I'll Protect You (Original Version)

A not-so-friendly game of hide-and-go-seek in the city

Summer finals, and then a plane flight to Cimeria. All with Logan Cross. What a horrible future. The gods must hate me this year.

I hummed a melody to myself, unsure of where I had heard it before. How long could I keep this up? I didn't want to be known as Logan's girlfriend, or his love interest. Ew. Who even uses that set of words anymore? Especially with the amount of people growing interested with me, it was not just weird, it was dangerous.

My safety was in danger. But not that I cared about that. I cared about the press invading my home here, publishing my false relationship. If that magazine ever managed to get published, the Prime Minister and his wife of Britain would see it. And my life would gone. Like I'd be dead, in a coffin with people crying over me. There would be a tragic obituary and my gravestone would read, "Here lies Park Sparrow, killed by tea and crumpets."

No. If there was any way for me to go down, I had already promised myself that it would be something along the lines, "Here lies Park Sparrow, who died the most ridiculous yet coolest death to ever have been imagined."

I shivered at the thought of the vulture that was to be my mother-in-law. Reason number two to why I didn't want to be betrothed to the son of the Prime Minister of England. He had a demon for a mother, and Satan was his father.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts and sad feelings about returning to Cimeria this summer that I didn't hear a certain someone creep up behind me.

"Boo!" he shouted. I turned around.

"Damn, you found me," I cursed, making a face at the sight of Cross' ruffled hair and golden eyes.

"Having fun avoiding me, Sparrow?" Cross asked. I notice that he didn't get too close to the edge. So what his mother said was true. I grinned ruefully, surprising the boy before me.

"Come here Logan," I called out, holding my hand out, extending my arm, a sly smile plastered on my lips. His gorgeous eyes narrowed in suspicion. Cross backed up a few steps, glaring at my hand like I spread wet mud all over it.

"No."

"Logan."

"Why?"

He didn't get an answer, just a bigger grin. To my joy, his undying curiosity, which I learned gradually as I watched him over the fourteen days that I spent sulking in shadowy corners, was totally insatiable, and he edged forward.

In a split second, I was behind him, pushing him towards the ledge. Logan screamed. Screamed. The malicious joy of being evil caused wicked vibes of pleasure through my bones. I was such a horrible person.

"Sparrow! Sparrow, stop it!" he yelled at me. "I'm--"

"Afraid of heights, yeah, I know. I have my resources. Well, I'm anti-social, but you didn't seem to care about that," I reasoned. Cross stopped struggling. I made the worst decision by relaxing my grip on his hands and pressure on his back. Our roles were reversed as he pressed me against the ledge with his hands placed on either side of me, his face just mere inches away.

"Not. Cool," he hissed angrily.

"So is not being able to walk home without being stalked by Logan Cross or the students of Cross Academy," I snapped. "Go away."

He scowled at me. That's when we both realized that we were sort of in a very awkward position to be caught in. We scuttled off of each other and yet continued glaring cold, steel daggers that could destroy monsters at each other.

"You know what I've been through for the past two weeks? Searching up and down to find you during school and after school. How is it that just one person can piss me off so much?" he growled. "I'm failing at my job of protecting an immature little girl who can't handle change."