Run With Me

Chapter One

Not sure if it was the vibration of the phone going off in her purse, or the persistent discomfort of the sock on her leg, but everything seemed to be rubbing Terri the wrong way today. She had pushed her way out of class the second the teacher had let them go, computer foundations just not capturing her attention like usual. And luckily, it was her last class before winter reading break. Pulling the hood of her sweater up, she tucked the strangle mess of black hair down her back before moving from one building on campus to the next. The temperature had dropped rapidly the last few days, being a precursor to a dump of snow virtually over night. And she loved it.

Shouldering her bag, Terri Waller moved towards the engineering building, bracing against the bitter wind. Wisconsin was not her first choice for her undergraduate degree, but it was the only compromise with her over protective, over bearing brothers that she could get. And she secretly loved the weather. Snow, cold, and a freezing wind. The only thing that would make it perfect was for her family to give her the room to enjoy it. The phone went off again.Ignoring the intermittent vibration, Terri pushed through the brisk winter breeze an into the quiet warmth of a little used door. It was probably Darren, her eldest brother again. Reading break was next week and he was pushing for her to come home for it. He kept saying something about out of town guests coming to visit. She continued to pretend her phone, and her family didn't exist as she took the three flights of stairs to the lab space she shared with two other students. Smirking at Greg and Jason, her lab partners, from where they were working on their own projects, Terri began to breathe a little easier."Your batteries arrived," Jason pointed to a stack of packages on one of the empty tables not currently in use. Jason Dillon had a mop of blond hair mostly hidden under a school hat, having decided to forgo hair cuts this semester as a type of rebellion. Him and Greg Sweeney were both in the engineering program, but Terri was the only biomedical student in the room. It led to some interesting late night science fiction discussions when they were all supposed to be working on their labs. Terri just grinned and tossed her bags on the chair. Reaching for the smallest package, she was just peeling the tape off of it went the door opened again. Looking over her shoulder she saw her oldest brother, Darren, shaking the snow out of his own hair and looking all sorts of irritated.

"Would it kill you to answer your phone?" He growled in her direction, pushing the door closed behind him. Both Jason and Greg were on their feet and moving to leave. Darren just growled again and they stopped dead.

"Oh stop it," Terri sighed, putting the box down, "Jason, Greg, ignore him. You don't have to leave. And you don't have listen to his posturing." She turned to her brother and winced when she saw what was in his hands. The black aluminum of her cane glistened with the melting droplets from outside.

"I didn't know if you were ignoring me or if something happened," Darren glanced over at her lab mates and nodded curtly, before turning to stand above his little sister, pulling up to his full height, "And don't forget this again. The last thing we need is for you to slip and hurt your yourself." Terri was used to his posturing, but in front of others, it was borderline insulting. Standing as tall as she could, a mere 5'2 to her brother's 6'4, she held eye contact. A cold sweat started forming on her back as she challenged him, meeting his hard grey eyes. She looked like their mother, tiny, with eyes the colour of spring mint. Darren and their brother Michael were like clone versions of their father, tall, broad, and stubborn.

The low growl in Darren's chest reverberated through Terri, causing her to shake as she continued to challenge him.

"Fine!" she snapped, breaking eye contact and snatching the cane from his fist, "I'll use the stupid thing." Glancing back at Darren, she saw his mouth twitch into his version of a smirk.

"Pack what you need, Kayla wants you home for dinner tonight," Darren looked over at the two men now hiding behind their desks, pretending to work, "you two as well. Everyone is coming." All three heads perked up at the sound of that. Kayla was truly the better half of Darren and practically lived in kitchen. It took everything in Terri not to drool as she tossed her cane on half buried computer printer.