THREE

Walking into her room she tossed her bag on her bed and went straight to her reading table, eager to write the things that had filled her mind all throughout school. She pulled her chair and took a seat, moving her laptop out of the way she took out a blue patterned note book and its matching pen and started:

   -I

always

wondered

what

it

would

be

like

to

date

them

all, the

nice

guy, the

stary

crush, the

one

time

friend

and

the

beast. Oh

yes

the

beast. I

already

did

date

those

first

three

types, so

I

guess

its

more

like

an

I

wonder

what

it

would

be

like

to... u

get

the

point.

He

would

be

so

protective and dangerous

cause

of the whole

damaged

past

and

stuff.-

she looked up at the white painted wall in front of her and tapped the pen on her lower lip, a smile on her face as she thought of her beast, whoever he was. -Not

the

beasty

kind that gets way

out

of

line

and

start

hitting

girls... Well

maybe

if

I

wanted

him

to. But

he

wouldn't

hit

me

but

he

will

protect

me

and

keep

me

close

and

get

raging

pissed

if

some

one

tried

something

with

me. Ok

maybe

he

won't

hit

girls

cause

I

want

him

to. And

I

know

I

won't

go

trying

anything

with

anyone

cause

IT

IS

A

SUCKY

THING

TO

DO. But

I

know

I

wouldn't

stop

him

in

his

rage

filled

moments, only

when

I'm

sure

it

would

lead

to

something

very

very

terribly

wr-

   "Hey." She turned to see Darin walking into her room, with Sadey sitting on his arm andbher arms round his neck "Someone is here for the treat you promised her last Saturday but didn't deliver." He dropped her on the bed and sat beside her while she crawled to the head of the bed

   "Ahh!!" Lacey placed her head on her forehead, "I almost forgot." She picked up her school bag and dumped all the contents on the large soft furry rug placed between her bed and reading table and picked out a small bag of mini twix chocolates and tossed them to her, both girls smiling brightly. "You like?"

    "So much, its my best kind of chocolate." Sadey pointed out, her little fingers ripping the bag.

    "I know. Not so much okay? take two and let Darin keep the rest for you."

    She nodded and handed him the bag. "Thank you." Lacey nodded still smiling.

     "Umm! Mom wants us down stairs. She's got new demos and she wants us to listen to it with her and choose."

    "What?" Her smile turned into a frown, "but Marvin chose this, why are we the ones who have to choose the artists he accepts and their songs?"

    "He probably just wants better opinions." He said with a sigh.

"Well I have things to do." She waved her hands in the air, watching as Sadey walked into her bathroom.

     "Yeah well it doesn't matter, we got to get down there."

She licked her lips and pulled her hair back. "Tom Wade pissed me off last Saturday. Giving me crap about letting what Jody did slide and hanging with her and more crap about a baby." She spoke with irritation. "you know, you could have told me about the baby rumours." She pointed out.

     He gave her a half smile. "Do you care about it?"

With a questioning look she she replied, "No, but-"

     "It would have been a waste of my time." He noted nonchalantly, "And it was detention, he was probably bored."

She nodded in agreement, packing her hair from behind her neck and placing it over her left shoulder

      "Hey, so have you talked to her yet?" He asked, his eyes filled with anticipation for her answer.

     "Who Toni?"

His face dropped, "No Lacey, Jessica. Who else?" His eyes widened.

      She chuckled and said, "I'm not even going to ask who Jeasica is. No Sadey come back, you know mum doesn't want you walking down the stairs alone after that fall." She called out to her sister who was walking out her room.

     Darin sighed, "Sadey come here." He commanded and seconds later she was back and sitting on his thigh. "Toni." He reminded Lacey, whose eyes were on the little girl.

     "Uhh! Yeah I was going to," she pointed at her laptop behind her with her thumb, "but since mom sent for us it'll have to be later." She looked over his expressionless face, "You want me to say hi for ya?"

     "No." He answered sharply, "Only if she asks." He added.

"I think this is stupid. I think it's about time one of you spoke up."

He nodded with his eyes closed and his lips pulled together. "That's good Lacey, think." He got up and Balanced Sadey on his arm. "Its good that you're thinking now, cause when you don't," he pointed at her with his free hand, "you do things like date Dennis." He smirked amd turned to leave, she gasped and got to her feet and Sadey squeeled and started to laugh, her face buried in his neck as she did.

      With squinted eyes and a scowl, she managed to say, "No." As a manner of 'how dare you'

    And "yes." Was his reply as he walked out. With Sadey still laughing, and Lacey at his heel.

     "Sadey you shouldn't be laughing." She poked her sister's arm.

     Everyone was talking, and laughing at something or someone in the lunch bar, and if they were not then they were eating or drinking or reading and those who weren't doing anything were busy doing nothing. And among the talkers were Lacey and her friends; Jody, Fay and Anita listened to her as she talked. "And then he took out this really big brown fluffy and furry teddy bear and said I should take it back with me and cuddle with it." She smiled, remembering the gift that lay beside the couch in her living room.

     While the others commented on her tale, Bethany typed away on her phone, absent mindedly commenting with the others. "So sweet." She mummured before her phone beeped. Her eyes widened as she gasped and announced, "Tom Wade just broke up with Abby."

     Lacey raised her eye brows, more concerened with why Bethany got the news before Anita. Her friends complained about how awefull it was that he had done that, yet she couldn't be more uninterested. She looked over her shoulder to see him walking out the hall, his hands in his pockets and his head held high with his face expressionless. "Lacey!" She heard a loud whisper and turned back to her friends, only to be pushed from her seat and yanked by artificial sharp claws. Her heart felt like it had just dropped to her stomach and her body shivered with undeniable fear before she heard her say, "you little witch!" Abby yelled, letting her go, she staggered forward, almost tripping on her skirt. "This is all your fault you bloody witch." She held the sides of her long skirt and took in a deep breath. Upon realising who it was her fear was replaced with anger, and she held her skirt tighter. "First he gets detention for the first time the day you come back and now he breaks up with me. You and your skirts just want to ruin his life and take away everything that's good for him don't you you witch?" The whole hall was mumbling now, all eyes were on them and her stupid Friends sat still unmoving with eyes that looked like they would pop out.

      She bent her head, her eyes darting acroos the floor and her eye brows furrowing with more anger as she whispered, "I didn't do anything."

    "What? You didn't do anything witch? No spells huh? So its just a freaky coincedence huh?"

     She shut her eyes, counting to twenty she nodded. "She is so terrified." She heard someone say.

     "You better hope he gets over what ever the hell you did or else. You will regret it witch!" She shoved her and spun around to walk away, her hair whipping Lacey's face.

     She looked up and the only person she saw was Darin, a deep scowl on his face as he turned to whisper to his friend, who nodded and got to his feet. With Darin and two others following behind him. Everyone was talking again, the clear thing being that she was the subject of almost everyones conversation.

    Finally, the bell had been rung and the school doors flew open and everyone was trooping out, who didn't love the end of a school day? For one person, this particular end couldn't have gotten any better. The one time he didn't want any of the drivers picking him up. He sighed and fished for his car keys in his pockets, the cute blond walking behind him. "Hey don't be so rude and arrogant." She called out as he unlocked his car with its remote. "Don't be a jerk." She added. His friends stood watching the little scene. With his eye brows furrowing just like his sister's he got in his car, and so did she. "Darin." She said.

     Irritated by this, he said, "Get out."

She shook her head, folding her arms. "No. Not until you stop acting like a jerk, not until you apologize to me. I know I made the mistake of picking up your jacket, but you're the one being such a rude and arrogant jerk about this. So I'm not leaving till y-" he rolled his eyes and walked out of the car locking it as he walked on over to his Friends. She gasped and pulled at the handle and pouted when it would not open.

    "Whata... what do you wanna do?" Lincoln asked nodding at the car when Darin got to them.

     "Nothing." He answered, cracking his knuckles. They stood there for ten minutes, watching her whinning in the car. While most people passed them and went to their cars, others stayed, forming a small crowd. After another five minutes of watching her whine and scream each time he pressed the lock button on his remote, he sighed and whispered to his friends, a crooked smile on his lips, making them laugh and they repeated his words to the people behind them, who passed the message on to others. And he walked back to his car. He took his seat in the driver side and glared at her while she folded her arms and faced forward stubbornly. He scoffed and started the engine.

     He drove, increasing the speed with each second they drove round the parking lot. "You think" he started to say, pinching her arm and sides closest to him, causing her to jump and squeal in unanticipated surprise at his action and the stinging. "that you can just act stubborn and resilient and I will do what you say?" His raspy voice filled with anger.

     She yelped, and moved closer to the window, hoping it would swallow her and knowing there was no escape. "Please stop." She cried out.

     "Who do you think I am, no who do you think you are?" He stopped the car in front of the growing crowd still pinching her arm. He quickly got out of the car, and reached her side just as she opened the door. "You cannot" he spoke as he yanked her out and dragged her towards the group. "Invade my space and not expect me to be upset or rude to you. You took something of mine and you expect me to apologize for taking it back?" He "Does that sound reasonable to you?" He let go of her. "You call me a rude and arrogant jerk and you walked into my space." He made a circle with his hands around himself. "I'll treat you any way I see fit!" He looked at the crowd now. They all stared in silence. He looked at her, she had her head bent. He turned her to her side so that everyone could see the tiny red nail marks on her bare arm. "This is what I did to her, I pinched her. I DIDN'T do anything else to her." He announced, then let go of her and walked over to his car, a smile of satisfaction filled his face, driving of before he could know what happened next.

     Lacey looked round the classroom uncomfortably in her chair, she glared at her note book, doing her best to ignore his constant foot tapping. No sooner had his tapping stopped, she felt his eyes on her. She didn't get why he was in that class, where she had to sit and study, it had been very unexpected to watch him walk into the classroom and take a sit right up front instead of his usual corner. She let out a puff of air, just a few more minutes and then she could leave.

     "Lacey Atkins." he said her name the same way he always did. She closed her eyes in despair, he didn't have to speak. "You know last week," he smiled with a sigh. "I saw you, you shared a look with Darin." Her heart skipped beats, she refused to look up. "But I didn't quite get it, after all you're not related right? Then the way you talked to me last Saturday, the death threat in it, just like his voice, and your voice was raspy just like his. Took me a while but it hit me, of course he is your brother. I mean no one would believe it. And the whole change of clothes after school thing. You are full of secrets." He laughed, genuinely proud of his discovery.

     The tip of her fingers were cold and numb, this all couldn't be happening. She took a deep breath and finally raised her head, trying her best to look unmoved though her heart was racing against itself. "Wow! So you are smart enough to put two, three and four together." She smiled

    "Yes, yes I am." He held his head high with pride.

"So you tapped into my private life. What now?" She started to gather her books. There was no way she could wait for that assignment. "Obviously you can't tell anyone because, well Darin will kill you. So what are you going to do." Why had he picked this class? Why was he in detention?

      His smile started to fade when her voice grew raspy again.

She got to her feet the exact moment her teacher walked in. " I'm sorry Miss, but I don't feel so good." She rushed out before the woman could respond. Her legs couldn't move fast enough.

"Hey!" He was walking right behind her. Ignoring the teacher calling his name.

     She turned sharply. "You know, instead of following my life for some insane reason, focus on your girlfriend." Her raspy voice was rising.

     "Ex-" he pointed out, but didnt have enough time to continue before she cut him off.

     "She has major problems."

He scoffed. "You know your tongue's awfully sharp with me, but you couldn't say a word when she all but slammed you against the wall."

She grew stiff, her ears hot with rage. "What is your deal?" Without waiting for his answer she walked away as fast as her short legs could go.

      He would have followed her, but his detention time wasn't over yet. He smiled, impressed. He still couldn't believe it himself, Lacey Atkins was Darin Atkins little sister and he was the only other person who knew. And somehow he couldn't help but feel bad. Why was he prying into her life so much? If that was what he was doing.

       Darin looked at her the moment she sat beside him in the car, he observed her face. "Why are you here?"She asked, her voice shaking

     "Mom wants us. What happened?" She looked out the window, watching the trees and buildings the car passed by, they were silent for a few minutes before she finally spoke.

     Writing down how weak and helpless the anticipation made her did not solve this problem. Despite Darin's advice to wait and see what he does, her body shivered at the sight of his face or even the sound of his name. Each passing day made it hard for her to breathe, and couldn't help but think; Darin was only curious to see what he would do? Someone would think he would've gone to shove him up a locker and threaten his life. Hiding from one of the most popular boys in school was easy since she was well...half invisible. But the fact that she shared a few classes with him made her feel sick. Avoiding him seemed like the perfect thing to do, she could lay low forever. If laying low would make him forget she is the sister to the school evil boy. It may have been Friday, but somehow she knew the weekend would not stop this bomb from going off one day. Now she regretted the decision not to change schools.

     Sitting in the lunch bar with Anita beside her, she backed the table he usually sat on with his friends, still praying that she was still invisible. The sight of her may just remind him. Students started to drone out the hall again, with her head deep in her phone, she didn't see Anita get to her feet with the whispered words, "Tom is fighting in the field!" And like an automatic device, her heart sunk. The entire thing felt worse than being chased by a monster in a scary movie, mostly because she believed she would kill it and survive. "Are you coming?" She shook her head before the words sounded like a question. Her stomach was beginning to feel tight. "Ok well, see you later kay?" Lacey nodded, and gave her best smile as Anita followed the drones. She sighed in relief knowing he was somewhere and nowhere near her. Three more hours and she could go home and pray he didn't post anything about her and that she wouldn't see him in school during his detention. She sighed again, this wasn't good, none of it was.