Is It Love? Peter Bartholy, Peter's POV

Part 4

I'm sitting in my room, thinking. I know I have feelings for her. But am I ready to take down my walls and let her in? I hear her in her room on the phone with Sarah. She's agreed to go to a party with her. But I can't stop her. I hear her run downstairs and ask Nicolae to go. And he says she can go. I 'run into her' as she goes back to her room. "Are you going to Loan's party? Have you really lost your mind?" That came out a little wrong. I didn't mean to sound that rude. "Yes Peter, I'm going. Unlike you, I like to go out and have fun. And that doesn't make me crazy!" She says. I grab her wrist as she tries to leave. "What if something happens to you? You know how he behaves. He'll never leave you alone." I say. Nicolae suddenly comes, and pushes my hand off of her. "Peter, we've talked about this before. She is not our prisoner, and we shouldn't get involved in her personal life." He says. "But she won't be safe there. Are you really gonna let her go Nic?" I say. "I can't stop her." He says. She storms out, slamming the door behind her. There she goes. No stopping her.

      I go up to my room. How can she be so stupid? To go to a party like that? Maybe I can follow her. Yeah, it's in the woods, so I can stay out of sight. I'll follow her, and if anything bad happens, I'll help her. Yes! That will work! I quickly change, and go out to where the party is. I make sure to stay up in a tree. Where is she? There she is, with Sarah. Did Sarah just leave her by herself? She looks worried. A guy approaches her. I listen to what he says. "Wanna dance?" He says. So no. Say no. Say no. "Uh, no not really. Sorr--" He grabs her hips and starts dancing with her. She looks very uncomfortable. Look man, she said no! I swear, guys these days. When I was younger, a man wouldn't even dare to touch a woman without consent. Now, they think that women are objects of pleasure for them. She manages to free herself. Ok, she's running away from the party, deeper into the woods. She looks like she's chasing something, but there's nothing.

I vapor run through the forest and catch up to her. I hide behind a bush. She suddenly stops, and starts looking around. She doesn't know where she is. She starts crying. Oh, don't cry. It's okay. I come out from behind the bush, and she sees me. She runs torwards me, and wraps her arms around my waist. I wrap my arms around her, and hold her. "I should've listened to you. I'm sorry. I didn't..." "It's okay. I'm here." I say, trying to comfort her. She stops crying after a few minutes.

"Wait a second, how did you find me?" She asks. How do I answer that? "Um, well, I was uh, worried about you, so I uh, I followed you..." I say. She looks at me with a surprised look, and I look away, embarrassed.

I take her hand, and lead her back to the party. "No Peter, I wanna go home." She says. Sarah comes up to us, and sees our locked hands. I start to let go, but she holds onto my hand tightly. "Jane! I can take you home of you want." She says. "No Sarah. I'll just go home with Peter." She says. "But, I can drive you if you want." Sarah says. "No. I said I'm going home with Peter. Ok, lets go." She says. We leave, while Sarah looks mad. As we walk home, I realize she's shivering. It must be me. I let go of her hand, and take my jacket off. I put it around her shoulders.

    "Thank you Peter. And I promise, that won't happen again." She says as we arrive at the manor. "I want to follow you even more. Like your shadow now..." She looks at me. "Because you already wanted to follow me before?" She asks. Waot a second! I said that out loud? What do I say? "What I mean is, you seem very clumsy sometimes..." I say. I walk her to her room, then go to mine.

     I really need to make a decision. Am I going to take down my walls and let her in, or keep blocking her out? I can't keep going back and forth like this. It will never work out right. But, if I want to get close to her, maybe even date her, I would have to tell her about my past. But maybe, I could just keep it a secret. She doesn't have to know about Lizabeth. I play my favorite piece of music while I think

about everything.