Fighting To Be Free

Fighting Within

The rest of maths class seemed to drag on.  Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if Katelyn hadn't been able to feel those increasingly familiar gray eyes boring into her.  Angling her her head to the side, she let her ponytail fall between them, but it didn't really create the effective waterfall that she had been hoping for.

Finally deciding that she had had enough of the staring, she shot a glare at him, hoping it was lethal enough to make him back off.  Unfortunately, it didn't have the desired effect.

One corner of his mouth tipped up in an already familiar smirk.

"You sure look pretty when your mad," he drawled lazily.

The glare became even hotter, especially when she realized that she was attracting dangerous glares from Candice.

"Can't you find someone else to be creepy with?" she snapped irritably.

"Not a chance.  You have my undivided attention."

Katelyn rolled her eyes as she focused back on her work.  "Lucky me," she grumbled under her breath.

"I'm not all that bad once you get to know me."

Katelyn sighed and dropped her pen, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't going to get anymore work done.

"I don't really want to get to know anyone.  Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Before Ryan could answer, the siren sounded and Katelyn didn't waste any time in getting her gear together, figuring if she could leave fast enough she might be able to ditch her unwanted companion.  Luck, she discovered, was just not on her side when she found Ryan waiting by her desk when she finally had everything under control.

"What do you have next?"

Realizing that she wasn't getting away, she grudgingly handed her schedule over and waited as he quickly skimmed it.

"History next.  Same as me."  Handing her schedule back, he quickly grinned as he saw her grimace.  Falling into step beside her, he continued to eye her stiff posture, ignoring the inviting glances that girls were throwing his way.  "I meant what I said before," he said quietly as he steered her in the direction of their next class.  "I really am not that bad once you get to know me."

"And I meant what I said before.  I really don't want to get to know anyone."

"Why?"

Katelyn stopped in the middle of the hall, turning to face him, ignoring the swarm of students that were forced to go around them.

"I really am not the sort of person you want to get involved with," she told him with an intensity that had Ryan narrowing his eyes.  "As friends or otherwise.  It would be a lot easier for you if you didn't have anything to do with me."

"Why do you say that?"

Katelyn pursed her lips tightly as she carefully thought over her answer.

"Let's just say it'll be safer for you in the long run."

Ryan took a step forward, ignoring when she took a step back in response.  Bending forward, he brought his lips to her ear ensuring that she wouldn't miss a word.

"Do I look like the kind of guy that would take the easier or safer route?"

Katelyn ground her teeth together as she realized that that had been the exact wrong thing to say.

~~~

"I'm home!"  Letting the door slam shut, Katelyn trudged through the house, letting her bad mood shine through.

"Hey, Kate.  What's up?"

A tall, broad-shoulded young man walked into the room and took in the expression on her face.  A frown began to form on his handsome face and he ran a hand roughly through his dark red hair that was a shade darker than his sister's.  Leaning against the wall, he crossed his arms and ankles and sighed.

"Alright, let's have it.  Who upset you?"

"Come on, Mark.  Why do you think I'm upset?"

Mark just raised one eyebrow as he waited.

Rolling her eyes, Katelyn sighed as she sat down on a black couch and kicked her shoes off.  "School was fine, the same as it usually is."

"But ..."

Sighing again, she shrugged her shoulders.  "There was just this one guy that didn't want to leave me alone."

Standing up straight, Mark's face was set determinedly and he looked intimidating and dangerous.  "Who is he?"

Waving her hand, she waited until her brother relaxed his shoulders.  "It's nothing I can't handle.  It's just that he was pretty insistent.  He's got it into his head that we're going to be friends."

"Are you sure it's just friends that he has in mind."

Katelyn groaned as she remembered the look in Ryan's eyes when she had been talking to him.  "No," she finally admittted.  "But I can handle it, Mark.  I don't need you to intervene or anything.  I'm not a little kid anymore."

Mark sighed and went and sat down next to her.  "I know that," he replied grudgingly.  "But you know you can't get involved with him."

"I know that."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll just take it as it comes.  Anyway, he'll probably have forgotten all about me by tomorrow."

Mark had to stifle a chuckle as he stood up again.  His sister really didn't realize just how attractive she was to the opposite sex.  She wasn't what anyone would call beautiful, but there was something alluring about her to look at.  She had a unique beauty that was all her own.

Katelyn looked up as the front door opened again and a middle-aged woman with her blonde hair swinging freely about her shoulders stepped through carrying a bag of groceries.

"Kate," she said, her blue eyes smiling.  "How was school?"

"Same as always.  Do you need a hand with dinner?"

"Why not?  We'll just be having lasagne."

Kate and their guardian glanced over at Mark as he let out a hungry groan at the mention of his favourite meal.  "Maria," he said as he held out a hand towards her.  "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Maria snorted as she started towards the kitchen.  "Yeah right!  You only love what I make for you."

"Maria!  What do you take me for?"  His voice faded off as he followed their guardian into the kitchen, leaving Katelyn sitting on the couch by herself.

Once alone, Katelyn let her thoughts drift to a pair of gray eyes set in a perfectly sculpted face, and she let her face fall into her hands.  For the first time, she knew it was going to be hard to act indifferent to someone.  For the first time, she had felt the unfamiliar stirrings of attraction for someone.

"I like him," she whispered to herself, mortified.  Shaking her head, she let her wild thoughts run freely through her head.  What am I going to do?  How am I going to force myself to stay away from him?  Can I stay away from him?

She lifted her head as that last thought whirled through her mind.  Could she stay away from him?  She wasn't altogether sure she could.