Shackles on the heart (Book #1)

12. Forced dilemma

(RaeAnna's POV)

Lincoln and I sat for another 30 minutes talking about nothing in particular. He then abruptly stood up and held his hand out for me to take. "What are you doing?" I ask him.

"Do you really want to sit here, behind a dumpster until school is over? Let's go for a little walk. What do you say?"

I smirked a little and looked up at him. I reluctantly took his hand allowing him to help me up. "Sure a walk sounds like a good idea. Let's go."

We walked through the alley for a little bit, stopping to pet a couple of friendly dogs. "Awh, hi there sweeties. You two are so sweet." I look up at Lincoln. "I love dogs so much. I wish I could have a dog, or a pet for that matter. I've never been able to have one."

"You've never had a pet?" He asks, with one eyebrow raised slightly.

"No. My mom would always tell me I couldn't get one. She would tell me they are too much work and too expensive to take care of. We never had a lot of money."

"That's too bad. Pets are great. We have two pitbulls. A male and a female, named Sassy and Tank."

"Aw, I'd love to meet them one day. I've always loved pitbulls. People say they are mean dogs but that's just a stereotype. It's all in how you raise them."

"I agree completely." Lincoln says. It was almost lunchtime now, he begins to take a sack out of his bag with a sandwich, some chips and a bottle of water. "Are you hungry?" He asks me.

"No, not really. I'm feeling kind of sick."

"Maybe eating a little something could help with that."

"No..I really couldn't. Thank you though."

"Okay. No problem." He smiles, halfheartedly and starts eating. I then think I see something moving from the corner of my eye. I turn quickly and see nothing. Are they here? I think to myself. Maybe I'm just seeing things. Maybe I'm hallucinating, I am pretty exhausted. "What are you looking at?"

"It's nothing. Just thought I saw something. I guess I'm pretty tired." He looks around skeptically. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah..it's nothing" I tell him. I hope. It's now getting close to 4:00, which means school is almost over. We start walking back to the school with 15 minutes to spare. Lincoln sees his dad and begins walking to his truck, but stops in his tracks and turns around. He walks back, until he's standing in front of me. "I...um.. can I give you a hug?" He smiles, nervously.

"Sure Link." He gives me a quick hug. He smirks at me. "Well, I'll see you later Ann."