So another great chapter for you, true believers out there. Sorry for taking too long, but work needed its best worker.

Enough of that now, enjoy!

Chapter 4: Schoolgrounds

(Ewen High School,)

For Carrie White, school was a second Hell to her. She was the outcast of her school and the target of endless bullying just because she was different. She was called names, shoved to the ground or even into the lockers in hallway. But none of that was nothing compared to the pain and torment she was succumbed to after a video of her period was posted online.

After the video was posted, her torments had grown. The rumor of a 17-years-old girl experiencing her first period, which she knew nothing about, quickly spread around her school. Carrie became the laughing stock of her high school. Every words that was thrown her way, hurt every single time.

The Ultras, the most popular and sometimes feared group in the school, went after the poor telekinetic at every given chance. From their perspective, what they did to Carrie was punishment for having their leader, Chris Hargensen, suspended from the school and banned from the prom.

Not all of the Ultras were after the young telekinetic. After the incident in the locker room Carrie saw less of Sue Snell, another one of the Ultras, interacting with the rest of her group. Carrie had no ideas as to why Sue was distant with her friends, she just found it curious.

Fortunately, not all at the school were being mean to the poor girl. The PE teacher, Rita Desjardin, felt sympathy for the poor girl, after her incident at school. Though she regrets hitting the poor girl during her incident, she still felt responsible for Carrie. The teacher may have gotten in trouble with Chris' father, a lawyer, but she felt it was right to punish the entire class because of their treatment to their classmate.

Any other day the poor telekinetic would keep her head down, eyes shielded from making eye contact with anyone, making sure not to bump into anyone in fear of being assaulted with horrific words. But today was different. Carrie still kept herself isolated from those around here, but there was slight change on her face. Behind a cloak of strawberry blonde hair, lies a smile.

Ever since her encounter with Anti-Venom, the young telekinetic still thought about the words of encouragement given to her. She became interested as who this hero was, so she went to the school's library to use one of the computers to learn more about her savior from that night. She went to one the computers furthest from the other students, to learn in peace.

Carrie sat in front of the computer. She was feeling a little anxious as what she may or may not learn about. Regardless of she feels, she started the computer up. She opened the search engine and typed "Anti-Venom." What she got was hundreds of articles about the hero. Carrie read every word of every line with her eyes widening at every word.

Anti-Venom, one of the many heroes who have taken on the appearance of a demon and fight for those who cannot. Together with a group of other demon-like heroes like himself, the group have defended New York against multiple villains, against events that could have caused massive damages. Carrie found a link to a video and clicked on it. Carrie's mouth hung open when the video opened up.

The video showed the symbiotic hero removing a large piece of a building, which blocked the entrance to an alleyway. The hero was able to remove the blockage in a matter of seconds. With the blockage removed, the entrance to the alleyway was passable again. The entrance showed a little boy who was holding his left knee. The boy looked up to see the symbiotic hero crouching down to him. The hero placed a hand on the knee the boy was holding, which seemed to have been hurt.

The hero removed his hand and the scratch on the boy's knee was gone, which the young took notice of and gave the hero a smile. A woman, seemingly to be the mother of the child, came running to the young with tears of joy in her eyes, as she knelt down and hugged her son tight. The hero scooped both of them up his hands and walked away from the alleyway. The video came to an end as the hero was applauded for his heroic acts.

Carrie saw the entire video with unblinking eyes and mouth gaped open. "This is the one? This is Anti-Venom?" Carrie thought to herself as she shut the computer down. "If someone like that could save others, maybe I could as well." Carrie shook her head of the strange thoughts that emerged in her mind. She rose to her feet and began to walk over to the exit.

X

(Front of Ewen High School)

Carrie made her way through the exit of her school. Her head still kept down to avoid looking at anyone. The poor telekinetic did not want trouble of any sorts, though trouble always seemed to find its way to the poor girl no matter what. Today was no expectation, which she would come to soon realize. Everyone around her, had kept their eyes on her as well as their distance.

"HEY CREEPY CARRIE!" Carrie snapped her head up as she heard her name. She looked around for the source and soon came to regret that.

Walking in long strides towards the young girl, was Chris Hargensen looking visibly angry. She got up to the young girls face, which caused the girl to back away. She continued backing away till she felt the hard feeling of a wooden surface on her back. Carrie was terrified of what the other girl may do to her.

The two girls just stared at each other before the bully spoke. "Did you see it?" the question gave rise to a confused look on the other girls face. Taking notice of the confused look on the other girls face, the bully gritted her teeth and clenched her fists before speaking. "THAT THING THAT THRASHED BILLY'S CAR, DAMMIT" Chris shouted which got the attention of all the other students around them.

Carrie knew that the bully meant Anti-Venom, the hero who stopped the car from hitting her. Out of fear of what the other girl might do, the young telekinetic chose to go with honesty. "Ye- yes, I saw h- it" the girl stuttered with fear in her voice. The answer made the bully's face turn blank for a moment. Neither of the two girls saw the movement behind the bully.

Carrie didn't see it at first until who it was until the person stood between the two girls. The one who stood between the two girls was the same guy, whose car met its unfortunate fate at the hands of Anti-Venom. Billy Nolan stood between the two girls, looking very upset. The boy grabbed the young telekinetic by the arms and shoved her to the ground. The hard contact with the ground caused the young girl's eyes to wet with tears. Her school bag flung from her away, the objects inside scattered around the ground.

The thug took notice of the girl's expression. "What the fuck are you crying for, you stinking little bitch?!" The thug asked the young girl who was trembling with fear. "THAT FUCKING MONSTER THRASHED MY CAR! AND YOU¨RE CRYING YOU FUCKING BITCH!" The high tone in the thug's voice caused tears to fall down the young girls face.

The thug gave a smirk as an evil idea came to his mind. "Since that monster is nowhere to be found, you're gonna have to pay for what he did to my car." Billy clenched his right fist and raised it, readying it to hit the defenseless girl. The action was noticed by the students around them, but all was too afraid of what the thug would do to them if they intervened.

Carrie just laid on the ground trembling even more with fear in her entire body. When she saw the thug raise his fist and clenched it, caused the girl to close her eyes and pray for a savior. "Please, someone. Please help me!"

"Get ready for a worl—UGGGH!" The thug was interrupted by a grunt and a big thud to the ground. The sudden lack of pain and sound of a pained voice caused the girl to open her eyes. The sight made her eyes almost jump out of her head.

In front of the young girl, stood a young man with his right hand clenched in the air. For some reasons the young man seemed familiar to the young telekinetic, as to why she had no idea. From her angle on the ground, Carrie was not able to see the enraged look on the young man's face as he sent a glare to the thug was holding his chest.

X

Even while he was living in New York, very few things caused John to actually lose his temper. But the one thing that actually caused him and his "other" to be beyond pissed was whenever they saw someone hurt an another of no reason. This was that kind of situation he saw today.

When the young rider came to Ewen High School to return the silver cross to its rightful owner, the last thing he expected was to see the thug standing over that said owner. The scene caused a spark anger to rise within the rider, which turned to rage when the thug raised a clenched fist.

"John stop that bastard!" The Anti-symbiote shouted to his partner. The rider paid no attention to what his "other" told him. When John saw thug and the action he was readying, it caused the rider to spring into action, sprinting towards the scene with enhanced speed.

In a matter of seconds, the rider was able slide between the crowd around the scene. Before the thug could even register it, the rider had already punched him in the chest. None of the surrounding students even had a chance to see the new member enter the scene. All around the scene, including Carrie, was shocked to see someone attack the thug.

Billy kept holding his chest as he shot a look up to see the rider from the night before. "You?" The thug received nothing more than a glare of rage from the rider. "The hell was that for, you fuckin-" The thug stopped talking as he noticed the rider before him looking over his shoulder. John turned back to the thug with an uninterested look.

"Sorry but cowards never say anything worth remembering." John told the other boy casually. This however caused a shower of gasps from the students around them. Chris and Billy looked back at the rider and both of them gave a glare. "So why bother listening, you know? So how about I ask a question of mine now." John said with a sharp tone that caused the couple before him to shiver.

The rider took a step closer to them. "Who else than a coward hits an innocent young woman?" John spoke with an angered voice. His "other" thought about calming him down, but he too thought that this punk needed a lesson. John looked around at the surrounding students and sent them a death stare. "The same goes for all of you as well! Just standing there and not helping the poor girl. You guys are just as worse." The other students were shocked at the stare they received from this stranger.

Both Chris and Billy rose to their feet. Billy was still holding his chest as he could still feel the pain from the blow he got. Chris feared what the rider would if he was angered further than he already he was. Billy was less scared than angry as to getting his revenge on the rider. But he was too hurt to get it today.

"You will regret this, bicycle!" The thug said as he passed between the crowd. Chris sent one last look to the rider and the girl behind him before following her pained boyfriend.

When the couple was out of sights, the rider turned around to face the young girl on the ground. He was surprised to find her still seated on the ground. "She really looks like her doesn't she?" His "other" asked. The rider said nothing and gave the girl on ground a smile. John walked closer to her, ignoring the surrounding eyes of that looked at him, and knelt down to look her in the eyes. The young girl was nervous as to why this stranger helped her.

Both John and the symbiote noticed the nervous look on the girl's face. John gave another smile before he spoke. "You have nothing to worry about, miss. I'm only here to help." John said with soft tone with a hint of seriousness in it. The girl looked at him with teary eyes.

Carrie took a moment before speaking herself. "Why? You don't know me." She said as few more tears of fear fell down her face. She was afraid that this was just another trick by someone. The sight caused the rider's face to sadden as well. "You just want to trick me, right?" The girl said with soft sniffles.

The sniffles from the made John fear that the thug had already harmed the poor girl before he arrived at the scene. He reached out his hand to touch her shoulder, but the young telekinetic saw his outstretched hand. Before he even touched, she flinched away a bit in fear. John retracted his hand from her. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise you, miss. I just want to make sure that asshole didn't hurt you." The rider said in a soothing tone, in hopes of convincing the young town native.

Carrie looked in the rider's eyes in search of signs of deception, but searched in vain. Instead she found nothing but concern. Concern for HER. This was a strange thing for her to find, since she was the outcast of the entire town. "Why? Why should I believe anything you say?" She asked with a hint of anger, a hint the rider received but did not show on his facial expression.

John had to convince the girl that his intentions were good. Then he remembered something from the night, where he first laid eyes upon her. "If I were to trick you, miss." He said as he reached into his right pocket to pull something out. He held his right hand closed before the girl, who looked at it intensely.

The rider gave a wider smile as he opened his fist and showed a silver cross. Carrie's eyes widened as she recognized the cross as her own. Her eyes met the rider's eyes. "Pretty sure our…. "mutual friend" would be very mad if that were to happen." John said as he searched for a word to describe the symbiotic hero.

Carrie finally realized that this was the friend that Anti-Venom talked about. "Wouldn't you agree, Carrietta White?" John asked, which caused the girl to give a shocked impression and looked back to the rider. For a few moments neither of them said nothing to each other in somewhat comfortable silence. Though the rider had to be the one to break it. "So…you still want be sitting on the ground or what?" John asked with a chuckle.

The girl realized that she had remained seated on the ground this entire time. She blushed as the boy in front of her pointed it out. Both rose to their feet, the rider helped the town native as he was worried she had gotten hurt.

Carrie gave the young man before her a look over before asking. "You know him?" John gave a confused look; which Carrie took notice of. She looked around before explaining. "You know Anti-Venom, right?" Carrie asked in a whisper and pointed at the cross in his hand. "I gave him my cross before." She was worried if the boy had stolen it from the hero somehow.

John nodded. "Yeah he's a good friend of mine" John said as he reached his hand out and placed the cross in the girl's hand, which she accepted. "Good friend? That sounds like an understatement, if you ask me." His other said with a mused tone. The host took notice of his partner's comment but did nothing to respond to it.

Instead he held out his hand. "My Name is John. John Strikez." Carrie saw the extended hand and thought about walking away. But then she thought about everything the hero told her about his friend. "Someone that would accept her." She looked at the man once again and extended her own hand and shook his.

"My name is... is Carrie. Carrie White" She stuttered with a smile. The rider kept his smile as he saw the other girl return with one of her own. "She's got a beautiful smile." John thought to himself. The Anti-Symbiote residing inside was happy to hear his host be happy.

The touch from the handshake between the two was nothing new to the rider, but to the young telekinetic, it was another story. The sensation from the touch made her heart beat rapidly. The reason for this to happen, was unknown to her. They released their hold on each other's hands.

John too felt something new from their handshake, a feeling he had not felt before. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard soft whispers around him and the young girl. He looked around and found several groups of students, still looking at the both of them with interested eyes. John felt Carrie shake with fear from the stares. "Despicable creatures, these ones." His "other" said with venom in its voice.

John looked at the groups and narrowed his eyes in predatory way. The sudden glare from the rider caused the groups of students to jump a little before dissipating and walking away. ´The rider turned to look at the young girl and found her with her eyes going up and down his body.

"Looks the interest in the other is not as one-sided, as you thought, huh John?" The symbiote told his host with a mental grin. The rider suddenly felt his cheeks heat up, as he knew his "other" was right. Back in New York, John had no trouble with finding a girl who was interested in him. He had met girls who openly flirted with him on numerous occasions, but never found any of them interesting.

Carrie looked up and down his body. She soon realized that the more she did this, the harder it was to stop. She stopped when looked up to the rider's face and found his eyes looking at her. A bright shade of red swept over her face, as she was caught red-handed. Carrie turned away before she remembered to say something.

She turned her gaze back to the rider and slowly a smile formed on her face. "Thank you" Carrie said with sincerity in her voice. The rider had a confused look as he heard her say that. Carrie saw that and explained. "Thank you for saving from that guy, Billy I mean" She said his name with a hint of fear. Carrie looked down at the ground as she went over the different outcomes, had John not intervened.

Carrie froze when she felt a hand on her chin and gently lifted her head to look at John. She met the kind blue eyes and a warm smile of a concerned man. "You don't have to thank me for that. That guy had no right to handle a beautiful young woman like that." John said with conviction and a wider smile.

Looking behind the girl, John walked around her and knelt down to pick up a schoolbag. Seeing that some of its contents are missing, he looked again and found the missing objects. He picked them up and put them inside. Carrie noticed this, and was visibly worried. Worried about being late, before her mother came home, worried about being sent into her "prayer closet" again.

Suddenly seeing the fear-stricken look on the girls face, caused the rider and his "other" to wonder what had her this scared this time. His "other" then remembered something "John, you don't think she's afraid of her mother, do you?" The symbiote asked with concerned voice. "From what you told me from her cross and the look of fear on her face." John thought with sadness before continuing. "I'd say you were yes; she is afraid of her mother."

Rising to his feet again, the rider thought for a moment before an idea came to mind. "Hey, if late for something, then I can give you a ride, if you want?" John asked with an honest voice. Carrie heard the offer and had noticed the honesty in the rider's voice. She felt as though she could trust him, but she was still unsure if this was the right thing to do or not.

Being silent in thoughts before speaking, Carrie sighed before speaking. "I don't know." She said with disappointment in her voice. John knew that he had not gotten her trust yet. It was a feeling he knew all too well. Back in New York, he learned one important thing before he joined his team. Trust is a bridge that needs to build in time, not in a rush. If so then it is poorly made, and will crumble with a single misstep.

Stilling wanting to the help the poor girl, John did not back down. "I know, you don't trust me, Carrie." John said as he took a step closer to the town native. "But, our friend, Anti-Venom, does trust you. If he trusts you, then so can I." The rider told the young girl, and received a smile from her.

Wanting to trust the man before her, the friend of her savior, Carrie hesitated a moment before answering him. "Okay." She said with a smile. The facial expression was reflected on the rider's face. John looked over to the side and nodded towards something. Carrie followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of the source.

On the other side of the road, opposite of the school, stood a big black motorcycle. The type of motorcycle was unknown to the young girl, though that was mattered little to her. John and Carrie walked towards the motorcycle. Being closer to the motorcycle made things a bit clearer, as Carrie saw the words "Harley Davidson" on the left side of the motorcycle.

Noticing the gaped mouth on the girl made the rider smile, as he thought back to a similar time from his past. "You have never rode on a motorcycle, have you Carrie?" John asked. He got a shaking head as response. He smiled and open the saddle, pulling out a spare helmet and handed it to the girl. "Then you're in for a real treat."

Carrie noticed only one helmet. She was about to say something, but the rider knew what she was about to say. "I don't wear helmets; they get too itchy for my big head." He said in a mock voice and poked the side of his head with his finger, which caused Carrie to laugh a little. "She has a beautiful laugh" he thought. His "other" mentally smiled at the thought of his host.

Carrie strapped the helmet on, while John straddle the motorcycle. Carrie joined him as well, taking a seat behind the rider. The close contact to the rider, made Carrie's insides heat up, for an unknown reason. "Since this is your first time on a motorcycle, you might wanna hold on tight." John told the girl behind him, the words were enough to make her lose her mind. But she thought he only said out of concern of her security.

She did as she was told, wrapping both arms around his waist. This time, John was the one heating up from the contact. He looked over his shoulder and saw the girl with a pink shade on her cheeks and bright smile. He turned his eyes back in front of him and started the motorcycle. The revving of the motorcycle could be felt by both rider and passenger. John turned his ride around and speeds up as he drives to his passenger's home.

Neither of them noticing the glaring eyes of several students watching the interaction between the two. Though among all those glaring eyes, were a pair of eyes from a certain teacher, watching with concern at the two. Concern for the young telekinetic...

To Be Continued…

So now that these two have met each other, what will this mean for them?