Her Guardian

Chapter Two - Twelve Days

It was 7:00 am sharp when the alarm clock went off. As per usual, Toby had woken up before his alarm, so instead of rousing him the alarm only interrupted his thoughts. Potential lyrics to be specific.

That was when Toby remembered that the letter he had been waiting for over a week was supposed to come this morning.

Toby jumped out of bed and almost tripped on his pants as he tried to throw them on. After grabbing a navy blue shirt Toby ran down the stairs while pulling it over his head.

Zip the beagle nearly got trampled as she followed Toby out the front door and to the mailbox.

"What do you think, Zip?" Toby asked as he reached down to scratch her ears. "Do you think I got in?" The little dog responded with a tail wag and some very enthusiastic barks.

He opened the little red mailbox and on the very top there was a letter addressed to him. He grabbed the letter in one hand, the rest of the mail in the other, and went back inside.

"Is that the letter from the restaurant?" His mom called from the kitchen as he and Zip walked in.

"Yup," Toby set the bulk of the mail onto the kitchen island and with shaking hands began ripping open the one for him.

He scanned through it once, then one more time to make sure his eyesight wasn't failing him.

"I got in!" Toby pumped his fist in the air.

"I knew you would!" His mom exclaimed, running over to give her son a tight hug. "Now come sit at the table with your father and I for breakfast; it's your favorite."

She was right. He wasn't even seated before he recognized the scent of chocolate chip pancakes. Toby sat down at the round wooden table across from his father and began to dig in.

"So they want you to sing for them or something?" asked his dad, barely glancing up from his newspaper.

Toby scooped a heap of homemade whipped cream onto his pancakes and doused the stack in maple syrup. "Err, yeah, basically."

"They want him to sing and play his guitar in front of a whole crowd of people honey!" his mom cut in, putting her hand on Richard's shoulder. "Not just everyone can get into that place."

Her husband only grunted and resumed his scan of the news. Toby wasn't surprised; his dad had never supported his choice to pursue being a musician. He would have preferred that Toby follow in his footsteps as a businessman. Or at least something else just as respectable.

"Sweetie, aren't you going to be late for school?" Toby looked at the clock: he had five minutes to get to school and it would take him at least ten minutes to bike there.

Toby choked down the last bite, let his mom kiss him on the cheek, then rode his bike to school like his life depended on it.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Gwen asked, using one hand to eat and one to flip through her book. This one was titled "The Physics of Animal Flight." She seemed to have a different book with her every day.

"I got a B on my math test!" Technically a B minus but there was no need to get that specific.

Gwen looked up from her book, a huge grin spread across her face. "Nice job, Toby!" She exclaimed, nudging him with her shoulder. "What did I tell you about studying?" He also wouldn't tell her that he had only studied another twenty minutes that night after she left.

"It's crazy how that works," Toby agreed while stabbing a piece of macaroni and bringing the delicious pasta of cheesiness to his mouth.

"What do ya know, it's Gwendolyn Wilson and Toby Foster, a match of weirdos made in heaven!" He noticed Gwen flinch at the voice. He would have flinched too if wasn't so fed up with Chad's shenanigans.

"Why can't you just leave us alone for once, Chad. Just give it up, we aren't hurting anyone."

"You're hurting my brain!" Jack burst out, grabbing the book straight out from Gwen's hands. She pursed her lips but otherwise kept still. Well, apart from her clenched fist.

"Yeah, I mean who actually studies, especially as much as this freak," sneered Mandy as Chad put an arm around her waist. "It's just fuckin' weird if you ask me."

Toby got to his feet. "Well we didn't ask you so just let us eat our food in peace. Please." He added in hopes that being extra nice would help de-escalate the situation. Not that they had done anything to even escalate the problem in the first place.

Chad's eyes grew dark. "Are you back-talking my princess here?" He towered over Toby, his eyes daring Toby to make a move.

Toby kept eye contact with their childhood bully. He wasn't going to give this pathetic excuse for a human the satisfaction of watching him squirm.

"Just let it go, Chad. Only a coward uses physical intimidation to make someone feel inferior." Toby winced. Gwen was right, but maybe that wasn't the best thing to say.

Chad narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not a coward. And I know that I could take both of you with one hand tied behind my back so don't make me go that far."

Gwen stayed quiet this time. She knew that saying anything else would only make him lash out.

But Chad wasn't going to leave without feeling like the victor. He ripped Gwen's book from his buddy's hands and dropped it into Toby's mac and cheese.

"Enjoy your food, freaks."

"Hey! Why'd you do th—" Toby's sentence was cut short by a right hook to his jaw.

"That'll teach you to talk back to me," smirked Chad's ugly face before he and his friend's left the cafeteria. Few people had noticed the quarrel, and even fewer decided to do anything about it.

"You didn't have to stand up to him like that, you know?" Gwen reached at Toby's face to assess the damage but he just batted her hand away.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Really." His face stung but his anger burned more. "He shouldn't be able to walk all over people like that. It's unnecessary and cruel."

"Or unnecessarily cruel," she commented as she pulled the soggy book from Toby's lunch. He wished there was something he could do to make them stop. Gwen suddenly shook her head and muttered, "No," under her breath.

Toby had first noticed this odd behavior in seventh grade. Gwen had suddenly started saying things under her breath, making erratic movements, and overall acting like she was hearing voices.

The few times he had tried confronting Gwen about it, however, she had just laughed as if he was the crazy one.

"I can't wait to get out of high school," Toby grumbled as he held out some napkins for Gwen.

"You just reminded me," Gwen began, not meeting his eyes. "I actually have something to tell you." That didn't sound good. Especially not when her face looked like her favorite goldfish just died.

"I'm not staying here over the summer. I'm leaving town when school ends."

Toby's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't understand."

"I got accepted for an internship with an actual wildlife biologist."

"No, no, no," Toby shook his head. "No, you're not leaving until after summer is over. Not for three more months." He locked eyes with Gwen, searching, pleading. "You can't."

"I leave in twelve days, Toby. I'm sorry"

A/N: I got pretty busy yesterday (Friday) when I normally upload, but here is the newest chapter. Don't forget to tell me what you think in the comments! Your feedback helps out a lot!!