Rebel One (Now Published!)

Rebel One - 2

Lacey.

"Lacey?" One of my best friends, Allen, asked as we exited the school library to head to our next class. "That delinquent is looking at you." He spoke lowly, head leaning in close to me so I could hear.

I shook my head, "They don't let delinquents in here."

"This is public school. Not some fancy private," he argued, but I ignored him and looked over to where his eyes rested. "They let anyone in here."

I saw the kid he was talking about, Travis, who had started here not too long ago. I wouldn't call him a delinquent, but he definitely made an entrance when he showed up places. He was like a bull in a china shop from what I've heard and observed. Everyone knew his name already, though I've never spoken to him. He seemed too out there for me.

But sure enough, just as Allen had said, the new kid was staring directly at me as he leaned up against the wall. He didn't even look away when I met his gaze, just continued with an expressionless face on.

I brushed some of my blonde hair behind my ear, straightening some of it out in the process. Was there something on my face or in my hair?

"Come on, let's go before he sacrifices you to the Gods or sucks your blood," Allen said, pulling me out of my self-conscious moment and moving me from my standstill.

Still curious in why he was looking at me, I kept watching as his eyes moved away from me for the first time and over to Allen, before he turned and walked away. How weird.

"He's not an Aztec or vampire," I tried to reason.

"Not far off," Allen countered as we walked to our next class. I hugged my books to my chest and barely even heard Allen's words. My mind was elsewhere.

"Man, I would love to visit the Aztec Empire," I said with a dreamy sigh.

"Lacey, I'm pretty sure you would love to go anywhere as long as it was out of our city..."

"True." This time I let out an angry sigh, "It's not fair for my dad to practically keep me locked up in this city. I want to see the world. London, Paris, Rome, Egypt, Ireland. Heck, I'd settle for South Dakota, even!"

Allen draped an arm over my shoulders, pulling me close in a friendly and reassuring way as he squeezed me in a side hug.

"Then you should tell him that, stand up to him," he suggested.

I bit my lip, thinking about the odds of me carrying through with something like that. "Yeah, maybe another day I'll try that..."

Allen laughed to himself as we walked into our class. As the teacher came in and started lecture, I let my thoughts drift back to my dad as I absentmindedly copied the notes from the board.

My dad was a nice man, I knew he was. He was just...withdrawn a lot. It was kind of sad. My mom died when I was younger when she went away on a business trip. Ever since then my dad has been paranoid about the "dangers that are outside of the city". Which I thought was stupid, because there were dangers in our own city as well. I think he just didn't want to admit it to himself. Instead of moving on in a healthy way, he's restricted where we go and I can honestly say ever since that I haven't been out of the city much. There have been a few times where I've gone to a neighboring city with him to go to a specific store. Besides that, nothing.

I thought it was normal for awhile when I was younger, until my friends started talking about other stores I hadn't heard of or other malls I had never stepped foot in. I remember they laughed at me like I'd told a joke when I asked if their parents were okay with them going. They used to invite me to go with them and my dad shot the question down immediately whenever I asked him, no matter who many other parents were going to supervise. It was always no and then I would ask if I could go over that friend's house until they left. I would promise to come right home but instead of the compromise, I wouldn't be allowed to leave the house at all. My dad said he didn't trust the other parents to keep me safe but as I got older and went through my early teen years, I thought he just didn't trust me to stay safe.