Alright, I know the first part is kinda slow, but I promise it will pick up in a bit.

Thanks for reading, seriously! And remember, any reviews are greater than none :)

Chapter two

Mai felt kind of bad for the way she treated Joey as she continued walking home. After all, he was probably the only person who talked to her moderately nicely, and continued to talk to her even though she always acted as if he wasn't worth her time. Joey was right though, those two girls did put her in a cranky mood, and sometimes she wondered if the only reason he hung around her was for the chance to get in her pants. Clearly, there were lots of rumours about her and her supposed sexual life, but they were only rumours. Sure, she had kissed a few boys when she was younger, but never in her life had she done any of the absurd things people said she did. She had never even had a boyfriend. Mai herself knew that, but it was impossible to convince the rest of the school that. There was no point even to try, so she didn't bother, and just let the rumours escalate. This just proved to Mai how judgemental people were, and gave her one more reason to be standoffish. It also heightened her caution to open up to Joey in case he actually did have ill intentions.

Suddenly she heard somebody behind her again. "Hey babe," the voice said.

Mai thought it was Joey trying to toy with her. "Joey, I thought you were going home," she said turning around and then shrieked in surprise.

"Whose Joey?" asked a man Mai had never seen before.

"Not you! What do you want?" she asked.

"You," said the man grabbing her shoulders.

"Yeah right! Get away from me, you creep!" Mai exclaimed. She tried to fight back as the man shoved her into a tree, scratching her shoulders on the bark. He was a lot older, and a lot stronger, and Mai felt a wave of fragility shoot through her.

"Get off of me!" she screamed.

"Come on girl, I've got a nice car I'd like to see you riding shot gun in. What do you say? Just come with me," said the stranger.

"As if, you freak!" she shouted. Now, rage filled up inside her. How dare this guy lay his hands on her.

"Get your hands off of me!" she yelled, remembering her judo and giving him a swift kick between the legs. He let go of her momentarily, and she took her chance to try to run away.

"Ow! You little brat!" said the man, but he caught her and slammed her face- first in to the tree again. She scraped her hands on the tree badly enough that they started to bleed from the sharp bark. They struggled with each other, the stranger trying to get the upper hand of Mai while she was yelling as loud as she could. He grabbed her by the throat and she was momentarily blinded by the sunlight filtering through the trees. It was beginning to get hard for her to make a sound, let alone breathe. The thought that she could get seriously hurt in this situation gave her a burst of adrenaline. She kicked as hard as she could until she saw him pull out a little Swiss army knife. This struck her with fear and she stopped moving as if it would give the man reason not to hurt her.

He gave her a threatening malicious look as he brought the knife up to her throat.

Thankfully, at that moment, the man heard running footsteps coming from down the winding trail. He didn't want anybody to catch him in this act, so he threw Mai to the ground accidentally cutting her hand with the knife in the process, and sprinted away as fast as he could.

"Mai!" Joey yelled, "are you okay? What happened?"

Mai looked up at Joey from the ground, her eyes wide and glossy. She was still trying to take in what just occurred.

"I thought I heard you screaming and came to see what happened," Joey panted, "oh, Mai, your hand is cut," he said.

Mai hadn't even realized she was holding her hand until he pointed it out, and that is when she felt the pain. She groaned and Joey knelt down to get a closer look at it. Mai couldn't do anything but stare at Joey. She didn't know what to do with herself or what to say. All she could think about was what could have happened if Joey didn't show up when he did.

"Lemme see," he said.

"Ouch!" she cried out.

"Did somebody cut you? Mai, tell me what happened!" demanded Joey.

Mai did everything she could to hold back her tears, she hadn't let Jack see her vulnerable before, and she didn't want to start now. She got back on her feet, but she had twisted one of her ankles in her high heel during her struggle with the stranger. She stumbled and grasped a tree for balance trying not to make eye contact with Jack.

"Here, I'll help you get to a hospital where they can bandage you up," said Joey grabbing Mai's arm.

"No, it's fine," she said pulling her arm away, "I'll just take off my shoes and walk home, it'll be alright," said Mai.

"You must be delusional. I don't know what happened just now, but I'm not dumb enough to let you just walk away by yourself," he said.

"Really, Joey, once I get to my apartment-"

"I don't care what you say right now, I'm not letting you leave on your own. I can fix you up myself, just come with me," he said.

Mai stared hard at Joey, "You know, you're sounding like him."

Joey was speechless for a moment. He didn't mean to sound threatening. "What? I'm not going to hurt you, I didn't mean it like that," he said.

He hadn't realized until now, how heavy Mai's emotions were portrayed in her eyes. It was her eyelashes mainly- they seemed to change according to the mood she was in. Normally, she walked around aloof and indifferent, her prominent eyelashes posing as prison bars. They weren't to keep herself locked inside, but to keep everyone on the outside. This time though, they looked fragile and uncertain like a hanging icicle.

"Please, just let me help you," he said.

Mai got over her foolishness and decided that he really was being sincere. She nodded in consent.

"Alright, you can tell me what happened on the way to my house if you want," Joey said and put his arm around Mai to ease the pressure on her ankle.

Along the way to Joey's house, they walked in silence, going through the thick woods. Mai almost spoke up when she passed a fallen bird's nest on the side of the path, but had no idea where to start, so she resorted to being silent instead. Besides, why would she want to tell Joey- tell anyone- what had happened? Nobody liked hearing that sort of thing, nor did they know what to say or how to react to it.

Should I put the next chapter up this weekend or next?