Chapter 2: Prologue, TODD, Part 2

We became an item within the first week of me coming to her rescue and she quickly became the best part of my childhood, the leading star in all of my fondest memories.

From the first words that we shared until now I never wanted anything more than to be close to her, to be the only one to bask in that special glow that emanates from her in spades. Her tinkling laugh still makes me sweat, and her eyes, those eyes that seem to look into my soul and see only the best of me, still haunt my dreams.

She has a strange effect on me, something I'd noticed from the start. It's not something I can put into words, not so you'd understand. But with her, there was none of the usual teenage angst. I didn't feel the need to be anyone but myself; didn't have to do anything stupid to impress her, but it was more than that.

I didn't feel the need to rush into anything. I enjoyed the wait and still do, because somehow always in the back of my mind, I knew that we'd grow old together. Just the thought of her not being mine is enough to make me physically ill.

That's because my baby is one gorgeous angel; so beautiful that it's sometimes hard to believe that she's real. That anything that beautifully perfect inside and out could be of this world.

She's blessed with a rare otherworldly beauty that drives other girls nuts and makes the male of the species stupid, ergo the bully who was trying to get her attention in his bumbling way, the fuck. But still it's more than that; it's who she is, unexplainable.

I'd heard the whispers about her long before the day I went looking for her. Because I'm older we didn't move in the same circles, but that year she was all-the buzz at our school. Not only because she'd skipped a couple of grades because of her extreme intelligence, but there were whispers about her unnatural beauty as well.

It seems she'd caught the attention of everyone when she moved from middle school to high school a year early, but it was a whole year later when she hit puberty and started blossoming that the gossip mill in the locker room really kicked into high gear.

Suddenly she was all anyone could talk about. And the reason they did nothing more than talk was because of her dad's reputation. Everyone was scared shitless to come at her for fear of word getting back to him. Except Brian apparently whose dad is as big a bully as he is and was the source of his bravado.

After I took care of him and became her schoolyard protector, we became joined at the hip. I lucked out in the fact that she seemed to like me too, and that's why I took my life in my hands and decided to go for it.

Pretty soon it wasn't enough for me to just spend my lunch breaks with her. I wanted to see her all the time. When I went home in the evenings and couldn't call her because she said her dad would freak, I mourned until I saw her at school the next day.

It got so I lost interest in everything else, even football, which used to be my life until she came along. So though I had a healthy fear of her dad and didn't want to get her in trouble, I got greedy. I wanted to take this thing beyond the schoolyard. I wanted to spend every free moment with her, just to be near her.

The truth is before her I was more than happy to play the field so to speak. I dated, went to afternoon hooky parties, all the things you'd expect from a teenage boy who came from a well to do family, was relatively good looking, and was bored out of his skull.

There was no shortage of female companionship to be had in the small town where there wasn't much to do but take in a movie, hit the one arcade in town, or go out to the paintball field on the weekends. The most exciting thing going was sneaking around to some girl's house when her parents weren't at home.

Because life was so slow paced in our town, people tended to hook up at an early age, so by the time I was fifteen I'd already had a girlfriend or two. Nothing serious, just the usual teenage bullshit.

It was something to do since everyone else was doing it anyway. But I never had any intention of getting too involved with anyone, since my plan was to leave and never come back after college. I couldn't wait to get out of our nowhere town.

But then I met her, the girl of my dreams, a dream I didn't even know I had, and everything changed. I became a different person, even the way I think has changed, partly due to the things I've learned while being with her, mostly from watching her dad and the way he is with his family.

At fifteen my whole life was about football and hanging out with my friends. I never thought of anything beyond those two things and having fun wherever I could find it. I for sure wasn't looking to get into anything serious, and the opposite sex wasn't high on my to do list.

But that day in the schoolyard when I came to her rescue and beat the shit out of Brian for putting his hands on her was the beginning of us. I gained a hell of a lot more than I bargained for that's for sure.

Because although my interest had already been pricked, I never imagined that things would lead where they have. That I'd be here four years later even more in love with her than ever before. From the very beginning it was her gentle but confident nature that held me spellbound. That rare quality that I've found in no one else.

She might not have had the same freedoms as most of the other girls her age and older. She wasn't allowed to wear makeup, or go out on dates. She couldn't lie or make up stuff or sneak out of her father's house and what's more she didn't want to.

Even with all her restrictions, she seemed more free than the rest of us, and I realized as I grew older that it was because of her attitude. She didn't fight against her father, didn't even want to. Something I found strange until I met him and spent time in his home.

You can't miss it, that love he has for his family. It's something to be envied. His love too is something I can't explain or put into words. But I soon learned that it's his love that gives her the confidence to be who she is.

Her gentle gracefulness just comes naturally and I couldn't help being drawn to it, like a bee to a pollen filled flower.

We've come a long way, not as far as some sure, but just far enough for who we are. Her dad had almost put the brakes on before we even got started. Where her mom was cool and had given her consent for us to double date with her cousin, Colton Lyon had had other ideas.

I'll never forget the night he came to my house with his crew, I've never been that scared before in my life. But even in the face of that fear I stood my ground, because even if he pounded me into dust I knew even then that she was worth it.