G.U.A.R.D. Book #4: Tracked

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Hello, friend! Thank you so much for sticking with this series to book four. As always, please don't swear and/or take the Lord's name in vain. 

~RobynAster

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    I remembered the first time I talked to Cindy. I had known of her for a while—ever since she became one of Ally's closest friends. But I never actually met her until she needed help for a school project. I was jogging down the stairs when she suddenly came out of Ally's bedroom door.

"Hey. I need a favor."

That was it. We had never said anything to each other before, but she had no desire for formalities like, say, introducing oneself or, you know, actually asking for a favor instead of saying she needed one.

I stopped reaching for the pantry door and looked to her. She stared back at me. So I took a glance around. Then back to her. She was still staring at me.

"Me?"

"No, the invisible man next to you." Her expression clearly said she had one thought going through her mind: this guy is a total idiot. "Look, I have to write a paper on starting freshman year as a sort of transitioning thing, I guess, and I just need to ask a few questions."

As a sixteen-year-old guy, I had no interest in talking to my little sister's friend. The only reason I was really friends with Winter was because I had known her since she was born. There was a huge difference between that and talking to someone Ally met in middle school.

"Why me?" I asked, getting a bag of Doritos.

"Because I'm here and you're here and school sucks, but we still have to do it, so might as well. Also, I don't have an older sibling to ask."
"Can't you just copy off Ally's?" I asked impatiently, itching to get back to computer game.

Just my luck, Alex stuck her head out of her bedroom at that moment. "Dustin, you can't tell her to copy off mine. That's cheating."

Count on her to be the goody-two-shoes. With a glare at my sister, I settled at the dining table and Cindy grinned, sitting across from me. I gave her outfit a judging stare. One sock was knee-high, while the other came to her ankle. She wore overalls. Overalls. Like, 90s, big, and baggy overalls. Underneath was a huge T-shirt with colors that hadn't been seen since the 80s.

I mean, I wasn't into fashion. To be honest, I didn't really care. But I knew for a fact that this girl had no sense of it.

"So what sucks the most?" Cindy asked.

I blinked. "You're going to write about how terrible school is?"

Ally rolled her eyes. "Oh my goodness, you're so going to get a D."

"Shush, child," Cindy reprimanded. Ally sighed and disappeared back in her room. "Okay, so tell me. What sucks the most?"

"Uh... I guess there's this one teacher in math I really dislike. She is such a pain."

"So then the teachers?"

"Yeah, but not all of them. I have an awesome science teacher. The homework is the worst, though. Loads more than junior high."

"So the homework sucks the most?"

"I guess so... Sometimes the people suck the most."

"Geez, Light, make up your mind."
I laughed. "It's the homework. Definitely the homework."