Emily's Secret

6. Rob shows up

And then Rob showed up.

"Is there a problem here?" he said, part question and part statement. Obviously there was a problem!

"No problem that concerns you." answered Chuck. "Why don't go somewhere else and leave us alone?"

"I don't think so," said Rob, confident as always. "How about you four go somewhere else so I can have a private conversation with my friend, Emily."

"Maybe Chuck didn't make himself clear," interjected Biff, one of Chuck's companions. "We want you to get lost. And there's four of us and only one of you. I don't care how tough you think you are. There's four of us."

All four of them were now facing Rob and ignoring me. I suppose that I could have taken this opportunity to run away, and probably that would have been the smart thing to do, but that just wasn't me. I stood there and watched.

And then, they stared at each other. Rob stood there, seemingly unconcerned, while the four football jocks, seething with anger, stared at him, occasionally making motions with their fists like they were about to beat someone up. And Rob just stood there not saying anything. This silent confrontation went on for at least a minute, but it seemed like an hour to me.

Finally, Chuck broke the stalemate. "Let's beat the crap out of this asshole," and he went in, swinging his fist at Rob, and his three companions, Duke, Biff and Jack followed him. Jack seemed especially eager to get back at Rob for the incident at the bus stop this morning.

I don't really know how to describe everything that happened next. Either the four football jocks were really inaccurate with their fists, or Rob was very quick at evading them, or Rob was simply so tough that he was immune to their attacks. Chuck was the first to go down, Rob flipped him and slammed him down onto the ground. Biff and Duke tried to jump on top of Rob, but Rob threw them off, taking down Biff the way he took down Chuck, and then Duke was thrown against the wall.

Now, only Jack was still on his feet. Rob blocked an ineffective punch from Jack, and then returned it with a painful looking punch to Jack's face that sent him reeling backwards. Jack, looking at Rob who was completely unscathed, and the three other football jocks who were on the ground, did something I never would have expected Jack to do. He ran away.

"And now, are the rest of you ready to go somewhere else so I can have my private conversation with Emily?" asked Rob.

They all nodded.

But Rob apparently wasn't quite finished. He pulled Chuck up from the floor, and then slammed him against the wall, kind of like what I did to Squi earlier today, but Rob was less gentle.

"Before I let YOU go, you have to promise not to bother Emily or any of her friends, ever again."

Chuck nodded, and said "OK."

Rob pulled Chuck towards him and then slammed him against the wall a second time. "Not good enough. Say it!"

And this time, Chuck dutifully said, "I promise not to bother Emily or any of her friends."

Rob let go of Chuck. "OK then. You boys are free to go." And so they left, but Duke looked like he was painfully limping.

And then it was just Rob and me in the school hallway. "Hi Emily," he said, smiling, as if nothing much had just happened. "How's it going?"

I had no idea what to say, so I just stood there stupidly, not saying anything.

Rob broke the silence. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

"Why are you following me around all day!"

Maddeningly, he responds to my question with a different question. "Would you have rather been left alone with those guys?"

"That's not the question I asked!"

"Is this about my class schedule? I told you before that I can't help what classes the registrar assigned me to," he said with an innocent-me voice that made me even more suspicious.

"That doesn't explain why you are lurking around the school after everyone else has gone home!"

"OK, here's the reason," he said. "I was keeping tabs on those four guys because I thought they were up to no good, and I wanted to protect you in case I had to."

"And you thought that by yourself you could fight off four guys from the football team?"

"Well I did, didn't I?" he replied.

"And how exactly did you do that?"

"I told you this morning on the bus that I know a good boxing gym. You should give it a try! Great for the reflexes, and it builds a lot of muscle," he said, casually glancing at his undoubtedly powerful muscles.

"OK, you work out at the gym a lot. Whatever. That doesn't explain why you want to protect me when I'm a fat loser who everyone else hates!"

"I also told you on the bus this morning that I like you, and that I don't give a crap what anyone else thinks," Rob explained, smiling again.

"No! That doesn't make any sense! The prettiest girls in the school were practically throwing themselves at you during lunch, why don't you like them instead?"

"And also you have such pretty blonde hair," he continued.

"Those girls also have pretty hair! And they're beautiful and popular and skinny. I'm FAT! No one like fat girls!"

"I don't think you're fat," said Rob. And then to my surprise, he picked me up and twirled me around! Effortlessly! As if he were doing it to a little kid, and not a 200-pound girl who was also wearing a backpack with a 15-pound robot detector in it.

"You hardly weigh anything at all!" he exclaimed. "I could do this all day."

Oh my god! This was the first time in my life that I ever had this feeling. The feeling of being a small, feminine girl, and I was in the arms of guy who was way bigger and stronger than me, a gorgeous hunk, full of sexy muscles, and he was my white knight, my protector. I could feel safe with him. It was such a wonderful feeling.

I was in love!