Raquel's Bodyguard

Chapter 1

Today was the day. Today Raquel would face her fears and banish them from her conscience. She knew she would have to do it eventually, and there was no better moment than now. Raquel took a deep breath, adjusted her coat, repositioned her purse, checked her reflection in the mirror, touched up her lipstick, checked the time on her phone, took another deep breath, checked her boots for mud, fixed her bangs, messed them up, fixed them again, took a third breath, checked the time again, said goodbye to her father, promised she would be back soon, checked to make sure her wallet was in her purse, and walked out the door before she could stall any longer.

Now outside, Raquel paused to calm her now racing heart. She knew she was being ridiculous, she had done this several times during the summer before her little incident. Raquel summed up all the confidence she had and headed off with her head held high.

It started off well. She walked casually through her apartment complex, smiled at the neighbors. One of her favorite songs hummed in her ear from her i-pod, energizing her. Her steps were bouncy and she actually started to enjoy her walk.

The first problem came from a honk. Raquel stopped when she heard it, knowing exactly what it was for; her. She watched the car pass by and saw its middle aged driver smiling at her. Her first thought was, "Ew", but it continued to pester her even though she tried to not let it bother her.

Then she got to the cross walk and froze. A guy, about 19, was walking towards her from across the street. He kept his hands in his hoodie pocket and his beanie covered head down, but he continued to stride closer to Raquel. With her heart racing, Raquel moved to the side, hoping he would turn at the light, but he didn't. As soon as the walk symbol flashed on the guy proceeded to get closer to her. Panicked, Raquel quickly turned into a neighborhood. When glanced behind herself she found he had turned to and was walking behind her!

"Oh my gosh, he's following me," Raquel thought, but then calmed herself down, knowing she was being irrational. She finally calmed down completely when the guy turned and walked into a house. Raquel was so calm, she thought she could still reach her destination and just go the long way through the neighborhood.

Once again full of confidence, Raquel strode down the street, her feet matching the beat of the song she was listening to. She smiled, laughing a little at how over dramatic she could be. She knew she could do this.

Then she heard a whistle and a cat call. Raquel turned to find two teenage boys a little way off, sitting in the grass, trying to get her attention. She instantly paled, her pulse sky-rocketed. Without any thought, Raquel darted to the other side of the street and ran about ten feet away, turning down another length of road.

When she was far enough away, Raquel sighed. "I can't do this," she thought sadly to herself. Defeated, Raquel made her way back home, knowing she wouldn't make it to the store before having a major panic attack. It took her awhile, especially since the second she saw someone coming her way she would cross the street or turn a corner. It wasn't that they scared her, not those kinds of people, but she felt ashamed of herself and she didn't want them to see her.

Finally, Raquel could see her apartment complex in the distance. She hurried her step, desperate to get home. Just when she thought it was over, two boys rode up on scooters. At first she just did what she had been doing, crossed the street, she had to do it anyways. Then the first of the two boys did the same thing and started riding ahead of her. Raquel quickly retrieved her phone and started to pretend to be texting someone. The second boy rode up and winked at Raquel as he passed by. "Hey," he said in a sickeningly flirtatious way before joining his friend ahead of her.

"Please don't stop, please don't stop," Raquel silently plead while still staring intently at her phone. She would have sent a real message to someone, but she didn't know who to text or what to say, so she just wrote nonsense.

When braving a look up at the two, Raquel noted that one had his pants all the way down to his ankles, literally. All Raquel could think was, Ew, ew, ew, EWWWW!!!!"  She quickly looked back down at her phone and continued to text gibberish.

Raquel was overwhelmed with relief when she finally got home. She rushed inside and took in a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that's over," she said out loud.

Then she noticed her father lying on the couch nearby. "I'm back," she told him cheerfully.

"How was your walk," her father asked.

"Not as well as I hoped," Raquel admitted sadly.

"Why not?"

Raquel took a deep breath and began to explain what happened. "Well I got about half way there when I freaked out and turned into a nearby neighborhood. I thought I could calm down and continue, but then these two guys started whistling at me and I had a total panic attack and ran off. Then I gave up and decided to come back home, but when I almost got here, I ran into two other guys and one of them was sagging his pants all the way at his ankles, no joke. I mean, who in their right mind does that!"

Raquel's father wa squiet for a moment. "Okay," he said, not sure what else to say to his teenage daughter and too sleepy to think about it.

Raquel sighed and went into her room. She took off her shoes and jacket, sat down, criss-cross-applesauce, and called her best friend, Becky. As soon as Becky answered Raquel said, "It's official, I am scared to walk alone," and then proceeded to relate the whole incident with her.

After Raquel's long tale Becky said," Wow, that's bad."

"I know," Raquel exclaimed. "I didn't call you to find out that, I don't know what to do. I have to be able to walk to the store otherwise I'll never be able to get small things I need, satisfy my cravings, or buy presents without my dad's knowledge! What can I do?"

There was a moment of silence as Becky thought it over. "Therapy is always a good solution," she offered.

"Becky," Raquel scorned, "You know I can't afford therapy."

"Well then, I guess you need a 'walking buddy' from now on," Becky suggested enthusiastically.

"A walking buddy," Raquel asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Yeah," Becky said, sounding a bit too excited by her idea. "Someone to walk to the store with you and stuff, so you won't be scared. Preferably a guy, so other guys will see him and assume you're taken and leave you alone." Becky laughed and added, "We need to get you a boyfriend!"

Raquel laughed too. "Or a bodyguard," she exclaimed meaning to extend her friend's joke. Then, suddenly, the light bulb inside her head lit up. "Becky, that's it," she exclaimed, "I need a bodyguard!"