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Chapter Nine

I woke up during the night with a start. The bus had come to a stop and in the process of the engine cooling down, it'd made a loud clunking noise that had busted into my subconscious in the form of a dream of myself getting shot. I clutched at my chest, which I was just glad to see was not being taken over by blood like a flower blooming across my shirt. I sat there catching my breath for a moment before resigning to the fact that I needed some fresh air.

I got up and peeked out the curtain at Charley, who was asleep on the hide-a-bed, blocking the door.

Some bodyguard - she hadn't even woken up at the loud clunking sound. For all she knew, I had been getting shot at and she didn't even give a damn.

I snuck back into my curtained off sleeping space. Clearly I wasn't getting out through the door of the bus. I sat on the edge of my bed and took a couple deep breaths, telling myself how irrational I was being about this whole thing. Maybe everyone else was right and Billy wasn't coming after me, despite what he'd shouted in the parking lot that night. Maybe I didn't need extra security to keep me safe. Particularly a she-guard like Charlotte Avery.

I did however need oxygen, so I got up and opened the window in the side of the bus and stuck my head out it. It didn't take long however, of breathing in the fresh air and it feeling so damn good on my face, before I was crawling out the window. I slipped and banged into the exterior of the bus. I felt a bit like Tarzan with the trees. I scrambled against the metal for a moment, then awkwardly caught my footing on the tire before slowly dropping down to the tar.

The bus was parked in a rest area alongside the highway. The other guys' buses were in a line ahead and behind mine, all the lights off. Across a strip of grass, the highway traffic rushed past, zipping along toward wherever they all were going.

I leaned against the bus and watched the cars go by.

And thats where I was when I was suddenly caught by the neck and chucked violently onto the grass, the wind knocked out of my chest as I sprawled face-first across the wet lawn. I felt a foot press against my spine, holding me down quite effectively, and a gun cock.

I was gonna die on the side of the freeway in the middle of the night while my she-guard slept less than twenty feet away. Great.

I was flipped over. I closed my eyes and raised my hands up to block my face. I didn't want to look my shooter in the eyes.

"Nick? What the fuck are you doing?"

I opened my eyes. My shooter was Charley.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" I demanded.

"I'm protecting you," she retorted. "Well, I'm trying to. Why the hell are you outside of the bus?" she moved her foot off my chest and I sat up. I wondered if someone could break their ribs hitting the lawn like that.

"I -" I was about to say had a bad dream, but changed my mind and restarted, "I needed some fresh air."

"How did you get out? You didn't go through the door..." she glanced back at the bus.

"Like you would've noticed if I did," I replied.

"You went through the window?" she asked. Charley looked back at me. "What are you, a complete idiot?"

"AJ says I'm missing some parts," I responded.

Charley rolled her eyes.

"And you would not've known, you were passed out alseep."

"I would've known, trust me," she replied as I struggled to my feet, dusting myself off. "Consequently," she added pointedly, "Are you now satisfied that security sent you the best?"

I shook my head. "Once again, you caught me off guard."

Charley stared at me for a long moment. "You know what? Fuck this and your attitude towards me about being your bodyguard. I'm not your typical girl and you god damned know it. Your masculinity is threatened by me and that's what pisses you off so much about me. Why can't you just admit that?"

"Because my masculinity is just fine," I snapped, "What pisses me off about you is that you're annoying and you're a bully."

"Jesus Nick, it was like decades ago that I pantsed you," she yelled, "Aren't you fucking over that yet?"

"You try being humiliated in front of the whole damn school," I snapped, "You see how you feel about it decades later."

"I was, why do you think I was a bully?" she demanded.

"How the fuck should I know?" I demanded, "Alls I know is you talk a lot of talk but I'm pretty sure that, just like back then, you're nothing but hot air."

"You have no idea what I'm capable of, Nick," she said.

"Sure I do, same as you were back then when it came down to the wire - absolutely nothing."

Charley stared at me for a long moment. She took a deep breath, "Okay. Just for the record? You totally earned this." And with that, she let fly a punch that landed directly in the center of my face.

I fell backwards into the grass, clutching my nose.

The stars seemed to spin for a few seconds, and then they went out.