Family Matters

Chapter four

Monday morning I was getting dressed thinking I had ten minutes or so until I had to go pick Sara up when I got a sudden shot of thrill and anxiety; it didn't take me long to figure out what she was doing. With a few muttered curses I finished what I was doing and hopped on my bike.

She didn't make it far, maybe the end of her road before I pulling up next to her. "Really?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"I decided that I would rather walk to school, you are too much like a stalker for my preference."

"I'm not stalking you I'm just trying to keep you alive. Are we going to go through this every morning?"

"Most likely."

"Well at least you're honest!"

"Any normal person would have stopped trying by now."

"I'm not normal."

"I can see that."

I racked my brain looking for some solution that would work for both of us I really could not stand the thought of having to go through this same fight every day. "Okay how about a compromise? I give you a ride to school in the morning and then you do whatever you want for the rest of the day. I won't bother you, I won't even try to talk to you if that's what you want."

"Hmm alright but if nothing happens in two weeks I want you to leave me alone."

I knew there was no point in fighting her on this, I would just spend the two weeks thinking of some other reason why she can't walk alone, "Fine but when something does happen I reserve the right to say I told you so."

***

The first week passed with no problem: I took her to school and then I followed her home every day without her knowing. After a while she noticed Sean absence and in a panic I quickly blurted out that he was staying with family. By the start of the second week it appeared as if they really were going to leave her alone there was no sign of them by her house and I never saw them when she was heading home from school. The Thursday of the second week it was raining so I brought my car instead of the bike for the first time. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive you home?" I asked as she go in.

"No it's fine I'll walk or get a ride with someone. I didn't think you actually had a car, not cool enough for you."

"Of course I have a car who wants to ride around on a bike when it is cold or raining. Besides we move around a lot so we need the extra space."

"Don't your parents also have cars?"

"Yeah but you can never have enough room," I almost forgot that she thought we were living with our parents. There were becoming too many lies to remember.

"I still think you are keeping secrets from me," Sara said randomly when we were almost at school.

"Doesn't everyone keep secrets?"

"Yeah but not everyone seems so protective about there's you act like you would rather die than tell me even a little bit about yourself."

"I've told you about myself."

"Yeah you've told me the unimportant parts: your favorite color, food, movie, and things like that that can come up casually in the five minutes it take to get from here to school. You haven't even told me where you live. Don't worry though I'll figure out what you're keeping."

"Sure you will."

I ditched after third period, Sara was determined to find her own way home and its been over a week since they have been anywhere near her so I felt comfortable enough to go to the next town over. Plus it was only about a two hour drive so I should be back not to long after she got out of school. There were some other exiles living there and Sean and I both agreed that they would make good allies if it came down to that.