Chapter 1 - About As Normal as Normal Can Get.
Shay

The cold November air seemed to slap me in the face as I exited the high school. That was the one thing I missed about the week we had hid in Bolton. I didn't have to go to school. Of course that one perk didn't even amount to the anxiety i was faced with every single day. So it was good to be back.
Things, for the most part, seem to be fairly normal. Well, nothing's ever normal at Jefferson High, but it's about as normal as it's going to get anyway. I readjusted the strap on my bag and kept walking. Danny was sick today, or at least he claimed he was, so he wasn't at school. He finally granted me permission to walk home as long as I keep my cell phone on. I didn't know what he was so worried about, after being nearly killed by Charlie I'm pretty sure I can hold my own.
The breeze swirled around my face and I felt a small rain drop fall on my nose from the gray sky overhead. Wonderful.
I started walking down 7th Street, and few cars were parked along the curb and a few other kids were walking home too.
"Hey Shayna," I heard someone call my name. I looked behind me. There was a boy, a Junior this year I think, following close behind me. I didn't know how he knew me, I'd never spoken to him in my life. Somehow, though, he knew my name. Probably through Danny.
"Uh...hey?" I said as I kept walking.
"Wait, wait a minute." I said grabbing my hand. I could have killed him. "I wanna talk to you."
"About...?" I asked, annoyed. It was about to start raining and if this kid didn't let me go I was going to have to kick him so hard below the belt it would take weeks to recover.
"You've been through a lot lately." he said as he started to walk towards me. I continued to take a few steps backwards until I was up against a car. He was up against me.
"Get off me," I tired to shove him, but he was much too strong. I assumed from the look in his eyes he was probably drunk. He seemed like the kind of kid to skip school and go boozing. I tried to hit him again but he pinned my arms back.
"Hey!" Someone else shouted. The guy looked behind him and I looked past his head. There on the corner, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, was Dougie. "Leave her alone."
He dropped the cigarette and stepped on it, then made his was over to the two of us. The guy backed off and Dougie grabbed his shirt, "You ever mess with her again and you will probably end up dying a virgin, got it?"
I cracked a smile at the horrified look on this guys face. He nodded quickly, "Sure. Sure."
"Now get out of here," Dougie shoved him and he went running. It surprised me that a kid as small as Dougie could pose such a threat to everyone around. But I guess with the events that had happened recently, anyone would be scared of him.
"Thanks," I smiled tucking some hair behind me ear. He nodded, then looked up at the sky. Rain began to fall harder, "You want a ride?"
He led me to his beat up car and I hopped in the passenger's seat. He blasted the heat in there and I began to warm up. I rubbed my bare arms as Dougie started the car.
"So how much longer until you can get a real license, Doug?" I asked him smiling. He turned back to me, "Few months or so I guess."
I laughed remembering the first time I rode in a car with him and he showed me his fake license. It scared the living hell out of me, but it didn't bother me at all now.
"By the way, I never did ask, who's car is this?" I asked him. He gave me a crooked smile, "Haz's."
"I thought Harry didn't have a car." I said. Dougie laughed, "He doesn't. I won this in a bet."
"Harry Judd bet his CAR?" I asked. Dougie laughed and nodded, "Yep. 'Course I keep this at Harry's house when I'm not driving it. My mom would flip if she found out. But I won it not too long ago in a seemingly endless game of poker. Harry was...a little out of it. Had one too many drinks. He bet his car, I won the hand and here we are now."
I laughed and shook my head, "I can't believe you'd take advantage of him while he was drunk."
"Hey, you do what you can." he shrugged and pulled away from the curb. We sped down the road with the radio blasting and the two of us singing along.
Dougie pulled into my driveway and lowered the volume on the music, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah. See ya. And thanks for everything back there. I wasn't exactly looking forward to being raped by a creeper today." I laughed. He grinned, "Sure. Anytime."
He kissed me on the cheek, sending butterflies flooding into my stomach, and I opened the door and waved goodbye.
Dougie wasn't in jail and I was finally home. Everything will return exactly to the way it was.
At least...that's how the story is supposed to go.