Chapter 5
I come to a stop, wheezing and unable to push myself another step. My legs burn horribly, shaking with every tread, and each short breath sends knives to my racing heart.
Sweat weighs on me like a blanket, and all I want is a cold shower, so I force my cramping legs back into a walk on the track to get back to school.
I see a muscular body by the doors, just leaning on the wall watching me. It's actually kind of creepy.
Caution spiders up my spine, of my exhausted state. Regardless, I continue forward, and then relax only slightly when I see that it's Brady.
"You're pretty fast," he comments, eyes dipping to the yellowing/blue handprint circling my upper arm.
I clear my throat drawing his eyes back to mine. He smiles.
"I'm supposed to walk you home. Are you done here?"
I nod and start heading to the locker room. "I'll be out in a few."
The showers are kind of crappy so I take a quick one, just rinsing off the sticky sweat and mud.
Once dressed, I walk back out the door and Brady smiles. We start to walk in the direction of the house.
My legs still ache with every step.
"So you met Leah today," he comments casually. "What'd you think of her?"
"She's clumsy and annoying," I automatically say, "and if she knocks me over one more time, I'll punch her in the face."
His grin only grows.
"You're just like Paul," he chuckles.
"I'll punch him in the face too."
Now he full out laughs, so much so that he stumbles.
I smile a little too, not because I think what I said was funny, but because he looks stupid and is still laughing.
He finally calms enough to walk straight.
"She's really not that bad. She's just been having a bad time lately." He smiles at me. "I think things are going to be getting a lot better though."
"As long as she stays away from me, good for her. I've already had too many concussions; she doesn't need to give me any more."
He suddenly becomes very serious.
"She would never hurt you on purpose. That's the last thing that she would want."
I shrug. "Well when has want ever gotten anyone anything? I want to eat, but my food got dumped on me. I want to be a normal kid, but I've never been in one place long enough to finish a school year. I want my mom, someone shot her in the head." As I talk, I get angrier and angrier, so I clamp my teeth shut from continuing on. I could go for a long time. "The point is, you wanting something, won't stop something else from happening that keeps you from getting it."
Brady is quiet the rest of the walk to the house. Maybe I scared him, or maybe I gave him something to think about. Regardless, I'm just as happy with the silence.
We arrive at the house, but he stops me before I can disappear into my room and lock the door.
"Someone is picking us up in the morning so you can sleep in some."
"Okay," I say, and then shut and lock the door, only to sit up from my bed a few minutes latter when there is a knock.
"Here," Brady says awkwardly when I open the door, and shoves a large plate with two sandwiches and a lot of chips into my hands. "You said you were hungry."
I blink in disbelief at his retreating back. Why would he do this; does he want something from me?
Suspicious now, I lock my door behind me as I take the food into my room to eat. It would be a waste to just throw it out, and I really am hungry.
...
Fear and I have a strange relationship in the sense that it doesn't exist with me. Or, I pretend it doesn't exist.
Fear, being scared, I hate it more than anything. It's a weakness. Being scared of something is pointless and just makes you a baby.
So I pretend I don't have it.
If I find something that makes me scared, I do it anyway just to prove to anything out there, and pretend to myself, that it doesn't scare me.
If that alley looks scary to walk down, I will do it slowly and with deliberately relaxed muscles.
If jumping out of a second story window to the ground below is a little frightening, I'll throw myself out of it before I can hesitate.
The thing I spend the most time proving that I'm not scared of is the dark. Ever since I was little, it terrified me.
So I would flip off the light and purposefully walk to the very edge of the bed (because I'm not scared that a hand will reach out and grab my leg from underneath) and climb onto it.
I don't run and jump onto it from several feet away, I don't hurriedly flip on a flashlight; that's what babies do.
They also suck their thumbs, I think critically and hurriedly yank it out of my mouth.
It's okay to be scared sometimes, Lyla whispers to me.
"I'm not scared," I answer out loud, defensively.
Okay. You're not scared. But you don't have to be strong when you're alone. You're eventually going to have a mental break if you hold it in all the time.
"I'm already having a mental break; I'm talking to you aren't I?"
She doesn't say anything and I groan. Great, the voice in my head is ignoring me.
Wait. Isn't that a good thing?
I climb out of bed, all my hair standing on end as I place my foot close to the black abyss under the it, forcing myself to remain there for a long time in challenge of the monsters that might be hiding beneath.
I'm not scared.
Then I go to the window and throw it open to get some air. Mist hits my face and I close my eyes against it, enjoying the chill.
This little reservation in Forks isn't so bad. So far, the family is nice and school is relatively easy to understand; I've already had these lessons. People are mostly leaving me alone, and that's good, but it's only been a day.
Everyone in Foster Care knows that it's the second day that is the hardest.
The shock of a new kid is over so people are more inclined to come over. Tomorrow will determine if I hate this school and how hard I try to stay for a period of time.
Something, a sound or shift in the air, makes me open my eyes and look out at the yard facing the forest.
A large figure shadowed by night is sneaking towards them and disappearing into its dark.
So Brady is sneaking out... Whatever.
I turn away, leaving the window open, and climb back into the bed, tucking my feet safely under the blankets.
My thumb finds its way back between my teeth, but I don't care as my skipping mind drops off to sleep.
...
Brady, at breakfast in the morning, can hardly keep his eyes open. He only makes it through two bowls before he nods off, crashing his face into the cereal.
His head immediately springs up, dripping milk.
"How late did you stay out last night?" I ask casually, taking in his rumpled state. He looks so tired that he could have never went to bed.
"All night," he confirms before his eyes widen and head snaps to me.
"Sucks to be you," I snort.
His panic suddenly turns to suspicion.
"You're not gonna tell mom? You're not even gonna ask what I was doing?"
I shrug, taking his bowl and finishing it's uneaten contents.
"I don't tend to ask questions I don't care to know the answer to. Sides, it's none of my business."
A honk suddenly sounds from outside so he snatches the dishes up to put them in the sink as I grab my bag. It's odd that he holds the door open for me, and then closes it.
The car waiting looks new and black. Again, Brady holds the passenger door for me and I'm suddenly uncomfortable.
"I'll get in the back," I mumble, going around to get in from the other side.
There's a large dude, bigger than Brady, behind the wheel.
"This is Jacob," Brady introduces from the front as 'Jacob' starts to drive. "That's Sam."
The older kid's eyes go to the bruise I got the other day, and he grins before meeting my eyes.
"It's going to get confusing have two Sams around. Can we just call you Sammy or something?"
"If you call me that, I'll cut off your balls and shove them so far up your ass that you won't be able to poop, and then your intestines will swell up, causing you unbearable pain, and you'll die of a bowl infection. Tell me, Jacob, do you want to die of a bowl infection?" I say completely serious.
Jacob doesn't seem the least bit intimidated, and why would he? I'm a pebble compared to him.
Instead, he throws his head back and laughs. I hate being laughed at more than I do being afraid.
"Oh she's perfect," he tells Brady, sharing a knowing smile.
"I know. Gonna be a handful though."
I roll my eyes, leaning back in the seat.
A/N: Okay, so I probably should clarify, or at least mention, that this is after Breaking Dawn. Thanks so much for the reviews, they make me so, so happy. Please let me know what you think of this chapter too.
~Silver~