Fighting Chances

Chapter Two

The next morning Kylie arrived early with Emy beside her, both eager to start the day.
"Morning." She said as she walked into Sudsy Pup's. "Well look who's early, you trying to make a good impression on the owner? Because I think it's working."
"You caught me." she said as she hung her head in pretend shame.
"Well we mine as well as get started. I will go ahead and show you how to do some of the real basics like clipping nails and how to get out tangled or matted hair without having to clip it." Maralynn said using Winky as a model.
"Alrighty." it seemed she would either swim or drown, she just hoped she would swim.
The day went by fast, after work Kylie was feeling good about her new start to life and was feeling especially optimistic. She pulled into the local park where she planned to take in the scenery along with her pup Emy. "This is truly something" she said as she watched the golden sun set while the beautiful colors of pinks, purples and deep bright orange covered the sky like a blanket all the while reflecting its beauty into the clear flowing river she stood at the edge of. She took in a deep breath and felt an indescribable calm rush over her. She felt safe for the first time scene, well sense she was eight or so she guessed, she couldn't be sure but one thing she knew was it wouldn't last, nothing good ever lasted, people would always let her down and plans would always fall through.
She put her hands in her jean pocket as a strong atom breeze came through. She placed her hand deep in her right pocket and she felt the photo she had earlier placed there. 'I really need to do laundry' She took it out. She didn't know why but she felt the strong urge to look at it, as she glanced at their faces smiling at her she felt angry. "It was all a lie." she whispered to the photo. "You said you loved me, But hey words are just words, nothing more.'' She couldn't help but tear up as she stared at them, a happy looking couple standing hand in hand with their baby girl in the middle. What was she looking at this for? it didn't matter anymore. She kept telling herself she was over it but every now and then her emotions would get the best of her and it was obvious she wasn't. She slipped the photo back into her pocket not sure why she didn't throw it into the river.
She heard the sound of glass shattering and screaming followed by a car alarm. She quickly turned and was pulled by Emy who sensed it was their car. She got to her car and quickly called the police. She glanced at the two men on the ground one was sitting on the other holding the other man's hands bound behind his back. "What the hell is going on?" She screamed.
"Well Miss," the guy sitting on the other man began, lifting his head to look at her. He flipped his sandy blonde hair out of his face and then continued "I caught this fella breaking into this car. Would this happen to your car?"
"Yes, it is. I called the police."
"Good call, I can handle this guy for about five to ten more minutes at best." he said then offered a winded yet cute half grin.
"My window is broken. You're gonna pay for that buddy." she said approaching the man who was eating gravel at the moment. "Oh, he sure will but he's got more trouble than that he's gotta explain what happened to his parents. Don't you Bobbie?" it just occurred to her as she stared at the man that he wasn't any older than fifteen or sixteen. But hey, on the streets age didn't matter some of the most dangerous people she had encountered were just kids. "Wait, you know him?" she asked
"Yep this young man has been in trouble before, in fact he is already on probation." she couldn't help but wonder why he was acting out, what was so bad in his life that made him behave this way? She had seen countless juvenile delinquents and even grown delinquents but the one thing they all had in common was something bad had happened. It usually started at home, and then escalated until it seemed everything in their lives had gone wrong. She was there once herself, in fact she wasn't sure she wasn't still there to some extent. "Why Bobbie?" she asked, receiving a confused look from the boy "It's none of your business lady so just shove off and go back to your mansion in hollywood!"
"Wow, you couldn't be further from the truth, I'm not near that kinda class. I don't think I could afford a milkshake from hollywood." she said, making him grin ever so slightly. Then the police showed their sirens disturbing the ducks that roamed the park. A deputy jumped out "Not Bobbie again, Son I told you if you caused any more trouble it would be a juvenile facility for you. Thanks for catching him, Aden."
"Hey, that's what us good strong citizens are here for." he joked as he stood up letting the deputy take it from there. "This is your car ma'am?'' the other officer asked. "Yes it is." Kylie answered. "Well don't worry your car will be restored and this little trouble maker will have to spend some time in the slammer. Maybe it'll help set him straight."
"With all due respect sir, you're not helping him one bit by holding him in jail, people just come out worse than they went in." Aden stifled a chuckle at her response. "Is that so?" the deputy responded "Then what do you suggest we do with troubled teens who have been warned countless times and yet still keep breaking laws vandalizing others property."
"Well I'm not sure it's the same in each case. For starters it wouldn't hurt to find out why he acts up.'' She responded, getting on the deputy's bad side, making Aden laugh silently so as not to fuel the fire this strong willed lady was starting. "Look ma'am I don't know who you are or what you are even doing here. But I know this kid and I happen to Know his parents. The only reason he acts up is because he's a bad apple. His parent's deserved a whole lot better than him." he said harshly, yanking Bobbie up in handcuffs. "You may know the parents but from my experience most troubled kids are only acting up due to some un-none problem at home that isn't being handled."
"Look lady this is our area, you some freaking shrink or something? because they are just full of crap I can tell you that right now."
"I'm not a shrink and I guess we can agree on one thing, shrinks are full of it. But one thing you don't have to be a shrink to see is that when there's smoke there's fire, now you say you've seen the smoke but yet you haven't even looked for a fire. What kinda cop are you? Any firefighter who handled their job the way you are handling yours Sir would be fired." at that everyone gasped yet Kylie stood tall and confident. "You know what fine let the little creep go, see if I care if he breaks into your car or house or whatever else this no good thug might get into."
"Wait." the other deputy said "We can't turn him loose."
"You can if I don't press charges." Said Kylie. "Okay fine, we will take him home." said the nice deputy "By the way ma'am welcome to town, I hope you like it here. I'm deputy Lance Walker. And my partner here is deputy James Malet."
"Nice to meet you, deputy." she said only to the nice one Lance "I'm Kylie Stone." she shook his hand then he tilted his head and departed, the Texas way of saying hello and goodbye. Once they were gone Kylie stared hopelessly at her broken window. "Well" Aden said "You Kylie Stone are a bit odd. Defending the person responsible for vandalizing your car? I don't understand, you don't even know that kid."
"Yeah Aden, that's what's wrong with people, they don't understand so instead of trying they just send him away. When something is wrong nobody tries to fix the problem they just bury it whatever it might be." She said in a rant "Well pretending to fix a problem doesn't actually help anything or anyone. It just makes it harder to see, that's all."
"Oh, I see. Well even if you're right about Bobbie he just keeps causing problems so he might be free at the moment but soon enough he will end up in jail."
"I know and maybe it's too late for him, but," she paused. "But what?" Aden asked
"But, I just got the feeling he was crying out for help. I don't know maybe I'm just being stupid he just didn't seem like he wanted to be causing problems."
"Actually you might be onto something, see he is really poor and he's been having a tough time lately. His Father got laid off and his mother has been working overtime trying to just keep the house."
"Well at least he now has another chance." Kylie said, crossing her arms to keep out the now chilly autumn breeze.
"You look chilly, here take my jacket." He said, "No, I'm fine." She said putting her hands up to gesture that it wasn't necessary. "Look I'm a gentleman and that's why you have to take my jacket otherwise I've failed at my job." he said, slipping his jacket over her shoulders. "Besides with no window you will definitely need it."
"Thank's." she said "not just for the jacket but for saving my car."
"I'm just disappointed in myself for letting the window get smashed." he said, shaking his head. "Oh, stop it with the humble bit, you played super hero and you know it." she said slightly miffed "Okay yeah, I guess I am pretty close to Superman that is if he had my good looks." he added.
Kylie found herself nodding in agreement naturally. 'Well he is kinda cute, ' she thought to herself. "Thanks again." she said as she went to climb into her car.
"No problem." he said with his half grin.
*****
The next day at work she walked in to find the kind lady Merilynn was standing by the counter holding bags of luggage.
"I'm sorry to have to leave on only your second day but it's urgent. See my father is having surgery and I have to be there when he wakes up. But don't worry I have Richard coming to handle things. He's my best employee and he will teach you everything you need to know."
"Um okay, I'm sorry your fathers having surgery. Hope it goes well"
"Same, well I have to catch my plane to Newhamptur so good luck." and just like that Kylie was alone and didn't know how to do much, this was only her second day on a job she had no experience for. She hoped Richared would get here soon. Then the phone rang, making her jump. Should she pick it up? What if they wanted to schedule something or wanted to know what kinda shampoo they use or what if they wanted advice on how to clip a dog's nails? It was settled she'd do absolutely nothing till Richared arrived. Right on cue he walked in with a grin. "Well good old Marillynn sure does know how to pick em." he said while looking her up and down. She felt very uncomfortable, which was nothing that hadn't happened a million times on the street. "Well then I certainly don't know why she picked you?" she retorted.
"So I see we've got a feisty one, well I like a woman with a bit of spunk." he winked "We should get along just fine." she rolled her eyes just what she needed. 'I left the city to get away from creeps, it doesn't look like any place is creep free.' she thought.
He approached her and shook her hand, she gave a strong grip to show him who he was dealing with. Maybe then he'd go find some weak person to pick on. But instead he grinned, "you will be an interesting one to train." His words were not the problem, it was the way he said them that irked her.
She suffered through the day enduring many innuendos and shrugging off countless accidental touches and comments. She left the second her work was done. As she walked to the door he hollered "I do have to say you lean rather fast. Are you that fast with everything?" he smiled and she got his meaning. She went out the door without bothering to dignify his comment with an answer or anything else. "What a creep she whispered as she climbed into her car.'' She had left her pup at home and was looking forward to seeing her. She started to close her car door when she heard a noise through her broken window, she jumped out and ran in the direction of the loud slaming sound coming from a house in town.