Protecting John (earlier: Bad Boy Needs Protection)

CHaPTeR TWeNTY FouR

This couch surpassed my expectations. I was really comfortable and warm and to add on to it, I was being woken up by the sounds of birds chirping. I fluttered my eyes open expecting to see sunrays peeking through the shut curtains in front of the couch but was surprised to see a wall with numerous pictures hanging on it.

Okay, that did not happen. That is just the version of how I wish I had woken up.

Early in the morning even before the sun came out, I was woken up by my body alarm. I had not even opened my eyes but I knew that I was no longer on the couch but somewhere different.

It was a better different, though. Much better than the small, old couch.

What am I doing on the bed?

I jumped out, expecting to land with a perfect landing in a karate pose but you don't always get what you want. My legs got tangled on the sheets and the pillow was still in my arms. The force of my jump made my legs wobble a little bit which resulted in me falling against the wall. I was saved by a fraction of a second because my hands somehow moved faster than I thought and broke my fall.

Searching all around the room to make sure that no one witnessed my ultimate embarrassing moment, I got up and inspected every corner of the room. Making sure that the territory was safe, I went into the bathroom, determined to knock some answers out of Johnny boy.

Before walking out of the room, I made sure to look into the mirror one more time just to make sure that there was nothing else to add on to my list of embarrassing moments.

I twisted the handles, and I saw nothing. My eyes were shut tight to prevent all the water getting into it. Yes, I was drenched in water the first thing in the morning. Letting out a deep breath, I opened my eyes and looked around to find the culprit and kill it. An abandoned bucket lay on the floor and just a few steps away, I found jean-clad legs.

Definitely not Jules.

I followed the legs to identify the face of my next suspect and found a smirking Johnny boy waiting for my reaction.

I crossed my arms at my chest for a more serious look and tapped my right foot on the wet floor.

"Why did you do that?" I asked in a calm but terrifying voice.

"Well, yesterday I thought that I'll be a gentleman and let the lady sleep on the bed. When I tried to move you, I couldn't get near you because you stink. I was hoping that you took a shower today but I'm pretty sure you did not because the time between your fall and you coming out does not give you enough time to take a bath. So I just helped you out."

"Listen here, John. Firstly, no one fell down in the morning. Fall. NO. HAPPEN" he smirked which increased my irritation.

"Second, how dare you come near me thinking you could be a knight in shining armour? What did you give me to make me sleep so hard that I did not notice a guy throwing me over his shoulder and dumping me on the bed?"

"Thirdly, I don't stink, you do!" I huffed and turned away not wanting to have any more of a conversation with jerk-face.

I walked into the kitchen to find myself a bottle of water which I could take with me for my jog. It was still pretty early so I knew that taking Jules with me was out of the question. I found my bottle, put on my shoes. All ready.

I tried to be as quiet as possible while opening the creaky front door- which still made a lot of noise, mind you. With my first step outside, I knew that this was the dream of every runner- a natural trail with no human disturbances for a long, peaceful run.

As always, I let my legs take me wherever but I was a little more alert because I had to come back and Google maps was not an option here.

***

Exhausted, I walked into the little house to find all my fellow house mates on the couch with another person, an old woman sitting on an arm chair.

Humming a tune of 'stranger-danger' which my uncle, Jules and I made up when we were young, I looked at my best friend to confirm that the lady was a friendly. Which was rather obvious but still, I didn't want to take any chances.

She gave me a little nod, and then continued to look at the lady with a huge smile on her face.

Yup, definitely not a stranger.

"Hi darling, you must be the famous Q!" she came and engulfed me in a huge hug.

"Um, hi.." I did not know what else to say.

"Oh, you must be feeling so awkward. No worries, let me introduce myself. I am Anne- John's mother's mother's best friend. I raised Emily like my own daughter and let me tell you, I started considering you as family as soon as I heard Emily gushing over the phone about you and your super ninja skills."

"Oh, you know Emily and how she over appreciates everything. I am just a normal girl." I smiled at her.

She led me to the kitchen where she made us some breakfast and talked about all the fun she had with the Fernandes family. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers like she just remembered something.

"Oh, silly me! I didn't even tell you why I came here." All four pair of eyes concentrated on her. Finally, some clue about our lives.

"I'm sure you guys have already noticed but this is a pretty remote area with not much of human activity. The city is about a twenty minute ride away and there are no mobile networks here. So this becomes the perfect hiding spot for you guys until Anthony finds out about all the people looming in the shadows."

"What if we have an emergency and we need to call someone for help?" John asked, trying to keep a neutral expression but I knew that he was concerned.

"Oh, not to worry my child. There is a telephone in the kitchen and the diary near it has all the emergency contacts."

"Now that I have informed you little kids about the situation, I better get back to my cows or they'll give me the silent treatment for the rest of the day because they felt left out." She chuckled and prepared to leave through the door.

"Oh, and one more thing," she said and turned back to us.

"All of you will be getting some training in self-defence from Q from tomorrow morning. Okay, bye!"

"We will what?"

Oh boy.

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