2.
In the morning, Valencia wakes up and sees that Brad wasn't in the room. She starts to panic a little but she faintly hears his voice downstairs. She goes downstairs and says, "Good morning."
Brad's mother turns around and says, "Good morning dear. How'd you sleep last night?"
"Good. Thank you." Valencia answered
Brad walks up to her and kisses her cheek gently and says, "Morning beautiful."
Brad's mom and Valencia take a seat at the table as Brad brought over the breakfast plates. As they were eating, Brad's mother asked Valencia, "Valencia, why did you want to stay here last night?"
"There was a fight between me and my parents. They aren't really fond of me going out and they are extremely overprotective." Valencia answered
"I can definitely understand that." Brad's mother said
After they finished breakfast, Brad and Valencia grabbed separate showers and they went to school on Brad's new bike.
When hey got thee a whole bunch of people wanted to know if they were dating. They go to class when they hear the first bell. They laugh and joke with classmates and friends as they day goes on. They even spend lunch together.
At the end of the day, Brad and Valencia went to Brad's bike in the parking lot. When they got there, Brad asked, "You ready to go back to your home?"
"Not really but I know that if I don't my parents will come looking for me." Valencia replied
They got on the bike and rode to Valencia's house, where Valencia's sister was waiting on the front porch. When Alexis, Valencia's sister, saw them she jumped up. Valencia got off the bike and said, "Hey Alexis. Why are you sitting on the front porch?"
"Waiting for you." Alexis replied. "Who's your friend?"
"Brad." She said turning to him.
Brad just looked at her. Valencia asked, "See you here tomorrow?"
Brad nodded and said, "Yup. First thing tomorrow morning. 7:30."
Brad watched Valencia and Alexis go inside before taking off
Once they were inside, Valencia's mother asked, "Valencia, is that you?"
"Yes, mom. It's me!" Valencia answered
Valencia's mother walked to where her daughter was and slapped her saying, "How dare you do what you did! You should be ashamed of making your father and I worry!"
"Mom, you need to seriously need to take a chill pill." Valencia said, rubbing her face "Nothing happened and I was at a safe place."
"So what!" her mother said "You stayed at a boy's house without our permission or knowledge of where in town you were."
Valencia doesn't say anything else and goes to her room. When she gets there she drops her bags and lies down on her bed. All of a sudden Valencia hears a knock on her window. She goes over and looks out the window. She sees Brad sitting outside her window in a tree. She opens her window and lets him in. When he gets in she says in a whisper, "Are you crazy? My parents are downstairs."
"I might be a little crazy." Brad answered "Plus, I wanted to say good night."
"You couldn't do that over the phone?" she asked
"You didn't give me your number this afternoon." He replied with a smile.
"True." Valencia said, realizing he had a point
Valencia grabs a pen off her desk and writes her number in the palm of his hand. Closing his hand Valencia says, "There you go. Now you have my number."
"Now I do." Brad says with a return smile
With that said, Brad kisses Valencia. After they separate, Brad goes back to the window. With one foot on the window frame, Brad pauses and says, "Good night and I'll give you a call."
He says that and then he disappears into the night. Valencia just sighs and sits down on her bed. Her dad comes in and says, "Who else is in here? I heard a guy's voice!"
Valencia snaps out of her dream world to her father and says, "Huh? No dad. There's nobody in here besides me."
Valencia's dad asked, "Then why is your window open?"
"Because I wanted to open it." She replied
Valencia's father just groans and leaves Valencia's room. Alexis comes in and the closes the door behind her. She asks, "Brad was here wasn't he?"
"How'd you know?" Valencia whispered
"It wasn't hard to figure out." Alexis answered "Plus, I sized him up and guessed that he would be a really good climber too."
"Maybe he was here." Valencia said with a smile
Alexis smiled back and said, "Just don't get into any trouble."
"I won't get into that kinda trouble but I can't say or promise that I won't get into trouble." Valencia replied
"Alexis gave Valencia a big hug and said, "I love you sis."
"I love you too Alexis."
Alexis leaves the room and Valencia lays back down her bed.
The next morning, Brad gets to Valencia's house around 7:15. He knocks on the door, and Alexis answers the door. When she sees that its Brad she says, "You must be Brad. Come on in and I'll se if Valencia is ready."
Brad stepped inside and responded, "Thanks. I'll wait right here."
As Brad is waiting for Valencia, her father sees him and asks, "Can I help you, son?"
"I'm just waiting for Valencia, sir." He answered
"Are you the guy she stayed with the night before last?" Valencia's dad asked, getting angry
"Yes, why?" Brad asked, getting ready for anything
Out of nowhere, Valencia's dad throws a punch, which Brad dodges. Alexis and Valencia come downstairs to see their father attacking Brad. Valencia yells, "Father!!! What are you doing!?!? Stop!!!"
Valencia's father doesn't answer and keeps throwing punches at Brad, who keeps dodging. As they're fighting, Valencia yells, "Brad, fight back!!!"
"You sure?" He asks "I don't wanna hurt your dad!"
"Go! Fight!"
Brad stops dodging and throws a right hook connecting with Valencia's father's jaw. He staggers back shocked. He comes back and connects with Brad's chest, sending him through the window. Valencia and Alexis go out the front door and see Brad lying on the porch. They go to him and Alexis asks, "Brad, you ok?"
"Yea." Brad answered "I'm fine."
Valencia and Alexis's father jumps through the broken window at Brad, who pushes Alexis and Valencia out of the way before he gets hit again. Brad punches him in the chest causing him to back up gasping for air. Brad charges him and pins him against the house. Valencia walks up, touches Brad's arm, and says, "Let him go. It's ok."
Brad lets him go and backs up. Valencia turns and looks at her father and says, "Dad, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner about Brad but it doesn't give you the right or an excuse for what you did to him."
"If you're mad at me, then why did you tell Brad to start fighting back?" he asked
"Because I saw that he needed to defend himself against you." She answered
They all go back inside and Valencia's mom asks Brad, "Brad, can I get you anything?"
"Just a glass of water ma'am. Thank you." He answers
Valencia goes upstairs and grabs her backpack as her mom gets Brad a glass of water. When she hands it to him she asks, "Where'd you learn to move and fight like that?"
When he finished he said, "I can see things in a slower time frame which increases my reflexives and reaction. As for fighting, I go off instinct."
Valencia comes back down and asks Brad, "Brad, you ready to go? We're already late for school."
"Yeah. Lets go." He says, handing back the empty glass. "Thanks for the water."
They leave and go to school. They get there and everybody is asking where he got the bruise. He just says, "I got into a fight this morning." After school ends, Valencia says, "We need to talk because something doesn't add up."
"What's on your mind?" Brad asks, taking a seat with Valencia next to him
"Who or what are you?" she asks "Because I know you're not fully human."
Brand just sighs and says, "You're right. I'm not fully human but my other half is scary. It's not safe."
"Can you show me?" she asked
"I can but not here. It's not safe and too many people."
They get up and go to Brad's motorcycle. They ride to Brad's house. When they get there they go into the garage and Valencia asks, "What are you?"
"I'm a human-gargoyle hybrid who has learned to hid his wings inside his body. I also can change my muscle tone." Brad answered
"Show me!" Valencia stated
"It'll scare you." Brad warned
"I'll be the judge of that."
"Ok." Brad said and began changing
When Brad started, Valencia started shaking because her mind was telling to run but her body wouldn't move. A couple minutes later, he was fully transformed and saw that she was shaking. He transforms back so that he looked completely human. When he was back to the way she liked him to look she asks, "How long have you been like this?"
"A year give or take a couple weeks."
"How have you been able to lead the live you live?"
"Just don't transform in public."
"That's easier said then done."
"Yeah."
All of a sudden, there are police sirens outside the house and a knock on the door. Brad's dad goes and opens the door and asks, "Can I help you officers?"
Brand and Valencia arrive at the door when one of the officers says, "We're here to arrest Brad for kidnapping!"
"Brad never kidnapped me! I went with him of my own free will!" Valencia stated in shock, as they handcuffed Brad.
As they were walking Brad and Valencia, Valencia whispers in a low voice that only Brad can hear, "Go big and go home!"
Brad nods and slowly starts expanding the muscle tone in his wrists. When they are put in the back of he patrol car, Brad breaks he cuffs he looks at Valencia and just nods. They get back to Valencia's house and the cops get out and take Valencia to the door. As they're going to the door, Brad gets out of the car when they weren't looking and runs. As he's running, he transforms into his gargoyle form and flies into the sky.
Once cops looks at Brad and asks his partner, "You saw that, right?"
"Yea," he answers "and I wish I didn't."
Hours later, when night came, Brad flew back to Valencia's house and knocked on her window again. Valencia opened her window and backed up as Brad climbed in, still in his gargoyle form. When he finished crawling in. He transformed back o his human form. "You know that they are looking for you?" Valencia asked
Brad just nodded
"So what are you gonna do now?" Valencia asked
"Run." He answered. "It's all that I can do for now."
"But…" she started but Brad stopped her
"I wish I didn't have to go but I can't stay where I will put you in danger."
"But shouldn't it be my choice though?"
"Yes…"he started
"Then let me make that decision."
"What about your sister and your parents?"
"Alexis? I'm not sure on what I'll tell her but my parents I won't say anything at all."
"How bout I tell Alexis?" Brad asked
"Ok but give her the cliff note version."
"Is she still up or…?"
"She's still up. Hold on!' she replied "Alexis! Can you please come here?"
Alexis comes in and sees Brad. When she sees Brad, she's about to scream but Brad zips over and covers her mouth. With her mouth covered Brad says, "Alexis, it's me! Don't be afraid."
"Brad?" Alexis asked "Is that really you? What happened to you?"
"In one sentence. Uhhh…I'm a gargoyle-human hybrid created in a science experiment about a year ago." Brad said blatantly
Alexis touched his wings and saw that they were real. She asked, "What are you gonna do now?"
"Run." He answered "My secret isn't gonna stay a secret for long."
"I won't tell anybody." She promised
"I know."
Brad starts to go back to the window when the bedroom door opens again but Valencia and Alexis's mom comes in and starts to say, "Girls! Din…" when she saw Brad in his gargoyle form, she fainted. Brad picked her up and put her on Valencia's bed.
She woke up minutes later and said, "Girls, did I see Brad with wings?"
"No, that was your imagination." Valencia lied, protecting Brad, who had already left.
"Bu…Bu…But I could have sworn…" their mother stammered
"No. He hasn't been here since the cops brought him here to drop me off." Valencia answered
Valencia and Alexis took their mother downstairs for dinner. When they get downstairs, their dad asked, "What happened to you dear?"
"Nothing. Just had a lil fainting spell in Valencia's room." She answered
They all ate dinner. After they ate, Valencia went up to her room, where Brad was waiting. Valencia says with a smile, "You sure know how to scare a woman."
"Didn't mean to." He answered, returning the smile
"Where you headed to now?" she asked
"I don't know." He answered "I might go home."
"Stay here. You know they will be keeping an eye on your house, waiting for you to return home."
"What about your parents?" he asked
"Dad will freak if he finds you and mom will be scared out of her mind." She replied
"If my gargoyle form scares her, then I'll change forms." He said, changing to his human self.
"Sooo…you're staying here tonight?" she asked with a slight smile
"I'm staying…" he answered "…but where am I sleeping?"
"My bed with me."
"Ok."
They go to bed hours later. The next morning, there's a knock on the door to Valencia's room. Her mother's at the door saying, "Valencia, honey, you're going to be late for school."
Valencia gets up quickly and keeps Brad quiet. She says, "Alright. I'm getting up now. Thanks for the wake up."
They both get up and Valencia gets ready for school. Brad gets dressed in a corner so that he wouldn't be seen by anybody standing at the door. Once they were dressed Brad goes out the window and flew to the school while Valencia closes the window behind him and goes downstairs. When she gets downstairs and sees her dad she says, "Dad, I really wanted to say thank you for throwing the guy I like in jail."
Her dad says, "Valencia! I was just trying to protect you from him. He's no good."
"That's what you said about my last two boyfriends." She argued and left with her mom before her dad could say anything else.
On the way to school Valencia's mom says, "Valencia, I understand that you're upset with your father but try to see it form his point of view."
"Mom, to be honest dad doesn't care about me unless it's benefiting him." He replied
"Now why would you say something like that, Valencia?" she asked
"Look at it. He's attacked Brad just because I stayed at his home the night of the block party. He chewed my ex-boyfriend just because he brought me home a minute after curfew, and the only reason why we were late was because of traffic. Need I say more?" Valencia answered
"You're right, now that you mention it." Valencia's mom said, thinking about it
Valencia looked out the window and saw Brad flying not far away. Brad sees Valencia's car and dropped lower in the sky. Valencia opened the sunroof and Brad dropped in thru the sunroof in his human form. Valencia's mom screamed and stopped the car. She looked in the back seat and saw Brad sitting there. She asked in shock, "Brad! Where'd you come from?"
Valencia laughed and Brad replied, "I dropped from the sky."
Brad started laughing too. Valencia's mom asked, "Weren't you arrested?"
"Yeah but I got away with the intention of proving that I didn't kidnap Valencia."
"Well if it means anything," Valencia's mom said "I believe you."
"It does. Thank you." He replied
"So what are you gonna do now?" Valencia's mom asked
"Run for now." Brad answered as they approached the school.
Brad and Valencia get outta the car and walk thru the hallway near the main office when Brad notices cops in the office and the office secretary pointing out the window at him. The cops walk out of the office and say, "Brad Shylock!"
Brad stops and turns and says, "Can I help you officers?"
"Yes. You need to come with us down to the precinct."
"Brad slowly starts backing up and says, "Sorry but I can't."
"Why not?" one officer asked
"Because then I wouldn't be able to prove my innocence." He replied
Valencia gets behind Brad and opens the door as Brad exits the main hallway. He sees the pillar and looks at Valencia, who says, "Go big."
Everybody, even the cops, looks confused and Brad transforms into his gargoyle form. He roars and scares everybody except Valencia. Valencia jumps on his back and he scales the pole to the roof. Once there, he spreads his wings and takes flight.
Everybody just looks in awe. One cop asked his partner, "Did you see what I saw or was that just me?"
"No, I saw it too." His partner answered.
Brad landed a couple miles from the school. He says, "Sorry about the hair."
"It's ok. At least you got away." She responded "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"Is there anyway to become a gargoyle without having to go thru the experiment way you went thru?" she asked
"Yes," he answered "there's one other way besides what I went thru."
"Which is?" she asked when he wouldn't tell the way right away.
"Blood transfusion." He answered
"Where do you wanna go to now?" Valencia answered
"I don't know but we can't stay out in the open."
Brad takes Valencia back home. When he gets there, there is a cop car leaving. Brad lands in the backyard and Valencia jumps off his back. Valencia's mom sees them and opens the back door. When they get in Valencia's mom asks, "What happened at school that's got you two flying off?"
"Didn't have much of an option mom when you got cops who wanna lock your boyfriend up." She answered and Brad nodding in agreement
Valencia's mom jus sighs and says as a warning, "The cops are going to your house
"Thanks." Brad says and runs to the backyard to take flight
Brad heads up and gets to his house a few minutes after the cops. When Brad is close, his dad sees him and goes to the back door and opens it. Brand lands in the backyard. The cops leave and Brad walks inside. His dad goes to him and asks with irritation, "You're running from the cops!?!?"
"Do you really think I'm guilty of kidnapping?" Brad asked matching his father's gaze
"No, but they probably won't believe you since you decided to run." His father stated. "What are you gonna do about this?"
"I need to stay out of the cop's grip till I can prove that Valencia's dad put a false charge on me."
"How do you know it was Valencia's dad?" His mom asked
"Think about it. The whole thing didn't start till after Valencia crashed at our place the night of the block party."
"True but why?" his mother wondered
"Because he's a father that's way too overprotective of his daughter and scared to let her go." Brad responded
"So you're thinking that your girlfriend's father is behind this?" his father asked
"Yup." He answered "He's the only suspect on my list."
All of a sudden there's a knock at the door. Brad's father gets the door. It's Valencia and her mom. They look at Brad and Valencia says, "Brad, we know that it's my dad who sent the cops after you with the kidnapping charge. I also know that you're trying to figure out a way to find evidence to prove your innocence, but till then you're gonna run."
