"I said 'I barely see you around town.'" She told she with a smile still on her face. She did say it in a snobbish tone she was just saying it with her girlish Ashlin-ish voice. Well then again Ashlin Powell could tend to have a "sharp tongue" ... to put it nicely.
"What um.. yeah. I don't go out much." I siad ackwardly. She was taken aback by my comment.
"Then what do you do?" She asked me.
"Well I work..." I trailed of.
"Oh! So your like- one of those serious type girls who's all-work-no-play?" She tried to understand but fail to.
"Well no I-"
"well which is it?" She asked me.
"Well its not that I don't want to go out it's just that I end up staying home... that's all." I said as I looked down at the ground.
"Well we can change that. Right Jer?" She said as she nudged his shoulder. Jericho rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"I'm not taking her to Qiunn's party." He told her. Ashlin pouted and said,
"Why not? I want some girl time." She told him. I raised my eyebrow at her.
"Sorry but it's not my scene." I told her. She shugged at me and then said,
"I guss a nother time then." She said as she walked away back to Allen. Jericho and I sat down on the grass and watched the others play.
"So what will you do if your family catches you?' He asked me.
"They won't." I told him. He raised an eyebrow at me. I scoffed at him and shook my head.
"I do this almost evry day I work. I say I'm not feeling good, go to my room, lock the door, and slip out the window." I told him.
"You avoided the question." He acussed.
"Fine. If I get caught it won't be good but I wouldn't let them touch me." I said as I smiled remembered Angila.
"Then why do they still..." He trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence.
"You can say it. I won't be affended. And to answer yoour question: I let my guard down and as soon they se that they ....." I tailed off not knowing how to finish the sentenece.
"Go for it I guess." I finaly said. I looked over and saw that Jericho was stiff, his fists clenched, and his mussles flexxed. His breathing became heavy ad he begne to shake. Litterly shake. I could feel his frustration and anger rolling off of him. I didn't know what to do, I just had a feeling that if I didn't do something it wouldn't be good. The others had stopped tosing the frizbe and were now looking at Jericho with worried faces.
"Jericho, calm down." Tyler said. I looked around and sarted to panic. Did this happen offten? I placed my hand on his shoulder. I ignored the strange feeling I goot in my hand when I touched him. He seemed to relaxe a little, but was still shakeing.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked him. He seamed to relaxe more when I spoke. He slummed over and his muscles relaxed completly and he was breathing bdeeply.
"Yeah... I'm fine." He said.
"are you sure? What happened?" I asked him. He shook his head at me and combed his hand through his hair.
"Nothing." He told me. He had a stern look in his eyes and I knew not to press. We sat there in silence. Jericho stayed with me despite the others insistent pleas. I looked down at my hands and fiddled with a blade of grass. I could since that he wanted to end the silence as much as I did but lacked of words. So we simply sat there. We sat with my legs crossed and he laid on his back with one knee in the ari... just staring at the clouds. I laid back as well. I folded my hands and rested them on my torso. I stared up at the perfect clouds.
"the sun is nice... especially after these last few cold days." I heard him say. I looked over at him in almost shock. Was he seriously talking about the weather?
"Yeah I guess." I said. And then we fell back into silence.
Erika came up to us and pulled me up. I opened my mouth to say something but always failed to find the right words. She pulled me to the middle of the field and then ran of again. I just stood there in the middle of the field looking like a fool. Suddenly I sensed a moving energy on my left and quickly turned around. I saw a red blur flying towards me. On an instinct I caught the object. I looked down at my hands to see it was a harmless (well at most times harmless) kickball.
"Hey!" I heard a child's voice say. My head snapped towards the voice to see Erika pulling Jericho by the arm and two younger boys tailed behind them. She let go of Jericho and ran up to me.
"You'll play right?" She with hopeful eyes. I couldn't saw no to her.... that would be like hitting a puppy.
"Um... sure." I said, unsure of how to respond. Her face lit up as her face broke out into a large smile.
"Okay!" She yelled she picked up the ball and ran away from me. I looked around to see that the others had form a diamond shape. Erika stood in the center of all of us.
I'll kick the ball to one of you, and then you kick it back to me, but if you miss then you'r out. Okay?" She explained the rules to me and I nodded at her. She kicked the ball to me and I kicked it back to her. she fell to her knees and stopped the ball with her hands. She placed it back on the ground and kicked to the youngest looking boy. His leg flew up and the ball rolled under his elevated leg. He shrugged with a smile and went to get the ball. He brought it back to Erika and kissed her forehead and said,
"I guess I'm out." With that he walked away to the table where Ashlin and Allen were sitting. I smiled knowing that he did that for Erika's amusement.
It continued like this until it was Jericho and the younger boy. I had lost towards the end of the game. The younger boy purposely missed and then ran to the bathrooms. I take it his full bladder is what cost him the game. Ericka squealed and ran up to Jericho and he picked her up. Then Tyler shouted at them to come get lunch.
We all sat at the table eating ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit. Well just fruit for me.
"Are you feeling alright?" Ashlin asked me. I looked up at her and smiled.
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just don't eat meat is all." I told her. Her mouth formed and 'O' shape and nodded slowly and then went back to eating.
"So your a veggie monster?" Tyler asked me. I looked over to him with a confused look.
"Excuse me?" I asked him. He laughed and said,
"You know a vegetarian." he said.
"Yeah. I am." I told him.
"To be honest ,Avery I didn't think you talked until recently." He told.
"I normally don't, I just liked to stay to me self most of the time. I figured that if I didn't talk then no one would ignore me." I said as I felt something wrap around my hand. I looked to see Jericho's hand intertwined with mine. I smiled to my self as he squeezed my hand. I debated whether or not to let him him continue to hold my hand. That would have been nice, and I enjoyed how nice it felt. However it also scared me that he had such an effect on me. Thats why I yanked my hand away from his. I instantly missed the warmth of his hand.
"so why do you like being alone?" A new voice asked. I looked over to see the younger boy with blond hair, Hazel eyes that were hidden behind his glasses. He looked like Erika and Jericho so I asumed that he was on of the other Levi sibblings.
"I never said I did. It's just easyier to be alone." I said. He was taken back a bit and then the youngest boy with edony hair and teal eyes said,
"You'r really weird." He said in a small voice. Evryone turned and looked at him. I was taken aback by his comment. I didn't need a kid to tell me that. That was something I already knew, but the reality of what others thought still stung like needles.
"Dylan." Jericho said in a warning voice to the blond boy.
"What?" I heard Dylan ask. Not to long after that I heard Dylan say "Ow!" most likely from Jericho kicking his shin.
"Sorry... I shouldn't have called you weird." He said.
"It all right." I said as I stared down at my food. I didn't say anything else I just looked down at my food and continued to eat. I didn't say anything else for the rest of the lunch. I'm weird. That part was true. Suddenly I felt a strong hand on my shoulder and knew from the familiar electric currants that it wa
s Jericho. I tilted my head back to look up a him.
"Avery, come walk with me." He said. I did't say a word to him i only stared up in him with a dazed look in my eyes and nodded. He helped me up and we walked away.I walked with my hands behind my back and kept my eyes focused on the ground.
"Sorry about Dylan. He can be a pain." He said.
"No it's fine. He's right." I told him. He stopped in his tracks and looked at me in shock.
"What? Don't tell me you took him seriously. I mean- I know he said your wired but he's Dylan
He's an idiot of a kid. So don't listen." He walked up to me and took my hands in his. He rubbed his thumb over the top of my palms as he tried to sooth me. However it had the opposite affect. It only made me more self conscious then before.
"Your not some freak. I know that's what your family wants you to think ,but your not. That's there ploy to get you to stay. They want you to think no one could ever love you. I'm here and I'm telling you your not a freak your a wonder amazing girl that's extremely broken. Alright?" He told me. I still had yet to make eye contact with him. I wanted to believe him, but I just couldn't. Then all of a sudden I felt to strong hands wrap around and bring me to his chest. He rested his head on top of mine and exhaled. I brought my arms up and wrapped them tightly around him. I then thought back to what Angela said to me bout trusting him. I need to trust her. More importantly I need to trust him as much as I trust her. I will always have that fear of him laving me more alone then before, but he hasn't yet, and he isn't at the moment. So for this moment I'm going to trust him.
"Thank you." I whispered. After we stood there in each others arms for God knows how long we finally broke apart. He took my hand in his and began to walk.
"Okay now that's that settled, lets get to the main reason I brought you here." He said.
"Kidnapped." I corrected him. He sighed and looked a me with a cocky smile,
"Once again, It's not kidnapping if you come willingly." He said. I rolled my eyes at him.
"So why did you bring me here?' I asked him.
"To get to know you." He said. I scoffed at him and ran my fingers through my hair.
"Really ,Jericho? Another Edward Cullen moment? 'Oh Bella I must know your favorite color, shampoo, music, and I must know what you say in you sleep!'
" I said imitating my take on Edward Cullen. Jericho shook his head at me and laughed. I looked up a him and smiled with a triumphant look.
"I am not that bad. I don't watch you sleep." He said. I laughed at him and then said,
"Fine, then what do you want to know?" I asked him.
"What's your favorite color?" He asked me.
"light pink or spring green" I said.
"Favorite food?"
"mushroom tortellini."
"Dream Job?"
"Doctor."
"have you ever been kissed by someone else?" I looked down at the ground and stayed silent. I had been kissed... just not the way I wanted my fist kiss. Tarrance had forced me to kiss him two years ago, but to me that didn't count.
"Avery?" I heard Jericho say. I snapped back to reality and looked up at him.
"What? Oh- um- no." I told him
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"could I be you'r boyfriend?" I stopped walking when I fully processed what he just asked me. I shook my head and continued to walk.
"That's okay." He said as he kissed my cheek.
"Just friends." I said. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him.
"I can live with that." He said.
A loud roar came from the sky and I looked up at the ski. Blue lightning illuminated the sky, and it began to pour rain. I shrieked as Jericho picked me up by the waist and ran for cover with me in his arms. He ran to a covered area near the bathrooms. He noticed I was shivering from the rain and rapped his jacket around me. I leaned up against the brick wall and Jericho towered over me.
"sorry, I didn't think it would rain." He said. I smiled at him and said,
"You know... I have an umbrella." I told him giving a smirk. He scoffed and shook his wet hair on me. I shrieked and tried to dodge the water. He laughed and said,
"You could have told me that!" He laughed. I faintly heard my phone go off from inside my bag. I reached into it and pulled it out. My bright smile fell when I saw the ID .... Ben. I looked up at Jericho who was glaring down at the phone. The truth was I wasn't surprised to get the text. I saw it earlier. However I still dreaded re-reading it.
"Are you going to read it?" He asked me. I slowly nodded my head.
"Yeah. I have to." I flipped the screen open and opened the message and flinched when I read it.
Ben: You little slut! How dare you sneak out. Get your fucking ass back here now! And when you do we'll all deal with you. Maybe you'll fucking think twice about sneaking out. You woun't even want to go out side when were done with you
I stared down at the screen shaking with fear. I felt Jericho wipe away a stray tear that I was unaware of.
"Are you okay?" He asked me in a saddened voice. Don't Jericho, please don't be in pain for me. I silently said to my self. I didn't want pity and I din't want hi feeling sad for me. It wasn't fair. I gripped my phone tightly in my hands and tried to breath.
"Ju-just take me home." I said. His hands engulfed mine as he said,
"Hell no out of the question." He told me . I shook my head at him.
"No, Jericho. you have to take me home. If I don't go back there, they'll go looking for me, and then when they do find me, they'll find out about us, then the'll take me away, move somewhere, and then You'll never see me again. I know going back seems worse, but the reality is.... that if I don't it will only make things worse." I told him. He wrapped his arms around me, and rested his head on top of mine, and just stood there like that.
"Jer?" I asked him. I tried to pull away from him but he tightened his grip around me.
"Just give me a moment." He said. I sighed and nodded. We needed a moment once in a while. He stood there like that for what seamed like forever. I felt safe for that short moment, only to be ripped away by reality. I was pushed back into the 'real world' hen Jericho pulled away.
"Okay... let's go." He said. I looked down at the floor with a blank look. He took my hand and started to walk towards the parking lot but I didn't move. He looked back at me with a worried look in his eyes.
"Avery?" He then realized what was wrong. He came towards me and cupped my face in his hands and tilted my face up to look at him.
"Hey, It's going to be alright okay? Your going to go home, they'll be asleep, you'll go to your room, maybe take a shower, then go to bed like nothings wrong... Okay? that's what will happen. I promise."He tried his hardest to calm me down, to make me believe that everything was going to be okay. I could feel the tears streaming down my face. I wish that was the case, but it's not... and we both knew it. Well, mostly me. I could see it. I was on the floor in fetal position trying to shield myself from the pain. While three figures stood over me. I could see the flash of my camera as I added a new addition to my "collection" . I then saw my self crying myself to sleep with Angela sitting on the edge of the bed. Unlike last time there was no way out. But for Jericho's sake I smiled up at him and said.
"Okay." I said. I then let him take me back to the car. I opened up my umbrella and we both took shelter under it from the rain. We didn't say a word. Not when we got to the car,or on the way to my "home". It wasn't until we pulled up in front of the house he said something. The rain was so heavy that we could park in front of the house with out being in risk of being seen. It was that thick. He stopped the car and turned of the ignition. He ex hailed and we both took a deep breath.
"We're here." He said.
"Yeah." I said in a small voice.
"Avery listen. As soon as you get to your room call me. I need to know your okay. If you can't call then text-or email- fuck! I don't care if you use a carrier pigeon! I just need to know your alr
ight." He said. I could feel how upset he was.
"I'll be fine. I'll go to my room and they won't even see me." I told him. I said as I reached for the door handle. As I pushed the door open I heard Jericho call my name,
"And Avery..."
"Yeah?" I said as I turned around. As soon as I turned around he leaned up from his seat and brought his lips gently to mine. As I was in state of shock. Jericho pushed the car door open and pushed me out. Before he closed the car door he said,
"Go... and be careful." He then closed the door. I nodded and faded into the rain. I dragged my feet up the walkway up to the front porch. I stopped at the door and slammed my eyes closed as I turned the door handle. The door creaked open and I walked in and switched on the light. There in front of me were three figures.
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