Chapter one
It started with just a few encounters; seeing him on the street, at school as a substitute teacher, seeing him shopping every now-and-then but then it happened more often. She'd see him every week, sometimes twice, on the rare occasion three times. She wouldn't have noticed if he wasn't staring at her whenever she saw him. On the streets he wasn't walking, or looking in shop windows, he was staring. At school; not teaching, just standing nearby and watching. In the shops, she'd catch glimpses of him through the aisles, just his deep green eyes or his brown hair: always watching.
Just watching.
Staring.
Waiting.

She'd never seen him before; didn't know his name, couldn't even remember his face. Every time she tried to picture his face her head would start spinning.
But she never had a doubt when she saw him; she knew it was him. Who else could it be? He didn't have a bad feel about him, he seemed almost comforting. She didn't mind him being there, watching her from time-to-time. For her, it was like having a guardian angel.
But then other people began to notice him. Her friends would see her looking at him and see him staring back. They ask who he was, she'd tell them she didn't know and they'd move on.
Her mother noticed him once, in the streets outside their house just sitting on the bench and staring. 'Well who is he, Jen?' She'd asked, she told her she didn't know. So she shrugged and said 'Maybe he's just lost.'

Her brother had seen him once. It hadn't gone down well. He'd been convinced he was a stalker of some kind and, she thought, he kind of was. 'Oi!' He yelled across the street to the man, who was still staring. Jennifer knew this wasn't going to end well, she had tried to stop him; tried to calm him down before he pushed it too far. 'Nate, just leave it. He's harmless.' She hadn't known if he was harmless, but something about him just screamed 'I would never hurt you.'
'Get out of here! Go on! Scram! Leave my sister alone!' He cast a glance at her brother, seemingly calculating whether or not he was to be taken seriously. He looked back at Jennifer, looking straight into her eyes and then turned and left. That was the only time she seen him move. The only time he ever looked straight into her eyes and it felt like he'd seen her soul. 'Well, he won't be bothering you anymore.'
He was wrong, of course. The mystery man was still there. More than ever after that. Nate's little yelling-show had seen the end to her weekly visits from her Angel. He'd shown up much more frequently after that. Once a day normally, sometimes more; sometimes less. More often more than less.

She had the feeling she was always being watched, observed; like she was a pawn in someone's sick version of a game.
Maybe this green eyed, brown haired man was to be feared. Maybe this whole comforting thing was a game. Maybe he wasn't really as angelic as he seemed.

"No. He's my angel. He'll always be there."
"Who'll always be there?" Jennifer hadn't realized she'd been day dreaming. She opened her eyes and shook her head, clearing her mind. She was in a classroom. A history classroom. Wonder where my Angel is.. Then she remember her friend, Kelly Shue, had asked her a question.
"Oh. No one, Kelly. I was just day dreaming."
"About an angel?" She hesitated. "Well, maybe."
"So, you've got an angel now, huh?" Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Not like that, Kel. You know it's not like that." Kelly laughed and wrapped an arm around Jennifer's shoulder. "I know, love. I know, but it won't kill you to smile, my friend." Jennifer smiled and looked back at the front of the class where the teacher, Mr. Mundy, was happily chatting away about the Poll Tax Riots. She looked to the door; he wasn't there. She always felt nervous when she couldn't see him. It was one of the reasons she liked him being there. She looked to her right and out the windows she was sat next to and there he was; surprise, surprise. Sitting there and staring just like he'd always been. Even when she couldn't see him she knew he was there. She also knew he knew she didn't like it when she couldn't see him. She gave him a weak smile, something she had never done before. And he did something he'd never done before either; he smiled back. It was a small smile, more the ghost of a smile; but a smile known the less. "He'll be striking up conversations next." Jennifer muttered, noting down a few dates and events from the timeline the teacher had drawn on the board.
"Jennifer Kan. Tell me when the Poll Tax Riots started."
Jennifer hesitated; she'd been too busy daydreaming to pay attention. "After the tax were put into place?" Mr. Mundy looked confused for a second. "Well, know I don't know what to say. Technically you're right, so I applaud you, but not literally. However, I meant the date. So, I can assume you weren't listening. I'll give you a Point if you're not careful."
"Sorry, Sir." Jennifer mumbled and went back to day dreaming and looked out the window at her mysteriously comforting stalker. She twirled her brown hair around her finger, a give-away sign that she wasn't listening. Her light blue eyes followed the man as he got up, gave her on last look, and a smile which made Jennifer smile too, and left.

The school had a system for warnings and detentions as well as rewards. If you were caught messing around in lessons or in the school grounds you get a Point on the schools computer system. If this was extremely serve messing around then you get detention. Two or more Points in one day added up to a detention. Two or more detentions in on day added up to Isolation (staying in a room all day and not getting to see your friends and just having to do work) and since you couldn't really get two Isolations in the same day, next up the list was exclusion; being kicked out of school for a few days and having to do the work. Then it was exclusion. Jennifer really didn't know what go you excluded because she'd never gotten a detention. A few Points, granted; but never a detention.

At lunch that day, Jennifer looked for her guardian angel, but didn't see him. Really wish I knew his real name...
That familiar nervous feeling came back. She hated not seeing him. Most of the time she couldn't see him, but she could feel that he was there still. Maybe not watching her but she knew he was there; looking out for her. "Jen, are you OK?"
"Hm? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine."
"You're lying." Megan Tucker, another friend of Jennifer's, piped up. "How do you know if I'm lying?"
"Well, I don't. I just know when you're nervous."
"How?"
"When you're nervous you stroke your left bicep." Jennifer looked up and realized she was, in fact, stroking her left arm. She pulled her hand away and shoved it in her pocket. "How the hell did you notice that?"
"More importantly, what's making you so nervous?" Jennifer hesitated again. Should she tell them? Tell them about her secret guardian angel? Well, where's the fun in that? No. She won't tell them. It'd be nice to have something about her that her friends didn't know. "Nothing. It's just... exams." She decided. "Exams?" Megan repeated, obviously confused by the word. "What exams?" Her two friends looked at her, shock evident on their faces. "The end of Key Stage Three ones. End of year 9? All next week? Every 14-year-old has to take them... Ring a bell?"
"Oh! Those exams." Megan paused, realizing something else. "I'm so screwed for those."
"Yes. Yes you are." Kelly and Jennifer replied in tandem. "Right. We're losing the plot of this whole conversation."
"That's kind of how our conversations work." Jennifer replied. "I don't believe for a minute you're nervous about exams." Megan said. Kelly seemed to agree; "Yeah. You're the smartest person in our year; your grades average a B+ already and you're only in Year 9! By GSCE's your grades are going to be A star for God sake! No one of your grade average could be worried about exams!"
"But I've never understood Pythagoras."
"That's a lie. You tutored me in it when I failed the test."
"Yeah, but I didn't fully understand it."
"Oh that's pure BS." Kelly retorted. "Girl why can't you just tell us?" Jennifer sighed, defeated. She still wasn't going to tell them; she was just not going to lie. "Because I don't want to."

"But we tell each other everything! That's how we work." Megan pleaded. She didn't like not knowing things. In school, Megan couldn't care less, but when it came to knowing her friends she couldn't be left out. "Look, maybe someday, but right now it's just not a good time."
"Well why not?" Megan asked, obviously annoyed that she couldn't pry the secret from her friend. "Because I don't want to!" Jennifer said in her threateningly low tone that told her friends they should stop trying to get her to speak. "Look. I'm going to go to the library and study. No matter what I still need to study."
"You really don't need to study. Did you not listen to our earlier conversation? You've average is a B+!"
"Still going to study!" Jennifer walked away to avoid any further arguments. She walked until she was out of sight of her friends, stopped, leaned on the left side wall of the school. She sighed; thinking about her angel again. "Maybe you do have a crush on him..." She muttered, realizing for the first time that she literally always thought about this mysterious man than seemed to pop up randomly. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the idea of fancying a man she couldn't even remember the face of. "Why can't I remember his face?" It was the only thing she didn't like about him; he had a recognizable face, one that she never failed to see when he was near her, but she also never failed to forget it. She saw him a few hours ago; she could picture his deep green eyes, his brown hair, his brown suit and his sandy un-done trench coat, but there was no way she could picture them all at the same time. Plus, his face, albeit his eyes were somewhere locked away in her memory.
She sighed again, frustrated. Why was it so hard to picture him? She'd been seeing him for two months and she still couldn't remember his face! "Well why the hell not?!" She kicked the bins behind the school in frustration. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jennifer spun around to find the source of the menacing voice. A teacher she vaguely recognized stood there. "Sorry, Sir." She muttered, not too frustrated that she was going to get herself a detention. "Nonsense. What's troubling you?"
"I-it's nothing, Sir. Just pre-exam stress." She said, her voice betraying itself slightly. Something about this teacher wasn't right. He didn't seem like he belonged in school. His grey hair put him in at least the 70's category. His grey suit reminded Jennifer of something from the Victorian ages. "Ah. I completely understand. When I was your age, a long time ago mind, I never really had exams. We had a few tests that would go little towards getting jobs today. Probably wouldn't help at all, really." He seemed saddened by this and Jennifer felt like she had to reply because of how expectantly he was looking at her. "Well, times change, Sir." He seemed pleased with this answer and chuckled, beginning to walk forward. Jennifer took a step back, and then realized she might come across as rude and stopped, standing her ground and fighting the urge to walk away. The man stopped a few feet away and stopped chuckling. "I'm so glad you said that, Miss Kan. I agree completely. Time definitely has changed. Just not as much for you." Jennifer laughed nervously for a split second before realizing that this man wasn't joking. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when time goes by, youngsters don't seem to notice. They do seem to notice, however, when someone is watching them." Jennifer felt her heart start to beat faster. Could he be talking about the Mystery Man? How would he know? Jennifer had never seen him before in his life and didn't believe he was a teacher. "I'm sorry sir, I really don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, but I think you do, dear. You've seen him, haven't you? You saw him today. In the courtyard."
"I-I..."
"You did! Don't deny it! I need to find him and he seems to like hanging around you." He'd stalked right up to her know and was jabbing a finger at her. "So you tell me right now why he's so interested in you."
"I really don't know." Jennifer whimpered. "Well, maybe you need a bit more convincing." Something cold was being pressed to her temple; she didn't need to see it to know what it was. "Tell me or I'll have the janitor washing your brains from the school grounds."
"I really don't know." She repeated, tears now blurring her vision: she closed her eyes.
There was a sound from next to them but Jennifer didn't dare look. "Well, it seems I won't be needing you anymore, dear." His menacing voice whispered in her ear. Then the was the sound of someone running, a grunt from right in front of her and the cold object left her temple. Two things hit the ground at once; the teacher and the gun.
And there, standing in between her and the teacher, was him. The mystery man. Her Guardian Angel. And now he'd truly saved her life. The man disguised as a teacher began to chuckle as he stood back up, clutching his stomach where he'd been hit. "Well, well. Looks like you came to the rescue once again." The man didn't talk, didn't stop the other from getting up. He just watched; like he always did. "Nothing to say? That's odd; normally you never shut up." He cast a glance at Jennifer and the fog lifted. "Oh. It's her isn't it? That's why you're not saying anything. Let me guess; no matter how hard she tries she won't remember your face." It was Jennifer's turn to stare now. How had he known that? She hadn't told anyone about seeing him, let alone not being able to picture his face. "You're being very careful. You're trying to stop history recording you, aren't you? You don't want yourself to be imprinted on this young ladies mind. And what do people forget faster than a name without a face? I'll tell you what; a man without a face or a name. In a few years to come you'll just be a vague memory in her mind." No reply, no response. "Well, I guess all she'll remember is a gun being held to her face. After that; she won't have to worry about memories." Jennifer hadn't seen the gun move, but now it was lying right next to the teacher's foot. He bent down, picked the gun up and had it pointing at her face before she had seen him move. "Faster than I look, aren't I?" Just then the bell rang, it wasn't much of a distraction but it was enough for the gunman to just glance towards the school; the mystery man moved faster than anyone Jennifer had seen before. He rammed his shoulder into the man's stomach, grabbed his wrist, twisted until the gun fell and then pushed him away. He turned, looked straight into Jennifer's eyes, grabbed her hand and ran, pulling her away with him. All the time Jennifer could only think about missing registration. Jennifer pulled her hand back, stopped running and so did the mystery man. "Look; you just saved my life. I don't know what all that 'imprint on my memory' stuff was about but I don't care. What I care about is answers. I've been seeing you around for two months. Literally, just a few hours ago. I've seen you here, I've seen you at home, you've been yelled at by my brother, you've been seen by my mother and I've seen you shopping and in the streets. Who are you?" The Mystery Man looked at her, deciding whether or not to speak probably. After a few minutes of silence, Jennifer sighed. "If you're not going to answer me then I'll just go back to school; now with learning and crazy teachers with guns." As she turned to walk back to school, she felt him grab her hand again and she turned back to him. He looked incredibly torn so she decided to make it easier for him. "You don't have to tell me who you are, just tell me what you do. Tell me how you knew he was going to try and kill me." Jennifer paused. "Oh my god he tried to kill me. I could have died! Well that tends to happen when you get killed. I almost got killed! Oh my god I could've died in school! All those years of homework and studying and exams for nothing!"
The mystery man was staring at her again, but this time his look was confused. He also looked like he wanted to say something but was having a debate with himself about it. She looked at him until their eyes locked. "Who are you?" Jennifer whispered, searching for an answer in his mesmerizing eyes, but soon forgot her purpose when she found herself lost in them. And then a voice so smooth it could've been made of velvet; "My name's Enrique Murray."