Join Me In Paradise ~Samuel Drake~

Chapter Six.

It had almost been a full year since he had left. Honestly, it didn't really affect Ellie as much as she previously thought it would. Of course, the first few months were hard but she got over it fairly quickly. The only hard part was taking care of his younger brother Nathan.

The kid got himself in trouble often, Ellie had stopped a few fights herself. Normally, Nathan or Nate as he prefered kept to himself, reading a lot of books and staying quiet in classes. He and Ellie were always at the library reading as many books about fantasy that intrigued them. They hung out a lot in the recreational center they had in the church. It was basically a gymnasium, but that's what the nuns called the room. Anyone could walk in there on their free time, there was no age restriction really.

Nate and Ellie were currently sitting side by side on the bleachers, Nate discussing the book he had in his hands with Ellie. Most of the kids were getting ready for the bible retreat, including Nate and Ellie but they had everything ready to go despite the both of them not wanting to go.

"So, later in the book the character Peter ended up going with Shawn even after their huge fight about the-" Nate was trying to explain the book to Ellie, who wanted to read the book but simply didn't have the time too. Before he could explain any further, some kid called out to him.

"Hey, Morgan!" The kid yelled to him, his group of friends lumbering behind him all snickering quietly to themselves. His name was Edward, usually causing trouble for Nate. Nathan sighed softly, closing his book as he slowly walked down from the bleachers. Ellie caught his arm before he went too far.

"Try not to start a fight, okay? She asked him, even though he wouldn't really listen to her. Nate would usually go against what she said, annoyed that his brother asked her to babysit him. He didn't need the help, he was doing just fine on his own. Nate didn't need Ellie watching him 24/7.

Nate just rolled his eyes a little, walking down the steps, towards the group of snickering boys. Those boys were the popular ones of the orphanage. Even in church, there were cliques. This group always gave Nathan the hardest time, even with Ellie around.

"What do you guys want?" Nate asked, clutching his book tightly in his arms. It was one of his favorites books as well as Sam's, maybe it wasn't his absolute favorite, but it fell into his list.

"Whatcha reading there Nate?" Edward taunted, trying to read the title of the book. "Oh, wow looks like we have a pirate fan here boys." He teased, his group laughing a little bit harder.

"So? Is that a problem?" He said back to the boys, standing his ground against them and not going to runoff.

"Oh, no not at all. We just really love to read that genre as well...." The boy had a smirk on his face, making Ellie frown and slowly walk up to Nate.

"These boys giving you trouble Nate?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring down at Edward. She didn't want to fight, she just wanted to scare the group of boys off. It usually worked, I guess this time it didn't because the boys stood their ground just like Nathan did.

"We aren't giving him any trouble." Edward put his hands up in defense. "His big brother put you up to protecting him, huh? Makes sense I guess." He instigated, trying to get a reaction out of the two, which sadly worked. Nate took a step forward, and Ellie put her hand on his shoulder, tugging the younger boy back.

"So what if he did, not that Nate needs much 'protecting' anyways. Sam was just looking out for his younger brother." Ellie said, keeping an eye on the growing tension between the boy and Nathan, not wanting to get caught into another stupid and meaningless fight.

"Of course he would have to look out for his younger brother.......maybe that's because their father dumped them here because they are worthless." He started, his beady eyes boring into Nate's, seeing the anger flare up in Nate's expression.