Escaping

Chapter 6

I was sitting on the picnic table in the backyard, soaking up the vitamin D. I had been home for a week, and things almost felt as though they were getting to be semi-normal... well as normal as it could possibly be.

"Hey!" Marissa came sprinting out of her house towards me. I jumped up to greet her with a hug, i hadn't seen her since we had been home.

"Hey!" I squeezed her tightly and pulled away, where have you been?"

"Just, you know," she shrugged and smiled at me, "Basking the glory i suppose."

i just laughed and we sat down with eachother again. "Nice shirt," i commented.

"Nice outfit," she laughed. I looked down to see what i was wearing. a white top, with brown shorts and apparently what people call ballet flats.

"So, how have you been?" she asked

"Can't complain," i teased, "It's strange, you know, this is what our lives would have always been."

she nodded, "Well we're lucky now, and we are here."

i nodded in agreeement and picked up a peice of fruit and popped it into my mouth. "So have you given any thought... to going to school?" i asked hopeing she would say yes, at least then i wouldnt be alone.

"No," she told me simply, "I'm not smart enough to go to school."

"You could be," i encouraged. "You're a pretty smart chick."

"I can't read, or write." she informed me, "Its a lost cause for me. for me that is, not you. you can read and write! you should go and learn and do something with your life that will make people think 'its amazing how her life has turned around, truly amazing.'"

"You're a dreamer you know that?" i laughed

"It kept me going this long."

Jake openned the back door and came strolling over to us, he greeted Marissa civilly before sitting down with us. He was so great to me, always checking on me to make sure everything was alright. he even stayed in my room and slept on the floor a few nights this week because i was having nightmares and was upset.

"Jake will agree with me," Marissa brought him into this.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't you think Lily should go to school," she looked at me, "And be as smart as she can?"

"Well," he hesitated for a second, "Maybe... a private tutor would be best right now."

"Why?" Both Marissa and I asked. I felt the insult, even though i didnt fully understand.

"Even though she is smart," he clarified, "there is a lot of stuff in high school that i think she shouldnt be around right now. Lots of bullying. plus she is still behind in her reader than a regular 16 yr old would be. If she struggles with Austen like she is then there is no way shakespeare will be comprehensible without the guidance of someone there with her."

i narrowed my eyes at him.

he held his hands up in surrender, "I'm just saying, if you have a year of private tutoring you would be more prepared for regular high school.

* * *

"Hey Lily," Jake came walking into the house with one of his friends, who i daren't look towards because i couldn't bare it. I was too shy and frightened of the world to maintain eyecontact with a stranger, the only thing i knew about this stranger was he had blonde hair.

"Hi," i said quietly before dashing up the stairs.

"She's..." Jake hesitated, "shy."

"shy?" the guy questionned, "She looked more than shy."

"Dude," Jake's tone turned abruptly serious, "Don't."

"So who is she?" he asked, "I've never seen her before, your cousin or something?"

"My sister," Jake informed this guy. i was standing at the top of the stairs eavesdropping because i was slightly interested in what people talked about when they were together, so far it seemed like nothing i wouldnt have done.

"You have a sister?"

"Remember... that time, that story i told you about when i was little my little sister got kidnapped," Jake said, "Well that's her."

"What?!" shock and surprise was evident in his voice, "How?!"

"i don't know or care." i could hear the shrug in Jake's voice, "As long as she's here."

"Wow," at this i left because the conversation was boring and i didnt want to risk being caught on the steps by them.

i hid out in my room until i heard my mom come home from work, and she called me down to the kitchen, i was fairly certain that the guys were outside, but i crept down the stairs quietly anyhow, hoping to go unnoticed.

"Hey Mom," i smiled in the kitchen relieved it was only her in there.

"Can you help me with dinner," she was holding a can of spagetti sauce. "Oh i need you to go ask if Nolan is staying for dinner."

i gulped and squeaked in a high pitched voice, "Me?"

she looked at me knowingly, then said wise words i won't forget, "Not every stranger is bad. You have to learn to trust someone, so it may aswell be over the dinner table with your brother's friend."

quietly i walked to the backdoor and slid it open, ghosting around the side of the house to the basketball net i knew they would be. the second Nolan spotted me he stopped with the ball in his hand causing Jake to stop and look around for the issue aswell.

i took a deep breath and looked past him, to the houses behind him and said, "Would you like to stay for dinner? My Mom asked me to ask you."

He seemed to have noticed i wasn't looking at him, because instead of nodding or moving at all he just said, "Sure, tell your mom thanks."

i nodded and scurried away and back into the house.