Between The Lines

Chapter 1

I wasn’t paying attention.

It was as simple as that.    My mind was far away from the familiar passageway that cut between two houses and a long way from the turning at the end that I knew my feet would automatically find their way around.  After all, who really pays attention to the same old ten minute walk that they take back and forth from school every day?

I rounded the corner swiftly, my gaze fixed on my feet.  In fact, my eyes were so firmly scrutinising the way that they landed on the heel and bounced forward with each step, that I didn’t notice anything wrong until I collided with a smack into what could only be the chest of another human being.  The impact caused me to stumble backwards, effectively ripping my eyes away from the ground and to the dirty lane that shortcut between two rows of dirty garages.

“Sorry,” I gasped out of courtesy, wobbling on the balls of my feet as I tried – and failed - to regain my balance.

With a thud, my behind made contact with the cold, hard concrete, causing the breath to be knocked from my lungs, along with my dignity.  Heat flooded to my cheeks as I worked up the courage to look up at the bowling ball that had knocked me, the puny pin, over.

To my relief, the person wasn’t outright laughing at my misfortune.  On the other hand, maybe it would have been better if they were, for the hard-chested being that had knocked me over was none other than the school bad boy, Zacharias Hunt, and instead of laughing, he was looking down at me with an expression that could be interpreted as anything from shock to repugnance.

I’d never met Hunt, as the school body called him, but I’d been with my friend Kaitlin on numerous occasions whilst she admired him from afar.  Then again, that’s all anyone did, admire him from afar.  There was no getting close to the tall brooding boy that stuck to the edges of the school perimeter.

I felt considerably small in the shadow of Zacharias; the expression on his face wasn’t exactly friendly as he towered over me.  My eye twitched as I tried to break contact with his intense hazel gaze, until thankfully, a glimmer of movement behind him gave me an excuse to look away.

Three raggedy looking men stood a short way away from him.  All three were tall and muscular; at least, that’s what the bulging muscles peeping from beneath their sleeveless shirts suggested.  Arranged like an arrowhead, the tallest, and presumably the oldest, was stood at the front and two slightly shorter men were a short distance behind him.

As though remembering the trio’s presence, Zacharias shifted his position to face the men, a stony expression taking over his face.  Three pairs of eyes moved with him.

Now that I wasn’t under such scrutiny, the warmth faded from my cheeks and I quickly pushed myself to my feet, resisting the urge to brush any specks from my dirtied exterior.  Four pairs of eyes returned to my face.

“Um, hi?” I tried weakly.

There was no response from any of the men.  The air was thick with tension and I was unsure what to make of it.  I couldn’t exactly skip out of there, singing, “Later, guys!”

The man at the front, the oldest of the three and definitely no younger than thirty or thirty five, took a distinct step forward.  The two guys behind him, around the age and height of Zacharias, flanked him at the heels as he went.

“You know her?” he asked shortly.  A brief nod was sent in my direction.

“No-”

“Yes,” I said indignantly at the same time.  My voice overpowered Zach’s low tone.

The man turned back to me, crinkled lines appearing in his short forehead as his eyebrows rose.  A gap between his teeth showed as he replied.  “You do?”