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 “Yes I’ll probably get a workout in. You know how much I hate watching a good fight when I know I could get in it.” I retorted letting my own black humor seep into my voice. Most of the people in the other looked at me in obvious surprise. I honestly didn’t care anymore about what they thought, they had mostly stripped me of all the dignity that I had. “Shane, you want to come over to our house and shower, or are you set on going home to shower?” Violet asked and then I knew she had some kind of plan because she knew he wouldn’t refuse a chance to spend time with me without Jasper there to keep him on good behavior. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind.” Shane responded and I glared up at him. “What?” He asked in a too innocent voice. “I know what you’re thinking, don’t try to hide it.” I said with an icy voice that hurt to use on him. He looked absolutely shocked. “I didn’t know that you knew telepathy, Molly.” He retorted. Then he grinned and said, “And if you know what I’m thinking then what exactly am I thinking that is offending you?” That took me by surprise, as he often finds a way to do. Sometimes, I just can’t believe the nerve that boy can have. “You know exactly what.” I accused icily. “What? I can’t think that you’re beautiful without you getting mad at me for it?” He said in such a sweet voice that just his voice alone made me blush. His words were so sweet to my ears for some reason, and something started knocking at my mind that I couldn’t decipher. I knew it was an innocent feeling, it felt so familiar, and, like the adrenaline, it felt like an old friend that wanted to get me through a tight spot. My head, on its own accord brought my face closer to his and I recognized what was knocking at my mind just in time. I shook my head to clear it before this sudden impulse took over, but he apparently took it as a rejection. I lowered my face from his slowly to make this look like it wasn’t just some impulse that had nearly taken over. I didn’t want them to know how weak I was and felt. When my head was lowered enough to lie on his chest again, I got comfortable, my head drooping on his chest. But Violet wasn’t fooled for one moment, I could tell by the look she was giving me. Our car took a turn that the other didn’t and I knew that we were getting close to home. I laid there calmly, my thoughts engulfing me, taking me far away to where I could concentrate. The car stopped, the motor turned off, and finally that brought me back down to earth. I instantly leaped off of Shane’s lap and dashed into the house getting into the shower first thing. I locked the bathroom door and turned on the water and waited for the water to warm up enough so that I could shower without freezing any further. As soon as the water had turned on, something bubbled up from deep inside me, making me feel like I was the one who had been rejected, not Shane. Though it hadn’t been a rejection in my mind, he obviously thought it was, and I knew I’d hurt him. Then tears started running down my face and I got into the shower to wash them off, hoping that the water would drown out my now audible sobs. I had already gotten to washing my hair which I always did last, before I realized that he might catch me in a towel on my way to my room. I finished rinsing out the conditioner and turned off the water. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself and looked in the mirror to see if it looked like I had cried throughout most of my shower. Sure enough, my eyes were all puffed up and red, my long, wet and dark hair framing it perfectly so that it made my puffy eyes stand out. I groaned, and let my hair fall into my face, successfully covering my eyes just enough so that I could see where I was going, but enough to cover them from view enough that nobody would be able to tell that I had been crying. I sighed heavily, and opened the door to the bathroom and rushed to my room, closing the door behind me. My empty bedroom was a comfort while I let the towel slip off, and threw on my usual training outfit. Once I was dressed, I went over to my unmade bed, found the brush on my headboard, and started on my hair. It took about five minutes until I realized that I was crying again. I groaned and my voice broke, making it sound even more like a sob. I finished with my hair, and pinned it up the way I always do for a wrestling session with my brothers, or for training. Once my hair was pinned up, I decided to clean my room. Somebody else was in the shower now, so I hoped it was Shane. I knew that if I ran into him while I was crying, he’d make me tell him why I was crying. I wished I wasn’t so weak; that he could speak to me in that voice he used when he told me that he thought I was beautiful without the urge to kiss him becoming so apparent. I didn’t want a relationship right now. Whenever they ended, I was always so torn up. My room wasn’t terribly dirty, so it only took about five minutes till everything was off the floor. I made my bed, and when I was done with that, I was still crying, so I lay on my bed and cried onto my pillows, letting them muffle my sobs gladly. Then I heard my door open, and immediately choked off the sob that had been coming from my mouth, trying to act asleep, but knew whoever had come in obviously didn’t buy it. They walked the short distance from my door to my bedside hesitantly, and sat on the edge of my bed right next to me. “You know that I don’t buy that sleeping act. Tell me, what’s wrong Molly?” Shane asked in his softest, gentlest voice that he had used on me for the first time in the car today. “Go away, Shane.” I said while trying unsuccessfully to keep my voice from breaking. My heart wanted him to stay, but I knew that it wouldn’t be quite that easy. I was still partly unresolved, and I needed to be resolved by the time I spoke to him again. “I know that’s not what you really want.” He said putting a hand on my back, which wavered my resolve to wait until I had decided. How could such a small gestures affect me so much? Then somebody else entered my room. “What did you do, Shane?” Jasper asked in a slightly angered voice. “Nothing,” Shane said innocently. Jasper sat on the other edge of my bed without hesitating. “What did he do to you?” Jasper asked in a soothing voice. I still didn’t answer. “What’s taking so long?” I heard Jacob ask. He came in and saw me crying. “Ugh. Girls are so emotional. What happened?” He asked in an uninterested voice, but I knew he was actually worried. I cried so rarely that my family always knew that if I was crying I was seriously hurt or something really big had happened. When I still didn’t respond, he picked me up by my waist and pulled me awkwardly onto his lap. “What happened?” He said, his voice more forceful and animated this time. “Boys are so pushy!” I said, climbing out of his grasp, and running toward the now vacant bathroom to lock them all out so I could cry in peace. When Shane realized what I was going to do, he jumped in front of me, collecting me in a restraining embrace, and I didn’t struggle. He walked slowly back toward my room, bringing me with him, still embracing me, gently now that he knew I wasn’t going to put up a fuss. When Jacob saw this, he grabbed Jasper and started to drag him away. “Hey!” He opposed when Jacob started dragging him away. “She’s more likely to tell what’s on her mind to one person than to three. He’ll tell us later.” Jacob said in Jaspers ear, just barely loud enough for me to hear. “Why can’t I be that person?” Jasper complained. “She likes him better, that’s why.” Jacob said in a way that sounded like it was meant as a conversation closer and a threat at the same time. Well, it certainly was a conversation ender, but Jasper certainly wasn’t scared of Jacob. Jasper backhanded Jacob without hesitation after that comment. Normally I would have hit them both for that, but I was feeling too weak at the moment to do anything but lean into Shane’s embrace. He steered me through my bedroom door and onto my bed, and before he went to sit next to me on it, he closed the door. Then he sat next to me and asked again in that soft, sensitive voice “What’s wrong?” At that moment, I wanted nothing more than for him to just hold me. I closed the distance between us that was about a foot, and hugged him. For a couple of moments he was too shocked to respond and then he wrapped his arms around me hesitantly. The tears flowed anew, in a fresh torrent that started to soak his shirt. We sat there, in this embrace for a long time before he spoke. “Are you ever going to tell me what brought this on right after rejecting me? Girls aren’t the only ones who are easily confused.” He asked in a confused voice. “Not right now.” I responded. Then he scooped me up from his side, and put me on his lap, and once he had moved me, I turned and embraced him again. He wrapped his arms around me again, this time not so hesitant. We sat there for a really long time, but every moment of it felt so perfect to me that I didn’t want to change anything. “What are you two doing up here?” I heard John said while he was on the stairs. “Everybody else has already shown up and you two are the only ones missing.” He said as he came into view. Shane unwrapped his arms from around me hesitantly. “What have you two been doing? And don’t expect me to believe that you two have been up here hugging the entire time.” John said doubtfully. “Actually, that’s exactly what’s been going on.” Shane said hesitantly. “Oh, really, Shane?” John asked doubtfully. “We found her up here crying about twenty minutes after she got out of the shower crying. Jacob dragged Jasper back downstairs, and she hasn’t let go of me since. She hasn’t said anything, or explained why she was crying either.” Shane explained. I let go of him then, feeling guilty because I realized that he really was confused and that I hadn’t told him one word of what’s going on inside my head. “Well, come on you two. Everybody is getting worried about you two. And Jasper is fuming, and won’t cool off. You know him; he doesn’t want you two alone for anything.” John said, eyeing me thoughtfully. I shook my head and he shrugged realizing that I wasn’t going to talk any time soon. Shane and I stood up, and I stretched. My tank top lifted over my stomach as I stretched, and Shane started tickling me before I could stop him. I started giggling so hard as he tickled me that my cheeks hurt. “Would you two knock it off before Jasper gets over here and starts complaining about not having a sensei?” John said. Shane stopped tickling me, but I kept on laughing for a couple minutes. It turned out that where they had karate was only a couple of blocks away from my house, so we walked. When we showed up, Jasper ambushed Shane and started yelling “Traitor!” at him. “I didn’t do anything, Jasper.” Shane responded calmly. “Then why is she looking at you like that?!” Jasper said in a deep and threatening voice. Everybody looked at me as I registered what he was talking about. Violet chucked a compact at me and I caught it. I opened it and saw what he was talking about. I looked the same as I used to after my boyfriend had kissed me. I stared blankly at it until I finally realized that this meant what they had said was true. There was only so long that I could deny how I felt. I ran over to Violet and hugged her. “I can’t believe it.” I finally whispered in her ear. “I know. That’s how I felt on the first day of school when I saw you blush in his arms. You finally had some color to your face again, and an interest in your heart.” She whispered in my ear. There were tears running down my face again. “You’ve been doing a lot of crying today. What were you crying about before? Everybody wants to know.” She said while wiping some tears from my eyes. “But you’re the only one who will.” I said, alerting her to the fact that I was going to tell her, and that I didn’t want anybody else to know. “Why were you crying?” She asked, which meant that she wouldn’t tell anybody. “Because after he told me that he thought I was beautiful, I came so close to kissing him, and I’m not ready for another boy yet. They always tear me apart.” I said, unsure. “I know. That’s always a problem.” She responded. Her eyes were full of comprehension and understanding. She knew exactly what I was talking about. “You’re crying //again?!//” Jasper said, looking really surprised. “Oh shut up Jasper.” Shane said flipping Jasper onto his back and pinning him. “Well, Molly, what do you think?” John said gesturing to his little karate school. “It looks like a lot of the schools I’ve been to.” I said, not quite sure what else I should say. Then a bunch of kids attacked me. “What the heck is wrong with them!?” I yelled dodging a couple kids. “This is our placement ritual. I’m sure you’ll do well.” John said in a laid back tone. “Is today really a good day for this? Can’t I just wrestle with Shane and Jasper?” I asked, while dodging half a dozen more kids. “We want you to be challenged.” John said. “Considering the fact that my ankle is in bad shape, and I’ve kind of been through a lot today, can’t you just give me a break?” I asked, dodging a few more kids, trying not to hurt any of them through my irritation. “What have you been through today?” John asked. “Well, for starters, I woke up in his lap,” I started, deciding that I was done dodging. So the next kid that charged at me did so particularly carelessly; I flipped him and pushed a few pressure points till he cried “Uncle!” I stopped then and continued, “then, Shane and I raced, and I beet him.” I said while looking at Shane who said “I didn’t expect you’d be that awake yet!” and I grinned at him. Then a couple more kids charged at me. I grinned at Shane till the last minute, and then when they made contact, a grabbed one arm from each kid and ran them into each other hard enough to knock them both out. “And then I had Joshua attack me like these twerps are. Meaning, they attacked pretty pathetically.” I said to get a couple more kids to charge in anger. A smarter kid snuck up on me and knocked my feet from under me, giving a triumphant laugh while he pinned me. “What? You think you’ve beaten me?” I asked the kid. “Nobody has ever gotten back up after I pinned them without somebody else helping them, and nobody can help you.” The kid said. “Kid, you’re pretty cocky. I’m going to have to teach you some manners.” I said while trying to roll the kid over so that I could pin him unsuccessfully. “Need a hand Molly?” Shane teased, while standing over me. “No, I’m fine.” I said, grinning at him. Then, so fast that nobody could have had time to react yet, I flipped the kid who was on top of me over, and then he tried to use the momentum to flip me back onto my back, and I let him. I kicked the kid off of me and landed a square kick to the kids’ stomach, sending him into the wall. There, he crumpled. Then John called Shane back to his side and started warming him up. I got through the rest of the kids that were trying to beat me, and I was starting to pant by the time Shane approached. “What’s going on? They run out twerps?” I asked him. “Um, actually yes. This has never happened before, congrats! Since this has never happened before, next you’re fighting me and Jasper.” He said regretfully. “Wait, what? I don’t want to hurt either of you, but if I fight you, I’ll have to.” I said worriedly. He laughed. “Don’t worry, you won’t get past me, I’ll get my arms locked around you before you have to hurt anyone.” He said. “Don’t be so sure.” I warned him. “When you’re done trying to prove yourself, will you say uncle? I want you conscious while I’m fighting Jasper.” I said smirking at him. “You ready? Lets see who wins.” He said confidently. “One second, I want to get some water first.” I said, stalling. “The fountain is over there.” He said while pointing at a water fountain. I went over and got a nice long drink, wondering how I’d get out of his grasp. Then, it dawned on me. It was so cruel, and harsh, but, no doubt it would work. I looked around and spotted a bathroom, and grabbed Rose before I went in. “Rose, I need your expertise on makeup.” I said, and quietly explained my plan to her in whispers. “Molly that is so harsh.” She said, looking surprised that I would think of such a thing. “Don’t worry; I’ll make it up to him.” I assured her. She grinned and got to work. About ten minutes later I came out of the bathroom with my lips radiant, and my cheeks soft. Shane looked at me and grinned. “What, you think that if you wear some makeup I’ll go easy on you?” He asked grinning. Honestly, I hoped it would slow him down. “It could probably slow you down a bit.” I said, hoping he wouldn’t see my true intentions. John set us up in the middle of the floor, and by this time, everybody was conscious again. All the kids I had to beat up to get this far were happy to see me go up against Shane. They knew I didn’t stand a chance. But I had a weapon. John blew a whistle and the fight began. Shane started jogging toward me. I prepared myself and hoped I had it in me to beat him. When he was about three feet from me, he kicked his speed up higher than I had ever seen it. Trying to keep track of him with my eyes was dizzying. But he hadn’t seen my speed either. He lunged for me, and I dodged in the knick of time. Everybody gasped, even my family. They hadn’t really seen me put in too much to a fight in a while. He couldn’t see me for a moment because I was behind him, and he looked very off balance. I landed an extremely powerful and square kick into his back sending him into a wall. All the air came out of his lungs in a whooshing sound, and he crumpled. Everybody gasped and I stood still. My family started cheering, but I held my hand up to quiet them. I knew Shane a lot better than that. He was faking no doubt, trying to get me to let my guard down now that he knew how fast and strong I am. “Shane, I know you better than that. Don’t try to fake on me. I’m no idiot, and I’m not in the mood to play around and be stupid. I want this over with so I can lie down and relax.” I said, and I knew that this would end the fight really quickly. “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t getting cocky on me.” Shane said while jumping back to his feet. Then he ran at me with speed than I had ever seen him use. When I sidestepped, he grabbed me by my waist, and before I knew it, my face was on his chest, his iron grasp was around me. This was according to plan, thank God. Before his arms had clasped around me, I had gotten mine out of capture. I started laughing and he grinned down at me, and said “I told you that you wouldn’t get the chance to hurt Jasper.” “I know. I just didn’t expect it to end so quickly. I didn’t know you were that fast.” I said, and I knew that he was going to get all cocky. “And that would also be vise versa.” He said. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. I pulled myself up and hugged him so that my feet weren’t touching the ground. He started walking toward John, bringing me along, his arms clasped around my waist. “Put her in fourth degree. One below me.” Shane said. John looked confused. I turned my head so that Shane wouldn’t see, and mouthed “not yet” at him. He shrugged and said, “Well, she technically isn’t decapitated and she hasn’t given up yet so…” “Molly, are you done, or are you going to attempt to free yourself?” Shane asked me doubtfully. I used my arms which were around his neck to pull myself up to kiss him, and he froze. The entire room went completely silent, every conversation that had started up silenced like Shane. Then he realized that I was kissing him, and he kissed me back. I heard Jasper give an angry “humph” and had to try not to laugh. When the arms around me had relaxed, I ended the kiss regretfully and pushed off of Shane’s chest with all the strength that I could force into my arms. I attacked him from every side, and he was barely keeping up. He was so disorientated, that he tripped over my foot, and took this chance to hit a few pressure points, and then he really tried to fight back. He was no longer just disorientated, he was furious that I would do that, and fresh tears spilled over from my eyes. I blinked them away and in my mind prayed that he would forgive me for being so cruel. His anger made every blow that hit me hurt emotionally as well as physically. Then a powerful kick sent me into the same wall I had sent him into and I heard a sickening crack come from one of my ribs, and for the second time today, adrenaline pulsed hard through my veins, but this time I invited it to take over, but controlled it from hurting him beyond bruises. The adrenaline made me lightning fast and my blows somehow even harder than his. They landed with deadly precision, and soon he was gasping for air. He didn’t have time to find a weak point in my attacks; he was too busy trying to block them. And then after about ten minutes of this he cried “Uncle!” The blow that was about to hit his chest, I turned into an embrace. He was sweating really hard and gasping for air. I stood there hugging him for about ten minutes and there were tears flowing down my face, taking some of the mascara that Rose had put on me with it. When his gasping turned into his normal breathing I looked up at him. He glared back down at me, and a chill ran through my spine and I asked in a really small voice “You hate me now, don’t you?” My voice broke, and the tears ran down my face in a fresh torrent. “You used the way I felt about you against me. I thought you were better than that.” He said, the ice in his voice so piercing that my arms withdrew, and I looked at his face, a deep fear in my heart. It was a deep, hateful, glower. Tears were dripping from my face, and my heart felt like it was being ripped in two. “I’m sorry.” I whispered, my voice finding a way to break three times in the two words that came from my heart that wanted any way to make things better. His hateful glare didn’t soften, and a sob escaped my lips before I used the last of the adrenaline to give me energy to run as fast as I could away from this place where I had just ripped my own heart in two by being so heartless. I got home in less than two minutes, and I wanted nothing more than his forgiveness in the entire world. I ran up to my room where we had sat for so long before I had been so heartless and hurt him so badly. I cried into my pillow for a long time, or it felt so long while drowning in this sorrow. Then strong hands picked me up and held me. I expected it to be Jasper, using any chance to make me want him more than I wanted Shane. But they were warmer, and much gentler than Jasper could be after he had just seen me kiss Shane. I saw him and I was so confused. It was Shane, but his eyes were the exact opposite of what they were than the last time I’d seen them. They were joyful and loving. He wrapped his arms around me and I was stunned. “What?” I asked a sob breaking my single word. “Violet told me what you said. She also said that you didn’t want anybody to know.” He said, sitting on my bed, me on his lap, and he grabbed a tissue and wiped the tears from my eyes so gently, I couldn’t believe that these were the same hands that had been trying to hit me and injure me such a short time ago. The tears were letting up for a little bit, but I knew they’d be coming back soon enough. “But what I did was…” “Bad, yes. But nobody will give me grief, because I’m bigger and stronger than most of them. The rest… are mostly jealous. And in the same position, they’d do the same thing exactly.” Shane said, wiping the last of my tears away. “I didn’t know that what I’d told Violet would mean so much to you. But you were so mad at me…” I said, remembering the icy glare he’d given me. “I was worried that you were only acting like you cared. And that really looked like a rejection in the car, but now that I know what had really happened inside your head,” and then he leaned down and kissed me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer to him. His arms were gently around my waist, and he was kissing me. My broken heart knew it was forgiven now, and the pieces were being mended with the deepest joy I’d felt in so long. Then about two minutes later Jacob and Jordan came bursting into my room yelling “Leave her alone!” until they saw us. “What the…” Jacob said, just as confused as I was at first, and then Jordan said, “Sorry.” Shane broke away and looked at them, while I sat there still stunned. “We thought you’d be ticked off after she did that so when you left we chased you to make sure that you didn’t yell at her. Seriously, I’ve met girls who make more sense than you do.” I snapped out of my shock then and said, “Why does everybody think me incapable of protecting myself from him? Honestly, I think I’m fending for myself quite well.” I said this while I climbed out of Shane’s lap, and got behind him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he just laughed at me. Violet came in then, saw us, and I instantly knew what had happened. “Go on you two. I’ll take them both on willingly.” Violet said with a smirk. “Good luck trying to understand them.” Jacob said staring at me with mystified eyes. When all their backs were turned on us, I kissed Shane again, and a minute later Violet had to clear her throat loudly to make me remember her. I honestly didn’t care though, and Shane had to break away another minute later, my disappointed facial expression making him laugh. “Well, it looks like I don’t have an awful lot of time to talk to you two, so, what just happened?” She asked, looking so bewildered by the fact that he had forgiven me so quickly. Shane gently pried my hands from around my neck, and kissed me again to keep me from pouting. Violet rolled her eyes at me, and I knew that this was getting old for her. “Well, what you told him made him forgive me. And now we’re here.” I said, hoping she wouldn’t ask for any more information. “Well, Jasper is fuming and he wants his chance to fight you so let’s get back over there.” Violet said jokingly. Shane picked me up as he stood and we started down the stairs. Rose saw us and really started grinning, and course a chorus of “I told you so” started up. When I tried to hit her, Shane decided to kiss me again so that Rose would stay in one piece. That shut Rose up, so, I was fine with it. We went outside, and started walking back toward where I was bound to fight Jasper at. About a block away from the karate school, Shane put me down and let me walk. I winced as the pain from my ankle, and the rib that was injured in our fight, registered, and he saw the pain twist through my face though I concealed it quickly. “What’s wrong, Molly? What hurts?” Shane asked me worriedly. “I’m fine.” I said on impulse. It’s been a while since I’ve been okay with anybody taking care of me. “Don’t lie to me, Molly. I know you better than that.” Shane said in a severe tone that wiped away the bliss that I had been enjoying for the last half an hour. I shrank away from his tone, but when I did this he wrapped his arms around me. I felt safe here, in his arms; nobody could hurt me while I was safely under his protection. “Molly, tell me what hurts.” He said in that gentle voice that touched me deeply. “My rib and my ankle hurt. I’ll be fine though.” I said after a minute of walking like this. He was supporting most of my weight, so this felt very simple and easy. “Which rib did you hurt and how?” He asked worriedly. I lightly touched the injured rib, but I didn’t want to tell him that he had hurt me. He would feel so guilty, and it was my own fault. He touched it just as gently as I had, but it felt more like he was trying to find out how badly it was hurt. “How did you hurt it?” He asked again, still in a gentle voice. I didn’t answer. “How did it get hurt?” He asked a little more forcefully, but still softly. I shook my head to tell him that I wasn’t going to tell him. Then comprehension flashed through his body and he tensed. “I hurt you didn’t I? That’s why you got so good at fighting all of a sudden after you hit that wall when we were fighting isn’t it?” He said with a heavy layer of regret in his voice. I still didn’t answer and this frustrated him. “Answer me!” He said in the severe voice that made me want to cry. “Don’t yell at her!” Jacob and Jordan said in unison. “I’m trying to help her and she won’t talk to me.” Shane explained. “Yes.” I said with a sob in my voice. “I’m sorry.” He said in a pained voice. He couldn’t bear the fact that he had hurt me. He picked me up and carried me the rest of the way, which wasn’t more than a block. When we got there he laid me down in front of John and said, “I hurt her rib while we were fighting.” John looked at him, and his stare promised a reprimanding later. Then his hand gently felt my damaged rib. I gasped faintly when it stopped and added some pressure to the sorest spot. “Do you still want to fight with Jasper, Molly?” John asked me. “Yes.” I said, and I actually did now that I saw the way he was looking at Shane and me. He called over Violet and showed her how to wrap up my rib. She took me into the bathroom and wrapped me up. When I came back out, she asked for more wrapping so she could do my ankle. He gave it to her and she made me sit so that she could do my ankle. “She’s not so tough when she’s facing Shane either is she?” I heard that stupid kid named Sean say. My ankle was done being wrapped and she was tying it, so I took from her, tied it sloppily and used my bad ankle to hit Sean over the head hard enough to knock him out. He dodged and grabbed my foot. He twisted me around, and I landed a kick with my other foot square into his stomach. He grunted and released my foot, and a fight commenced between us. His little pals jumped in too. Joshua sent me into a wall, and another rib started hurting. The adrenaline kicked back in, and they were all down in less than five minutes. “What did you do that for?” Jasper asked from behind me. I jumped because I hadn’t realized he was behind me. I jogged over to Violet and asked her to fix up my other rib. “See? This is what happens when you go around picking fights.” She said while leading me over to the bathroom to fix up my other rib. Shane got to us before I could escape into the bathroom and gave it to me. “Why would you attack a bunch of little kids like that Molly? You could have gotten hurt!” Was the first thing out of his mouth. “Why would you care? I thought you hated her!” Jasper asked while coming up behind me and letting his hands rest on my waist. This made me extremely uncomfortable, but I let it slide for now. Shane was eyeing Jasper’s hands like he was thinking the same thing. Violet grabbed my hand and tried to lead me back into the bathroom, but Jaspers hands became restraining now. “Jasper, let go of me.” I said in an annoyed voice. “Nobody else ever got a break in between fights, or got to dress their wounds before they went on to the next fight, either. Why do you get both of these?” He asked. “Either way, hands off.” Shane said in a dangerous voice. “No.” Jasper responded, but it sounded more like a challenge than anything. I pushed myself out of Jaspers grip, and Shane’s hands replaced Jaspers. I let my head lie on his chest for a moment, while Japer glowered, and Shane grinned down at me. “What the hell happened? I thought you hated her!” Jasper said as he observed us with a deep jealousy in his eyes. “I got over it.” Shane said, and then he kissed me briefly. The hushed conversations that had started up died as our lips touched, and I heard a few mouths noisily drop open. Even John, who was speaking to a man I didn’t recognize fell silent. I looked around and blushed. “I’m really starting to enjoy seeing that on you.” Shane said softly, but his tender whisper carried across the entire room somehow. My blush deepened, and I felt so self conscious, though it didn’t even seem like he remembered the rest of the people in the room. “Shane, enough of that before Jasper rips your head off. And what Jasper is saying is quite true. Molly, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you delay your fight with Jasper any longer.” John said while coming over to us with the other man he was talking to in tow. “Oh fine. If Jasper is that desperate to have me kick his butt, then I might as well get it over with.” I said while turning around and reaching up to kiss Shane once more. The man who had been talking with John looked extremely annoyed, and this obviously bothered Shane. About thirty seconds later the man lashed out at us, and Shane parted with me before the man struck me with his foot. This got me mad, and I attacked right back. He blocked my blows with ease, and struck me again. “ Ever heard of manners?” I asked while sneaking a blow from my foot in from behind him. It hit him square on, and I used my other foot to block his feet so that he was on his knees. “Yes, actually I have, but apparently you don’t tend to mind your own.” The man said looking surprised. He was about to lash out at me again but John cut in. “Please forgive her, she’s very new at this school. She has just moved into this city as well. She doesn’t know who you are, or she would be on much better behavior.” John said, while holding me back. “Molly, your fight is with a very annoyed Jasper right now.” He said while grunting under all the force I was putting behind his hand. Then he got really annoyed and pinned me right on the spot. I had enough respect for him to not struggle when he did this, though I was not a fan of humility. The man I had been fighting grinned triumphantly and I just rolled my eyes and ignored him. “John, who is this anyway, your employer?” I asked while trying to sound respectful. “Actually, yes, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would apologize to him for being so rude.” John responded. I rolled over without pinning John, but simply just getting up and offering him a hand to get up. He grabbed my hand and I pulled him up. “I apologize for attacking you.” I said in the most respectful voice I could muster at the moment, though I was really annoyed at the moment. John looked like he was going to say something like “And” to make me apologize for kissing Shane, but a look from me told him that I wasn’t going to apologize for that, and that would just make him look bad. So at that moment, I lashed out and attacked Jasper, who somehow saw it coming and managed to deflect it with his own attack to my worst rib. The adrenaline pulsed through my veins but I didn’t let it take over yet. I charged at him again letting a small portion of the adrenaline show. I got in one hit and he landed a square kick back into the same rib, sending me into the wall that had taken so many hits today. This time the adrenaline was so powerful and strong and I let it take over my mind. I came at Jasper faster than I had ever run in my life and started striking him with so much speed that not even I could follow where each hand was hitting because it all looked like a blur. Jasper and I were both breathing in shallow gasps, and he was actually having time to find weak points in my attacks. He kicked me square in the chest sending back into the wall. He looked so off balance and like he didn’t have more fight left in him. His shallow gasps were distressed, but mine felt like they were out of exhilaration. And then my gasps somehow turned into laughing, and not even I understood why I was laughing right now. I felt like I had so much energy and I came at him again and he went back to dodging and blocking each attack and gasping gradually grew harder as my attacks began increasing in tempo, the beads of sweat dripping to floor from both of us making things a bit slippery. He certainly wasn’t going to give up like Shane did, and I knew this much. He would have to be immobilized out of exhaustion. I could get him there, but it might take a while. I thought of Shane’s lips on mine and the tempo of my attacks doubled. This took him by surprise, and I landed a square kick into his chest sending him into the wall. I fell to my knees panting, but I knew I couldn’t rest for more than a few seconds. He hit the wall, and didn’t even try to stay on his feet when he saw that I wasn’t going to attack right away. He let himself fall onto his back and I knew he was trying to slow his heart rate down. “You could just say uncle,” I offered. “Not-pant-A-pant-Chance.-pant, pant” He answered, and I knew that the offer was very tempting. “You’re not giving in till I drive every once of energy from your body are you? Are you going to have Joshua carry you home?” I asked him, trying to get him to give in. “No. I’m going to win this fight.” Jasper said, his breathing had gone down miraculously fast. Then he got up and charged at me, and I let him pin me. “I have won this fight.” He said triumphantly. Applause broke out. “Are you kidding? I have a ton of energy left. I’m not going to be done for a while.” I said flipping him onto his back. He struggled weakly. “Are you done yet?” I asked sympathetically. “Not a chance.” He said flipping me off of him. I thought of Shane again and had so much energy that I came at him as fast as I had the first time and shocked him with a punch to the middle of the chest that sent him into the wall. “How the hell can you still have that much energy and strength after fighting so much today?!” He grunted coming back at me with half of my speed. “Thinking of Shane, that’s how.” I said just loud enough for Shane to hear, who was ten feet away, but I knew that Jasper heard it. His speed matched mine and he finally posed a threat to me with a speed I’d never seen before, and in his anger he looked like a mirror when I’d had so much adrenaline. He tried to get me to chase him around, but I knew that would be exhausting. He saw that I wasn’t going to chase him and charged me again. I saw him hit Shane as he passed by. He made it look like an accident, but his smirk proved that it was purposely done. This agitated me so much that I charged at him with an inhuman speed that I knew scared half the people there. This was what he wanted; he had more practice striking when he was running this fast. Then I tripped myself to stop myself from doing something stupid. Well, nobody had expected this, not even Shane had thought I would trip. Jasper kept coming at me. When he got to me, I lunged for his legs, wrapped both arms around both of his legs and he fell flat on his face, and it became a purely personal squabble on the floor for us. I gave him a black eye and then it rang loud and clear through the room. “Enough!” The punch that was about to give Jasper a bloody nose stopped on command but all of my weight was behind it so I ended up falling on top of Jasper and laying across his chest felt really awkward, but I was so tired that I couldn’t move at the moment. We laid there panting, and then, the man I had been fighting earlier walked over. “Molly is the better fighter. I don’t want you two fighting any more today.” He said, and Shane came over and scooped me up. I was cradled in his arms and he kissed me right then and there, just to get Jasper mad. He attacked us and this time it was him and Shane rolling on the floor beating each others brains out. “Um, you never really introduced yourself. I’m Molly by the way, and I wouldn’t bother separating those two for a good five or ten minutes. If you do, they’ll just take it outside and return to beating each others brains out.” I said, watching Shane with laughing eyes. “Yeah, I saw him hit Shane, and honestly, I would rather Shane got him for it than watching you do it for him. That’s too personal to use in initiation. And I’m James.” The man said. James, I guess that fit him okay. After a minute of watching Jasper and Shane wrestle on the ground, Jasper kicks Shane off of him, and charges him and Shane is momentarily paralyzed, leaving him wide open and vulnerable. Jasper of course took advantage of this and started beating Shane up. Shane was conscious again and was fighting back, but he was losing already and wasn’t getting his upper hand in strength and energy back into play. After a while of watching Shane get hurt without getting any punches back, my temper rose. I tapped on Jaspers shoulder and when he turned around, I dealt him every ounce of power I could force through my arm in the form of a punch to the face. Next thing I knew, he was out cold, and I was on the ground next to Shane. “Are you okay? How bad did he hurt you?” I asked him. “I’m perfectly fine.” Shane’s voice came from behind me. I yelped in surprise and was suddenly in his arms. “But…?” I asked completely confused. “Jasper never was very good at telling the difference between a dummy and the real thing when the dummy was made well. I attacked him, I made sure the guys had a dummy ready for me to use when I got sick of pummeling him.” Shane explained smugly. I kissed him and nobody bothered us for a while. It had been about four minutes since I’d started kissing him, and then somebody punched Shane. It was Jasper again. “You are such a pain Jasper! Give up already! I like him better, and stop trying to kill him!” I screeched at Jasper. He looked completely torn apart after that. I could have sworn that he would have cried, but then Violet started talking to him about cooking again and I could see where she was going. After this I would so owe her. It was getting dark now and I was absolutely exhausted. I leaned into Shane, and he knew that I was tired. “Are you going to fall asleep in the same position as you had last night?” He asked with a smile in his voice and he was teasing me, as usual. He now supported most of my weight. I was leaning into him, and no doubt I looked asleep. “Well, she looks comfortable, but I’ve heard that you can never tell if she’s sleeping or awake. Molly, are you awake because I’d like to ask you something.” James asked. “Then ask quickly, or I might fall asleep on you.” I responded in slurred speech. Suddenly I was falling, and I realized that Shane had taken a couple of steps backward. I was so far asleep that my feet wouldn’t move very fast, and I would have fallen pretty hard on my face if I hadn’t landed on my shoulder after managing to spin faintly in an attempt to land on my back. “Ow.” I said, my speech still slurred till it was barely comprehensible. I heard a chorus of muffled laughter coming from all sides of me. “Why did you let me fall? I thought you were supposed to keep me from getting hurt Shane. Or I could probably give Japer a chance. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t mind at all.” I said, my speech becoming more comprehensible with each word, but only slightly. “We wanted to see how awake you were.” Shane said laughing. “You knew I was mostly asleep and that I was leaning on you. I would have preferred cold water. That wouldn’t have added to the bruises I have right now.” I said, finally managing to roll onto my back. Then, I groaned. “Jasper, you moron, I’m so sore from fighting with you…ugh.” I said, groaning a few more times. Then a fist connected with my jaw. “OW!” I yelled, rolling over. I started yelling loud profanities that I was sure were insulting to John to hear, but the pain in my jaw was intense enough that I honestly didn’t care. Rose stuffed an apple between my teeth after about thirty seconds and it made my screeching profanities impossible to keep up. I bit into the apple and it tasted so good. I realized that I hadn’t eaten in a while and then wolfed down my newly obtained apple, the natural sugars waking me up better than anything else would have. “Nice thinking, Rose. That woke her up and shut her up pretty quick.” Shane said while coming over to me and picking me up. He put me on my feet, and I doubted that he would continue to hold most of my weight so I prepared my legs to catch the weight. But I had a feeling my legs weren’t up to it right now so I wrapped my arms around his neck. “What, you’re not mad at me for letting you fall? Or for letting Jasper punch you?” Shane asked surprised that I’d forgive him that quickly. “Yes I am mad at you, but my legs aren’t up to holding my weight right now and you just so happen to be the person I’m leaning on, and this way you can’t make me fall again.” I said, almost feeling smug, but not quite. “Well, are you joining our little karate school, or would you rather work here, and learn on the job?” James asked. This woke me up enough to make me take some more of my own weight on my feet, but not all of it. I spun around, almost falling but Shane caught me and supported some of my weight. “You’re offering me a job here?” I asked completely bewildered. “Yes, or you could just train here. We aren’t desperately in need of assistance, but you are absolutely a magnificent fighter, and we would be honored to have you teach here.” James said smiling. “Um … I think I could do assistant teacher, but not a real teacher. I’m still only a fifth degree black belt.” I said, hoping that I seemed modest enough. “Assistant when we need her?” James asked. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” I responded, glad that he understood. “Just don’t make him drop me when I’m this tired and sore.” I added for Shane’s benefit. Jasper came at me again and I had absolutely no energy to block him. When James saw that I didn’t have the energy, he blocked Jasper and scorned him for repeatedly attacking me. “She’s doing it on purpose though!” Jasper argued. “She said that for Shane’s benefit you moron.” Jordan said while hitting Jasper over the head. Jasper didn’t bother to hit him back. “You two had better stop flirting like that around me or I swear I won’t hold back.” Jasper threatened. “Jasper, don’t threaten the teacher assistant!” I yelled at him mockingly to change the subject. John and James grinned at me and Jasper charged at me again. John pinned him and scolded him some more. Shane kissed me while I was still conscious enough to respond. A minute later something hit me and I was instantly soaked. The water was cold, and it woke me up immediately. “I thought teachers weren’t supposed to date their students.” Kevin said. “Kevin, go away.” Shane said, really annoyed. “Rose, have you got something dry for Molly to wear? My brother is being a total jerk.” And then I saw the resemblance between Kevin and Shane. I hadn’t realized that they were brothers before. I felt so stupid that it had taken him having to state the relation between them to realize that they looked so much alike. “Well, at least I’m awake now,” I said while yawning, “though not completely.” “Am I going to have to give up my shirt again, Rose?” Shane asked. I heard a couple of girls start murmuring excitedly when he said this. “Do you normally surrender your shirt to a girl with a wet one Shane? It sounds like some of the girls are a bit excited about that.” Rose said, giving me a look that told me I might have “competition” for Shane’s attention. “No, normally they have to go home to get a shirt. And John isn’t very fond of having his students shirtless, but I think that if she went home she’d collapse on her bed shoes, wet shirt, and even seriously muddy pants if that was what she was wearing.” Shane said grinning down at me. He was only about three inches taller than her so it wasn’t a major difference. “Yeah, probably. I don’t tend to bring a spear set of clothes for everybody in the family everywhere I go. Only myself and Violet actually care about being seen all sweaty and gross on the walk home. Molly doesn’t really ever worry because nobody ever gets too good a look at her. She always speeds home to the shower before any of us are within a mile radius of our home. By the time we get there, she’s getting out of the shower already.” Rose said with a grin. Shane teasingly groaned, and I knew he was joking especially when he slipped behind me and pulled the shirt over my head. He picked me up and carried me like a potato sack with me mocking a captive and lightly pounding on his back as he carried me. Jacob and Jordan were laughing extremely hard and Rose and Violet were watching with a deep satisfaction. page 13