Freedom is a form of liberation.

One of which; is sought after by many.

The Glory days begin…

I wish I could tell you how much this means to me, the thought of being one of the best known negotiators of all time, and I'm only 16.

Walking through the halls, just like anyone else, at North Shore High School, it's hard trying not to be me when that's all I want to do.

There's always the chance of bumping into someone, especially in that crowded hall, but did it ever happen to change your life forever?

That's what happened to me, walking along, with my best friends Tracy and Anabelle, we were just talking about the possibilities being endless; when another bumped into my shoulder.

I instantly lost my books, so I crept down to pick them up, and a random hand gave me one the flyaway books back. "I'm so sorry, are you all right?"

I replied not looking up "I should be, I just really need these books, they're for history."

"Here, I'll get the rest."

The random hand came back with the rest of my books, I smiled then I looked up, he was looking down at me with a cute smile, I was taken back at first but then it seemed ironic to me that fate delivered me a platter of delight in spades.

How could this be? I thought, as I my eyes wandered into his, where all thought was lost, he had this healing inside of me, it was like time stopped for a split second and we were the only two who noticed.

Tracy and Anabelle helped me up graciously.

This mystery guy held my books for a moment and then said "oh here, totally forgot, hope I didn't make you late for class"

"Oh no, it's all right, thank you." I said with a slight nod.

"Oh, I'm Shawn by the way nice to meet you." He held out his hand and I shook it.

"Elizabeth, it's nice to meet you too" Anabelle and Tracy stood quietly, just mesmerized by his persona.

"We should go now Elizabeth, class starts in two minutes." Said Tracy, I faced back to reality, I looked back up to Shawn and said "thanks again, see you around I guess."

"I guess." He said barely in a whisper, but I heard him.

Two Days later…

Sitting out the front of the school on the grass, under the tree, on a picnic blanket, with Anabelle we were studying, the Pythagoras theory when, I heard the familiar voice; from behind the tree.

"I heard that Pythagoras theory, is kind of boring." I smirked as Shawn made his way around the tree, "thought I'd see you again" he managed to say with his cute smile.

"I say sir, I do believe that you've been following me." "No, no, by chance I saw you, so I thought I'd stop by."

Shawn and I became close friends quickly, he helped me out a lot, especially this one day, when he came over to my house to help me out with biology, my mom and dad were fighting.

So loud, we could all hear it, we were upstairs, they were fighting because my daddy is a drunk, and an alcoholic if you will, he spends most of our money on booze, that's why I work, part time so I can afford to look after mamma and me.

Shawn and I fell silent, as the voices grew louder mom then yelled; "for god sakes Henry, Elizabeth is upstairs and we have company! Don't embarrass our daughter."

Shawn touched my hand slightly and said, "I'm not embarrassed to be here with you, if you want, we can go." I nodded silently.

He took my hand in his and grabbed our bags, then led me downstairs carefully.

Mom was sporting a split lip; she shook slightly but at the sight of me she tried to make out everything was fine.

"Mom, I'm going out to study, I don't know what time I'll be home. -" She cut me off, by hugging me tightly and slipped a 20 dollar note into my hand "don't come back for a couple of days, I have a feeling this is going to be a bad one."

"No mom, if that's the case I'll stay."

Shawn stepped up and said, "it's okay, Mrs. Landon I will take care of her, I promise."

Shawn put his arm around me and guided me out.

He took me to his place, I walked up and down his room, Shawn sat me down on his bed with him "listen, you're going to be okay, and so is your mom, okay?"

Shawn held both my hands in his, he looked into my eyes and said "I will not let anything happen to you, you have to believe that."

"I do, I just I don't want to sit here doing nothing when I can get my mom out of there, he will hurt her, more than usual and I'm afraid she wont be smiling anymore after that."

I finished with tears, rolling down my face.

Genuine concern grew on Shawn's face, he pulled me into his arms and said "just breathe, calm down, it'll be okay."

Shawn touched my head gently with his, we kissed, then he just kept holding me close.

That night, dad was so far drunk he got angry with mom, because I wasn't home for dinner "she's over at a friends house, studying."

He didn't like the answer so he beat mom up.

I had a knot in my stomach so I excused myself from dinner with Shawn and his family, in the hall way, I put my jacket it on and did it up, Shawn followed me out and said "What's wrong?"

He saw the bruise starting to form on my cheek, "how'd that happen?" "All I know is that my mom is fighting right now, I can feel it I have to go."

"Wait, I'll go with you."

We raced back to my place, where we could hear it, my mom was screaming for him to get away, and you could hear him yelling at her.

Shawn kicked down the door, managed to get my dad away from mom, and then got him disarmed.

Mom was dying, she was bleeding he had stabbed her with his knife.

"Mom!" I screamed, I ran over to her as I began crying.

Shawn came over and touched her wound, she flinched a little you could feel her life essence ebbing away; ever so slightly.

Shawn healed her, I don't know how, and I don't know why, but he did.

I wasn't afraid I was just glad to have my mom back.

I held her tight and she held me, both crying, Shawn checked on dad, but he was dead, I cried hard too.

Back at school, I ran into Shawn he had been avoiding me afraid that I was scared off by his gift.

On the contrary, I just wanted him to know how thankful I was.

In the library in the last aisle where he was, I went over to him and said, "I thought Pythagoras theory was boring?"

"Usually is" he said he looked up and faced me; I managed to say "I'm not scared, of what you did, I want you to know how much that meant to me, thank you, for giving us our lives back."

He changed he felt so relieved, I had him against the books, and I said, "I never did get a chance to thank you." With a smirk on my face, I kissed him, passionately, "thank you." I barely said in a whisper.

"So when are you going to take me out on a real date?" I finished with a smile.

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