The Secret Life of Katherine James

Chapter III

When Angel came and knocked on the window, I nearly jumped out of my skin, "Why's the door locked?" she asked accusingly after I hit the button and turned the music down to decent conversation mode. "It's not like someone's gonna jump you in my parking lot Kit, I mean honestly, it's Summersteen."

As Angel spoke, I glanced back into my rear view mirror at the spot under the tree where I was certain the man had been standing just a few moments ago, but the only thing left was the tree, and the race of my heart to prove he had been there at all.

"Sorry Ange. Force of habit I guess." I said, feeling on edge. I'm sure the hooded man and I would meet again soon, he never only visits once a day, if he comes at all, I get the wonderful joy of his presence all day long.

She just started at me, "Kit, are you okay? You look a little pale."

"What? Oh, yeah I'm fine." I say pulling my eyes off the mirror long enough to put Bee into reverse and pull out of the driveway. "Call Jem and tell her we will be there to get her in like ten minutes." I say glancing at Angel. She pulls her phone out and dials Jewel, I am too busy glancing in the rearview mirror every three minutes to see if we are being followed to hear a word they say, and before I even notice, we are at Sampsen's house.

I pull up along the curb and put Bee into park, then get out, shoving my hands into my pockets and trying not to glance over my shoulder. Angel comes along side me and we walk into the garage together. Sampsen and I make eye contact first and he can instantly see that something is bothering me, I look away. David comes jogging up to me at the same moment that Angel goes to talk to Jemmy, who's sitting next to the drumset that Sampsen is seated behind.

"Hey Katherine," David said walking up to me after seeing his sister approach the garage, "seems like you did a good job." He stands right in front of me now, smiling and gazing into my eyes like he's trying to see straight into my soul.

"Hey, David." I answered and all of a sudden I felt like the weight of my secret was just too hard to bear. "Uh, yeah, I guess I did alright. She's still hurting a bit, but, I'm pretty sure she'll be okay with a little TLC from us." I kept my eyes trained on the grass, like it was suddenly the most entertaining thing in the world.

"So... What happened?"

My head snapped up at his question, and I suddenly wondered if I wasn't that good at hiding it after all. "Huh? What do you mean?" I asked, playing dumb was probably the better way to go.

"With Matt, you promised you'd tell me later. Remember? I mean, I know she's your BFF and all, but I'm her brother. If some Dbag hurt her, I wanna know." He said.

I breathed a sigh of relief and looked over his shoulder at Angel. She really did have a great family. I wish someone would take care of me the way David takes care of her. "He cheated on her with some nasty girl I guess." I said kicking at the dirt in my boots. "She went outside to pack her things in the trunk for the college trip they were planning and found him fooling around in her car."

I paused and looked down again, this time not out of shame, but sadness for Angel, and fear of the meaning behind the words I was about to say next. "I guess it was a pretty bad deal. She was really upset, David." I paused, knowing he was going to get upset in about 3.5 seconds. "Do you know how long they were together?" I paused yet again, giving him time to think.

"Not really, no. Maybe two months, three I guess. Why?" He was starting to look at me like I had three heads. Maybe I was overreacting but the voice in my head told me that this was important for some reason.

"In all the time that she's been dating, she'd never stay with anyone longer than three months. Didn't believe that it was worth it, that anyone was worth spending more than that amount of time with. She sees it as what she calls "A Dead Investment," like she wouldn't get anything more out of if. But now... four months David. She was almost with him for four months. Why now? He's honestly worse than most of the guys she's ever dated. My point is, well actually it's: What is the point for her? Why him? Out of all of the endless guys what's this one worth? What's different about Matt?" I looked up into his eyes at some point and, right now, for some reason, I suddenly couldn't breathe. Why have I never noticed the little brown flecks in his eyes before? Wow, he was gorgeous. Almost like he could sense it, he blinked, them suddenly smiled, a cocky knowing smile, and the feeling was gone.