Astith's Prophecy

Chapter 4

~Danielle's POV~

I go back to Brent's cart to get myself a piece of bread. To be honest, I don't even want to go to school today. Maybe I will skip. It's not like I'll learn much there anyway. I get back to Brent when I see him and a girl talking. Now trust me when I say that I am not jealous. I don't even like him in that way, but he is my one and only shot. Damnit, she's very beautiful.

So, I did the only thing I could do, which is the stupidest thing in my life to do... I walk towards them.

"Oh, really? That's interesting." The girl said.

The way she said that makes me think that she was lying through her teeth. She just wants him for his looks and maybe his money. His family isn't bad off. He isn't rich, but he isn't poor either. He is in the middle class, which is probably why she is all over him. She has blond hair, bright blue eyes, and is very pretty, but you could tell she is in the lower class. She is wearing torn shorts, a faded shirt, and mismatched shoes.

Brent turns to where I was standing, and all his attention is on me. "Hey, Danielle."

"Hey, who's she?"

Yes, I know. I realize that I sound rude, but I was intimidated by her. Even though her status is lower than mine. It didn't matter. I didn't judge people based on status. I was just scared that she would take my only hope of getting married away. See, if nobody chooses me to marry them, I would get ridiculed and casted aside.

"I'm Maria." She smiles at me and holds out her hand to shake it. I take her hand gladly. "I heard a lot about you from him. He's right. You are not a morning person."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude. I'm just hungry." I gave her a small smile and she nods. She's probably glad that I even acknowledged her. Some people just ignore the poor ones.

"Here, I knew you would come back." He hands me a piece of French bread, and I gladly take it.

"Well, I have to go. It was nice to meet you, Danielle." She walks away towards the church.

Brent's mom comes outside and takes his shift. Now, he has a couple of hours to relax, so he asked me to take a walk with him. I agree.

-Time Skip-

We have been walking along a path in the woods for an hour or so, just looking at nature. We didn't say anything to each other until we sat down on a log to take a break from walking.

"You know," he suddenly speaks up, "I don't understand you sometimes." Brent wasn't looking at me. His glaze is instead on the forest, looking far away.

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head to the side.

"You act jealous, but you don't seem to like me. How does that work?" He finally looks at me in the eyes. I can feel him staring into my soul.

"I don't know. I'm just protective of you. Is that so wrong?"

"I like you, Danielle, and I want to marry you. I-I love you, but you don't feel the same way as I do. I can tell. You only like me as a friend. I know that you have to marry someone, and I don't want to see you being cast away. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do if you accept my offer. I can sleep on the floor if you like. We can say you can't have kids... I won't force you to do anything."

He looks so sad now. It makes me feel guilty. I do love him but only as a friend. Right now, I really wish that I feel the same way as he did. I wish I feel the same to make him happy because I know what it feels like to get your heart broken by a person you like. To someone who doesn't like you back.

"You know, I do love you, Brent. Just," I hesitate a little, "not like that. I wish I could. Maybe, in time, I will learn to love you."

He looks at me with such passion, but he also looks at me with confusion. That made him look like he always does. Cute and annoying.

"Can I ask you something?" He turns the rest of his body towards me.

"Sure." I turn my whole body towards him and look him in the eyes. Those beautiful eyes that I wouldn't mind staring into.

"Can I kiss you?" I freeze. It takes me a minute to process what he just said.

"What?"

"Never mind. It was stupid." He turns his face away in embarrassment. His face turns very red. I feel so guilty and I decided to marry him anyway, so why not.

I turn his face towards me, and he looked at me in confusion.

"Yes, you can kiss me." He looks into my eyes. I look back. We lean forward and kiss. It wasn't exactly how I imagined it. It was no fairy tale kiss with fireworks in the background, it was just... ordinary. Now, I didn't mean he is a very good kisser or anything. I mean he IS a good one, but that's not the point... Or does it? His lips are pretty soft, and he isn't forceful about it and... Oh for the love of all things holy, I can't think straight.

He pulls back and when I opened my eyes, his eyes are still closed.

"I- I was gonna- gonna do that on- on your birthday. I had a lot of things planned. Sorry." He opens his eyes and looks down.

"It's okay." I look around and think that we should go back as the sun is high above us. "We should go back. You have to get back to work."

"Yeah. It's pass noon." He gets up and holds his hand out to me. I take his hand, and we walked back towards the village.

As we approached the walkway, we see two boys talking to this girl with long hair. I didn't recognize her, but I recognize the two boys. They are the two rich brothers who got what they wanted because they owned the village. They are assholes and I know that they are giving her trouble.

I looked at Brent and silently asks him what we should do. I could tell he was telling me that it wasn't our fight and that we shouldn't get involve. But I wasn't having it. I wasn't going to let those jerks bully this girl or worse... It was time to take action...

What could possibly go wrong?

Written by: Danielle418