2

Ch. 2

Lindsey and Peter stared at my notebook for so long I was afraid their eyeballs would fall out. Louis was having his fun by throwing his head back and laughing loudly. I tried to move my notebook away, but Peter's hand shot out and slammed it down on my notebook. His stare just intensified, as if trying to find the secret code to translate it. Lindsey's head snapped up to give me the sharpest look anyone has ever given to like she was trying to see into my soul.

Lucky for me that my soul had departed years ago so no one could set eyes on it.

She gripped my hands and I gave her an are-you-crazy? look. They were starting to freak me out. Damn Goldens. I knew it was just some joke to mess with me. I tried to pull my hand away but she held on tight, giving me goosebumps. "You're... perfect!" She screamed.

Her excitement alone was a terrifying sight for me to see. I practically threw myself out of the booth and leaped over the display counters where Louis was and hid behind him as a shield. Even he was looking a bit freaked out at seeing the girl getting on the table and fist pumping the air as if she won the lottery.

Louis and I shared a look and he nudged me towards the employee exit, not taking his eyes off the Goldens. "I'll see you later, kid. I think it's best if you stayed away from these people."

I nodded my thanks and made my escape, Peter STILL staring at my notebook and Lindsey dancing on the tables. I practically ran out of there. I couldn't go back to the book store now. That's the first place they'd look. Sheila could die for all I cared at the moment. Running as fast as possible without slipping on ice, I ran through the streets of downtown Denver until I got to my apartment.

Okay, my apartment was more like a boarded up shack. I was the only tenant and no one lived there except for the old man that owned the place. The place was like looking at a rotting piece of fruit. Some of the windows were broken and curtains fluttered in and out of them. The front door looked like it would fall off if you weren't careful, the bricks chipping away.

Basically, it was like if the slightest breeze came, it would knock over in a pile of rubble. It wasn't in the safest neighborhood either. Homeless people and pickpockets ran through the streets. But I could afford the rent, so who needed safety. I never really carried anything to give to hobos or anything for a pickpocket to steal. If someone attacked, the only thing I could really do would be to kick them in the balls. It hurt to both genders, ladies, gentlemen, and even on occasion, the female genetalia. 

Anyways, I quickly got inside the building, waving at the old man that always sat at the desk. As the owner, he really didn't do much. He sometimes forgot to ask for the rent and I shamelessly took advantage of that. But he was always at that desk with a black and white picture of his family, a landline phone, a can of mace, and pen and paper.

I felt sad for him, but I didn't know anything about socializing and he probably didn't want my company anyways. The metal stairs groaned loudly as I walked up to the top floor of the building to my room. And yes, it really was one room apartment besides the bathroom.

Inside was a regular sized room with a little kitchen in the corner, a table and a chair by the window, and a beat up old couch with some blankets and a pillow against the wall. My books lay scattered around the room, some in a stack, others just on the dirty carpeted floor. That was all. It definitely wasn't something to be happy about when I come back from a long day, but it was everything I needed.

I shut the door and leaned against it for support as I put my hand to my forehead and process what had happened. Golden people were nuts, well those two were. I pushed myself up and went over to the mini fridge. There was last weeks lasagna that was looking a bit fuzzy and some frozen macaroni, two opened beer bottles, and funny looking lemon. Thankfully I wasn't hungry so I just went over to the small table by the window and looked out.

It was hardly a view, but being on the top floor let me watch what happened below. Hobos do the strangest things sometimes and I won't delve into that story.

I drew a heavy wool blanket around my shoulder since the apartment was cold. I had a heater, but I tried to only use it at night to warm the place up so I wouldn't freeze. And then I saw the Goldens. The f*****g stalkers. They were walking quickly towards the apartment building. Lindsey was holding my notebook with a determined look on her face and Peter had his scowl on his face.

They both stopped and looked up to the window where I looked out. I quickly drew the curtains but they had already seen me. How the hell did they find me?

Crap.

I had Louis come over to my place a for the first time a few days ago. I had to give him my address since I couldn't just tell him. I must not have cleared the damn thing out. I know, maybe if I slam my head against the wall hard enough, I'd die and I wouldn't have to deal with them ever again.

Ten minutes later, I was still freaking out when I heard them coming up the stairs, knocking on the door. I started inching towards it carefully, as if hell itself would come bursting through the damn thing. I heard Peter curse and he tried to open the door. Well, he got it open, but I tried to slam it shut in his face. Something was blocking the doorway when in looked down to see his foot wedged there to keep the damn thing open.

"GOD DAMN MOTHER-F*****G SON OF A B***H!" he yelled. Ah, the first real humanoid words I ever heard him say.

Lightning fast, I opened the door, snatched my notebook back from a shocked Lindsey, kicked Peter's foot out of the way and slammed the door shut.

"Hannah, please open the door," Lindsey yelled. More pounding on the door and I leaned my whole weight against the door to keep them out. At times like these I wished there were locks on the doors. "Please listen to what we have to say."

Piss. Why me? What the hell did I do to deserve this annoyance that wouldn't go away? I've been good, minding my own business, doing what Grays did best: blend in and being ignored. I never complained. I liked my existence. So what the f**k did I do to deserve this s**t? I groaned inwardly.

You're going to regret this, Hannah White, I thought. Don't open the f*****g door.

Guess what I did. I opened the damn door.

Lindsey practically fell to the ground since she was leaning against it and Peter's hand was up for another round of pounding. Their surprised faces only served to irritate me. 

*WHAT DO YOU WAAAANT???* I shoved my notebook in their faces, causing them to take a step back. 

"We just have a favor to ask you, Hannah," Lindsey said pleadingly. "Just listen to us."

My answer was already written before she finished speaking. *No.*

This time, Peter spoke. It surprised me since Lindsey always did the talking. "Please listen to our request," he said quietly.

ARGHHHHH! That's it. The Goldens are playing games with me. I knew it because I wanted to listen what these people wanted to say. I nope the inner war going inside my head didn't show on my face. Inwardly I was screaming. Outwardly, I frowned and narrowed my eyes at them as I stepped back to let them into my room. They stopped when they got inside the one room apartment and took in its poor condition.

Just to be nice, I turned on the heater for them. They'd better be grateful. I sat back at my seat near the window as they hesitantly sat down. Awkward silence fell upon the room. I sighed in exasperation and motioned for them to hurry up and tell me what the hell they wanted.

For once, Lindsey wasn't the main talker. She smacked Peter's arm. "You tell her Peter. It's your project."

He cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. And here I thought he was a cold hearted jackass. He's actually just a shy jackass. He cleared his throat several more times and Lindsey just leaned back and crossed her arms, pleased with herself. I gave him a look that said hurry-up-or-I'm-throwing-you-out. He seemed to shake himself. "I need you to help me with a psychology project for school," he blurted.

*Huh?* I'm pretty sure that my face went slack and my mouth dropped open.

"At Lincoln High School," he muttered, his face bright red and his gaze fixated at his clenched hands. He really didn't like talking. "I have this class where-"

I cut him off with a frantic wave of my hands. *You guys are HIGH SCHOOLERS?!* I thought they were freaking Golden college students! I needed a drink. Hell, I deserved a drink after today. Don't get the wrong idea though. I'm not a big drinker, but there were always those days that I needed to relax. Today was one of those days. I went and got the half empty bottle and started sipping.

"Yeah," Lindsey said, confused. "Aren't you?"

I put my head in my hands. IN high school? Hell, I was the kid genius that skipped three grades and graduated with a full scholarship when I was sixteen. I got my degree in college when I was twenty. Around there was when life started throwing s**t at me. I'm twenty-three now. It also never helped that I was always on the small size scale and my round face made me look like a kid.

"Well, we're trying to observe people and their actions and why they do those things," Peter continued, his voice gruff. "Lindsey thinks that you would be the perfect one to observe."

This was way worse than some Golden joke. This was Goldens humiliating Grays like me. I'm not some experiment to be observed under a microscope. I flipped back to the have before. *No.* I never knew that the scowling Peter could look so crestfallen. It had me writing as fast as I could to explain. *I'm not someone that you would want to observe. I'm boring and I don't even talk.*

Lindsey sat up straighter, getting back into the conversation. "And that's why you're perfect for the project. Because you don't talk, it's the best way to show what goes on in your mind since you can't talk."

I refused to point out that I could talk, I just liked to stay quiet.

"We'll pay you," Peter blurted out again. He turned a deeper shade of red. 

I narrowed my eyes at this. I knew it. They pitied me and they were so desperate to get me that they thought that they could bribe me into doing it. It was working. It never hurt to have a little extra money on hand in case of emergencies. *How long is the project and how much?*

The two shared a look, apparently they didn't think they'd have to go this far. This was a stupid idea. I shouldn't have let them know I was interested in the whole thing.

I was about to write just that when Lindsey said, "A month for fifty bucks."

I practically choked on my beer and coughed for several minutes. I shook my head as hard as I could. A whole god damn month! I couldn't handle being around Goldens for that long with just fifty bucks as a reward. I was willing to do the project, just not for that price.

*$150*

Now it was their turn to almost choke. Except that they only had their own spit to do that.

"One hundred!" She haggled.

I grinned an evil grin. *$200 or I'm not doing it.*

Lindsey's mouth popped open in shock and she started to protest. "Alright," Peter interrupted. His voice smooth and controlled. He looked me straight in the eyes and didn't look at all like the boy that was here just a few minutes ago. Yep, he was back to being the cold b*****d that I had met in the bookstore.

*This isn't some joke though?* I wrote, suddenly feeling afraid. *This is really just for your school, right?*

"It's just for a school project. Once it's done, it'll probably be trashed anyways."

*And if there's something that I don't want to be in the project?*

He hesitated, "Depending on if it's important or not, we'll discuss it with you before we add it to the project."

I took another sip of my beer. *Alright. Do whatever you want. Just don't forget to pay me.* 

Suddenly, I felt exhausted. I hoped that they didn't find out anything about me that I don't want anyone to know about. I'd probably have to be around more Golden people just because of them. This was insane. I know that I'm setting myself up for disaster, but what else would I do? Whittle wood? Read the same book over and over again?

Life is a monotonous thing for me really. It's always day after day of the same routine. Wake up, wander the streets, if I felt like it, I would get something to eat, go to work, and then come home. Nothing new. There was only so much that a Gray girl could do to pass the time.

So when I get the chance to break away from the regular day schedule, I usually took it. Because what did I have to lose? Nothing.

This little project was another way for me to pass the time.

Author's Note

I wrote this on my tablet, so I couldn't italicize Hannah's words, but they still have **<-- these things