A week later, we got out first pay. I stashed our money in the little compartment hanging around Bacon's neck. Nobody but Stephen and I would be able to get it there. Bacon only trusted us now, so he would run away if anyone else got close to him. Especially if they were chasing him.
I sighed, laying back in the tall grass and looking up at the stars. We were packing up tomorrow and leaving, continuing to head West, towards California. At least now, we had a bit of money and a ride. I tucked my arm under my head and studied the sky, remembering the stories that Stephen had told me about them. I could actually recognize some of them now. I guess Stephen was a good teacher. I grinned as I remembered what foolish thing he did today.
"Hey, Danny! Look at me," he had called, walking dangerously close to the edge of the wall that stood by the poop that we had scooped out. I had looked up from the book that Big Bill had lent me and just stared at him.
"You're an idiot! You're going to fall and smell so bad. And I'm going to laugh when you do!" I replied, continuing to watch him and he spun around on the wall. He was pretty graceful. I felt my heart quicken as I watched him strut across the wall. Then, when he was turning, he lost his balance. His arms wheeled in the air, but that didn't help him. He landed face first in the pile of manure. I fell to the ground, I was laughing so hard. He stood up, sputtering and spitting out poop. I continued to laugh as he walked towards me.
"Ha ha! I told you you would fall in!" I laughed, holding my stomach, tears falling down my cheeks.
"You think that's funny?" he asked calmly. When I nodded, a dangerous look appeared in his gaze and he ran at me. I squealed and ran away. He chased after me in the grassy area. Our antics caused a group of the circus people to come watch and cheer us on. "I'm going to get you!" Stephen yelled, not in anger though. I continued giggling and evading his grip until I ran past him and caught me, pulling me close to him. He ran his manure-covered hands down my face. The crowd cheered.
"Gross!" I said, still laughing. He picked me up and spun me around until we were both covered in it and smelled unbearable. Big Bill, who was watching, told us to go wash off before getting something to eat because we would take away everyone's appetite. We said we would and had gone to wash off in the river that was nearby. Somebody handed us a bar of soap as they held their nose.
We raced to the river, chasing each other and screaming. Stephen reached the river first and jumped in, disappearing beneath the surface. The river was surrounded by trees and a dense covering of bushes. I glanced around and saw nobody else. I turned back to the river, waiting for Stephen to pop back up and spray me or something. But he didn't appear. I started to get worried.
"Stephen!" I yelled. "Come on! That's not funny!"
There was no answer. I started to really worry, so I threw my shoes and socks off, pulled off my jacket and hat, prepared to go find him. I stepped to the edge and looked down. This must be the deepest part of the river. I peered down when, suddenly, arms shot up from under the water, grabbed onto my shirt and dragged my in. I started to scream, but then got a mouthful of water. I swam back up to the surface, breathing deeply. Stephen's head broke the surface, water flying from his head as he shook it. He was laughing, more like chortling.
"Got ya'!" he sang.
I started slapping him, "What's wrong with you! You scared me half to death! I thought you had drowned. I was prepared to jump in after you!"
"Aw, really?" he cooed, ruffling my long, wet hair. "You care for my that much?"
"Not anymore," I grumbled, turning my back to him. I felt his arms go around my waist and I shivered. He pressed up close to me and breathed in my ear. I elbowed him and swam farther down the river, bringing the soap with me. I could feel his stare on me as I bathed. Once, I turned around to look at him and his face heated up and he spun around and continued to wash the manure off of his clothes. After I was finished with the soap, I swam back over to him and held out the soap mutely. He looked me up and down and headed closer to me until he was standing right over me and I was staring at his chest. I glanced up nervously and he smiled. He took the bar of soap, then ran one of his hands down my cheek.
"You are very pretty, you know that right?" he asked. I didn't anser him. I just turned around and headed back for the shore so I could wash my jacket. I stuffed my clean hair back into the hat and sat at the water's edge, feet dangling in the water, and washed my jacket until all of the manure was gone. I didn't like people calling me pretty. It made me feel uncomfortable and nervous. Once, when I was twelve, a man told me I was pretty and then grabbed me and tried to kiss me. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. Luckily, my father had been there to rescue me. When I was fifteen and in school, one of the most popular boys sauntered up to me and pinned me to a door. I hadn't realized that we were the only two in the classroom. He leaned done and told me that I was the prettiest girl in the whole county. Then he whispered to me what he wanted to do with me. He ran his hands through my hair and down the side of my body, leaning heavily against me. He started to sloppily kiss the side of my kneck. My eyes had widened and I kneed him in the crotch. When he was laying, moaning on the floor, I flew out the door and ran home. When I made it home, I sat under a tree in one of our fields and cried. Whenever someone, outside of my family, had told me that I was pretty, something bad had happened after it.
I suddenly stood up and ran away from the river, seeking solitude. Stephen yelled my name, but I didn't turn back around.
Now, I was laying in a field at night, mulling all of this over. Stephen hadn't tried to do anything after he called me pretty. He had called me pretty before and hadn't done anything to me. I groaned in frustration and pouned the ground. I was confused over my feelings for Stephen. He felt like my best friend sometimes, other times he felt like my over-protective older brother, and other times it's like he wanted to be more than friends. I didn't know which one I wanted him to be. Could he be all three?
"There you are!" I heard Stephen's voice call. I tilted my head back and saw, up-side down, Stephen walking towards me. "I've been looking for you all day since you ran away from me."
He sat down beside me and gave me a meaningful look that told me that he wanted me to explain why I had run off. I rolled over, not wanting to face him yet.
"Diana! Don't ignore me!" Stephen grumbled. I hunched my shoulders, trying to make myself smaller. I felt a warm hand on my back and stiffened. Stephen gathered me up and easily deposited me into his lap. When I tried to get up, he wrapped his strong arms around me and brought me against his chest. My back was immediately warm. "What's wrong, Diana? Did I do something?"
I shook my head, still stiff. Stephen said in a soothing voice, "Diana, you can tell me. What's on your mind?"
"You. . . you called me pretty," I mumbled, sounding stupid even to myself.
"You're angry because I called you pretty?" he asked, sounding confused.
"No, I'm not angry. I'm scared," I admitted.
"You're afraid of me?" he asked, sounding shocked and hurt. His arms went slack.
"Not you in particular. . ." I trailed off.
"Go on," he prodded.
"Well, whenever someone called me pretty, right afterwards they would . . . touch me. . . inappropriately. I've become wary of people who call me pretty. That's why I wasn't comfortable at Mark's house. It wasn't just Mark's uncle. It was my past," I mumbled, putting my face in my hands.
Stephen's arms went back around me and he tried to pry my hands off of my eyes. I could feel him leaning around so that his face was right next to me. "Hey, I would never do that." He finally succeeded in pulling my hands off of my eyes. "Look at me, Diana."
I did, even when my eyes were puffy from crying and I was embarrassed. His face was extremely close to mine. Our noses were touching and I could feel his warm breath on my lips. "I would never do that to you, Diana. I care too much about you."
I felt him take my hat off and run his hands through my hair. The wind picked it up and blew some of it into my face. Stephen gently moved it aside and tucked it behind my ear. He glanced down at my lips, then looked back up into my eyes. His gray eyes were mesmorizing this close. It looked like he had specks of bright silver in them, making them glow. His head tilted to the side and came closer to mine. I could feel the warmth of his lips near mine. I looked up into his eyes, confused but also excited.
"Hey, you lovebirds!" Big Bill shouted, ruining the moment. Stephen and I jumped apart like we had been electrocuted. I scrambled off of his lap and he quickly stood up. I piled my hair back into my hat as Big Bill walked towards us. "It's time for bed! Get inside already!"
We followed him sheepishly. I felt Stephen's hand wrap around mine. I glanced up at him, startled. He wasn't looking at me, though. His face was forward and stoic. I moved my hand so it fit perfectly inside his and gave his hand a squeeze. I watched him as he smiled. I smiled too as we headed back to the train to sleep.
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"This is where you'll be getting off!" a burly guard jeered, opening the window the reveal the racing ground beneath us. We had been with the circus for a month and were almost in California. We were right on the edge of it.
"Please, we haven't stolen anything!" I pleaded, the wind whipping at my clothes as I backed up. The men kept getting closer. Bacon snorted nervously, his eyes darting around.
"Yes, you did! You stole money and now you're lying. Give it back to us or we'll throw you off the train!" the man snarled.
"But, I'm not lying!" I cried. The man smacked me across the face, sending me stumbling even closer to the door. I held my stinging cheek, tears filling my eyes. There was a commotion at the door of the train. I heard scuffling and shouting. Then, I heard Stephen's voice in the shouting.
"Go see what's going on," the guard ordered one of the other men. He ran off and returned a second later, pulling Stephen by his hair.
"It's the other one. His brother," the man holding Stephen's hair grunted. I could see Stephen was in pain because he was gritting his teeth and trying to claw the man's hands off of him. "What should we do with him?"
"Maybe he knows where the money is," the guard said. He limped over to Stephen, leaning down and grabbing Stephen's chin. He forced Stephen to look at him. "Tell me where the money is and we won't throw your precious little brother off of the train."
"What money?" Stephen muttered as best as he could with the hand holding onto his jaw.
"The money that your little brother stole!" he shouted.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled, glancing at me.
The man saw the look and chuckled. "Oh, but I bet you do." He let go of him and walked back over to me, looming over me. "We don't need a brat like you anymore, do we?"
I opened my mouth to say something, but the guard picked me up and threw me out the door. I screamed as I flew through the air. Bacon and my bag followed shortly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I heard Stephen yell in anguish as I fell to the ground. My last glance of him was him fighting off the guards and leaping towards the door, reaching for me. But he was pulled back in. I hit the ground roughly and rolled down a steep incline covered with rocks that scratched me. I cried out in pain when knee hit a particularly large and sharp rock and I felt blood already seeping down my leg. I continued rolling down the hill, hearing Bacon squealing and the resounding echo of Stephen's yell. I heard that until I hit my head on something and everything went black.
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Hey, it's me!! What did you think of their adorable scene! They almost kissed! :D <3 <3 <3 They're so cute together! But, sadly, now they are separated. . . it's just too horrible!!!
Comment on what you think! (my invisible readers!)