(Disclaimer- if i owned twilight, i wouldn't be typing up a disclaimer.)

This may be really short. I'm not sure. I'm on a different computer and everything
is much bigger than it really should be. so i have no idea. and I don't think that this
is my best writing, either, because i was kind of rushing to write this in the living room
of my grandparents whom i'm visiting as of the moment, but it is a chapter, right?
so here we go. another one. more will be coming. and she'll find out if ed and jake
exist in just a couple of chapters time. kayyyy?
so be patient. and thank you VERY much for reading this. i love you all.
read and review please. :D

Friend

"Are you sure this time?" Kyle checked, tapping my hand with his pinky finger. "You're not going to change your mind again, right?"

I ducked my head, a warm spread of scarlet covering my face. Clearing my throat quietly, I nodded. "No mind-changing, guaranteed." I replied, watching the street roll underneath us, blackened with cement and faded with age. I kept my jaw tight, my eyes safely away from his face. I didn't know how well my new lie would work on him, whether I'd secured myself in where I was actually going. I hadn't realized until afterward that I shouldn't have told him to take me to La Push. If anyone had found him, and he had been able to identify me, he'd know exactly where to find me: La Push. So I'd told him that I'd made a mistake. Told him to take me to Olympia, instead.

I'd find some other way to get back to La Push. As long as Jacob was safe from the searching annoyances that were inevitably after me.

I sighed, leaning my chin on my one available palm. The other hand lay limp against my thigh, palm up, covered in his. I caught him grinning in my peripheral, and the curiosity momentarily stole my need for no eye contact. I looked at him, inquiries written on my face. He stared back, the road still spilling out in front of us. I realized too late that it should have bothered me that he wasn't paying it any attention. After all, his attention span was just about as big as mine. He wasn't Edward or Jacob. Just Kyle. Just human.

"It's nice, holding your hand. And it is amusing to me, seeing as you're only a stranger. But I'm oddly glad that I picked you up. Little hitchhiker that you are." His words were slow and kind, maybe too warm. I looked away from him quickly, acting on impulse after reading the gentle blue of his eyes. I thought about ripping my hand from his in fear, though I was not afraid at all, but I reconsidered. He was my only ride to Olympia, and he was nice. I didn't think I could get a much better ride than him, and I didn't want to test the theory. I decided not to hurt his feelings.

His fingers tightened around mine, trying to reassure me, noticing the sudden humiliation displayed on my face. I grimaced.

"So," He said casually, changing the subject. "Why La Push, anyway?"

My head shot up so I could read his expression. It was simply curious, not suspicious in the least bit, but my heart kicked up in speed nevertheless. I shook my head, perhaps too quickly. He didn't seem to notice. "No. Olympia, remember?" I disagreed. He chuckled lightly.

"Oh, I know. But what made you say La Push to begin with?"

I gulped, a shaky breath escaping my lips, sounding less like a laugh than I'd meant it to. I pursed my lips. I didn't have an answer for him. I had nothing to say. I could feel the palms of my hands getting warm and sweaty. He sighed, his fingers loosening around my hand, whether because he could feel the newly damp skin there, or because he could sense that he'd made me uncomfortable. This, for some reason, though, made me panic. It was my turn to grip his fingers tighter now.

"Too much information for you, huh? I don't see why you don't trust me yet. I mean, I get that you don't know me…but what trouble would it get you in for me to know little trivial things like that? I won't do anything to hurt you. Haven't I proven that much by now?" He sounded hurt when he spoke, though the tormented words were obviously meant to be relaxed, offhand. I scowled at the dashboard, wishing I didn't have to be so cruel to him.

But there really was nothing else that I could do in this situation. He could hurt me, though maybe he wouldn't want to. But what choice would he have? Would he really go as far as lying to the police for me? For some strange girl he picked up on the side of the road and held hands with for a while? Would he do that? A part of me believed that he actually would do that for me, but the more cynical side was in charge as of the moment. I just couldn't chance it. I couldn't. I'd allowed too much trust in people who later betrayed me. I didn't want to add onto the list, especially not after finding this one person who actually seemed to care. I didn't want to have to find out that he didn't care that much at all in the end. It'd hurt too much.

I sat in silence, refusing to answer. He didn't question me again, though the silence flickered into a much more uncomfortable and tense state. He seemed to realize just how little I did trust him, and he accepted it, though his pout was not quite as undetectable as he seemed to have hoped.

Silently, the drive continued on.

--

"Here you are." He pulled up to the curb of the college. The sign was big, the letters spelling out the word "Evergreen" in a way that could only be described as ominous. I pursed my lips, feeling a tingling fear creep its way into my stomach. I knew that my anxiety was due not only to the fact that I'd soon be looking for another way to get back to my destination, which had once been just so close to where I sat in this blue car, but it also was due to the fact that the suspicion I'd been waiting for was now masking Kyle's face. I swallowed hard as he watched me with narrowed eyes.

"So, you're telling me that you're going to be able to get into this college looking like you are?" His eyes grazed over me, widening suggestively to express his meaning. And I knew what he meant. I was bruised and dirtied, barely clothed and tear-stained. I was a mess, and it was obvious. No one in their right mind would allow me into their facility. I grinded my teeth.

"I told you. I know someone who goes here. She'll let me stay with her so I can get cleaned up. Don't worry about me." Only half of it was a lie. I didn't know someone here, but I did know someone who would let me get cleaned up. Only he was back in La Push. Away from me. Probably unaware of the fact that I existed.

I hoped Kyle didn't notice the intense longing that crossed my face as I hugged my chest.

"Whatever you say." He said, shrugging his hand from mine. His arm then extended out in front of me, gesturing for me to leave. His face was tight with whatever emotion he was trying hard not to convey. I tried to keep my face blank, too, as I wiggled out the door. I didn't know where I would go from here. I was thinking over my options as my feet uncertainly hit the gravel beneath me.

But I didn't get too far.

His hand caught my wrist before I'd taken five steps down the path of the campus. Dark surrounded us as he stepped close beside me. I hadn't heard him get out of the car.

"Tell me the truth." He demanded. His voice was hard and thick with what seemed to me like betrayal. My eyes widened as I tried to locate his face in the black night. My hand found it before my eyes did, and I slid the skin of my fingers over his face, trying to see if it was as angry as it sounded. He sighed against my fingertips as they slowly passed over his mouth and I wrenched my hand away, stepping back. His grip on my wrist restricted me from straying far. I gasped.

"Please. I know that you're lying. I won't ask too many questions, I won't do or say anything you don't want me to. Hell, I won't even open my eyes. I'll let you drive, if you want to. I just don't want to drop you off here and find you dead some day down the road. Don't let me be responsible for your death. I'm begging you. Just let me take you back to La Push or wherever it is that you want to go. Just so you're safe." He pulled me under the street light as he half-shouted at me, and the glow fell over his face like a faint imitation daylight. I gaped at his angry, pleading face. He seemed so desperate to keep me safe. I choked back the tears that rose in my eyes and throat, trying to conceal the overwhelming emotion swelling in my chest. In the past year and a half, no one had seemed to care about me, to treat me like an actual human being. But this man, this stranger, seemed to care more than anyone I'd ever known, anyone who I was sure existed…unless I was making this up in my dreams, too.

I didn't want to leave him. But I had to.

I shook my head, feeling the tears fly free. He blinked as the salted drops collided with his face, his expression pained. He knew my answer. This stranger who knew me so well, though he didn't even know my name. His jaw tightened as he watched the jerky motion of my shaking skull. His hand moved down to mine, connecting us.

"I'm sorry." I said, attempting to quiet my pathetic, unnecessary sobs. His hand clamped over my mouth before I could finish; the look on his face was fierce and determined, slightly angered. His jaw was tight, teeth clenched. His other hand released mine, grabbing at my shoulder instead. He shook me gently.

"Riley. I'm not letting you stay out here alone. You're so little. Don't you see the danger in this? Are you suicidal? No offense, but by this time I could actually believe it if you were. I don't want to hurt you. I don't care what kind of mess you're in. It's obvious that you lied about that whole boyfriend story. I know it isn't true. And I don't care. I just don't want your blood on my hands. Let me get you where you're going. Please."

I wanted so much just to tell him everything, to ask him to help me find my friends, but I only shook my head, my hands flicking between us, pushing against his chest. He stumbled back a bit; his eyes were confused and upset. Blue rivers of concern, anger, scorning. I growled at him through clenched teeth to leave me alone, feeling a dull ache powering up in my chest. He pursed his lips, shaking his head. My heart let off a weak little explosion beneath the cage of ribs. The only sane piece of my head, the only real friend, though a stranger he was, was gone. I was making him leave. And it killed me. I couldn't deal with it, but I couldn't do anything about it. I had no choice.

So I ran. I ran hard and fast. Away from him. And he was gone.