Chapter Two

Kensie moves to a new town to escape her past.

“Need some help there?” 

I snapped my head up at the voice that was walking towards me. Not once in the two months since I’ve been here has anyone tried to create a conversation with me. Well at least not since that first week I had arrived. After two months of skipping school back home, and trying to hide from my “friends” at the local restaurants and hangout places, I called up my aunt and asked for a favor. When she visited last spring, she said she could get me an internship at a local event planners office since it was what I had wanted to do after high school. I told her I wanted to spend my senior year at home with my friends, but I’d take her up on that offer once I finished my high school years. Out of everyone in my family, parents included, I was closest with my aunt. Being 10 years younger than my mom, she was only 10 years older than I was. She knew about my mom’s busy lifestyle and more often than not, she made up for all the times my mom forgot about birthdays and special events. So when I called her up and asked if it was too late to transfer, she immediately said and told me she would take care of it all. When I told me parents I was spending the rest of the year down south with Aunt Kasey, they didn’t bat an eye, just told me to call them when I got there and too enjoy myself. Shocker. 

I turned back to my car and tried to loosen up the knobs holding my deflated tire to my car. 

“Hey, listen. You can pretend you didn’t hear me, like how you pretend you don’t hear anyone else, but you clearly need some help with that, and I’m not going to leave you alone here.” I looked around the parking lot, it was true. Everyone had already left. I’d been trying to figure out how to change a tire for the last half hour since school ended. S**t, Martha was going to kill me. 

“I’m good. I’m almost done anyway. You don’t have to help out the poor city girl.” I snapped at him

“Whoa. You really are feisty. Listen I’m just trying to help alright? I highly doubt a ‘city girl’ like you can change a tire by yourself.” He grabbed the wrench from my hands and easily twisted the knob loose. He shot me a grin and I rolled my eyes. “Fine, knock yourself out.” I grumbled. I reached for my phone to call Martha, my boss at my internship. 

“Hey sweetie, I was starting to worry about you!” Martha’s sweet voice sailed through the phone.

“I know I’m sorry, I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago, but I have a flat tire. Someone’s changing it for me right now. I promise I’ll be there in next hour. I just have to stop home and grab some papers.” I apologized. I could already see Martha waving her hand in the air, as if pushing the problem away. 

“Oh no problem honey! You take your time. We can hold down the fort without you for a little while. You’ve been working so hard you don’t need to worry about being late once or twice. See you later!” 

I turned back to look at the obnoxious human tool box who was currently reattaching the knobs. He brushed his hands together, cleaning them from dust and any debris my tire left on them. 

“See that wasn’t so hard was it?” He raised his hand to pat my shoulder but I flinched and he awkwardly ran his hands through his hair. 

“Yeah yeah. Thanks so much. I am in your eternally in your debt.” I climbed into my car and slammed the door in his face. Was I being rude? yes, but I couldn’t risk letting a repeat of what happened back home happen again. I watched as he walked back to his car and I pulled out of the lot. After driving down a few streets and making a few random turns, I pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the dark green jeep to pull over. I got out of my car and stomped to his window. “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” I practically yelled at him. He lowered his window and draped his arm over the side of his car. He stuck his head out so close I could see the different colors in his eyes. 

“I’m making sure you get home okay.” He lazily drawled out his words. He smirked and I fought the urge to slap him. 

“I don’t need you following me home like some creeper. I can take care of myself.” 

“Right and I suppose you’ll just change your tire or jumpstart your car by yourself if something else happens. Don’t you have to get to work? What’s the harm in letting me make sure you’ll get home safe?” I groaned and stomped back to my car. I sped away a good 20 miles over the speed limit. Looking in my rearview mirror, I could see him right behind me. I could bet he was smirking right now, thinking he got the best of me, twice. 

I pulled into my driveway and ignored him as he shouted out his window “Have a good day now city girl!” I flipped him off and unlocked the front door. I grabbed a clean shirt and some leggings. I slipped a blazer over my shirt and pulled my hair up into a pony tail. Stuffing some gym shorts and a sports bra into my duffel bag, I grabbed the shopping list Kasey left for me. I couldn’t wait to blow some steam off at the gym tonight. 

Since that night at the party, I started taking up kickboxing in addition to my usual routine of running on the treadmill and elliptical, and tonight, I desperately needed to hit something. Working up a sweat from my quick warm up, I pounded the punching bag over and over until I almost lost all feeling in my hands. 

“Whoa. Who pissed you off today?” Kasey wrapped her arms around my shoulder despite the dripping sweat. She smelled like chlorine, like she did every night. Sometimes we would meet up at the gym after my workout and after her swim before we headed home. Some days, she’d join me for a run, or I’d stop by the pool for a quick lap or two. 

“Just some cocky know-it-all who thinks its his job to save some miserable damsels in distress.” I groan and we head to the locker room. I tell Kasey about my encounter with car boy when we get home. Settled into her overstuffed couch with a bag of popcorn, we go through Netflix, trying to find a good movie to watch. 

“Well here in Llano, Texas, we like to be friend southerners. Haven’t you heard about southern hospitality?” Kasey nudges me with her shoulder.

“I know KC, but I’d rather handle things on my own than deal with guy’s egos. They think they’re meant for saving the world and entitled to kisses and backseat fumbling.” 

“Did something happen? Did he try to pull a move on you?” She pauses the movie and looks at me with concern.

“No, he just followed me home to make sure ‘Nothing else happens to me’” I air quote. Kasey looks at me weird for a moment before she plays the movie again. We watch the rest of the chick flick in silence with the occasional “aww.” After the movie, I stuffed my now empty bag of popcorn into the trash and started towards the hallway across the living room. 

“Hey kiddo, you know you can tell me anything right?” Kasey was sitting across the couch, with her arm draped around the back, looking at me with that weird look again. And for a second, I almost opened my mouth to say something, but I swallowed and just nodded. 

“Yeah I know. Goodnight KC, love you.”