Guardian: Chapter One

I barely slept. And when I finally closed my eyes, I had nightmares. He was in them, sneering whispering icy words. I awoke paranoid and filled with unreasonable thoughts, looking around my room as I dressed myself, like I was afraid he'd be standing in one of the shadows.
         Unfortunately, I was not at ease, even in school. Usually I felt genuinely safe inside the thick walls of Rose High School, I'd been taught that it was the safest place a kid could be. It was a relatively warm place, with friendly staff and student population. It was a small, run down building, and was fixated about a block away from the elementary and middle school. Sunderland was a small place, sweet country side with only about four thousand people around. The high school was as dull as the town, but homey. It was fairly bright and in good condition, with lots of open windows during the warm seasons.
         It was the middle of fall when the new family moved in. A couple of my girlfriends decided that to go along with Sunderland tradition, we would all get together and attempt to bake something and bring it over to the newcomers. Thursday evening we slaved over a cheap cook book for a few hours until we had a finished product: a slightly sloppy, raspberry pie. The new family's house was close to mine, so we had walked over there and knocked on the door. Karen Roberts and her husband Paul greeted us graciously; their son was not as open. We came in, chatted for a while, and displayed our pie. The emaciated figure slumped over in a chair was giving us icy looks the entire time.

"So how old are you all?" Karen was asking, setting to work on cutting the first piece of the pie.

"Sixteen," I said proudly, jutting up my chin.

Sixteen was certainly a milestone for any girl, and although my family didn't really have enough money to throw a huge 'Sweet Sixteen' party, I did manage to score a car. It wasn't the best thing in the world, and it still needed a bit of a fix up before it was safe to take it on the road. But still, it was a car, and it was my car. Mrs. Robert's smiled softly at me. The rest of the girls chorused in with their own ages, sixteen, besides Kristine who was still fifteen.

"Lovely, you girls and Shawn are around the same age. He's seventeen." She said lightly, before looking back over her shoulder.

Docile footsteps creaked across the grubby floors and suddenly he was standing beside his mother. I took a good look at him, frowning at his frailty. He was willowy, standing a good few inches over me. His arms were like sticks, legs like sickly branches; he was built like a pole. His skin was ashen, unlike any hue I'd ever seen. He certainly got his eyes from his father, big, brown and liquid-like. His hair was from his mother, a soft, pale blond that was cut at ear level.

"Shawn, these are all girls from your new school. Lauren lives a few houses down from us," Mrs. Roberts explained, looking to me with a smile.

He said nothing, and kept staring at me even after his Mother's small introduction. He was slouched to the side slightly, one boney hip irregular with the other. He had on a small white T-shirt over an emaciated torso and baggy pajama bottoms, looking like he'd just woken up. He said nothing, and continued to stare.

         And it only got weirder, after an hour or so we were starting to say our goodbyes. Half of the pie had been eaten, and Mrs. Roberts insisted I take it home with me. She told me that it would be too hard for Mr. Roberts to resist the temptation if it was in their fridge. I was wrapping the remains up in plastic wrap when a voice startled me.

"You have a scar on you cheek."
         
         His voice was silky, but was etched with a certain hardness that chilled me. I turned lightly to find him staring below my left eye, his gaze dark. His parents and my friends were still chatting in the living room, and I couldn’t figure out how he had managed to slip away with out being noticed.

"Yeah, I fell a while ago," I stated coolly.

         I found it odd that he had even noticed the scar, it was pretty miniscule. But he seemed obsessed with it; every time I looked up towards him his gaze was fixated on that one spot. If he wanted to see a scar, all he needed to do was look at my hip bone; I had a long white one that had been there for as long as I could remember. But, I wasn’t about to show him that.

"So, I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow? First day, huh?" I asked easily as I wound the final wrapping over the pie, satisfied with my work.

         He didn’t reply and headed for the stairwell that extended from the kitchen. His limp was more pronounced than before. I had noticed it earlier; his left leg didn’t seem to be able to hold as much pressure as his right. It didn’t look comical when he walked; it looked pitiful, as if he were wounded puppy hobbling away. I frowned at his back, confused and slightly bewildered at the nature of our "conversation.
         The boy had perturbed me to the point of nightmares, and my friends seemed to have similar problems. And that was why I felt slightly wary walking into school that day. The scenery outside was charming, the colder turn in the weather had stained all the leaves a striking ocher. Bursts of mahogany and ginger were splayed across the sky, our maple barricaded school grounds picturesque. The scent in the air was invigorating. But walking inside the building, my mug of tea clenched apprehensively in my fingers, I saw something that made my blood run cold.  A head of pale blond hair, a malnourished body leaned like a perfect statue against one of the pillars.

         His eyes smoothed quickly over mine and my muscles iced over. I couldn’t have run away if I'd tried, frozen stiff as he shuffled towards me. I was getting suspicious looks as Shawn neared me, a few whispers staining the air. The new kid talking to Lauren Carver? What in the world?
         Even my own thoughts were questioning, I was wondering why in the world I had ever thought it would be a good idea to go pay him a visit. So much for karma, I tried to do something nice and it came back and slapped me upside the head.

"Hello," I started softly, trying to keep the flush down in my cheeks at all the looks we were getting.

         He said nothing. Before I could even flinch, his small fingertips were resting lightly on the top of my left cheek, right under my eye. Tender fingertips pressed gently against the hard bone, his comfortable warmth making me jerk awkwardly away.

"What are you doing?" I hissed lightly, self-consciously taking my own fingers to my face.


"You didn’t sleep last night," he noted lightly, smooth voice rendering me more awestruck than before.
         
         He lowered his spindly arm back to his side, his face impassive. I immediately froze at his statement, jumping to conclusions. He'd been spying on me! That little, perverted creep.

         
"H-how did you know that?" I demanded.

         
         Shawn gave me a funny look.

"You have bags under your eyes," he calmly explained, raising an eyebrow as if I were the weird one.

         Guilt washed over me immediately, a grimace harshly pulling at the corners of my lips. I wasn’t sure whether to apologize or not, although I don’t think I could have found the words to do so if I had tried. My throat seemed to have closed up. Shawn seemed lightly amused at my discomfort, his eyes almost smug as they rolled from my face to the cafeteria behind me.

"I have to go to class now," I sputtered out desperately, flinching lightly in an effort to signal I was leaving.

         He made no move to stop me, face devoid of emotion as I sidestepped away from him, gripping my tea tighter than ever. As I quickly scurried away, I could have sworn I heard him laughing.



         Even when lunch break rolled around I had not calmed down. Throughout the morning, everyone who had tried to approach me had received an anxious flinch in greeting. After getting my lunch I finally lowered myself wearily into a chair at the table I routinely sat at. A few of my friends were already there, chatting quietly. The first one to greet me was Kristine, dark eyes sparkling.

"Hey," she commented easily, her gaze definitely suggesting that more than just a simple greeting was coming.
         
         The boy she was dating sat next to her, stuffing his face with pizza and completely ignoring the rest of the table. The two seemed to fit together, Kristine had dark bold features. She came from strong Greek heritage, rendering her dark haired and brown skinned. Teddy on the other hand was gifted with fairer features, his skin a nice ivory and his eyes a captivating blue.

"So," Kristine started cautiously, "You and Shawn, huh?"

         A snort came from beside her.

"I could break him in half," Teddy murmured after swallowing hard.

         For some reason, I tensed and found the need to become defensive. Thankfully I had enough decency to keep my lips pressed tightly together, Kristine's soft scolding erasing the silence.

"Teddy," she groaned, "Shut it."

         The lanky boy shrugged and went back to gorging himself, realizing his interjection had not been needed. I made a face before trying to occupy myself with opening my chips, avoiding Kristen's eyes.

"Jesus, Lauren, you can do so much better than him."

         Another voice came from across the table, a girl staring hard at me as she leaned forward on her elbows. Adjusting her glasses, she wrinkled her nose at me.  I squirmed, uncomfortable already at the direction in which the conversation was headed.

"Rae, I'm not dating him," I stated calmly, although my blood was boiling, "I think he hates me, actually. Did you not even see the looks we were getting yesterday?"

         They had a lot of nerve to make fun of him like that, sure I was sort of confused and scared when around him, and he certainly had some problems, but that gave them no right to pick on him, or me.
         Teddy choked on a light laugh, Kristine slapping him hard once on the back before he could finally regain breathing. He was staring at me after he assured his girlfriend he was alright, beaming.

"Oh c'mon Lauren, we all saw that little face touch this morning," he sputtered out.

         My cheeks started burning before I could even try and concentrate on keeping them a normal color. I hung my head helplessly, teeth clenched in frustration. I couldn’t event think of anything to say back to him, there was no real way of explaining what Shawn had done, because I hadn’t even figured it out. Raising my head slowly, I gave a low sigh through my teeth.

"I just met him yesterday, Kristine, Rae…you were there!" I protested.

         Kristine's eyes widened slightly and she placed both palms quickly on top of the table, mouth slung in an 'O' of disbelief.

"Man, don’t you think it's a bit early to be getting personal like that?" she asked curiously, recoiling at my exasperated groan.

         I leaned forward, eyes narrowed at the small circle of people.

"Guys, I am not dating him." I explained carefully, "He scares me, he's definitely screwed up in the head, he walks like he has a stick shoved up his butt, and, and –Jesus I don’t even know."

         After my little rant was over, I felt horrible. Although I had won an encore from my friends with their loud laughter, I'd also won myself a big fat medal that read 'JERK'. Because that very moment, their laughter died and all their eyes slowly trailed behind me.
         Cagily, I turned around, horrified to find tooth pick legs encased in white-washed denim. Craning my neck upwards, I came to find earthen eyes that were fixated stonily across my face.

"Can I talk to you?"

         His voice was still unfathomably smooth, but strained as if he were trying to keep from screaming. There was no anger in his face, there wasn’t any emotion at all, but his body language signaled he had heard everything. He was stiff as I hesitantly rose from my chair, sending a worried glance over my shoulder at my friends who had quickly busied themselves with their lunches.

         Shawn didn’t say anything, just kept walking. I hated the uncomfortable silences he sat so composed through. I was stuck behind him, biting my tongue from screaming and trying to get him to make easy conversation.
Once we were in a quiet corner of the lunch room, he turned slowly around to face me.

"Hey, sorry about what I said back there…I mean, if you heard it all—" I stammered collectively.

"Don’t bother."

         His words shut me up pretty fast, and I sat there wringing the bottom of my T-shirt in my anxious fingers, waiting for him to speak. He stared at me silently, a few locks of sickly blond dappling over his eyebrows.

"You want to come over today?" he asked, he didn’t sound hopeful.

         He really never sounded like anything, voice so velvety but always stuck in a monotone.  I noticed his small smirk as I flushed darker, trying to think of a suitable excuse of why I wouldn’t be able to come. It was certainly an odd request, random to say the least. I was a horrible liar, and I ended up sputtering out a frantic 'Sure.'

"My Mom is making me ask," he explained dryly.


         Silence, yet again. Suddenly, his long arm reached out and he rested his fist below my collar bone, right over my heart. I wrenched away more violently than I had the first time he'd touched me without warning, but didn’t say anything.

         That was the first time I really saw him smile, full toothed, white bone almost blinding me. His smile was not happy; entertained maybe, for lack of a better word. Then, he pushed past me, still smiling.

"Meet me outside after school then."

         I was left standing there, flabbergasted and slightly annoyed. I was mentally putting a tally mark inside my head, scowling as I shyly made my way back to the table.
         Awkward moment number three.