Protecting John (earlier: Bad Boy Needs Protection)

CHaPTeR TWeNTY NiNe

I tied my shoe laces with an annoyed huff, too eager to get out of the pest infected little house. And by pest, I obviously mean a boy with the face of a cockroach.

Jules and I had come back late last night and our stomachs were growling and we desperately wanted some food to satiate the monsters living inside our stomachs. We ran into the kitchen but soon, we skidded to a halt when we came across the situation there.

The whole counter was a mess, empty containers and casseroles thrown about everywhere, the boys were laughing their hearts off as John ate the last slice of what looked like it had been the best carrot cake in the whole world. Of course now, in the hands of the satan himself, it looked like baby food. Gross.

"Hey guys, whatchya eatin'?" Jules asked them as we stepped into the kitchen.

"Only the best late night snack ever!" Daniel exclaimed. "Anne had brought some dinner over for the four of us but we were so hungry that we actually ate it all. Being good friends, we had decided to keep the carrot cake for you but you never showed up and we were hungry so we ate that too! John told me you guys won't mind." He gave me a sorry smile, as if now he'd realised that he was in big trouble.

I glared at the jerk-face and waited for an explanation. Anne had brought dinner enough for  four people and they had just scarfed it down? 'And cake too! Everyone knows that messing with Q's food is equal to mess with Q herself! Well, maybe they don't know it yet but we are going to show him tomorrow in the competition!' Mini Q tried to calm herself down, trying not to turn into the green monster again.

So long story short, we never found anything to eat or make in the cupboards last night and I only had a banana in the morning. Sure, I've had to starve for days at a stretch while being held hostage but this made me angrier.

Shoelaces tied and a pistol tucked in my boots, I got up to get the day started. The others were still sleeping and it was the perfect time to get my early morning jog. Before leaving, I made sure to leave a note on the fridge containing only cold water.

Field-9 am!

That gave them about two and a half hours to be there.

I took off into the woods, emptying my mind of any thoughts and focused on my breathing. This was my way of meditating and we all know I need some meditation to keep my anger in control. I let my feet control where I was going but after a few minutes, I jogged to a stop when I reached the field where our match was supposed to happen. Grayson was there, in the field, riding a horse around a kind of track he had created by stacking some plastic cones along a long path. God knows where he found those

"Hey Grayson!" I shouted at him,, hoping he would hear me while laughing at something the horse did. He turned his head to look at me, gave me the biggest smile and turned his horse around to come to me.

Now, I was not scared of animals, I love them. However, the idea of a huge horse running into me petrified me and I took a few steps back trying not to run away from the unicorn disguised as a horse.

"Hey Q! What are you doing here?" he asked me as he majestically got off the horse. I'm pretty sure that I would look like a breathless ogre if I tried to do that.

"I could ask you the same," I smiled at him.

"Well I'm your servant, remember? And this servant was ordered by his nana at five in the morning to go and check if you guys needed anything. I didn't know if I should barge into y'all while you were sleeping so I thought that I should get here and get stuff started. I hope this looks okay?" he asked me with the cutest look of concern I've ever seen.

Besides the race track, he had cleared a small patch of land and it looked like I could have a sparring match with him there. In the distance, I saw some cans stacked in a line, someting I could use for target practice.

I turned and gave him a huge smile. "It's perfect, thank you." He smiled back at me.

'If only we could smile instead of speaking.' Mini Q gave out a sigh as she leaned against her mini pony, looking at Grayson.

"No need to thank me, I'm just happy to help. Is there anything else you need? Nana was saying something about grocery shopping for you guys."

"Oh yes! The house is void of anything eatable and hence, Jules and I are starving." I chuckled, remembering all the dramatic complaints she had about life last night.

"Let me just take Blue Jeans back to the stable. Then we can go to the grocery store nearby."

"Blue Jeans?"

"Yeah," he smiled at me sheepishly. "I don't know if you get the reference but I was a huge fan as a little boy." He ran his hair through the back of his head and looked at me.

"I love it!" I exclaimed as I ran my hand through the horse's mane.

Let's go shopping!