My Brother's Bodyguard (Hometown Heros #1)

by G. L. Snodgrass

  I scoffed, he had no idea. But then I realized, he did. He’d been here, in this hollow place, but he had pulled himself out of it.

  Swinging my legs over the edge of my bed I sat up and tried to talk myself into getting up. If my uncle Jake could smile at the world. Then maybe someday I would.

  Jake threw a towel at me and said, “Take a shower, it will help.”

  I caught the towel and nodded. One step at a time, I said to myself. I could take a shower and I’d face the prospect of seeing Elle at school later, when I had some semblance of my mind back in working order.

  Deep down though, I knew that was going to be the toughest thing. Facing the loss of my happiness.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Elle

  Over the next couple of weeks, I discovered several new things about this screwed up world. Time does not heal all wounds. Love is not a many splendor thing, and most of all, heartache hurts, really hurts. It’s not some stupid metaphor like I’d always assumed.

  I spent my days in a numb, zombie state, not dead, but not really alive. Nana tried, but she could see in my eyes that it was hopeless.

  Jeanna tried. More than once. Spending long afternoons up in my room with me. Telling me funny stories about her sisters. Offering to go shopping with me, if and when I ever got off being grounded. But still, nothing worked to rid me of this evil emptiness inside of me.

  Even my mom tried. But I really wasn’t talking to her. So no, that wasn’t going to work.

  Thankfully. After a week, Jimmy finally decided to talk to me. Well kind of. He asked me to pass the salt. I almost started crying right there at the dinner table. But we weren’t the same. Not really. He still got that betrayed look in his eyes every time I tried to explain. Then he’d huff and walk away before I could even get started.

  My heart would turn over, I’d shake my head and push back the tears and return to my room. Alone, buried under a mountain of guilt.

  Oh, don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t a hopeless basket case. I was able to make it through the day. I sort of kept my grades up, barely. But then what else did I have to do? I was sitting around in my room all the time avoiding the rest of my family. The least I could do was study. Or try to, anyway.

  No, I wasn’t a complete wreck. I had enough pride not to become a blithering idiot. But I wasn’t right either.

  And of course, there was always Nate to remind me of what had happened. Nate, the big, wonderfulness that was Nate seemed to haunt me. I’d see him in the hall and my insides would tighten up with fear. It was like coming face to face with a bear on a mountain path. There was nothing I could do and nothing would save me.

  Every day, at some point, that sudden sharp pain would eat into me when I caught a glimpse of his dark hair or wide shoulders. If he turned, and those silvery blue eyes caught me. I was twisted into a dozen pieces.

  There was a sadness about his eyes that pulled at my heart. He wasn’t happy either. I could see that. The thought didn’t make me feel better. We didn’t both have to be miserable, I thought.

  Secretly, I watched him every chance I got. But only when he wasn’t aware. My pride couldn’t have taken it if he thought I was stalking him or something.

  He always seemed to be alone. A solid stone tumbling through the school’s stream of life. There, but not a part of it. An object in a strange world, different, unique, un-ignorable.

  Sure, girls approached him. Why wouldn’t they? This was Nate Clark we were talking about. Tall, dark and handsome, remember? With a hint of danger and a touch of class. Why wouldn’t the girls try? But he didn’t seem to pick up on their attempts to catch his attention. He’d get a faraway look in those delicious silvery blue eyes of his and forget what they were saying. Eventually, they got the message.

  Guys saw him and stayed out of his way. He was like a bear with a wounded paw. The last thing they wanted to do was upset him.

  This morass of pain and sorrow continued forever, it seemed. Until things started to change.

  Jeanna and I were sitting together at lunch. Jimmy hadn’t joined us since the disaster. Two weeks of avoiding me.

  Nate refused to eat in the cafeteria. So it was just the two of us in there, lost in a sea of students. It was like our world had disintegrated into just Jeanna and myself. I was reminded of her statement about how she would still be there long after Nate was gone.

  She’d been right, but that didn’t mean I was grateful.

  “You know,” Jeanna began.

  I rolled my eyes. This was how she always began when she tried to cheer me up.

  “You’re are almost there,” she continued.

  My brow curled up in confusion.

  She smiled. “You’ve almost made it through the five stages of grief. We just need to get you over the hump and into acceptance. Then you can go on with the rest of your life. And I can enjoy my lunch again.”

  I stared at her. In fact, I’m pretty sure I glared at her. She completely ignored me and continued to push.

  “You were in the denial stage for a while. That numbness you kept talking about.”

  I shook my head, my friend didn’t have the kindness to shut up.

  “Then there was the anger stage,” she continued as if my opinion didn’t matter. “There is still a bit of that of course, but you’ve put away your anger at Nate. Not your mom so much. But you’ve moved past your anger at Nate.”

  “It’s not his fault,” I said. It really wasn’t. What could he do? My mom refused to let me see him. And the boy had too much honor to ever think about going behind her back. That wasn’t Nate. Besides, it was me, not him.

  Jeanna looked at me for a long second and I was sure she was going to contradict me and I knew for a fact that it would lead to us having a huge fight. But she clamped her lips together and kept quiet for a minute.

  “Then there was the bargaining phase. You did most of that internally.”

  “How do you know what I did internally?” I snapped.

  “What? You’re telling me that you didn’t plead to every god in the universe? You didn’t try to come up with some plan to make everyone happy? Some way for Jimmy to see the truth, your mom to love Nate, and hope beyond hope that he would fall all over himself begging you to take him back?”

  I opened my mouth to set her straight but then realized she was right. I had done those things. At least internally.

  She smiled slightly when she saw that she had made her point well enough for me to get it.

  “And now,” she said with a sad smile. “You are in the depression phase. This one is lasting a little longer than the others. And I’ve got to tell you the truth. It is becoming a bit of a drag.”

  I gasped. “You have no idea,” I said. “You don’t know what it feels like.”

  Jeanna frowned and stared at her food for a moment as she slowly nodded her head. “You’re right,” she said. “I don’t know what it feels like to love someone that much. But I sure hope I do one day. My biggest fear is that I will go through life and never know that feeling.”

  The sadness behind her eyes shocked me. I hadn’t expected her to say something like that.

  “But,” she said with that cocky grin of hers. “I do know that you will get there eventually. I might want to kill you more than once along the way. But eventually, you will get there.”

  My heart sank as I realized my friend was right. I would get there eventually. I had to. No one could live like this, wallowing in this much pain.

  For the first time, I caught a hint of hope. A glimmer of a distant future where I didn’t feel this numb pain. A distant light, or at least the hint of a light.

  I wasn’t there yet. But someday I would be. And the sooner I got there the better. And maybe there was something I could do to hurry it along.

  Grabbing my tray, I stood up and turned for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Jeanna asked, a concerned frown on her face. Obviously, she was worried that I hated her for her truth.

>   Giving her a weak smile, the first one in a month, I said, “I’ve got to go find Jimmy.”

  “Why?” Jeanna asked. Her look of doubt let me know she still didn’t get it. “You’ve told him a dozen times what happened.”

  “Yes,” I said. “But I never told him I was sorry. I never apologized. I was so wrapped up in me that I never thought about him.”

  Jeanna slowly nodded as it began to sink in. Then she smiled and said, “yeah, that might work.”

  I gave her another smile and headed to dump my tray. The sooner I got to the computer lab. The sooner I could start working to get to acceptance. If Jimmy forgave me. Then maybe, just maybe, I could turn that corner and start putting my life back together.

  .o0o.

  Elle

  Of course, he wasn’t at the computer lab. Nothing in my life ever went as it was supposed to. I’d worked out the entire speech. Everything I would tell him. And the little twerp wasn’t there.

  Mr. Stewart, the computer teacher was eating his lunch at his desk flipping through old ‘WIRED” magazines. He looked up and cocked an eyebrow at me like I was lost or something.

  “Do you know where Jimmy Watson is?” I asked.

  He frowned and shook his head. My heart sank. I’d built myself up to lay it all on the line and he was nowhere to be found. How typical.

  “But,” Mr. Stewart continued. “You might try Mrs. Jeffrey’s class.”

  “The art class? Why would Jimmy be there?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and returned to reading his magazine like I wasn’t standing right there waiting for more details. Nerds. They were weird even when the grew up.

  Biting back a sharp retort, I spun on my heels and stormed off. Why would Jimmy be in art class? It didn’t make any sense at all. Besides, her class was in one of the portables on the other side of campus. Why walk all the way over there?

  Gritting my teeth, I glanced at my phone. I had just enough time to get over there and talk to him. It’d be a rush getting back, but I had to do this now. This was my moment. If I put it off I’d weaken. Besides. I couldn’t start the rest of my life until I did this, and I was more than ready to start the rest of my life.

  That fact made me smile. Yes, I was ready to start the rest of my life. It was like someone had lifted a portion of the ton of bricks that had been weighing on me. Not a lot. But some. Yes, I was ready to move on.

  Slamming through the side door, I hurried to get there. I’d just turned the far corner of the gym when I saw my worst nightmare. Jimmy down on the ground, Tom Pearson sitting on his chest laughing, his knees pinning Jimmy’s arms to the ground. Four or five other boys surrounded them, yelling at Tom to hurt him. To make him pay.

  My world turned red. All I could see was Jimmy being humiliated, laughed at, and hurt. I sprang for Tom and yelled for him to get off as I pulled at his collar. Trying to use every muscle I had to pull him off my brother. It was like pulling a stone bridge off its foundation. Impossible.

  Jimmy saw me and the look of shame in his eyes tore at my soul.

  “No, you don’t,” someone said as they wrapped their arms around me and pulled me back. Lifting me up and away from helping my brother. “We’ve waited too long for this,” the voice said from behind me. My insides froze as I recognized Joe McCain, his arms trapping me.

  Without thinking, I stomped down with my foot. He yelped and hopped back, but he didn’t let go. He just squeezed tighter and whispered. “I was hoping you’d be here for this.”

  His evil breath scraped across my ear, turning my stomach to stone.

  “Go ahead Tom,” he said.

  Tom smiled with a sick, evil grin.

  “No,” I cried out as I twisted and turned to get free, but my captor didn’t budge, instead just tightening down until I couldn’t breathe.

  Jimmy tried bucking and squirming but it wasn’t enough. Tom laughed and started to cock his arm back when a blur of black hair and wide shoulders whooshed past me, catching Tom in the rib cage and knocking him away.

  Nate!

  From nowhere, he had somehow launched himself through the air and saved Jimmy.

  The two of them, Nate and Tom, twisted and turned in the mud and grass like two dogs fighting over a bone. Snapping and snarling while they threw punches, gouging and kicking at each other.

  My heart jumped with pure terror. It was so different than I had always imagined it. So different than the pretend fights on TV. This was pure violence, pure hate. They wanted to kill each other. Like two animals fighting to the death.

  They tumbled over each other, Nate coming up long enough to land a solid punch. Tom threw an elbow that caught Nate square in the mouth and then they grappled again, pulling each other down.

  Behind me, Joe McCain laughed. “Help him,” Joe yelled at his two cohorts in crime. Frick and Frack, Nate had called them. Both of them stood there, afraid to jump in and get in the way.

  The arms stayed wrapped around me, as Joe lifted me up and stepped out of the way to stop from being steamrolled by the twisting boys on the ground. I saw my chance and twisted while throwing myself to the side.

  Joe yelled, then pulled me back into his grip. “No,” he said. “I’ve got special plans for you.”

  My insides turned over as I heard the creepy sickness in his tone.

  At last, Nate gained control, hitting Tom, twice more, then springing up to stare down at him. His bloody fists were clenched as he watched the man on the ground, waiting, sucking in huge gasps of air, ready to resume the fight if the scum was able to muster the guts to get up.

  When he saw that Tom was down for good, he slowly turned to Frick and Frack and said, “Get lost,” through gritted teeth.

  Both of them glanced at Joe for guidance. Nate snarled and started for them. It was at that moment they decided they no longer needed guidance and left at a full run.

  Turning towards us, I gasped. Nate’s face looked like a chewed piece of meat. His lip was split in two places. He had a nasty gash under his left eye that was slowly dripping blood down his cheek. But it was the look of hate in his eyes that got me.

  I felt Joe clench up behind me. He saw that look as well.

  “Let her go,” Nate said as he stepped towards us.

  Joe stepped back, twisting to use me as a shield.

  Nate’s made eye contact with me for just the briefest of seconds. I could see the message as plain as day. Hold on.

  Then, before Joe could move again. Nate clocked him square in the nose. His fist a hair’s breadth above my head.

  Joe yelped and let me go, but not before I felt a warm, wet something on the back of my neck. Joe’s blood I hoped.

  Twisting away I stepped back. The last thing I wanted to do was to get between Nate and what he wanted to finish. It seemed like that might be the most dangerous place on earth.

  “I told you what would happen,” Nate said.

  Being dumber than most people, Joe threw a punch that Nate calmly swatted away. Shaking his head at the obvious idiot in front of him, Nate landed two quick punches to Joe’s gut, lifting him up off the ground with each blow. It was like he was hitting that leathery big bag at his gym. Solid punches that pulverized the boy in front of him.

  Joe groaned and sank to his knees.

  Taking a deep breath, Nate turned his back on Joe. As if he were of no concern. Instead, he looked at me, then at Jimmy who was pushing himself up before wiping the back of his pants.

  “You guys all right?” Nate asked.

  Jimmy looked at him with tears in his eyes, then turned and stomped off. My heart fell at the thought of his shame and embarrassment. It was bad enough being humiliated. But to be saved by Nate once again. It was the ultimate failure in my brother’s eyes.

  “Hold on there Watson,” Officer Towers said as he grabbed my brother’s arm.

  The school's security officer had gotten on the scene in record time. Not fast enough to save my brother. Just fast enough to get us in trouble.

&n
bsp; My heart fell, looking down at the two boys on the ground and the bruised and battered face of Nate. There was no pretending this had never happened.

  When he pulled his radio and called to the front office, I was pretty sure things had gotten as bad as they could get. Nate had broken up with me. My brother hated me, especially now, my mom was going to say she was right all along. And oh yeah, we were all getting expelled. I’d say I’d finally hit rock bottom. Wouldn’t you?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Nate

  Well, at least the cops didn’t put me in cuffs. When they showed up I was pretty sure my day was ruined. But they were cool about it. I’m sure they’d seen a lot worse.

  Vice Principal Bean was right behind them, shaking his head. He shot me a quick glance that I was pretty sure sealed my fate. It was a look like I was something dirty on the bottom of his shoe and he couldn’t scrape it off.

  Looking around at all the gawkers, the Vice Principal asked if the police could take our statements inside.

  “Besides,” he added, “You have to wait for their parents.” I could tell that his number one priority was maintaining some kind of order and getting the school back to operating normally.

  The lead policeman shrugged his shoulder.

  The Vice Principal commandeered some empty classerooms. They separated us and put each individual into their own classroom with a cop standing guard outside the door. Elle shot me a quick look that I couldn’t begin to untangle. It was a cross between a hurt, painful expression mixed with sorrow and apology.

  The look tore at my insides. Just like every day for the last two weeks, my world was screwed up.

  Eventually, a policeman came in and took my statement. Because I was eighteen, they didn’t have to wait for my Uncle Jake.

  I was honest and up front. No way was I keeping anything back to protect Joe and his idiot friends.

  The cop finished writing everything down then stopped and looked up at me.

  “How much trouble am I in?” I asked. This was going to mess up my plans I just knew it.