Chapter 2 Second

The bell took an excruciating long time to ring, and, glad school was out, I began walking out in the halls. I saw Claire and waved to her as I walked down the stairs and out the back door of the high school.

My brother, Liam, was on the wrestling team and while he stayed after school, I left as soon as I could. I shot my brother a quick text and waited for his response, which was once again a warning to be careful.

I told him I will and slid the phone back into my pocket.

The sun soaked in all my pores as the slight breeze brushed against my body. I closed my eyes and let myself soak in the moment. It was nice to be walking home on sunny days and I relished in the feel of the warm sun bathing my skin.

The walk home was relaxing. It was a good mile, and I enjoyed every step. All my stresses and worries were lost in an instant. Most people complained about having to walk home from school, but I quite enjoyed the stroll.

"Look at you walking alone on the streets. It's like you were waiting for me."

I stopped abruptly and snapped open my eyes to find a man leaning against one of the walls of a home in my neighborhood. He sauntered out of the shadows and glided towards me. This man truly was intimidating.

He was well over six feet tall, with an intimidatingly large, muscular build. His eyes were two different colors-one dark brown and the other icy blue.

He had a scar under his pale eye, and another reaching from the bottom of his right nostril to the top of his lip. His smile sent shivers up my spine, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get myself to escape it.

He was about a yard away when I finally found my feet and slowly stepped away from him.

Another man came from my street behind him and yelled, "She's not home, boss", but stopped as he saw me.

The evil man grinned and replied, "It's okay. She's right here."

I must have looked confused, because the man spoke up.

"We're not here to hurt you. Yet. If you don't stay away, I won't be so nice. You have no part in this, and if I hear of you interfering again, I will not hesitate to discard of you, are we understood?"

With each word, he moved forward a little until he was in my face. His breath smelled like tobacco, mixing with the scent of sweat to burn my nostrils.

I decided to take the easy way out. I thought back to some of the self-defense moves Liam had shown me.

Doing the easiest one I could think of, I grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the groin. He doubled over, obviously not expecting me to fight back, and I took the opportunity to knee him again in the nose.

Without any other delays or hesitation, I snatched a lanyard from his pocket and took off, hearing the muffled noise of yelling behind me.

I turned around to see the other guy charging towards me. I quickened my pace, with the jungle of keys hanging from my hand.

Why did I have to grab the lanyard?

Knowing I could run longer than him, I took the long way home. Surprisingly, this guy managed to make it longer than I expected, but I still beat him.

Waiting until he had to stop, I sprinted home and didn't stop until my key was in the lock and I was inside the sanctuary of my own home.

I walked in the door and locked it as I took a deep breath. Without knowing it, I leaned against the door to catch my breath.

I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that this man, who I've never met before, was chasing after me, yelling at me to 'stay out of it'-whatever that meant. What was he talking about?

Nothing ever happened in my life that was exciting enough to have someone trail me down with threats. People didn't even know my name at school.

Without knowing it, I felt myself go to my brother's bedroom.

My big brother and I have always been tight. The down side to that was he was overprotective. He always had to intimidate all my friends-boys or girls-not to hurt me. Sometimes, they got scared out of being my friend that way, because Liam was, after all, a wrestling champion.

I found my way up the stairs like a zombie and swung open Liam's door without knocking.

He was hunched over his desk staring menacingly at his Calculus text book. My dad worked a deal with him that if he kept straight 'A's, he could join wrestling. I guess he didn't realize what he got himself into because he was always huddled around his desk.

I stepped into his room and, without hesitation, plopped on his bed. He swiveled around in his massive work chair and faced me.

Before he could say anything, I mumbled, "How did you get home before me?"

Liam didn't even glance at me as he grunted a short response. "Practice was canceled. I tried calling you and tried to pick you up on my way home, but I couldn't reach you or find you."

Liam turned around and finally glanced at me. The frustrated look of concentration melted into worry at the one glance. "What happened?"

Now feeling a little guilty for interrupting his studies, I hesitated. "Aren't you supposed to be doing... whatever it is you are doing?"

"Nah. This is just calculus. Who needs this crap in their life? I mean, seriously? When will I need to know about Taylor Polynomials? They teach us stupid things is school. So, talk away."

I let that one slide, looking back at what just happened and knew he could help me.

My voice was still quivering a little as I recounted what happened on the way home with the dangerous stranger.

His face hardened with my every word, and by the time I was finished, it felt like I was sitting before a wild bull.

Trying to delay the lecture I was about to get, I handed him the lanyard I swiped with keys dangling from it. I had almost forgotten about them.

"I'm not sure why I grabbed this. It would have been nice if he had an ID on it or some way of verification so I could tell the police or something, but no such luck. I think I just gave him more motivation to find me."

Liam took the keys and stared at me.

His face was stoned with anger as he spoke, "El, are you hearing yourself right now? You just got attacked! And for something you don't know what for. I know you're going to scream at me, but I'm not going to let you walk home alone again."

"Well, lucky for me, you are not my father, so, no. I'm not waiting for hours after school for you to drive me home." I responded, matter-of-factly.

"I'm serious, El." He responded, a fire burning in his eyes.

"So am I, Liam. I'm not going to sit back and let this change my life."

"I know you never like to lose arguments, but this one is important. Please. This is the one thing I'm going to ask of you. This guy is dangerous, and we have no way of verifying who he is. Just wait until we find him, okay?"

I sighed at the concern in Liam's face.

"Liam. It was thanks to you and those moves you showed me that I was able to get out. How bout this? You can come with me on my daily runs, and when I want to walk, I will text you when I leave and get home. Deal?"

I knew I wasn't going to win this one because it had to do with my safety, but I wasn't just going to give up like that.

Liam sighed, thinking of my proposition.

After a while of me biting on my lip, he finally opened his mouth, "You aren't giving in for anything else, are you?" He waited until I shook my head before sighing again, "Alright, deal. But only if you let me show you a few more self-defense moves."

He had already shown me enough to be considered a ninja, and I tried not to use the dangerous ones, even in training. I can't stand the thought of hurting someone-if they were doing it to me or not.

Before he changed his mind, I stuck out my hand, "Deal." I pronounced as he grabbed it tightly.