A few weeks had passed and Ashley was beginning to feel she’d settled into school pretty well. Her classes weren’t terrible and her social life seemed to be blooming. She was making decent friends with others besides her lunch group. Nathaniel came to join them once in a while. The second day of school she’d waited for him eagerly at lunch.
“So did your mom sing you that song?” she asked. He shook his head.
“My family has heard it before, but she doesn’t know from where.”
“Stalker…” whispered Kara.
“Shut it you,” said Liz.
“It’s an option. I’m not saying that he is. I’m just saying he might be.”
“I’ll see you again tonight then?” asked Nathaniel playfully.
The group laughed and Kara grinned at Nathaniel. Ashley laughed as well. She wondered if putting Nathaniel and Kara together was just amusing or a disaster waiting to happen. Since Nathaniel kept coming back, she figured she’d find out one day.
Shoren was still as friendly to her as ever, but he never dared to try and join them at lunch. She was beginning to get the feeling that Kara was right about Shoren liking her.
In PE she’d come to enjoy her new friendship with Mary. Mary might’ve been a freshman, but she was funny and relaxed like she was. Mark was nice to hang out with too, but he seemed a bit too serious about sports. Both girls did decide to try out for track. Mark would take Ashley one day after school and Mary another day.
Ashley was feeling pumped up as she stepped out onto the track with Mark. She beat him there and had been stretching out for five minutes when he finally arrived.
“You’re even quick to get here,” he said.
“I try. Are you going to stretch?”
“I already did before I walked out here. I’ll wait for you to finish.”
“So what are we doing?”
“Just running some laps. We’ll do distance and a quick sprint and then we’ll be done. I’m pretty sure you’re already in, but the coach says we have to do a tryout.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Ashley as she finished her stretch. She stood up and cracked her neck. “Ready when you are.”
“Let me set my watch and we’ll get started.”
There was a loud ring of metal as someone kicked the aluminum fence near the track. They both turned to see Nathaniel walking out towards them.
“Good day,” he said cheerfully.
“Hey,” said Ashley.
“What are you doing here?” asked Mark.
“I’m looking for my sister.”
“She’s not here today.”
“Really? Damn, I must’ve gotten my days mixed up.”
“I guess so,” said Mark. “Now if you’ll excuse us.”
“Ah, say no more. Track running. Yes, the most difficult of runs out on an open field with no hindrances. Please continue with your very difficult sport.” Nathaniel grinned and gave them a small salute as he backed away. Ashley smiled, but Mark seemed upset.
“You know this isn’t as easy as it looks,” he said angrily.
“I’m sure,” said Nathaniel smugly. “Following the little arrows on the track can be pretty tough at times.”
“It’s a contest of speed and endurance,” claimed Mark.
“I’m just saying it’s running in a straight line. How hard can it be?”
“It’s obviously too tough for you.”
Ashley couldn’t help but notice Mark flex unconsciously. She sighed as she felt the boys banter turning into a contest. Mark was more than fit, but he was a runner. His lean body didn’t have the capability to bulk up. Nathaniel could show off much more impressively. He had much broader shoulders and a long chest. He stood a good four inches taller than Mark and looked happy for the chance to fight. Whether because of the wind or Nathaniel, Mark shivered a little.
“You know Mark, I always thought you were smart. Maybe not. If there’s anything I know about, it’s speed.”
“There’s a difference between running and driving like a maniac. You do know that right?” sneered Mark.
“Oh stop trying to be a show off,” laughed Nathaniel. “I know your new runner is cute, but there are better ways of impressing her. Ask her out to a movie or take her up the mountain. Do something besides trying to pick crap with me.”
“Please,” stammered Mark. “You think I’d go that far.” Nathaniel took a step closer and his voice deepened.
“I hope not.”
“Uh guys, still here,” coughed Ashley. “You want to continue your little spat or are we going to start?” Mark started to say something, but Nathaniel cut him off.
“But of course. Please continue your practice. I apologize for my interruption.” He bowed formally and threw his coat up a little like a cloak.
Nathaniel turned to leave the field and Mark and Ashley turned back to the track. Mark was muttering something under his breath. Ashley heard something about Nathaniel. She didn’t know what it was about, but she guessed it wasn’t very nice. She turned to ask Mark what he’d said but she never got the chance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathaniel close the distance. Whether he’d heard the comment or just assumed, she didn’t know. But he was flying through the air towards Mark and looked incredibly angry.
“Don’t you ever insult my family!”
Mark barely had time to turn before Nathaniel’s fist connected with his chest. Mark tripped in surprise and Nathaniel looked like he was ready to pounce on him. The tiniest measure of reserve flicked in his rage.
Pain and bravado pushed Mark back to his feet even though it was obvious he was winded. He stood hunched, breathing rapidly. His eyes were shouting back since he couldn’t find the air too.
Nathaniel pointed a dangerous finger at him. “Not one word.” Fists clenching and unclenching, he stormed away from the field. Ashley wasn’t sure if Mark waited until Nathaniel was clearly gone or if his lungs needed the time to re-inflate.
“What an asshole.”
“Are you okay?” Ashley asked, still unsure of what to do after seeing her first fight. It wasn’t much of a fight. Did it even qualify as a fight?
“I’m fine. He just surprised me. If he didn’t jump me, I could’ve taken him.” Ashley thought that unlikely, but didn’t want to hurt Mark’s bruised ego. “Let’s get started. One mile.”
It was almost a surprise how fast he moved on. Maybe he didn’t want her to see how much it really hurt. She decided not to bring it up and ran her mile as he kept time. He joined her for a series of sprints. Ashley won the first three rounds, but he won the final five. Huffing, she realized she needed to work on her endurance.
“I’ll let you know when we set up the next track practice. You did well today.”
“Thanks. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
Ashley headed straight for the parking lot. The warmth from running quickly disappeared as the wind blew, freezing the beads of sweat running down her legs and back. It wasn’t until she reached for her keys that she realized she hadn’t bothered to change. Her keys were still in her jeans which were in her bag…which was still on the bleachers. Groaning, she turned around and tromped back towards the fields.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The track wasn’t empty when she returned. Nathaniel was standing in the middle of the field looking away from her. She didn’t know whether to approach him or not. Her bag was sitting on the bleachers to his right. The wind changed direction and Nathaniel seemed to sense she was there. He gave her a wave and went over to pick up her bag.
“I think you forgot this,” he said quietly.
“Yes, thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me.”
He walked away from her and headed back across the track. She thought he was going to leave again, but he stopped at the bleachers. He took off his coat and emptied his pockets. Ashley watched amazed as he started to take off his boots and socks as well. She walked a little closer.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m getting a bit more comfortable.”
Comfortable? How could he be getting more comfortable when it was so cool out?
Nathaniel pulled off his last sock and walked back onto the track. He’d stripped down to just a tight shirt and his pants. He had an amazing body and she wondered how he wasn’t cold. Ashley watched as he set up in front of the start line. He was going to run? Thirty minutes ago he’d been poking fun at Mark for running and now he was going to? The irony boggled her mind. Plus he wasn’t dressed for running. He wasn’t even wearing shoes.
Everything she’d just assumed was wrong. He was fast. Nathaniel started on all fours and practically leapt forward. He was easily as fast of a sprinter as Mark was and probably just as fast as her. His feet pounded against the rough ground but he didn’t seem to care. A predatory smile grew as he sped around and passed her. Nathaniel was without a doubt faster than both her and Mark. After his second lap he stopped next to his belongings. Ashley saw his chest wasn’t moving hard and his breathing was quiet. He wasn’t even tired.
“Have a good day. I’m sorry about earlier,” he said as he picked up his boots. She grabbed her things and left, unsure what she was supposed to say.
She took the time to change in the locker room before leaving this time. She didn’t want to freeze as she walked to her jeep. She was almost there when she heard Liz behind her.
“Ashley! Wait up.” Liz came jogging up behind her. “Heading home? Can I catch a ride?”
“Sure.” They climbed into her jeep and started out of the parking lot.
“How was track?”
“Pretty good until Nathaniel punched out Mark.” Liz looked at her stunned.
“What!” Ashley told her the story.
“Sounds about right. I’m surprised Mark of all people would risk talking about Nathaniel’s family. He should’ve known better.”
“Does he have a school wide reputation for this or something?”
“Oh yeah, and he’s not the only one. His little brother Kevin gets just as angry if you pick on Nathaniel or his sister. They watch out for each other.”
“How often does it happen? How is he even still in school?”
“It doesn’t happen as often as it might sound. He’s still in school because he usually never fights anyone during school hours. He gets a lot of detention and other things, but nothing worse than that. And the school’s pretty lenient on fighting provided you have a good reason. Most of the people around here don’t think it’s that bad when fights happen. They say it’s natural for kids to fight and defend their family.”
Ashley felt she could understand that. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if someone insulted Alex. He was a great guy, even if she didn’t see him as her dad yet. Ashley realized Liz was staring at her.
“What?”
“Nathaniel’s not a bad guy,” Liz said quickly.
“I don’t think he is. He just kind of surprised me when he hit Mark.”
“Sorry. I’ve never actually seen him get into a fight. I just always seem to hear about it. I can’t imagine what it’s like.”
“It was over pretty fast.”
“Don’t you do martial arts or something?”
“I’m not that good. I just practice it with Kara. She’s the real expert.”
“I’d believe that.”
Ashley just nodded as her thoughts kept coming back to Nathaniel. She still couldn’t get a good feel for him yet. It seemed like his personality changed every day.
“Hey Liz, you seem to know a little about everyone right?”
“Usually. It comes from living in this town my whole life and being a bit nosy.”
“Does Nathaniel seem different when he’s on his own as opposed to in a group or at school?”
“Definitely.”
“Why?”
“It goes with that whole thing I told you about how he looks out for his family. If you get him alone, he’s a sweet guy. But when you put him in a group, he gets defensive, like he knows someone is going attack him. Then you put him with someone like Mark who says the wrong remark and he gets aggressive. He’s had to put up with people teasing him and his family his whole life. I think he’s just tired of it.”
“Why do people tease him?”
“No idea. I think it’s because they live pretty far away and people don’t know them very well. Even Kara doesn’t like him.”
“Why is that? I never remember to ask her.” Liz grinned.
“She says Nathaniel is too weird for her.” Ashley let out a loud laugh.
“This coming from Kara? I would’ve thought she and Nathaniel would have the most in common.”
“Maybe that’s it. Kara sees too much of herself in Nathaniel. Deep down she’s probably scared of him like she is of everybody else.” Ashley looked at Liz curiously.
“Do you know Kara’s story too?”
“You mean why she and her family are all kinds of weird?” asked Liz.
“Kind of? They’re the most paranoid people I’ve ever met.”
“I’m not sure if I should be the one to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s personal. What I’m about to tell you, I never told you. Understand?” Ashley nodded slowly. She’d never seen Liz serious when it came to gossip. She’d never seen her not want to talk about anything.
“It has to do with Kara’s brother.”
“Kara has a brother?”
“Had. Nobody knows the whole story, but this is what I know. Her parents claim a demon came in the night and carried him away. He was kidnapped before Kara was even born. They searched for him, but he’s never been seen since. When Kara was born you can understand why they were a bit scared. They moved out here and made their home more like a fortress. As soon as Kara could walk, they had her fighting and training. I heard once she slept in her parent’s bedroom until she was ten. That’s why they’re different.”
Ashley was speechless. She kept her mouth shut for the rest of the way home. A lot of the people around here had some real history to them and she felt she was just beginning to scratch the surface. Nathaniel wasn’t an aggressive jerk. He was just bitter and angry from the annoyances of his life. Kara and her family weren’t weird, they were scared. She wondered how much of the big picture she was still missing.
She parked in front of her house and said goodbye to Liz before heading into her empty house and went upstairs. She looked at the photo she had of her mom as she sat down on her bed. It had been months since her mom had passed and she’d moved out here. Life wasn’t bad now, but she knew she could never have the life back she used to have. She hugged the photo and laid down on her bed.
Kara. Ashley felt closer to Kara now than anyone else in town. Kara was strange, weird, and put on a good front, but she and Ashley were very similar. Kara had her parents in the same way she had Alex. They were there for them, but there would always be a hole in their lives. Ashley would never forget her mom and what it was like to have her. Kara had never known her brother and would always wonder what he was like. Some might say Kara was lucky to have not known her brother in the first place, but Ashley disagreed. She at least had the memories of her mother. Kara would always be left to wonder.
Later when her dad came home, she decided she would ask what he knew about Kara. She waited until he’d relaxed and they were sitting down for dinner before she popped her questions.
“Hey dad?” He looked at her intently.
“Yes?”
“What do you know about my friend Kara and her family?” He ate another bite of his soup before responding.
“A bit. Why, what have you heard?” His voice was calm, but the tone of his voice said he knew a lot.
“I heard she used to have a brother and that he was kidnapped. Is that true?” Her dad nodded slowly.
“From what I’ve heard, yes that’s true.”
“Do you know when it happened?”
“A long time ago, before Kara was born.” They sat in silence for a bit. Ashley picked through her soup slowly. She’d hoped Liz wasn’t telling the truth. “Was there something you wanted to know about?”
“No, I just wanted to know if it was true.”
“It’s very sad, but true. The Fortunes are wonderful people, but they’ll always be a bit haunted. No matter how many years pass, their eyes always say the same thing. They’re scared of the world. I don’t blame them.”
“Neither do I.” Ashley said quickly. “I think I’d be paranoid for the rest of my life if that happened to me.”
“Me too. Did Kara tell you this herself?” Ashley shook her head. “One of your friends then?” Ashley nodded. “I’ll assume you know not to bring this up to Kara.”
“Of course.”
“Good. There are some topics people should never bring up unless the other person starts it. I’ve never heard of Kara talking about what happened, but I did see someone mention it to her father once. It wasn’t pretty.”
“What happened?” Alex shrugged.
“He went a bit mad. Losing someone you love like that is a wound that never truly heals. It’s best to leave the pain with them. No words we have will ever comfort them.” Alex smiled a bit as he finished his soup.
“Since we’re talking about gossip tonight, I heard your track tryouts didn’t go so well.” Ashley sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Boys are stupid.” Alex started laughing as he scooped the last of his soup up.
“Boys will be boys. Sometimes we think with our hearts more than our heads.” Ashley frowned.
“How did you find out?”
“Small town Ashley. Everybody knows everyone and word travels fast.” She narrowed her eyes a bit and he smiled. “I also happened to be working with Mark’s dad today.”
“Your detective skills are amazing.”
“I try.”
“How did Mark’s dad handle the news?”
“A bit angry at both of them. Angry at Nathaniel for being so hotheaded and angry at his son for being stupid.”
“He was mad at his own son?”
“Of course. Just because Nathaniel struck first doesn’t mean that he started the fight. Words can hurt more than fists can.”
“I suppose. I can’t imagine getting so angry from just a few words.”
“I can. Everyone has the wrong button that can get pressed. They’re all different, but nobody is free of them. People like Nathaniel and his family are easy to set off. Others are a lot harder to push, but it can always be done.”
“I’m not sure what mine are,” Ashley mused. “Is it weird that I’m not sure what could make me act that way?”
“No, most people don’t know. Trust me when I say that you’ll know when you hear them.”
Ashley thought it over as she finished her soup. She wondered what Mark had said. Whatever it was, it had been enough to set off Nathaniel like a cannon. She did have to admit she was surprised how quickly Mark had gone down. The girls had said Nathaniel had a reputation for being a good fighter. She felt now he just might deserve it.