the fight to watch. Pleased that I had landed perfectly, I continued with the move so that I had the advantage

Dimly, I heard people cheering me on; the one that I heard the loudest was Casey. It was obvious that he was proud that I had the upper hand.

The rest of my training kicked in and I landed a good kick in the back of his leg. Before his leg had even crumbled under him, I braced myself in the way that I was trained to. As he turned around, I caught him off guard with a jumping round house kick could have brought Casey down, this time I balanced right and didn't fall on him.

The second he fell, people cheered. I knew that I wasn't done yet; I had to make sure that he stayed down. After I made the last move-putting my knee between his shoulder blades and making sure he could not get up so that he was pinned to the ground-I got a louder cheer.

The teachers that had gathered around and had seen the fight between us were astonished that I had taken Kristopherson down. Casey came to me first; he helped me up and wrapped me in a big bear hug.

"You did great, better than what I would have done. I mean seriously, you finished him off. I am so proud of you, sis." He said happily, making sure those that had witnessed the fight heard him.

I was sweaty, stinky, and hot. The two fights with no recovery time had got to me as the edge that the adrenaline surge ebbed away. Man, I felt like crap. Wanting to go home and skip the rest of school, I leaned on Casey for support. As we walked away, people noticed and started to follow, but with one quick word from Casey-"No"- they stopped and let us go.

By the time we got to the office, I was stumbling so badly that I might as well have just come from a party or bar.

When was the last time I had fought like that? It has been a long while for sure.

I must have told Casey that I wanted to go home to sleep, because he told the secretary something and got us excused for the reminder of the day. To say that I was able to stumble to the car would be a major lie, for the second time in forty-eight hours; Casey carried me to the car.

Chapter 14 Casey

He carried her to the car without a word about having to argue the point that she couldn't walk. After he put her into the passenger seat, he walked around the car to the driver's side and got in. As Casey pulled out of the parking lot, TJ mumbled something about making Mr. Sempi? Proud.

Mr. Sempi must have been her coach in the defensive fighting classes she had in Missouri. Instead of saying something to TJ about it, he continued driving to his apartment, making a mental note to ask her about it later. When he pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, she said something about her parents would only push her to push harder, save her energy or something like that.

Casey carried TJ up the stairs to his place. When he got to the door, he had to set her down so that he could open the door. Picking her back up, he walked into the living/dining/kitchen area and into the bedroom. After setting her down, he went back to the kitchen to cook up some food for them.

Putting the pan on the stove, he pulled out some spaghetti noodles out of the cabinet. As he cooked the beef, Casey thought about what TJ had said in the car about making Mr. Sempi proud, and her parents pushing her to become better.

Why push her to become better when she was already amazing at it? Did they not realize that she pushes herself so hard that after her second fight in two hours she passes out?

When I woke up, the first thing I remembered was the fight with Kristopherson and winning it. The events that had followed were a major blur to me at the moment. I got out of the bed and saw that I was not in my pajamas, and still sweaty and gross.

Grabbing my towel, I hit the shower. Emerging from the steaming room, I smelled food. Not just any food, it was spaghetti and meat balls. Forgetting that I was in a towel, I headed towards the source of the smell.

Reaching the kitchen, I saw Casey at the stove making the food. It smelled so good. I walked up behind him, put my arms around his waist, and for the third time that day, I startled him.

"What are you doing out of bed? Why is your hair wet? Why are you only in a towel?"

His bombardment of questions struck me as funny.

Chuckling I answered his questions. "First of all, I woke up. Secondly, I needed to take a shower so that I won't smell like BO. As for your third question, after I stepped out of the shower, I smelled food, and followed it to the source. You are cooking it. Speaking about the towel; that, I forgot about the second I smelled the food. Give me five minutes to change. Okay?"

"Okay, but hurry, baby, I don't want your food to get cold."

Giving him a quick kiss, I hurried off to the bedroom so that I could change. After I changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and hoodie, I headed back to the kitchen were the food and Casey were waiting.

"Are you okay? Earlier you worried me because you were mumbling in your sleep about making a Mr. Sempi proud and your parents pushing you to be better. What is all that about?"

"Oh, that, I, um, well it's a long story." As I said it my voice cracked at the end.

I walked up to him and buried my face in his chest and started crying. The way my parents had pushed me to become stronger, faster, to be a fierce opponent, and strive for the impossible, it was painful to me. Struggling to keep myself from having a red, tear-streaked face, I kept my face pressed into Casey's chest.

When I regained my composure enough, he led me to the love seat in the living room. Casey pulled me into his arms and held me there until I could talk.

"The whole, um, mom and dad pushing me to become stronger is one reason I didn't run yesterday when I regained consciousness. They push me to become more. All the training I did was never enough. It seemed that was the reason I never had friends in Strafford because I was always too busy to hang out and do anything 'fun' with them.

"I started frightening my peers by the way I moved and held myself up and spoke directly. I always looked into the eyes of the person I was speaking to, I guess that they thought I was too bold for them to handle so most everyone sort of drifted away from me. Then in sixth grade, mom came to me a told me that the training I was doing wasn't enough. So to please them, I started training three extra hours a day. Of course that wasn't enough, and I trained for six hours every day. All too soon, the few friends that I did have had drifted away from me also. Even Brandon and Johnathan, my own brothers, had stopped noticing my existence.

"Since I was busy training to please mom and dad, I didn't have the time to tell them about my situation. Now that I think about it, it seems as though I was always in training so that it was almost as if I was never truly there. I guess it's true though. When seventh grade started, I was too advanced for the girls' defensive fighting class, so my parents put me in the boys' class. The first couple of days I came home bruised, and then I started training even harder than before.

"Then, halfway through the school year, I had to train with the instructors of the classes. As I advanced even more, mom signed me up for Karate and Ti Kwon Do in Springfield. I had those classes for three hours a week each. Soon I knew that if I didn't increase the time I spent there, that mom or dad would.

"Those moves I used on you and Kristopherson I had learned in the classes. Now that I live here with you, mom and dad can't use me as their 'weapon'"

"So, you are telling me that your parents forced you to train that hard? That is really bad. No wonder you weren't that upset when you saw that we reached Guthrie."

Not trusting myself to talk without crying again, I nodded. I had my head on Casey's shoulder. As we sat there, I wondered that since I didn't have any friends, how long it would take mom and dad to figure out that I was not attending my classes for training.

When I got up to stretch, Casey mentioned the dinner that we had forgotten because of my story. Sitting down at the bar that was part of the kitchen island, I ate my food in silence.

After eating, I took another shower and headed to bed.

Chapter 15 Casey

When TJ told him that story about her parents, he was shocked that they had pushed her that hard just to become more. He figured that since she was in the shower again, that he could get ready to take his. Walking into the bedroom, Casey got his stuff together to take a shower.

As he got ready, his thoughts went back to twenty minutes ago. Casey had seen TJ without her shirt on twice to be exact. He thought about the way she reacted when Casey had asked her why she was up and in a towel. Her response was calm and collected.

When I got out of my second shower that day, Casey was standing right outside the door. I ran right into him, not realizing that he was there.

"Hey, be careful. You don't want to fall, now do you?" he whispered in my ear, his arms going around me pulling me close to his strong body.

After a long while, I walked back to the room and got dressed for bed. When Casey came in, I guess I was already asleep. He crawled in and pulled close and held me there all night.

At four thirty in the morning, I got up to go running. Instead of running, I sat down in the living room and thought about what had happened yesterday. I dimly remembered fighting two people, one being Casey, but I couldn't remember the second fighter.

"Guess I will find out who it was today at school."

Still feeling the aftermath of the fights, I went back to the room to go back to sleep. However, Casey was already awake and getting ready to run.

"Hey, I am not going to run this morning. My head and body ache too much to run this morning." He looked understanding.

"Well, I can help take your mind off the pain."

"It's not pain, I'm too dizzy to run that's all." I walked up to him and put my arms around him leaning into him.

"Okay, then can we at least lay back down and try to go to sleep." He chuckled, tightening his arms around me, pulling me closer.

When we laid down, I snuggled up to Casey's side where it was warm. I laid there for a while awake, my mind wondering a bit. Now that I was fully aware of how clos Casey and I were. He was the only thing keeping me here in this room and not up pacing like I usually do if I can't sleep.

Things are way different than what they would be if I was still in Missouri. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became. I didn't really have a life there. No warm welcoming family when I got home from training each night. Just a bed in an apartment like area above the garage. I was practically living alone like Casey and I are now.

Finally, sleep deemed possible and I turned, faced Casey and fell back asleep in a cocoon of warmth. Later I would ask Casey about what I told him and ask what he thought of it. Until then, I thought, I am going to enjoy this peace and go back to sleep.

Chapter 16 JamesKristopherson

He could believe that TJ could easily defeat Davis, but what he couldn't comprehend was the fact that she had beaten him. He was a military trained officer. James had been knocked out by TJ at the brink of the fight.

James had woken up in the hospital with a few school staff watching him. If he had a wife, he supposed that she would be there too. When he asked them what had happened to him, they looked a little scared to tell him.

"Just tell me already! Damn, I need to know what happened. It doesn't matter how you tell me, just tell me already."

"James, calm down. You fought hard against Miss. Daniels. She just got the upper hand, and she won the match. That's all, well besides the fact that there was a bunch of kids that witnessed the fight."

Now, how did that happen? She won and they are saying that it's no big deal? Talk about patronizing.

Casey

After he talked TJ into lying back down, Casey began to realize the fact that he was holding her in his arms. She had gotten back to sleep, and sooner than he had expected. As he lay there, thinking, a terrible thought came to him.

What if she was telling the truth about her parents pushing her to train so hard that she never had time for herself?

Casey's thoughts were interrupted when TJ shifted, pressing herself closer to him in her sleep. He watched her sleep, thinking about how cute she was. There must have been boys falling for her all the time in Strafford.

Finally, after a long while of watching her sleep, Casey also fell asleep. He was suddenly woken up by TJ thrashing around. The way she was flailing scared him. It was almost as if she was fighting something in her sleep. Or she was fighting someone.

Casey shook her shoulder gently, trying to wake her up. When he succeeded, she shoved him across the room, hard, then she realized what was going on and that she had scared him. TJ looked as scared as he felt. He had been trying to wake her up, but she shoved him across the room. She had obviously realized that she had shoved him, because she crawled out of the bed, soaked in sweat, over to where he was.

She crawled into his lap, crying. When he wrapped his arms around her, she looked at him with her eyes full of worry.

"Sorry, I was having a really bad dream. Someone tried to hurt you and then tried to kill me. When you tried to wake me up the person trying to hurt me grabbed me at the same time. It scared me."

Casey studied her for a few seconds, then understanding the dream, kissed her. Her eyes closed and she leaned into the kiss. He pulled her closer, as if protecting her from the dream. He loved her and it hurt him that she was scared because of the dream.

When she fell back asleep, he carried her back to the bed, and held her again while she slept. He curled up beside her and fell into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to the sound of Casey breathing in my ear. The sound was soothing to me. Earlier I had woken up from a really bad dream after I had shoved Casey across the room. He had his arms around me, pressing us together, my head rested on his arm. Casey's mouth was right by my ear, tickling it every time he exhaled.

As I shifted to a more comfortable position, he opened his eyes.

"What're you doing, it's not time to get up yet, is it?" his voice was heavy with sleep. "I don't want to go to school today. Do you want to go to school? It's okay if you do, I mean that's cool if-"

I cut him off with a warm kiss, wrapping my arms around him, pressing closer to him. He froze for a quarter of a second, and then tightened his arms around me. For a while, we stayed there like that.

Then, the dang phone rang, interrupting our make out session, finally the rude interruption when things start to get good. We both checked our phones to see who it was. I froze when I saw the caller id on my phone. It was my parents. It had taken them almost three days to figure out that I was gone like the wind. Big surprise there, NOT. I answered the call.

"So, you really do care about your little weapon. That's a big surprise. Now, before you lecture me, I need to say something to all of you. Put me on speaker now, please, Brandon and Jonathan also need to hear what I have to say." My voice was snappy and sharp but I didn't care, they needed to hear what I had to say about how I had been treated, and I had plenty to say to them.

When I looked at Casey, hope flooded my chest. Maybe, if I tell them that I like it where I am, then they will leave me alone. The probability about that are as slim as Brandon or Jonathan knocking someone out cold.

"Okay, you are on speaker, so what is it that you need to tell us so badly?"

"First, I want you to realize that forcing me to train all the damn time has caused me not to even have time to get to know my own brothers. Second, now that you are all there around the phone and I am where I am, I need you to know that I will no longer be your personal weapon. Using me to threaten others is not good, for anybody. The last thing I want you all to think about is that if you do figure out where I am, I still will not go back to being your weapon. Any questions?"

"Yes, I do," it was Jonathan, "why didn't you tell mom and dad earlier? It would have made more since to tell them then than telling us now. I have been trying to learn what you do for years, I always loved to watch you practice. That's why I would always ask you to take me with you."

When the realization of that hit me, I almost started crying. I may not know Jon very well, but he looked up to me. I was surprised to actually hear Brandon talk. He was always the quiet almost non-existent one. Jon liked to make his presence well known.

"TJ, I know that I acted like I didn't know you, because I didn't want to be tagged by your reputation that preceded you into the upper grades. Even the seniors didn't want to mess with you. For that I am sorry. I really am. If I was ever in a fight, I would want to have you defending me, because that is what we do for each other. Not that I would ever try to get in a fight with someone, I just wanted to know that I do love you. I may be older, but you are my hero. No matter what happens, I trust you to make the right decision. Love you, T"

"Love you too, Brandon. I am sorry to say this but I am not coming back. If you guys do find me, I will make a deal with you two and mom and dad. My deal is that I will train you myself, but I want to stay here, where I am now. Brandon, have you gotten letters from any colleges yet?"

"No"

"Okay, keep your eye out for them. Mom, Dad, are you there?"

"Yes, we are. You are trying to lure your brother into doing the same thing you did aren't you?"

Hearing my dad accuse me like that may have made me giggle, but it had also hit a major nerve. I didn't like that he sounded so pissed off that I would be trying to lure Brandon into following me. I sent out a few college applications to a few select schools. No one knows what schools I have applied for.

"Well then, you are up to something." Mom had the same disgust in her voice that dad had used. "You are upsetting us, TJ. Listen to me, and listen closely, I have pushed you to succeed, not to fail. I would appreciate it if you came back to our family. Now, that I have told you, I want you to consider that and make your decision, or I will personally come and get you and drag your ungrateful rear back here to Strafford."

She had hung up on me, I was grateful for that. Before I cried, I threw myself into Casey's arms. Mom was always so blunt about things like that. This time, however, I wasn't going to let her push me around like that.

When I got myself together, I texted Brandon and I told him:

Hey, I am sorry you had to listen to mom and dad rat me out like that, but I have gotten used to it. I need you to text me back later, when you are alone. The offer I made, I am serious about it. Brandon, keep an eye out for an Oklahoma college, then things will be great. I can train you on the days you don't have school. Don't answer until you are alone, and please don't let Mom or dad know that I'm in Oklahoma. Love you, bye.

My text to Jon was similar to the one that I sent to Brandon.

Hey, Jon, I need you to pay attention to this text. Now that I know that you like to watch me train, you should keep that offer in mind. Since I graduate this year, you could go to a nearby high school, and live in my apartment. Or, you could move in with our big brother, if he Okays it. I love you, bud. I would look forward to training you. Text me when you are alone, and we will talk then.

I looked at Casey when I was done texting them. My heart had just been shredded by mom and dad, and I hated the feeling. Leaning into his arms, I pressed my face against his chest and stayed there for a while.

Finally, I got up the nerve to ask Casey how much of my story he believed. I had put my phone on speaker so that he could hear everything.

"All of it, TJ, and you should know that if your parents treat you like that, then they aren't going to get you back from me. I won't let them take you back just so that they are the big bad guys on the block. I love you." he kissed me then, before I could respond.

"We are going to school, by the way, I don't think that the Alpha would stay Alpha very long if she stayed home after defeating not one guy, but two. In one day, you fought both me and Kristopherson, and defeated us in under thirty minutes. For ten the first round and six and a half the next round. That adds up to a sixteen and a half minute fight.

That's a record. I think that the shortest fight was two days long, well before you came and bested it."

"Yeah, everyone will want to become 'friends' with the new girl-that-just-so-happened-to-beat-two-guys-in-one-day Alpha of the whole school. I just can't wait!" sarcasm dripped heavily from my words, causing Casey to chuckle.

"True, about the whole everyone-wants-to-be-your-friend kind of thing, which is the reason why we are going. Not because people expect the Alpha to show, but because the longer we put it off, the worse the situation will get. Especially for you, now that you are the Alpha. Now, get ready for school, girl. I am going to cook you some breakfast."

Before he could set me on the bed and leave the room, I threw my arms around him and kissed him. Reluctantly, I let him go cook so that I could get dressed for school. Later, when I was dressed, I went to the kitchen and found Casey cooking cheesy eggs and bacon.

As we ate, my phone chimed with Brandon's answer. Yeah that is fine. I didn't know that was how they always have treated you. Mom and Dad still have us check the mail so I'll be able to see if I got accepted to any colleges there.

Jonathan's text came shortly after. I love you two and I think it would be fun to train with you. Tough yes, but still fun. I'll be spending time with you and that is always a cherished event for me. Bye.

Chapter 17 TJ

When we pulled into the parking lot, the first thing I saw was a group of kids standing nearby waiting on someone or something. I looked at Casey, with a questioning look.

"Yeah, they are waiting for you. So, let's do this." He closed his door, and came over to the passenger side and opened my door.

The second I stepped out of the car, I heard a short awkward silence that turned quickly to a very loud cheer. I held my head up high and walked into the school. Several kids and teachers looked at me with a look of fear, awe, and respect. Casey stayed by my side the whole time.

After the phone call from my parents, I felt like I would fall apart at any second. With Casey there, I felt like I could run a marathon. The support he gave me to face the day was strong. When we walked into our first hour, every kid in the class was already there and they swarmed us.

The fact that they 'wanted' to be my 'friend' was so funny, that I had to hold myself back from laughing right there and then. Each class was similar, the whole class there waiting to swarm me and Casey, it got a really annoying. My favorite class that did the same thing was the defense fighting. The guys in the class were hilariously trying to flirt with me.

In sixth hour, however, Kristopherson had everyone in the range when we walked in telling them about what to do when I walked in. Casey closed the door so that no one could hear it closing, and we snuck into the formation. The whole time that he was telling us what to do; I was struggling not to laugh.

"The second she walks in, I want all of you to salute and go on your way. Now I am serious about showing her respect. She is the kind of girl that you don't want to mess with. Trust me; I learned the hard way yesterday. Getting knocked out cold for several hours is no fun, at all. So I expect you to treat her with a very strong appreciation to have her here in this battalion. I am going to watch for her and Davis; I will tell you when they get here."

After he left the range and walked outside, I heard the door close. I couldn't hold it in after that, I burst out laughing. The others in the company looked around to see who it was and caught sight of me and Casey. One was about to run and get Kristopherson, but I said not to.

"No, don't, I want to see how long he actually will stay out there, waiting on me and Casey. I know that he saw us walk in. It is funny because he won't do the whole salute-at-TJ-then-go-on-your-way thing."

The answer to my question came not three minutes later when the bell rang. The First Sergeant called fall in, although we were already in formation. Kristopherson walked in just as he was giving the report to the company commander.

"Ma'am, the company is formed, and all are present."

"All present, how is there an all present when two of the people are gone? If all are present, then where are TJ and Davis?"

"Hello, CSM Kristopherson, how are you feeling? I hope that you are not in too much pain from our fight yesterday." When I spoke, his eyes nearly bulged out of his head, and I almost started laughing again.

I could see rage, embarrassment, and something else that I couldn't identify cross his face. The look on his face was so obvious that the other cadets in the formation had started to whisper about it around me.

"Fine, I feel just fine. When I woke up in the hospital last night, there were a few teachers there to explain what had landed me there. It also takes a hard hit to put me in the hospital, so you have some power, little girl. I hope you are happy." He spoke with a weird tone in his voice to me. "Marcha'," he said, turning to the company commander, "call fall out and have Miss. Daniels and Mr. Davis follow me."

When I turned to follow Kristopherson after Marcha' called fall out, Casey caught my hand. He shook his head, asking me to wait a minute, silently. After everyone had gone to their let level classroom, he looked at me curiously.

"You sure about this? I don't want you to put yourself into a position that you can't get out of." His voice had gone husky and deep. "I am only going to train if you want me to train with you. Please, though, don't force yourself into this." His last words were so quiet, that I had to strain to hear them "Remember your promise to Brandon and Jonathan."

I remembered the promise I made to them for sure. We headed to Kristopherson's office and waiting. When Kristopherson walked in, I almost sighed, knowing what lies ahead.

Casey

He watched as she trained with the swords, driving back Kristopherson. The fierce concentration on her face made him grin. TJ had that piece of her that only came out while fighting. It was something that he had only seen twice now and each time that he did see it, he was filled with amazement and awe.

TJ quickly defeated Kristopherson; her new record was set at four minutes twenty seconds. Her triumph was short lived, because Kristopherson came charging at her renewed with the will to defeat her. She barely blocked the first blow, and easily dodged the second, getting a good whack to his left leg.

As Casey watched their fight, he was stunned at how clumsy and rage filled Kristopherson was. All his moves were jerky and extremely off balance. Casey had the video camera trained on them, that way, later he would watch it again blow-by-blow. He would find the flaws, and the rights.

The only reason he was filming the fights was that TJ had asked him to. She, too, wanted to see her mistakes so that she would be prepared for next time.

Finally, after the last bell rang, they stopped. TJ was dripping in sweat, but not nearly as badly as her opponent. She had pushed him hard to find the flaws of his attacks. Her shirt was soaked in the sweat, making her look good. It was a good thing that Casey had brought towels, knowing that no matter what exercise they did, she would come out sweating after the two class periods ended.

As he waited for her to dry off, Casey thought about taking her to the Y in Edmond to do some cool off swimming. Right now, the swimming sounded amazing. When she was done, her soaked shirt still clung to her in the heat of the day, emphasizing her shape.

They walked together to the car, drawing a lot of attention to them. At first, the 'popular OMG! I just broke a nail!' girls were drawn. Those girls came to them the second they stepped out of the JROTC building.

As they walked to TJ's locker, the 'jocks I can do anything, and everything that I want to no matter what you say' came up to her and tried to flirt with her. He almost started laughing when she responded to their flirtations.

"You know, you guys should really work on your flirting skills. Right now, they are defiantly a negative 30. That's sad, for guys like you. Shouldn't jocks be able to flirt like crazy, I mean, come on, you guys are only the most popular guy in the school. Seriously, get a grip!"

The guys, on the other hand, seemed taken aback that she had spoken to them that way. After the jocks walked away, defeated, he looked at her.

"What, have you never seen girls turn down the 'most popular and hottest guys in the school' before?" she looked at him with a skeptical eye.

"No, I haven't ever seen a really hot girl, singular, turn down the most popular and hottest guys, plural, in the school." He chuckled, looking into her eyes; he saw a look of remorse. "That is not something that I get to witness every day. So, yes, this is a new perspective for me. it's different and new, but I really like it."

Chapter 18 TJ

He looked at me with such respect that sort of thrilled me. Casey walked to me, and placed a warm reassuring hand on my hip. Just the touch of his hand calmed me down, I wanted to lean into a warm and loving kiss right now, but I knew that I couldn't because we were at school.

We had just reached my locker when another group walks past. They may have heard the stories about me. The way they didn't seem to see me told me they probably had, had ignored them. As they walked by, I took notice of the way they stuck together. Even though I never had many friends at Strafford it didn't mean that I didn't wish that had them.

After they walked past, I looked at Casey curiously.

"Who are they? Those girls didn't even take knowledge that I was standing here. Not that I want them to, but their attitude intrigues me."

"Those girls are like the 'out casts' here. Running with them would be a weird thing, because all the other Alphas always hung out with the popular groups. TJ, I know that you are getting to understand what it is like to be an Alpha, but you also need to learn to be yourself."

"Casey that is where I need to correct you; I didn't ask to become yall's Alpha, or whatever, I just want to be me, whoever that is. I have never had real friends before. Right now, I am going to introduce myself to you, as if I don't know you."

I looked at him sadly. It hurt me to talk to him like this, but I needed to prove myself to him. Turning back to the locker, I looked at the few possessions I had in there. When I turned back around to face him, he looked like he was about to be really pissed at me.

"Hi, I'm TJ. Being anybody doesn't matter to me, so just because others have standards for me to live up to, doesn't mean that I will live up to them. I happen to be my own person, and if you have a problem dealing with that, then fine, I can leave. So don't give me this crap about hanging out with a certain group of people because I am not going to hear it."

I almost started crying then, and he saw it too. He came to me and wrapped his arms around me. Wrapping my arms around him turned out to be very comforting,

"Sorry, I just lost myself in your status levels. Honestly, I have never known anyone who is as sure of things as you are. Come on, we need to get home."

I stood there for a minute looking stupid, and then Casey rested a hand on my shoulder and told me to trust him. We headed to the car, and people followed us all the way to the car. When we got there, there was a group of kids standing around the car.

It was too obvious what they wanted or who rather. They wanted me to say something to them about the fight with Kristopherson yesterday. I didn't want to give them what they really wanted, so I got in the car without saying a word.

When we got to the apartment, there was a group of people standing there. I saw them before we pulled into the parking lot. What I did not expect was the group to be a bunch of boys waiting for me to return so that they could flirt with me.

The second my foot hit the pavement, they swarmed to me like flies coming after a sugary iced piece of cake. What they did wrong was swarming towards me and I got offensive. When the first guy got in range of my fist, I swung. Well, I will put it this way; a lot of faces met the angry fist of TJ Daniels.

It worked better than I had expected it to, because after my fist connected with three boy's faces, the rest got the idea and didn't come any closer.

"Sorry, now you know not to try to crowd around me; I just want to go into the apartment complex without you idiots trying to kill me. Look, it has been a long day for me and I want to eat and then go for a really long run. Now get the fuck away from me. I am not fucking kidding. GO AWAY NOW!"

When they didn't move, I yelled at them. That worked.

"GET AWAY FROM ME NOW. I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACES RIGHT NOW. SO LEAVE!"

After they left, I turned to Casey.

"What about me? Do you want me to leave too?"

"No, I want you to take me to the Y after I get my swimsuit so that I can swim off the rest of my anger. Sorry, I just am not in the mood to deal with any more idiots who think that they can 'get' me just because I the hot new Alpha."

"It's no big deal, T, your temper; to me that is, makes you look like you could literally burst into flames at any given moment. I think that it is hot when you are like that. Let's get our swimsuits and then head to the Y."

When we got to the Y, it was pretty quiet. The pool there was huge. After I got into my swimsuit, I headed to the pool. Casey was there already. He looked good in his swimming trunks.

I walked to the deep end of the pool. When I reached the diving board ladder, Casey spotted me and hollered something about I am going to get hurt if I try that without training first. Naturally, I ignored him.

Reaching the top of the ladder, I walked to the end of the board. I was about a good ten feet up. When I walked back to the ladder, I measured the steps. I had a good twelve feet of board.

I did a perfect Olympic style dive that I had been doing since I could get on the diving board. Flipping three times before I hit the water, I felt like I was on some James Bond movie.

Casey had watched me do the dive, and was stunned that I had perfected it. When I swam over to him, I looked him in the eyes and told him that I had been doing that particular dive for over seven years. He reached out and grabbed my arms and pulled me to him.

"Please, don't ever scare me like that again. For a minute there, I thought you had drowned." He pulled me closer to him and kissed me there.

Casey

When TJ came into the pool area, he almost didn't believe that it was her. Then she went and dived off the pool, and that had scared him to death. She swam over to him and told him that she had been doing that since she was eleven.

After she explained that to him, he loosened up. Casey hadn't noticed what she was wearing to swim in. She was in a neon orange bikini that had little bunnies on it. The bottoms of the bikini had YOU WISH written in the back. The top had one string holding it up.

She looked amazing in it. What she was wearing only a few girls could pull off. The design of the bikini defined her curves more. Her legs looked longer and sexier. Her hips seemed to be slimmer and more defined. It made her look great.

When they left the Y, she had her hair up in a ponytail. As he pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, he noticed that she got more ridged. The guys were there again. She grabbed his hand and didn't let go.

Getting out of the car, he went around to the other side to get her out. As he lifted her slim body, the guys immediately asked if they could carry her in to the complex. Since she was 'asleep' he told them to go away and leave them alone.

Casey walked into their apartment and into the bedroom. Before he could stand up, she wrapped her slim arms around his neck and pulled him down into the bed.

"Stay, please stay with me. At least until I fall asleep." Her words were quiet.

"I will never leave you." He kissed her on the forehead.

He worked his way down to her mouth. She responded immediately with a move that he would not have thought that she could do. She practically wrapped herself around him and pulled him so close to her that he could feel her heart beating.

Late, around ten, she fell asleep in his arms. Careful not to wake her up, Casey got up and went to take a shower. Then he heard her calling out for him, so he ran back into the room.

Casey rushed back into the room and saw her tangled up in the sheets, crying. Not caring that he was half dressed, he approached her and wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

Chapter 19 TJ

When I woke up around ten-fifteen, Casey wasn't there and it scared me to death. Then he ran back into the room and found me crying on the bed in a tangle of sheets. As he pulled me into his arms, I calmed down and rested my head against his chest.

"Hey, I am still here, you are okay and so am I. I was just going to hop in the shower real quick. If you want me to, I will wait till morning."

I nodded against his chest, not trusting myself to speak. Then I surprised him by pulling at the shirt he still wore. When he realized what I was doing, he looked me in the eyes. Pulling him close, I kissed him deeply and passionately.

Casey laid me down and pressed up against me. When we pulled apart for a breath, I pushed him down so that I could curl up beside him. After sort of dozing for a couple of hours, I finally fell asleep.

At some point in the night, I must have gotten mad with my sweat pants and t-shirt, because when I woke up, they were lying on the ground beside the bed. Casey was still beside me.

It was three-thirty in the morning. Very quietly, I got out of the bed and riffled through my stuff for a comfy night shirt. When I didn't find one, I spotted Casey's t-shirt on the floor over by the bed. I slipped it over my head, noting the soft feel of it against my skin.

I crawled back in the bed and fell back to sleep. When I woke up again, it was around five in the morning. I gave up on sleep, so I woke Casey up and told him that I couldn't sleep.

Instead of answering, he pulled me to him and kissed me. The kiss was sweet and long. I let myself get lost in the kiss, and pressed myself up against him. He rolled just slightly, so that he was on his back and I was lying on his chest.

I pushed myself against him enjoying the relaxing sensation I felt flowing through my body. I stayed there for about ten minutes, then rolled so that I wasn't crushing him. When we finally broke apart, we were breathing hard.

His hands gently slid down my back and came to a rest in the small of my back. Looking in his eyes, I saw awe and wonder filling them.

"Wow, I didn't know that you could kiss like that. That was the most amazing kiss that I have ever had." His voice was deep and husky.

Shifting so that I was not pressing all my weight on him, my other position was a little awkward for me. I smiled at him noting the heat from his body.

After a few minutes of lying there, I finally fell back to sleep. Waking up to the scent of bacon and biscuits and gravy with eggs, I smiled remembering this morning. The closeness we had shared was my treasured memory.

I realized that I was still in his t-shirt that I had found on the floor earlier that morning. Getting out of bed, I got some socks on and headed towards the wafting scents. As I walked into the kitchen, I noticed that Casey had his back turned to me.

Very quietly, I walked towards him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Resting my head between his shoulder blades, I could hear his heart beat increase. When he turned in my arms to face me, he was smiling.

"Why are you smiling like that? I t looks like you are up to something mischievous. I happen to be serious about that by the way."

"How is it that you can sneak up on me, but when I try, I fail miserably? It just doesn't make any sense."

I smiled at him. "Maybe because you don't have the training to sneak up on someone or the training to heart the people trying to sneak up on you, where as I have had years of training, experience, and practice on the sneaking up."

He nodded. "I love you, TJ. There is nothing that I will not protect you from."

"I love you, too. There are things that you can't protect me from. One example is my parents. Another could be me being emotionally hurt."

After I said that, he thought about that for a minute. He nodded in agreement after a while. I pulled him in close and kissed him very deeply and softly. We broke apart, and his eyes were shining.

Casey

When he looked at her, she looked like an angel. Smiling at her, he remembered that he had a dentist appointment around eleven. He told her that he had the appointment, and explained to her that he would be back in time to pick her up from the high school that afternoon.

"Just please, be careful. People will notice that I am not here to protect you and try to get to you while I am not there. They are sick about the way they do their thing about trying to get you to be their 'friend'. Keep your eyes open and stay alert. Okay? I love you."

She looked at him with such a scared look that he almost called to reschedule for a Saturday. He told her that she would do fine. When she finally nodded in agreement, he kissed her forehead and turned back to the food cooking on the stove.

"Sit down, your breakfast is ready." When she sat, he put her plate of food in front of her. "So, do you like it?"

Her mouth was full of the food, so she nodded to tell him that she loved it. Before he had filled his own plate and sat down, she was done with her food. He sat down to eat, and TJ got up and sat back down in his lap.

He felt like his heart would explode from the way that she showed her attraction towards him. When TJ rested her head on his chest, Casey felt his heart squeeze. She sat there the entire time he ate his food.

Chapter 20 Casey

As Casey sat there with TJ on his lap, he felt as though he would stay there with her forever. When he finished his eggs, she got up and gave him a long sweet kiss.

"I need to go take a shower and get ready for school. I love you, Casey Davis." She rested her hand on his chest, gave him a longing look then went to take her shower.

While Casey did the dishes, he thought about going into the bathroom while she showered, but tossed the thought the moment it came to his mind. When he heard the water shut off, he dried his hands and went into the bedroom to get ready to shower.

Out of courtesy for her privacy, he got his things and waited for her get out in the kitchen. After he heard the bedroom door close, he went in and took his shower. Ten minutes later, he was dressed and ready when TJ came out in jeans that were boot-cut.

Her jeans were a dark blue and looked really nice on her. An old flannel long-sleeved shirt was tucked in and buttoned up making her look like she was ready to go to a rodeo. In her hand TJ held a black cowboy hat with a maroon and white pop-tab hat band.

TJ approached him and he noticed a large belt buckle on a leather belt. Casey also realized that she seemed to be a little taller than she had been twenty minutes ago. When he looked at her feet, he saw black boots that they used to wear in the Western movies like the John Wayne shows.

"Hey, you ready?" her voice had a rich southern accent. "I am ready whenever you are."

"Yeah, just a minute though. I need to grab something really quick. It will take a minute." He passed her and went into the bedroom and got his wallet and keys.

As he came back out of the room, he practically ran into TJ. Before he could say anything, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him more sweetly than she had before.

"Thank you for having faith in me. I love you Casey Davis."

"I love you too TJ Daniels. You don't need to thank me for believing that you can do something that I now know that you can take care of on your own in you had to. Now, let's get you to the school."

When we reached the high school, people were waiting again. Before I got out, I made sure that they were watching when I gave him a quick hug.

"See ya at home, Casey, thanks for dropping me off. Love you."

When I got out of the car, people swarmed me. They kept asking me who he was to me, so I stuck to the plan that we had come up with the day before. I told them all that Casey was my half-brother.

After the bell rang, I went to first hour. When fifth hour rolled around, I was ready to show them that a girl can pull off even better fights than I had from two days ago. As usual, I didn't change out. As I approached the gym, a group of guys tried to get me to go with them and skip class.

They grabbed for my arm and I blocked with a swipe of my hand. I could tell that people were starting to gather around and watch. The guy reached for me again but I lashed out and punched him in the arm.

"I know what you guys do while skipping class. Don't try to make me go with you, because you all will lose. I can take all of you on at once. If you don't believe me, then join me in defensive fighting class and try to take me on. Or you can watch me take others that are also trained to fight like me."

"Sure you can take all of us. Let's join her in this class boys and if we win, you come with us, we lose we don't mess with you for the rest of the year. Deal?"

"Deal."

I lead them into the gym and showed them where they could put their jackets. By the time they were ready, they looked kind of scared of me. I almost started laughing. This was something I had to tell Casey when I got home tonight.

When the first guy launched his attack I landed my blows to his face, back, and one on his knee. As he backed up, I did a quick inquiry of any injuries, finding none, I prepared for the next wave of attacks.

Josh, the guy who challenged me, yelled at James to attack from the right then feint to the left. There was mistake number one for his part. James followed orders and got knocked down hard.

"You lost" I told him, "Next one. Who are you going to send next Josh?"

To my surprise, he sent the little guy down. I think his name was Jeremy. Instead of walking to the circle, he charged in to attack. Weaving to the right, I got a good shot to his right thigh, shoulder, and ankle. He grabbed my arm to gain his balance.

I chopped his hand, forearm, and elbow. He let go staggered back and held his arm in pain. As he came at me again, he seemed out of sorts. It was almost as if he couldn't decide what to do for a counter-attack. When he finally made up his mind, he feinted to the left and darted to the right.

Anticipating this maneuver, I faked not seeing him, then swung my leg in a roundhouse kick that would have been Samantha approved. To my half second surprise my foot made contact with his face. The blow knocked him down hard to the ground.

Jeremy was out of sorts when he got up. When he got to the bleachers, he sent over a really big guy that had to be about 6'11" if not a shade taller.

"I am Drake. Your next opponent, but I really don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't hurt me."

He led off with an attempt to punch me in the face. I turned on him and jump-kicked him in the side. Doing a few years of High School soccer taught me how to kick a ball like that and land on your side. I however, perfected it so that I could land on my feet.

Chapter 21 TJ

Drake was finished after the jump-kick to the side. Man, a lot of these guys were extremely weak. I was down to three guys left to fight. Tiered of fighting all of them, I yelled at Josh.

"Josh, why don't you get the hell down here and fight me yourself. I don't bite, I fight and fight hard. Instead of sending everyone but yourself, come fight me. You win, I go with you. I win you sign up for defense class and learn real defense. It would help you out a lot."

Josh's face turned bright red. As he made his way towards me, I noticed the size of the crowd that had gathered to watch. Guys, girls, and teachers alike were all gathered to watch me defeat the 'big bad wolf'.

Finally on the ground to fight me, he growled as he charged for me. I caught him square in the ribs. Staggering back, he looked at me shocked that he had been punched in the chest really hard by a girl.

As he charged again, I got my bearing and let him plow right through me. He didn't knock me over; instead he practically bounced off me. It was so funny. When he recovered, he gimped over to me and practically growled at me that I won.

"What was that, sorry I didn't hear you?"

"I said you won the deal." Josh looked at me with such envy and something that I would rather not mention.

As I watched him limp away, everyone that was in the gym came and surrounded me. They kept trying to keep in their circle, but I broke away from them and walked out of the gym.

Heading down the hallway, I thought about how I used to be treated at Strafford. I hated the way everyone ignored me because I was so 'dangerous' and I could easily hurt someone with the swipe of my fist. The other kids were afraid of me because of my 'unnatural' strength.

Casey

He considered calling TJ at the school to see how she was doing. Debating about it Casey decided against it. It was the middle of fifth hour; she would be in the fighting class. If he tried, he could make it back in time for the last hour of the day.

His phone rang. It was TJ. Why was she calling him, while she was in class?

"Hey, what's up? I was about to call you."

"I just defeated the bullies of the school. And I am headed to sixth hour with

Sergeant Major. Don't worry, I will be careful. If anything happens, I will call you immediately. Okay, I love you."

"Love you too, baby, see you in a few hours. I just want you to call me right after sixth and seventh hour if I am not back by then, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Love you, bye."

After she hung up, he sighed with relief that she would call him and inform him about what was going on. He continued on his way back to Guthrie. She was safe and that was all that mattered.

Finally, as he exited onto I-40, he thought about how he would be with TJ in another thirty minutes.

When I got to the JROTC building, Kristopherson was waiting on me.

"So, where is Davis? Not here is he? That is a true shame."

"Yeah, and if you don't shut the hell up, I'm going to go Medea on you. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to get in to the building."

As I entered, I heard the First Sergeant call fall-in. I put my stuff down and hurried into the range. When I got in there, everyone looked at me weird.

"Daniels, I need to see you after formation. Is that clear?" Marcha' looked at me questioningly.

"Yes, ma'am, clear as a sunny day."

After I spoke with Marcha' about why Casey wasn't here, I got ready for my two hour lesson with Kristopherson. Walking into the bathroom, I pulled on my gym shorts and tank top for working out. Just as I pulled on my shorts, someone knocked on the door.

"Hey are you ready for workout? We need to get started ASAP."

I shuddered as the thought about how bold Kristopherson was. When I finished changing, I walked out to the range. To my surprise, I had wasted a full thirty minutes. He was standing in the middle of the gym with the wooden claymores again.

"Why can't we train with archery? That is my better sport."

"Fine by me, do you know where to get some archery equipment?" he said taking a few steps towards me.

"Yeah, I do believe that it is called a store. Try in the storage room for the equipment that the school doesn't use any more, you might find one there." I said, sarcasm dripping off my words.

"Well, if you are going to have that attitude, then we will forget about the archery and build up your skills in sword fighting range." Kristopherson took a few more steps towards me and I stepped back, bumping into the wall behind me.

"Fine but at least give a girl some space will you? I feel as though you are trying to cage me, and trust me that is never a good idea." Quickly looking around, I noticed that the door was only a few strides from where I stood.

Chapter 22 TJ

The idea of getting out of the room that Kristopherson was trying to cage me in was the sole goal that I had on my mind at that moment.

As he advanced again, I ducked and was out of the door in seconds. He followed me and I said over my shoulder, that I had to go to the bathroom and the one here was occupied and that I would be back in a few minutes.

Dashing out of the building with my bags that I had thankfully left by the door, I raced to the main building. When I entered, I knew that he would be on my trail so I high tailed my butt to the bathroom closest to the office that had a locking door on it that he couldn't break into.

I was shaking as I dialed Casey's number. It rang for what felt like forever. Locking the door to the bathroom, I stood on the other side of the wall that gave some privacy to some stalls that would be right by the door.

"Hello, TJ, is it you?"

"Yeah, it's me. I know that you are getting close to Guthrie right now, but I need you to call the police. HE did what you suggested that he might do."

His voice was filled with worry, fear, and anger when he spoke. "Where are you right now? Not in the JROTC room still are you?"

"No, I'm in the main building. I high tailed myself out of there before he could do anything. But, please, hurry. Casey I need you-"

My words were cut off by someone banging on the door as if trying to get in.

"Baby, are you still there? Listen, I will be there in a few more minutes, just sit tight and I'll come get you. As I am pulling into the parking lot, tell me where you are so that I can find you."

"Okay, I will."

I hung up the phone.

Kristopherson

As he walked through the school, he searched all of the bathrooms that were closest to the exit to the JROTC building. No luck yet. As he neared the main office, he had to be more discrete about checking the bathrooms.

The tenth grade girls' bathroom was locked but he had a feeling that that was the bathroom that TJ was hiding in. He banged on the door to get her attention if she was in there. Knowing that he had a key for the office and a few other rooms in the main building.

As he was putting the key into the lock, the principal walked by.

"Excuse me, James, but isn't that the girls' bathroom. Well you can come with me to the office and talk to me there about what you were doing."

"I'm not going to the office with you." He took a step back and backed up into the officer that worked at the high school, Officer Adamson, the hottest officer that ever lived in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Kristopherson knew that she was from Hartville, Texas. Her accent had a cute southern drawl when she spoke.

"Nah, you are coming to the office with me though." she grabbed his bicep, which was still sore from TJ's fight.

The one thing that stopped him from running was the other cop that showed up with at least a dozen more cops, led by none other than Casey Davis.

Chapter 23 Casey

The second he pulled into the parking lot, he called her and she said that she was in the tenth grade girls' bathroom. She told him that Kristopherson was right outside the door with someone.

"I think that it is the principal and Officer Adamson."

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute with a dozen officers so sit tight for a few more minutes."

When he hung up, he parked with a trail of cop cars right behind him. He told them where she was and dashed inside. When they got there, Casey realized that Kristopherson was already in custody.

"Why did you chose her?" he yelled at him.

"Sir, we need to get him out of the hallway, the bell is about to ring."

"Fine, but I need to get TJ. I need at least one cop to help me."

They left with Kristopherson and headed towards the office. When he started to open the lock with a lock pick but the officer told him to wait a few more minutes. Just then the bell rang. Officer Feris stood in front of the bathroom door to guard it.

When the tardy bell rang, Casey opened the door and tried to talk to her and get her to come out. She didn't respond, so he told the cop that he was going in just to get her and nothing else.

Casey found her on the floor behind the wall that gives the stalls beside the door privacy. He stood in front of her for a minute then squatted down to her level.

I heard Casey talking to me, but I couldn't respond. I was locked into this balled up position and couldn't get my body to relax. So instead of walking out with him, Casey picked me up and carried me out of the bathroom and down to the office.

Still locked in the position, I must have started to relax and my body start to tremble. The next thing I know, Casey is sitting with me on his lap. I was resting my head on his chest. Since I was comfortable in this position, I stayed put.

When the officers were done trying to talk to Kristopherson, they brought him out and I started to shake even harder if it was possible.

"So you finally decided to stop hiding did you? Well I must say that it is about time." He grinned at me in an almost cruel way.

"Casey, I want to go home." I sounded like a six year old, but it was true.

"Ma'am, we need you to come down to the station with us and tell us what happened."

"Please let me at least calm down before I have to face him." Somehow I just knew that he wanted to talk to me. "It's just that everything happened so quickly, and I just need to have a few minutes to calm down and get my bearing so that I don't start attacking him in the middle of the interview."

"Alright, but we need you there ASAP."

We waited until the cops had taken Kristopherson out of the building and left the parking lot. As we headed to the car, Casey held on to me the entire time, when we got to the apartment, he got out and opened my door and helped me out.

Once I closed the apartment door behind me, I found myself in Casey's arms and being gently kissed. When we finally broke apart, I rested my head on his chest and got my bearing. He stood there with his arms around me.

"What did he do to you? He didn't touch you did he?"

"No he never touched me. I ran from the room before he could even lay a finger on me. As soon as I sensed danger, I bolted."

Casey looked at me with a look of 'duh, that's what she would do if she sensed the danger.' I shook my head; I should have known that he would have asked what I did.

"We need to get down to the station so that they can talk to you about what happened."

After we got there, everything that followed was a blur. The only thing that really stood out to me after the whole thing was the main reason why he wanted her there.

Epilogue

As I walked out of the police building, I thought back to what Kristopherson said about why he wanted me for. He had said that he wanted a strong girl to use in the competition of the battalions. The other reason that stuck was that he wanted someone to understand him personally.

The practice was for his benefit, not mine. He was needing someone to confide in. So he chose me, a nineteen year old senior.

"Why did you choose me?" I asked him. "Why chose me over all the other people that you could have chosen to be your personal confident. It is not at all like I am going to stick around forever."

Just as I was walking out the door of the building, my cell phone rang.

"Hello?"