Chapter 8

Dan POV

After Amy and Jake went off to do whatever, Ian was staring at Amy. Ian looked so...sad? He turned around and walked 5 paces and took out his phone. He left without saying bye or telling the rest of us where he was going. I was sitting on my blue towel next to Nat on her pink towel and nudged her with my shoulder.

"Hey babe, I'm getting a bit tired here in the sun. I think I'm just going to go home first with Att. He's not … well he doesn't really like the sun." I poked my thumb towards Att who was under an umbrella on his orange towel. He was applying his 4th coat of sunscreen SPF 50. Nat laughed as she slid her Gucci sunglasses onto her head.

I smiled and kissed her forehead, "Thanks Nat, love you, you know that right?"

She blushed, "I love you too Daniel. Now you better go before that boy puts on another coat of sunscreen on and slides off your car's passenger seat."

I twisted my towel and flung it at Att's back. He jumped up and yelped.

"Dude! What was that for?"

Laughing I helped him close his umbrella, "Kid, I need to pick up something. Let's go."

He stuttered, "What? Hey I'm not going to be a fool like last time when you dropped me off to 'Promote the military'. You sent me into this place wearing camouflage shorts and an extra large camouflage jacket with green paint all over my face. I entered and yelled 'wanna get buff? Come join the club!' When I opened my eyes, I saw a ballet class where there were 16 year old girls rehearsing. I was mortified."

I laughed as he got up, "Dude don't worry. I just need to get something then we can go back home and play games. Deal?"

Att slowly nodded and we hopped into my beautiful blue ride.

Amy POV

I held the bouquet of blood red roses to my nose. They smelled so fresh. The card said to meet whoever on the roof. Now? I thought. As I walked into my closet, I saw all my clothes and shoes. I recently washed my clothes and I could smell the faint aroma of the sweet detergent that smelled like spring time. Everything was organized by color and no shoe was out of line. I slid each piece of my clothing on the rack until I found my green summer dress that had spaghetti straps that had a low cut back. I pulled the dress off the rack and bent down to find shoes. I found my white open toed flats that were at the foot of my bed. I took the clothes to my bathroom and took a relaxing shower, making sure that I wouldn't take too long. I blow dried my wild hair and put it into a messy bun, then changed into my clean clothes. As I slipped on my shoes I thought about who sent me these flowers. Maybe it was Jake If it was Jake, when did he have the time to go into my room before we left? He did come late and had to sit in my car. I smiled. Jake was so sweet. I put some lip gloss on and slipped my phone into my pocket. I walked over to my drawer beside my bed and took out something small. I never should leave without it… Dan would think it crazy if he knew… I slipped it into my pocket and walked out of my room and saw that the house was completely dark. I walked down the hallway to the dim light from the kitchen. I opened the fridge and pulled out a red apple. I ran it under the cold water tap and wiped it with a paper towel. Slowly I brought the apple to my mouth and it shined into my eye. The light brought back the memory of how my life got more complicated.

I was window shopping down the street on a sunday night during the summer and it started to rain. I took out my phone and began texting Dan. I wanted to let him know that I was running a little late and that I would promise that I would be back before 12. Just as I was finishing the text, someone bumped into my shoulder.

"Oh! Hey sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you. I just wasn't looking." I said as I stumbled back.

"Hey it's ok don't worry about it." a guy's voice said.

He had a husky voice. I looked up and saw a man maybe a year or so older than me. He had short brown hair and huge, brown, calculating eyes. He had a good built and tan skin. He was wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans. He looked at me, smiled and put out his hand.

"Hey my name is Alexander Jones, but call me Alex. You new around here?"

I slid my phone into my pocket took his hand and shook firmly, "Hi I'm uh… well… you can call me… Am-Valerie. Valerie … Hunter." I looked away and let go.

Alex laughed,"I see you don't wanna tell me your real name huh? That's alright. Well then, Valerie," he wagged his thick eyebrows,"where you going this late at night?"

He leaned against the red brick townhouse and crossed his muscular arms. In his hand was a red apple. His hair was dripping and sticking to his forehead while I opened my blue umbrella.

"Hey come under my umbrella, you're soaking wet."

He came under and felt his breath on my face. He was half a head taller than me so I had to look up to look him in the eyes. I studied his face. He looked down and smiled at me and took a big bit of his apple.

"Am I just that amazing to look at?" He laughed.

I blushed, "No! I mean… well...I-I-I-I." Stupid stutter.

I backed up a bit so that there would have more space between this Alex and I but I was tipping off the sidewalk. Alex took a quick step forward and reached out his arm around my back and pulled me forward. He was cradling me while I held the umbrella up for us.

"Man I was just gone for 5 minutes and you are sweeping girls off their feet?" a girl's voice laughed.

Alex exhaled and turned around,"Just shut it Al."

He pulled me up with his strong arms and we turned to the voice. A dark tattoo stretched from his wrist to to his elbow. There by the door of townhouse stood a girl roughly Alex's height and had the same brown curly hair as Alex but she had green eyes like mine. Her eyes danced between the two of us and smiled with her slight pink lips. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and was wearing a brown tank top with black shorts. This must have been Alex's girlfriend.

I pushed back from Alex's grasp and stubbled.

"Is this your girlfriend?" I asked weary eyed.

The girl coughed and began to laugh uncontrollably. She had to push up against the door frame to keep from falling. Alex became wide eyed and laughed. Both of them had a similar laugh. They sounded like chimes.

Once Alex finally caught a breath, he said,"That is NOT my girlfriend. She's too… violent for my taste. I'm more into… girls like you." he said with a faint smile.

I began to blush.

"Alex, stop it you're playing with her. Invite her in, you both look like wet dogs." the girl motioned for the two of us to come into the dry, warm townhouse. I hesitated but Alex just smiled and dragged me into the shelter of their home. I carefully walked into the home and took off my red knee boots. The warmth began to defrost my cold body as I felt for my switchblade in my jeans pocket. Alex came in behind me and closed the door. He took off his shoes and lead me to the kitchen. The home was floored with a wood, and the walls were a creamy white color. The kitchen had a small round table with four wooden chairs with chair pillows. There was an island that had 4 wooden high chairs. The table top matched the kitchen where it was a dark grey color with white cupboards. I gingerly sat down on one of the round table's chairs as I watched the girl Alex called Al stood in the kitchen making some tea. She was really beautiful. She had so much grace from the way she walked and picked up mugs from the cupboards. Alex came behind me and went to the fridge to get some fruit. He pulled out another apple, closed the fridge door and sat across from me. He set the apple in front of me. Al came around the island table towards us with a teapot and three cups in her hands. The tea cups were white with red roses painted on it. Alex went to the dark cupboards above the sink and pulled out a dark blue mug and filled it with some coffee that was brewing. As she set them down Alex continued on his apple and sat down.

I looked down at the shiny red apple that was set before me and picked it up.

"Don't worry I didn't give you a poisonous apple Snow White. It a regular apple. Oh and this is my sister", he gestured towards Al,"She's my annoying twin."

Al reached out her hand towards me,"Hi I'm Alexa Jones, this idiots brother." she shot her thumb towards Alex who raise his eyebrows.

I took out my hand as she sat down,"Hi, I'm… Valerie Hunter." I looked down at our hands.

Al wrapped her dainty fingers that were so thin and white around the fragile cup. She was wearing a silver bracelet that had different charms on them. From her wrist to her elbow, there was a matching tattoo that was identical to the one Alex had on his arm. It was a dark-winged animal that had many twists and turns. I guess I was beginning to stare because Alecia just laughed. I looked down and nibbled on my apple.

"Our mother, Kelly Jones got a tattoo artist to put this eagle tattoo on our arms to signify strength. It's like a family thing or something."

She smiled.

We talked some more, introduced each other, and laughed about our lives. After a while, I looked at my phone and saw that it was 11:30pm. I gasped and ran to the door and stuffed feet into my red boots and ran back to the table to grab my coat. I ran back to the door and slipped on the rug. Bracing for the impact, yet I again failed to feel the floor. I open my scrunched up eyes and found myself face to face to Alex who was cradling me from the fall.

His voice became husky and said,"You're very clumsy you know Val?" His eyes sparkled as his head tilted to the right.

"I-i-i-i-i-i need-d to go-o-o home to my brother. It's l-l-late." I stumbled.

Alecia walked to the window, with her mug in hand, and moved the curtains aside to look outside. She put one her hand on her waist and took a sip of her tea. She turned around and grabbed something out of her pocket. She threw the object to Alex and it jangled. Keys.

"Well there is no way you are going to walk home in the pouring rain. Alex can drive you home."

I put my arms through the sleeves of my jacket as I had my hand to the door knob,"It's ok, I don't want to cause any trouble for you both."

Alex laced up his shoes and started walked towards me,"No trouble at all."

He opened the door and motioned for me to go first. I opened my umbrella as he came under after me as he locked up. He guided me to his car parked in front of the house. It was a grey Acura with small neck pillows attached to the head piece of the seats. He unlocked the car and opened my door for me. As he drove me home, he asked me simple questions about my family. I kept things to a minimum. We had a huge family and we've went travelling around the world. I didn't think I needed to mention the 'relative-killing-relative' part. When he stopped in front of my house I thanked him for the ride and reached for the car door's handle.

"Wait Val", he reached over to my arm,"I really liked talking to you. Here give me your phone."

I did as he asked. He tapped something on my phone and handed it back to me. His number.

"If you ever wanna talk to me or my sis, gimmie a ring." He winked.

After that day, I called the Jones' a bunch of times to get together, but we always hanged around their house. I took another bite of my apple and winced. The cracking sound of a chunk of the apple being ripped away from the whole made me froze. No Amy, don't think about that. You did all you could. Sometimes you can't save everyone. I couldn't let go of what happened this summer before my family came. All the screams and the pleads for help. I did everything. If anyone were to find out what I was doing while 'going' to University, I could end losing someone I love and I am not jeopardizing my family. I shook my head and walked out of my kitchen. I turned around and looked at the homey kitchen. The soft pillows on the seats of the chairs, the fun family pictures with Nellie, Dan, and Uncle Friske. It was so...safe. Was this really who I am? A girl pretending to live a normal life? I switched off the lights and turned to go. No one in my family should know what went down when I was with the Jones.