This is my fate?!?! A crazy stepmother! A voice in my head! Just sign me up as crazy now!!!

Chapter 11 - This is my fate?!?! A crazy stepmother! A voice in my head! Just sign me up as crazy!!

"Hey! Slow down!" I puffed. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see . . ." she said, mysteriously.

"I hate it when you do this." I huffed.

But I didn't. She had always done this to me, even when we were kids, and I had always enjoyed it secretly, and she knew that. She only did this when she had a surprise for me, and it was always a good one. But what surprise did she have for me. She can't have had it specially for me . . . she didn't know I was coming back.

"Come on!" she yelled, exasperated. "Faster!" We were already jogging quite fast, so why did she want us to go faster? She must have been pretty eager to get to where we were going.

I could feel my heart racing from the exercise . . . I wasn't as fit as I thought I was. I watched Lexie let her jog flow into a run, and I felt the pace quicken. I started running, and set myself a steady pace, but she kept on going faster.

Right! She wants a race; I'll give her a race.

I began sprinting flat out . . . as fast as I could go. Lexie immediately started to lag behind, and I let go of her hand. I heard her laugh, but I didn't care. I was going to beat her . . . no matter what.

I carried on running down the road, not looking where I was going. Eventually, I couldn't run anymore. I flumped down on the pavement, exhausted. I looked back the way I had come, and couldn't see Lexie anywhere. I must have left her behind, I thought. I lay back on the pavement, and waited for Lexie to catch up.

I looked up at the trees next to the road, and closed my eyes. For the first time in years I felt truly . . . peaceful.

I opened my eyes again, and saw something moving in the tree right above me. Suddenly it fell, and landed with a heavy THUD either side of me. I looked up, ready to scramble away as quickly as I could, and saw Lexie standing above me.

"If I made a joke about dropping in would you write me off as a cliché?" she said, between laughs.

I stared up at her in horror . . . and amazement.

"What!? . . . How!? . . . What the hell!?"

She sat down on the pavement next to me, and carried on laughing. After a while, she stopped, and began talking.

"I overtook you about two minutes after you ran off, but instead of running down the road like you did, I ran through the woods." She gestured to the trees behind her. "About five minutes ago, I decided to climb this tree, and jump out on you as you came past. But instead of running past, you lay down right under the tree I was in." She was laughing again. "That was fun."

I was a bit disappointed. I had thought I had beaten her, but it was anything but that. She was fast . . . very fast . . . even faster that I had thought she was.

"Ahh. Don't look so glum. I'm sure you'll be able to beat me . . . someday." She was grinning, finding all this very amusing. I smiled back at her.

"So what is it that you were going to show me before we were so rudely interrupted?" I asked.

"Interrupted? By who?"

"My competitiveness."

"Oh." She said, before she laughed. "Okay. Follow me."

She stood up, and held her hand out to me. I willingly took it, and felt myself immediately fly upwards. I crashed into her, and I felt us both fall to the ground. I pulled her towards me with one hand, and put the other one out to absorb most of the impact of the fall.

"Bloody hell, Lexie! What was that?" I asked, shocked that she was so strong. I looked down at her.

"I don't know . . . I didn't pull you that hard." She looked up at me, and I suddenly realised what position we were in. I felt heat surge through my body, from my head to my toes . . . and everything in between. I slowly brought my head down, and kissed her. I felt her smile against my lips, and she opened her mouth. I thought it was to give me access, but I was wrong.

"Not now," she said, pushing me off her.

"Why not?" I asked, exasperated.

"Because, I want to show you something. Remember?"

She stood up, and let me get up myself this time. As soon as I was on my feet, she grasped my hand, and pulled me into the trees.

"Where are we going?" I asked, a little hurt that she had pushed me away.

"Be patient," she replied, still being mysterious.

We walked through the woods, still holding hands. I had no idea where she was taking me . . . and she wasn't going to tell me. I was just getting impatient when she stopped suddenly.

"We're here," she whispered, sounding nervous.

I looked around us, and didn't see anything except for trees and bushes.

"And where is here?" I asked.

She didn't reply. Instead she let go of my hand and walked over to a wall of trees and bushes. I followed, wondering what she was doing, and she disappeared. Where she had been a moment before was nothing.

"Lexie?"

Suddenly her head popped out of the bushes, seeming to be hovering in mid-air.

"Through here." She said, and her head disappeared again.

I went over to the spot in the bushes, and saw a small hole leading through them. I squeezed through, and came out on the other side. What I saw made my jaw drop in amazement.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I turned around to see Lexie standing there . . . looking at me with an intense look in her eyes . . . she looked like she was arguing with herself again. This time, I couldn't bring myself to ask what the argument was about.

I looked around the clearing. It was beautiful. A shimmering pool, surrounded by trees . . . speckles of green light reflecting off it . . . illuminating the whole clearing with a gentle, green glow.

I nodded.

"Yes it is."

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Sorry if it's a little boring . . . I have a bit of writers block. I know how I want the story to turn out . . . but I don't know how to get there. Please let me know what you all think of it so far!!