**unedited**
After breakfast the door bell rang. I was helping Chase load the dishwasher when I heard Eric open the door. I heard him say,
"Oh. It's you." then a voice I've been trying to erase from my mind all morning and the last night said,
"Hi I'm looking for Stephanie?" I closed my eyes and whispered,
"Please say I'm not here, please say I'm not here."
"I'm sorry Francis but she isn't here." I almost let all my breath out until Francis said, his voice growing louder,
"She MUST be now if you'll let me in-"
"No, you have no permission inside my-"
"STEPHANIE."
My name echoes off the ceiling and then he's in front of me.
"Come on." he groans as if only annoyed.
"You're coming home."
"No. I'm not." I say. He glares at me
"No IM NOT." I say again. Then quick as lighting he slaps my cheek. Pain shoot through it stinging and I stumble backwards in shock.
"Hey!" Chase steps between me and Francis. "Don't touch her!"
"Who are you?" My step-dad says but an even tone comes over his voice again, as if coxing Chase to hit him.
"Chase Walker. Blue belt in karate and I happen to be Stephanie's boyfriend."
"Oh..." Francis smirks. "You think you know about love?"
"I think I do. And I happen to love Stephanie Allen."
"Uh huh." He says. "Well if you know anything about love your going to have to say good bye to your girlfriend. She has to come home to apologize to her mother."
"I'm not apologizing to anyone!" I snap.
"Yes you are!" He says getting up in my face.
"I'm not coming with you! You yelled at me yesterday, and you slapped me today if that isn't enough to convince me not to come home with you then I don't know-" smack. Pain engulfs my cheeks again as he hits me. Then he looks at his hand as if he's afraid of it. Then I look at Chase and am surprised to see he's got his phone.
"Sir," he says sounding confident. "My dad has been in the doorway the whole time as a witness and I just recorded you slapping your step-daughter. I would leave before the police show up, and yes, child abuse is illegal here so I'd run. Francis was frozen. Then he quietly made his way out the door. I'm frozen where I stand, and then I run out the back door. I hear Chase run after me and he calls,
"Steph wait!" I sat down on his porch, still only in my jeans and t shirt and I'm freezing, but I don't care. Chase has a jacket with him and he says,
"Steph please, you're going to freeze out here!" Says him. He's the guy in shorts and a t shirt.
"Chase, I can't."
"Can't what?" He asks wrapping the jacket around me.
"Hide forever. I need to find her."
"Lilly?"
"Yeah." He sits down beside me, still wearing his kiss the chef apron, and takes my hand.
"If you're leaving, I'll come too."
"Really?" I ask. I couldn't let him. But I did need the help-did I not?
"Really. You can't find her alone."
"That's true."
"Okay, so it's agreed?" He asks.
"Wait-what is?" I ask confused.
"We'll find Lilly together."
"Agreed." He says and he stands up.
"Chase?" I ask, quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Can we leave today?"
"Whenever you want." I smile and get up out of the snow. Went I get inside I'm burning and tingling all over from the cold.
"AHH!" Chase says loudly, "Numb-feet-pins-and-needles-dammit!" I laugh and put an arm around his shoulder.
"Cmon superboy lets go warm you up." I say laughing. I lead him up to his room and leave him to get changed.
"Uh Steph?" He calls as I close the door.
"Yeah?"
"Um, I can't untie the apron." I slowly open the door and see him sitting on the edge of his bed trying to untie his dad's knot.
"Dear lord Chase, what am I gonna do with you?" I ask laughing.
"You could kiss me?" He suggested. "Or you could untie this knot."
"How about both?" I ask and he pulls me in for a quick kiss. Then spend the next five minutes untying the knot.
"Cheezit crisps!" I exclaim. "That took a lot of effort." He pulls the apron off and grins.
"Holy golden brick THANK YOU."
"Golden brick?" I ask.
"You know, the golden brick?" I continued to stare at him confused. He sighed.
"The Charles Dickens book! The one that's like, 1,400 something pages."
"1,481." I correct.
"Exactly. A golden brick." I snicker and say,
"Well I'm gonna let you get changed." He stands up.
"You do that." I leave closing the door behind me. I can hear him singing a Hallelujah by Panic! At the disco and shake my head, deciding not to comment. And then I head down stairs and pull out a pair of socks from my bag and my high tops. Then I pull on a sweatshirt and pack up a bag with my wallet and a few things. Suddenly I remember I have my school bag and I stuff An Abundance of Kathrines into my bag as well. Hey you never know! I decide I'll leave my stuff in my shed. My parents will never notice. When Chase comes down he's wearing light blue jeans and a pair of blue reeboks.
"Alright I'm ready to kick a-" I give him a look.
"Butt." He finishes. I smirk and say,
"Good save." Then we head out. Until it gets dark I put my bags in Chase's garage and we head out into the cold air. It stopped snowing, but the cold breeze bit my lips and nose.
"Brrrrr..." I said shivering. Chase is shivering beside me.
"Where are we going?" He asks.
"Store." I answer.
"More specific?"
"Job lot." he nods and we make our way down town. It's cold but I knew a way to get there that was only two miles away. We alternated between jogging and walking and we arrived there in about thirty minutes. Stepping into the small store I sighed in relief from the cold.
"Why are we here?" Chase asked.
"I need to buy supplies. You can help." I pulled a notebook out of my back pack and make a quick list.
"Here, look for this stuff." Chase squints at my writing.
"Holy guac and salsa you write tiny!" He said. I shrug.
"Sorry."
"It's cool, I can kinda read it." he walks away and I hear him mutter,
"I hope this says pencils not pineapple... Or maybe I'm just crazy." I snicker and walk down the beauty and such supplies aisle. I find a cheap lip stick and grab four of those. Then I find a mesh bag and granola bars. As I'm looking at the shelf trying to decide if I should get the thick or thin rubber bands Chase almost runs me over with a shopping cart.
"Oops sorry Nerd Girl!" He says and backs up the cart and walks over.
"I found everything you wanted."
"Already?" I look at his cart. Duct tape, Swiss Army knife, scissors, mini first aid kit, and rope.
"Okay, all I need now is a notebook."
Chase and I walk over to that aisle and I throw the cheapest notebook into the cart.
"Alright let's see how much money this is." I say. The total was well over $100 but aye, that's what emergency credit cards are for. I pack up my stuff in my backpack, which fit everything. As we head back out into the snow Chase asks,
"What was the lipstick for? You hate make up."
"True, and you'll see momentarily. Let's just focus on getting back to your house without becoming solid ice." He nods and we start jogging back.
YOU ARE READING
Do I love her
Teen Fiction{WARNING; I WROTE THIS IN 7TH GRADE WHEN I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE GRAMMAR, AND IT NEEDS TO BE HARDCORE EDITED.} Sixteen year-old, Stephanie Allen, thinks she hates her step-sister. She lost her dad in a car accident and blames her sister for his d...
