Maybe Too Protective

Chapter 9

I shot up. My breathes heavy. I held my hand to my mouth, making sure I didn't scream from the the fear that had yet to subside. I looked around, just another nightmare. It was almost black in the room, but the faint light from the television glowed enough for me to see around me. All my brothers were asleep around me. No one seemed to have awoken from my movement. They all looked peaceful. I wanted to wake one of them up, to just have them by my side, just in case. I held myself back.

I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees and head in my hands. I could feel myself shaking, quivering. I tried to let the thought of my brothers finally being relaxed, even if it was just sleep, calm me. It worked slightly. A felt a hand on my back. I jumped out of my skin, turning my head to the right.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Devan whispered.

"It's fine." I responded. Devan leaned forward. "Go back to sleep." I told him.

"Only when you do." He told me.

"What time is it?" I heard Ryder yawn. Great, another one awake.

"You guys can just go back to sleep." I sighed.

"Lucy, you're shaking." Ryder looked at me.

"I'm fine." I told them. I tried my hardest to stop my shaking, but nothing worked. We were sitting there in the silence. Ryder had fell back asleep, Devan soon too. I sat up alone. I held my hands in front of me. They were shaking worse than I thought.

I sat and watched the sunrise through the window. Not getting any more sleep. I awaited my brother's awake. A sound blared from somewhere. All my brother's jumped forward, out of sleep. Mike pulled out his phone, stopping his alarm. They all groaned, rubbing their eyes.

"Let's go guys. You have to go to school." Devan stood.

"We can't stay here with Lucy for another day?" Ryder asked.

"Nope. You guys have to go to school." Devan told them. They all sighed, walking up the stairs to their rooms. "And you, Lucy are staying right there. You need something, you call me." Devan directed. I nodded. My brothers all rushed around, doing this thing and that. One by one they came over to me once they were down with the morning routine, on their way to car.

"See you later Lucy." Alex came and went first.

"Don't miss us too much." Mike came next, ruffling up my hair.

"Don't cause trouble." Tyler came afterwards. He smiled. I gave him a smile back before he left. Ryder came last. He sat next to me.

"How you feeling?" He asked.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Listen, Lucy. You don't have to be fine." He told me. I looked him in the eye. "You don't." He repeated. He pulled me into a hug.

"Please don't hurt anyone too bad today okay?" I told him as we released. He laughed a little and nodded.

"I might just come home with a broken hand, but I'll try." He told me. I smiled a little. "Now, I have to go." He stood. I nodded.

-----(A Week later: Monday)-----

This week and weekend had been boring yet fun. I got to hang out alot with my brothers after I did the homework they brought home for me. Max came over a few times, also fun. What made my weekend though, was when Zach showed up at my door. Devan opened the door.

"Is Lucy home?" Zach asked nervously.

"Yeah, why?" Devan asked.

"Can I see her?" Zach asked still really nervous. Devan reluctantly let him in.

But now, it was Monday. I pulled myself from my bed after another nightmare and pulled on some jeans. I slid a pink t-shirt on over that and a pull over sweatshirt. I walked into the bathroom. Most of the bruising was gone. There was still some little cuts and a little bit of my eye was still bruised. I reached for a ring. It was something I was always cautious about wearing. It was from my mom. She told me to wear it if I ever needed her support. I looked at it. I slid it on my finger and nervously twisted it. I put on my bobs and walked downstairs.

"Morning Lucy." Devan tossed me the red bottle of pills. I took one with a glass of water. I tossed it back and he slid it back in a cabinet.

"You sure you're up for it?" Alex asked. I nodded. I walked from the kitchen and picked up my backpack, ignoring the cheer bag. I was about to walk away, but I looked back to the bag.

"Nope, don't even think about it Lucy." Ryder saw me eyeing the bag and told me. I turned from the bag. I followed Mike and Tyler out to the car, climbing inside. We drove to school. That was the most quiet car I had ever been in. I got out once we had parked. My brothers stood next to me and behind me, following me like dogs. We got inside by the lockers and Max and Zach walked over.

"See you later Lucy." Alex told me goodbye. All my brothers split their separate ways as Max and Zach now accompanied me everywhere. I walked towards my lockers which was still a ways down the hall. Zach and Max both just looked forward, heads up, acting like body guards. I looked around at the kids in the hall. Each one looked at me and whispered to their friend near them. I lowered my head as I walked.

"Screw them Lucy, just ignore them." Zach told me. I nodded, eyes still on the ground. Max and Zach took me to my first period class, took me from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so on. We got to 5th. Max walked towards the locker rooms. It was the only way to the track unless you went around the whole school. I took a deep breath.

"Lucy, straight through, don't even look around." Max told me. I pushed opened the door, walking straight through, just like he said. I was out the door in 20 seconds flat. I would have ran, but I'm pretty sure that is exactly not what my doctor wants me to do. Once out, I leaned up against a wall, taking a deep breath. I leaned against the wall for a minute. "You okay?" Max asked me. I nodded. "Come on." He lead me past some more whispering kids to the teacher.
"I don't have anything for you to do Lucy, so I hope you brought something." THe teacher said.

"I did." I told him. He told me to sit on the timer stand. Max lead me over to it.

"Need anything just call." He told me. I nodded. The teacher called everyone in. He looked me over once more and went to the group. I pulled out some extra credit work from my backpack. I finished 3 different sheets before Max came back over. "You good?" He asked a little out of breath.

"Yeah, what about you?" I laughed.

"I hurried through that thing like crazy." He leaned over.

"Well good job." I told him. I finished up the last sheet and slid it back in my bag. We sat together until the bell rang. We walked back towards the locker room. I didn't even take a second, I rushed through, again without any incident. I waited for Max and we walked to lunch together. Once we had our food, I sat down by my brothers and Zach. Max joined us. It wasn't like early. It was just like a normal lunch day. Other tables laughed, had a good time. So did we. We all made each other laugh and had a good time.

The rest of the day I was escorted around by Max and Zach still. The periods went by pretty quick luckily. We got to the end of the day. I packed up my bags with Zach and Max doing theirs too. They accompanied me to meet my brothers.

"Thanks you guys." I waved goodbye to them. They said goodbye. I was about to leave with my two non football playing brothers, but was stopped.

"Lucy, come on, you can't miss out on practice." One of the cheerleaders that visited me and told me a lame story the other day said.

"I can't practice for at least a week." I told her.

"We know, but you can always sit in." She told me. I looked at my brothers.

"If you want to Lucy." Alex sighed.

"Thanks." I smiled and followed her to our practice zone. The whole practice went by smoothly. No big mishaps or accidents.