Living With Ian

Chapter 10

Sarah woke up as she felt Ian shaking her.

“I’m going to work,” he told her. “I’ll be home around five or six.”

“Ok,” Sarah yawned. Ian smiled. He knew she was not a morning person. It would always take him forever to wake her up on a school day.

“I left ten dollars on the counter in case you want to go out for lunch today.” Sarah nodded.

“Ok,” she said again. She buried her head underneath her blanket. “Now get out so I can go back to sleep.” Ian laughed and headed out the door.

“Bye kiddo,” he called. “Love you.” He heard Sarah say something that was muffled by her pillow as he closed the door behind him.

An hour later when Sarah woke up she got in the shower and then she headed into the kitchen. She looked at the ten dollar bill that had been left on the counter in the kitchen for her and she smiled.

She and Ian had gotten into a routine after living together for several months. Now on Saturdays when he had to work and Sarah was out of school, he would always leave money for her to go out to eat. Sometimes she would meet up with him on his lunch break while at other times she would simply go by herself.

Sarah loved that he trusted her enough to give her some freedom. When she was living with her mother, she wasn’t even allowed out of the house to take out the trash. Sarah didn’t see why she was so scared of her running away though. Sarah knew that her mother hated her. She didn’t understand why she was so determined to keep Sarah around if she hated looking at her so much.

Sarah sighed as she pushed the thoughts of being in her mother’s house out of her head. She was trying so hard to forget about her old family. She wanted to start a new life with Ian and never have to worry about her mom or brother or sister ever again.

She grabbed the money that Ian had left for her and then she headed out the door. She walked the four blocks to her favorite restaurant and sat down at the front counter. She told the waitress her order and then she looked around. She couldn’t help but get the feeling that someone was staring at her. Sarah sighed and shook her head. It was probably just someone from school. Ever since people had found out that she was living with Ian, they treated her differently.

Teachers would always frown at her or give her sad views. Sarah knew that they didn’t approve of who she was living with. She had never asked Ian before, but she could only guess that he hadn’t exactly been a saint when he was in school. And Ian had gotten a bad reputation around town from the huge fight he had gotten in with his sister’s old boyfriend. It didn’t seem to bother Ian though that some people would cross the street whenever they saw him coming. Sarah never could understand how he was able to laugh about it.

It wasn’t just the teachers however who treated Sarah differently. A lot of girls would look at Sarah with jealousy. She knew that they all had crushes on Ian. Sarah could see why. Ian was really handsome with his dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. But she only saw him as her big brother. Any other feelings would be too weird considering that she was living with him.

And all of the boys at school avoided her. Sarah could only guess that they were scared of Ian and the strength that he possessed. Sarah knew that all of the boys in school were frightened to know what Ian would do to them if they messed with his little sister.

It was lonely at school but Sarah had gotten used to it. She had never been popular. And she had been bullied before. She had always tried to stay invisible to her classmates and teachers because she had never wanted anyone to see the bruises that her family had inflicted on her. She didn’t like talking about what had happened and she didn’t want anyone to ask her about it. Most of the time in school she had been ignored which was completely fine by Sarah. She wasn’t in school to make friends. She was only there because it was like a safe haven away from her dreadful house.

But now that Sarah was with Ian, she had started to feel differently. She wanted to be a normal teenager. She would like to have girlfriends that were her age so that she could talk to them because there were just some conversations that she would never be able to have with Ian. As petty as it was, she had never done the normal girl things such as have a sleepover. Sarah knew that Ian wouldn’t mind if she had friends over at the house, but Sarah couldn’t think of anyone who would actually willingly come into Ian’s house. She hadn’t even wanted to go in when she first met him.

Sarah also didn’t like the attention she had at school. When she was living with her mother, she was not well known. Now it seemed as if everyone knew her. She had never been good at being in the spotlight and Sarah hated that now she was always getting stared at in the hallways or in the classroom. She wished that she could have just a couple of friends to talk to and that everyone else in the school would forget about her.

Sarah was lost in her thoughts until the waitress put her plate of food down in front of her. Sarah thanked her and then started eating. She felt her phone vibrate and she looked down at it.

Just checking on you. Did you go out to eat? Sarah smiled as she read the text from Ian. She had never had someone care about her to check on her before she had met Ian.

Yeah she responded. I’m at Hal’s Diner. Are you about to go to lunch?

No. I got a new guy here that I’m gonna have to train so I’ll be home late tonight K?

K see you tonight. Sarah sighed and put her phone up to continue eating. She looked around the restaurant once again. She couldn’t shake the feeling of someone watching her but she didn’t see anyone that she recognized.

Sarah sighed and continued eating her food. She was probably just being paranoid. She had been thinking of her family earlier that day and that was probably what was causing her to feel uneasy.

When Sarah was finished, she paid for her food and then headed out. She was walking down the street when a rough hand reached out and dragged her into an alley.