High School. A Teens Best Friend. Yeah Right.

By Risty Maskell and Silver15

Disclaimer: Nope, not ours.

Summary: Oh come on…

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(Billee's POV)

To be honest, when I saw Jamie's dad lay into her, I jumped in without thinking. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but I knew that I'd made yet another enemy.

I'd got off lightly apart from a split lip. When Jaime woke up in the infirmary, she was really upset about it, but I told her to forget it.

"No one hits my friends and gets away with it," I said with a shrug. "And anyway, I'm used to it. You know that Jaime"

That evening, I decided to go out for a walk. Even though we all knew that Emma was going to be okay, I still found it difficult to sleep. I was trying desperately to think of a way to stop Emma's parents, but I hadn't come up with anything yet. I thought that maybe walking in the night air would help me think.

I slipped out when everyone was asleep, taking just Laddie. Colan was curled up with Legolas, still holding a strand of my friend's hair. I scribbled a quick note, just in case they woke up, and then went outside.

I didn't limit myself to the grounds. I never do. Signalling to Laddie to keep quiet, I pushed open the gates and slipped out, shutting them behind me.

Laddie dashed off, no doubt pleased at being free for a while. I knew that he would come back when I whistled, so I didn't worry about him.

I was walking along, minding my own business, when Jaime's dad appeared in front of me. He was still drunk, but not as drunk as he had been earlier. I took a step back wanting to distance myself from him.

"You!" he spat, looking straight at me. "You should try staying out of other people's business. Might save you a lot of trouble"

"Piss off" I said annoyed. "No one hits my friends and gets away with it. You're just pathetic"

The blow came as a complete surprise. The bastard hobbit caught me directly in the groin. As I dropped to my knees in pain, he came at me again, this time kicking me in the jaw. When I was on the ground, he flung himself at me, but I rolled out of the way. I couldn't avoid him for long however. He jumped on me and smacked me one again, this time in the eye. My vision blurred.

I did struggle, but I had no real strength left. When I had attacked him before, I was really angry so it was easier for me to take him down. Now I didn't have that, and I was beginning to realise how not sleeping had affected me.

There was only one thing I could do. Putting one hand up to protect my face, I let out a piercing whistle. Half a second later, Laddie let out a howl and came tearing towards us. He leapt onto Mr. Shadow and sunk his teeth into his hand. Jaime's dad tried everything to fight him off, but Laddie wouldn't let go. Finally I called him off and the mongrel hobbit fell to the ground. I kicked him in the ribs and turned away.

"Whose the loser now?" I said softly. "Next time you try to hurt any of us, Laddie will kill you. I'll make sure of it, you drunken, pathetic excuse for a hobbit."

Slowly, with Laddie at my side, I walked back to school. I knew that I looked a mess, my nose was bleeding and my jaw really ached. But I was proud of myself too. I'd always sworn to Emma and Jaime that I would protect them and I had kept that promise…