Starting Over Anderson || ✔

Eighteen: Fight

*New cover made by me! Tell me what you think about it :p *

112 days A.D.

It's been two days since Aaron Hood saved me and brought me home, but I can't seem to shake him out of my head. It's not that I'm developing a crush on him or anything close to that - I'm fascinated by the idea of him.

I go over the details of that afternoon in my head, how I was wishing for my death one second, and then how Hood had swept the thugs off their feet - literally - in the next. If only I could do what he could. Maybe - oh the endless possibilities!

I'm wiping the counter when the door bell chimes and I call with fake cheerfulness, "Welcome to Bob's, may I take your order?"

I look up a little too late to find Rachel standing in front of the counter, smiling tentatively.

"Hi Rach, what can I get you?" I force out sweetly although I'm cursing her to hell and back in my head.

"Uhm, can I get a cheeseburger deluxe combo?" she bites her lips.

"Sure, takeaway?"

She nods, avoiding my eyes.

I key in her order and Charlie starts whipping up her order. She's studying in community college, working at Bob's to earn a little side income. Don't let that fool you though - Charlie's family is actually a loaded gun.

I thank Charlie and hand over the food in a paper bag to Rach. She accepts it and gulps nervously. After running off that day, Rach had called at night to ask if I was okay. I lied, of course. I told her that I was feeling a little nauseous and decided to head home instead. I apologized for not telling her about it earlier. Bullshit. Our friendship had been strained after that. Rach noticed something was up right away and confronted me about it. I just smiled and lied that it's nothing. I'm not ready to listen to her admit to me herself. It would hurt too much. So this is what I choose, pretending that nothing had happened. Pretend and avoid as much as possible. I had applied to cover more shifts at Bob's to lessen my free time so I don't need to hang out with my ex-best friend and her new bitch.

"I know something's up, Jen. I just wish you'd tell me," Rach whispers, low enough that only I hear it.

Of course you'd want that. "I'll tell you when the time is right," I answer, my smile unwavering. A guy I recognize from school enters the diner and I thank heavens for him. "Next customer please," I call.

Rach frowns and stares at me for the last time before heading back out. This isn't over, she has said with her eyes. Oh no, it had been long over, darling.

A few hours later, it's my break. I switch with Bridget (who is the only full time worker here at Bob's, if you don't count the cook) and retreat into the staff room. I nibble on my burger from breakfast and rummage around my bag for something important. My hands shake in anticipation as I extract it, the indicator beeping green.

Bella T-2000. And it has found Aaron Hood.

I almost scream in excitement. Finally, after two long days!

I read off the information excitedly and copy his address to my phone's GPS. There's not much about him to begin with, just his full name, his age and his residence.

I don't wait for anything else. I squirm out of my worker's uniform and throw on my usual clothes (today it's a Muse band t and black jeans) and dash out of the diner through the back door, discarding the burger wrapping on the way out.

I can't walk all the way to the Hood residence so I hail a cab. It takes almost twenty minutes to get there with the traffic and such. I'm literally bouncing in my seat at the back of the cab. I pay the cab driver and tell him to keep the change.

I don't stop to stare at the large mansion towering over me. I bound right up the stairs (the gates are unlocked) and rap at the door three times. I would've continued to knock until somebody open it up but it seems like a really rude thing to do so I don't. I'm so excited that I just want to keep moving. This is it, I think. This is my life changer.

The door swings open, creaking loudly. Once again, Aaron Hood's pale face comes into view. He's frowning at me in the doorway, leaning against the frame of the door.

"Hi Aaron Hood," I almost shout in his face, beaming widely.

"Uhm, hi?"

"Do you remember me?"

He squints and studies me. It takes a full second for recognition to light his face and he smiles softly. "Yeah, of course, Jenna, right?"

I nod enthusiastically. "Can I come in?"

"Uhm," he glances behind him, probably to look for approval from his parents. "I guess it wouldn't do any harm."

"Great!"

I skip past him and set myself on his green leather couch. He takes a seat beside me. I take a second to marvel at the interior of the mansion. All the walls are either covered in murals or lined with various words, lines and paragraphs even. A spiral staircase leads to upstairs across the hallway and except for the huge 60 inch plasma screen TV, the couches and a coffee table, the house is void of any other furniture. At least in my line of vision. I don't see anyone else around either. I find that a bit strange.

"So, what brings you here, Jenna?" Hood asks, pushing a tea cup to me. I must've missed the motion of him actually getting a tea cup and filling it with - I inhale the bitter sweet scent. Coffee. "Sorry, we ran out of tea. I recall getting Oren to do the grocery but..." he trails off.

"It's fine, I like coffee," I say, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyway, I came for one thing."

He furrows his eyebrows warily. "And what is it?"

"I want you to teach me what you do."

His black eyes darken, if it's even possible. "How did you find out about us?"

I smirk in pride, assuming he means "us" as in his family. "I have my ways."

"Go home, Jenna. You shouldn't even be here." He starts to stand but I pull him back down.

"Please, Aaron Hood. I don't have a home to go back to," I plead. "You remember when you saved me from those thugs? I don't want that to happen again, especially not to other people. If you won't teach me to help myself, at least think of it as helping the others out there. I want to do something else, something more than just working at a diner for the rest of my life. All this while, nothing has gone right. I have no family left, no living relative, and my best friend turned out to be a backstabbing bitch. I don't have anybody else." The tears fall uncontrollably as I say this. It's funny how I never noticed how alone I am in this big bad world. "I need an out from all the misery. I need something to let me live again. Maybe fighting may not be the cure, but at least I have something to fight for.

"I want to do something to make my sister proud, can you understand?"

Hood stares at me silently as I finish pouring my heart out. He hands me a few pieces of tissues and I wipe away my tears. The last line seems to get to him though, because very slowly, he nods. "It will be very dangerous, are you sure about this?"

I tip my head. "More than anything." I really can't go back to living like that again. All the pretense and fake relationships. Fickle, paper people. I don't want that anymore.

"Then there's more you need to know."

***

Author's note

Hello there, beautiful people! This chapter is without a present perspective because this is needed for the story to roll. Things are building up now, and I can promise the next chapter is even more exciting and eventful. ;)

This is all for now and I apologize, once again, for any mistakes.