Hey, got chapter four done early cuz of all your reviews/support :) I hope you enjoy!- Red

Chapter 4

"My house?" Alex asked suddenly confused. "Why would you be at my-"

"Oh, well if you would have remembered to meet me at the flag pole I could have told you how Aunt Jones decided it'd be best if I stayed with you"

"Oh, hell no"

"Oh, hell yes" Fiona said smirking.

"Look," Alex said while rubbing his hand through his hair frustrated. "Right now I have football practice, so all of this will have to wait till later."

"Whoa, if you think I'm just gonna wait around for 2 hours just so you can kick some ball around you are obviously mistaken. We are leaving now, as in right now."

"I can't just up and leave. This is football practice I'm part of the team. I have commitments, which I plan to keep. So I don't care what you do, but I'm staying."

"Oh no you're not... Excuse me Coach, Coach Thompson." Fiona said raising her voice while walking back on the field.

"Huh?" Coach T said turning around.

"Hi, my name's Fiona" She said shaking the Coach's hand. "I'm an old family friend of Alex and I just moved here. My mom told me to remind Alex that he has a Doctor's appointment today after school, which he clearly forgot about. So with your permission we'll now be leaving." She said all in one breath.

"Christ, another appointment kid. What's it this time?" Coach said turning to Alex for confirmation.

"Well, I don't really remember. In fact I-"

"They're checking him for some STD." Fiona quickly interrupted.

"Oh, umm. Well you best be going then Rider." Coach said feeling awkward.

"Thank you." Fiona said and started walking off the field while grabbing Alex's arm and pulling him along.

"What the hell did you say that for?!" Alex demanded on the walk home. He had been so furious at Fiona he hadn't spoken to her the whole way home until now. "I mean seriously, you couldn't have just waited until practice was done. Gosh, you are such a spoiled brat, always having to get your way."

"Well sorry if I don't feel like wasting two hours of my life by watching some boys play a silly game. And if I would have said anything else your coach might have asked more questions therefore wasting time, but I knew that'd he'd be taken so off guard he'd just let us go. What's the problem anyway, you probably have hundreds of STDs." Fiona argued.

Alex couldn't take it anymore. He had just gotten back from a mission less than a week ago and this is what his return to normal is like. Having an annoying, pampered, princess follow him around constantly. Being teased and ridiculed by everyone. Being reminded that he will always be the social outcast. Alex just couldn't take it anymore, he exploded.

"You know what, school is hard enough having everyone call you a druggie, bully you, and treat you like an outcast. And now on top of being called a druggie and gang member tomorrow they will add rapist to the list. I'm tired of everyone assuming the worst of me. I'm tired of being used and not even being treated like a human being. No one knows what I've been through, no one knows what I've lived through. You think it's the end of the world when your nail chips or your plans are cancelled, but it's not. You don't know true despair until your childhood is stolen from you, when everyone you know and love is dead, when you are no longer a person but a pawn, when you live within an inch of death every day, when you have to take a life. You have no clue what my life is like so don't you dare make assumptions about me. My life is already hell and I don't need to be reminded of it"

Fiona just stood there in shock, sure she'd been informed that Alex was good at hiding his emotions but she never expected him to keep so much buried. She never thought that anything actually got to him. She just assumed that with working with MI6 and seeing what school was like for him it was impossible to handle all that without an impenetrable skin. Fiona couldn't help but feel a little guilty when she thought of all she had put him through today.

"Alex, I'm-"

"Don't, just don't. The last thing I want is pity." Alex said avoiding eye contact. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exploded at you, it was unfair to you... But just for the record I've never had sex."

Fiona couldn't believe it, he was apologizing to her. Sure, he had been rude to her today but it was nothing compared to how she acted and most often she'd egged him on.

"Look Alex-" Fiona started to say.

"We're here." Alex said cutting her off again while unlocking the door, it was clear he didn't want to hear whatever she had to say. "I'm gonna go take a shower, there's snacks in the kitchen if you get hungry." Alex said already starting to walk upstairs.

As soon as Alex got into the bathroom he locked the door and his eyes started to tear up. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he thought. Why did I go and tell her those things, she doesn't care about me. I need to be stronger than that. I can't let my guard down with her, after all she's one of them, Alex thought.

Wiping his tears, Alex stripped down and jumped into the steaming hot shower. He just stood letting the water pound on him while trying to stop the thoughts from entering his head but just like whenever he was alone it never worked.

You're alone, a voice said. They left you, all of them because they don't care about you, said another. No one cares, they just want to use you. You're no more than a chess piece, a pawn. A worthless pawn. A worthless boy. A stupid, unlovable boy. The voices swirled around in Alex's head, despite his efforts to keep them out. Eventually Alex gave up fighting the voices and just let them have their fun tormenting him while he took his shower.

After Alex finished his shower he went to his room to get dressed before finding Fiona.

Fiona stood there a little unsure of what was expected of her as Alex left to go take a shower. Hesitantly Fiona walked into the house and closed the door behind her. Well, she thought, at least this will give me a chance to explore a little and learn more about Alex.

While walking into the entre way Fiona discovered the kitchen to her right and the living room on her left. The kitchen was nice, with all up to date appliances. Connected to the kitchen was the den, though looking around it appeared to be unused. Across the hall from the den was the stairs, a bathroom, and small office. Out of all the rooms Fiona found the living room most interesting.

The living room was full of pictures all centered around only five people. There where pictures of a young blond boy who Fiona assumed was Alex at a younger age. There were also pictures of what Fiona recognized as Alex and Tom, this proved Tom meant more to Alex then she originally thought. Though there were also some people Fiona didn't recognize.

A man and woman occupied a few pictures. They were obviously a young couple in love, at first Fiona thought they were Alex's parents because they each possessed similar features as him, but then she realized they were both too young to be Alex parents so they must be relatives of some sort. There was another man who bore a similar resemblance to Alex whom Fiona guessed was also a family member of his. Though the last person in the pictures bore no family resemblance at all towards Alex. She was a young women in her mid twenties with bright red hair and a sparkling smile.

"What are you doing in here?" Alex's voice made Fiona jump for she was so intent on studying the pictures she hadn't heard him come in. Turning around she glanced Alex over, he looked more calm and confidant than before. His hair was still damp and he was wearing black athletic shorts and an old red tee-shirt. Despite her best efforts Fiona couldn't deny the fact that he was hot, not that she'd ever let him know that.

"I-I wasn't hungry so I decided to look around." Fiona said a little unsure of herself. This was Alex's home turf and she was intruding. "Sorry I-"

"No it's ok. It's just that I didn't expect you to be in here" Alex said walking up to one of the pictures that contained the young couple.

"Who are-"

"They're my parents, that's my uncle and she used to be my guardian before she moved." Alex explained, his tone saying he didn't want to discuss the subject any further.

"Oh, they're beautiful." Fiona said unsure of what to say.

"Thanks. Ahh, I'm going to go to bed, you can sleep in the guest bedroom for tonight. Today was a long enough day so I decided that tomorrow I'll head down to the bank to get things cleared up...I'll see you in the morning." Alex said ending the conversation, making it clear he just wanted this day to end.

"Oh, ok. Goodnight." Fiona called as Alex started walking up the stairs.

After eating and taking a quick shower Fiona switched into some of Alex's old cloths and laid in bed. There's definitely more to Alex than meets the eye Fiona thought. When she had met with Miss. Jones all she told Fiona was that Alex needed protection and she was to provide it. That she would be living with Alex, going to school with him and virtually become his shadow. She wasn't given any additional information about Alex except that he is like a vault. Fiona wasn't informed of what she'd need to protect him from or anything. To say Fiona was disappointed was an understatement, she had just completed her training and her first assignment was to be a babysitter, to the boy that humiliated her no less. She just assumed she was watching the pampered spy boy whose parents where off on vacation or something but now stepping into Alex's life she could see that clearly wasn't the case.

Maybe I was too quick to assume so much about him she thought. Maybe there's more to Alex Rider than meets the eye. Though with just how Alex responded to the pictures and the fact that he seems to live alone proves he's keeping secrets. He's defiantly hiding something, something big and I'm gonna figure out what it is. Even if it-

"AHHHH! NO, NO PLEASE NO! HELP, HELP ME!" Alex's screams brought Fiona out of her thoughts. Quicker than you could blink she grabbed her gun and bolted out her door heading for the stairs.

Done! Shout out to DarkElements10 for their advice on this chapter with what I should do with Jack, so thanks to DarkElements10 for the idea... But yeah, tell me what you think. Thoughts and opinions are always appreciated so feel free to leave a review. But until next time keep the jellyfish happy - Red