Before/After of Sword of a Princess

I've decided to do a before/after, except with stories instead of pictures.  This is the scene before I did an author's edit:

Emmy woke up to her clock alarm beeping so loud and so sudden it nearly gave her a heart attack and she had to jab the snooze button several times before it finally shut off.  Crawling out from under her warm covers she shivered, before stumbling to her dresser and looking at herself in the mirror.

            “I look awful.”  She wasn't ugly, really she wasn't, but she thought she was.  She had soft brown hair, that was beautifully wavy when it was long, but at the moment it was cut short, at her jawline; her eyes were dazzlingly green and her skin was neither too pale, nor too dark.

            Within moments she was dressed and heading to school, Yay, just what I want.  She thought.  Another day in the terrible confines of this thing called school.  With my stepsisters.  How wonderful.

            And her day had begun.

             

And this is after:

Emmy startled awake when her alarm clock let out the first squawking beep.  Recovering from her daily heart attack, she jabbed the off button until it shut off.  Grudgingly, Emmy crawled out from under her warm blankets and shivered before stumbling to the dresser and squinting at herself in the mirror.

            “I look awful,” she groaned.  She was not ugly, but due to self-esteem issues, she was convinced that she was.  Her hair was soft, brown, and framed her face.  If she had let it grow, it would have been wavy, but it was cut short, barely below her jawline, so appeared straight.  Piercing green eyes gazed out from her smooth, pale face, showing intelligence that was often overlooked because of her shyness.

            She picked out clothes that she knew her stepsisters probably wouldn’t scold her for and within moments she was dressed and walking out the door.  Joy, just what I wanted for today.  She thought sarcastically.  Spending the day with my stepsisters in the confines of school.  No escape.  Definitely better than sleeping in.

I don't try to make the paragraphs longer, but sometimes that's how it turned out.  This is an excerpt from Sword of a Princess, the sequel to The Unnamed Legend.  I finished writing Sword of a Princess last year and this is the first author edit of it.  I cringe at my mistakes.  Anyway, let me know what you liked about it and what you think could stand a change.

©2015 Katie Holm

First Story in Second Person

This is the first story I've written in second person.  It turned out fairly well, but also fairly dark.

You're cold and wet.  The cool fingers of water gently caress you as you struggle to the surface.  She holds you against herself, keeping you with her, thinking you're playing.  Your lungs burn with stale oxygen and you long for nothing more than to get out of her grasp.
You get violently at her with your legs and flail at her with your arms, but to no avail.  Your eyes are squeezed shut, because you know that otherwise, they'll burn like your lungs.
You can't hold your breath any longer and exhale into her, forming bubbles around your mouth and nose.  Her cold wet lips are on yours and you inhale her essence.  Your throat and nose burn and you protest against her advances.  You want oxygen.  You want ground under your feet and too feel the warm embrace of air's arms around you.
Finally, you tire of fighting and give into her advances.  You allow water to touch you and hold you as close as she wants.  She dances with you until your heart stops beating.  It's only hen that she realizes what she's done.  She had only wanted to dance with you, play with you, but she's killed you.  Sadly, she lets you go and too late, your body rises to the surface, where finally, the warm sun and air greet you and mourn you.

It's dark.  Told you.  Originally the way it ended was darker and a friend said it sounded like rape, but it hadn't be intended to sound that way, so I changed it.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
©2015 Katie Holm

Possible Prologue

The other day I was writing in class (because there was nothing else to do).  Typically, when I write in or at school at all, I write short stories, so I had intended this to be a short story.  However, when I was done, it seemed more like the prologue for a book.  Input would be much appreciated!  Is it a short story or a prologue?

His face glowed in the moonlight, causing him to appear slightly eerie, but she didn't care.  She made her way to where he sat on the hard, cold steps of her house and sat beside him, resting her cheek on his strong shoulder.
Crickets chirped in the darkness and they could hear the owls calling out to their bretheren as they breathed in the cool, damp air.  Her eyes fluttered shut and she gazed at the dark alleys of the inside of her eyelids.  He had not moved, had not even spoken to show that he knew she was there.  And that was okay.
They were each other's leaning posts, each other's shelters.  Which is why he had come to her.  When his parents fought, he came here and sat, knowing she would come out to comfort and soothe his fears.  Her gentle touch was all it took and he knew she wouldn't speak until he did.  And he didn't want to speak.
The yowling of alley cats fighting made her open her eyes and she lifted her head from his shoulder.  Slowly, she began stroking his soft, black hair, until the walls he'd built up began crumbling and he allowed a tear to leak from his eye.
She didn't try to wipe it away, because she understood the soothing quality of feeling the warm, salty moisture running down one's face.  She put a soft, smooth hand out and caught the tear in her hand as it fell toward the ground.
She felt his eyes on her face before she was pulled into his warm embrace.  He held her for a long time and she felt, literally felt, all of his sorrow and pain.  As usual she stroked his back and hair.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear, before gently touching her arm and disappearing into the night.  His tears were gone, as were his sorrows and fears.
But now she sat on the steps, tears streaming down her face.  His pain was now hers.  His fear was now hers.  That was why he'd told her he was sorry...because he knew what had happened.  She would be okay in the morning, but right now, that seemed like a long way off.

Well, that's the end....like?  Dislike?
©2015 Katie Holm

Beau

            I was so angry, I didn’t even know how to speak or what to say.  I don’t typically say this, but I thought his parents were off their rockers!  I’ve always kind of felt like they didn’t like me, despite how kind and nice they acted and that had sealed the deal for me.

            I had finally been granted permission on both sides—my family and his—to visit my boyfriend, Beau, who lived four hours away from me.  It was obvious that visiting was rare, because of the distance and the fact that we were both high-school students who didn’t exactly feel comfortable driving that distance alone.  My parents loved him.  Oh, who am I kidding, they still love him.  He’s sweet and caring and the best guy I’ve ever met.  My older brother tells me he’s the only decent guy I’ve ever dated.

            His parents didn’t even know we were dating.  It was understandable, I suppose, because it was his choice and responsibility to tell them and he’d chosen not to.  I understood why.  They were rather controlling at times.  They seemed like nice enough people, but they didn’t like me.  I suspected it was because they thought I was ‘stealing’ their son.  He could just break up with me and never speak to me again if he wants, but he won’t.  He’s not that kind of guy.

            They’d done what seemed like almost everything to get in our way.  He hadn’t been allowed to keep his skype account up, even though he’d had it before he even knew I existed and they cancelled more ‘hang-outs’ than I care to remember.  But I’d still always respected them.  But I didn’t then.

            Like I said, I was at his house, hanging out with him, when his dad walked in.  His dad is a short man, with a muscled build.  Beau towers over him, with his six foot build and I find it funny.  He looked at us, curled up together on the couch, carefully not touching, because we didn’t want to get in trouble and motioned to Beau.

            “I want to talk with you.”  They went down the hall and I heard whispers.  No clear words, only quiet whispers.  Of course, my curiosity was piqued.  I slid from the couch and tiptoed to the side of the hall to listen.

            “…influence on you.”  I heard his dad saying.

            “What do you mean?”

            “You spend so much time on the computer and your phone and I don’t think that was going on until after you met her.  There are so many other things you could be doing.”

            “Dad, I was a gamer before I even knew Ella existed.”  Beau said in a ‘duh’ tone.  I could see nothing and was too scared to move to where I could see something.

            “You were also never this disrespectful.”  I could almost envision Beau’s dad’s eyebrows rising.

            I sensed Beau wanting to say, ‘I’m not being disrespectful,’ but even if it were true, it would have only proven his father’s point.  So instead of speaking a defense, he was silent.

            “Well?  Don’t you have anything to say?”

            “I don’t feel like she’s a bad influence.”

            “No, of course you don’t, you’re a hormone filled teenage boy and she’s a hormone filled teenage girl, why would she be a bad influence on you?”  His father muttered sarcastically.

            My eyes narrowed.  That hadn’t been very nice of him to say.  I doubted he cared if he was nice or not.

            “She’s not, Dad.”

            “Then why have your grades been slipping?”

            I remembered him mentioning that.  And his grades weren’t slipping.  He’d gotten a bad grade on a math assignment that had been assigned while he was out sick, and had later been hastily and poorly explained to him when he returned to school.

            “That was one assignment!  In one class!”

            “See, there’s the disrespect I was talking about.”

            Beau had been cornered.  Set up by his own father.

            “I don’t want you to talk to her anymore.”

            “What?”  The shock in his voice was clear.

            “You heard me, I don’t want you to talk to her anymore.”

            “But why?”

            I heard his father huff.  “I just told you, she’s a bad influence on you.”

            There was no way for Beau to argue in my defense.  Anything he said would prove his father’s points.

            “Your mother and I already discussed this.  We both think you’re too young for a girlfriend and if she’s not already your girlfriend, you’re hastily heading in that direction.”

            “I’m sixteen.”

            “Exactly.”

            “You and mom were sixteen when you started dating.  Each other.  And you had been dating since you were fourteen!”

            “You need to watch your tone, young man.  You aren’t going to be seeing her anymore after this visit.  And I would appreciate it if you would delete her number from your phone.”

            “No.”

            “What?”  His eyebrows must have been shooting up into his hairline by that time.

            “I said no.  I’m not going to just cut her out of my life.  I love her.”

            “She’s the first girl to show a romantic interest in you and you find that attractive.  Don’t mistake that with love.”

            “Do you know how long it took for her to show me any romantic interest?  I am not mistaking anything with love.  I love her.  She is beautiful and wonderful and—”

            “Beau.”

            I slipped around the corner into the hall.  They were staring intently at each other, but they quickly glanced to me.  I’m sure my expression told at least Beau that I had heard it all.

            “Sorry, I have to use the restroom.”  I slipped by them and ducked into their bathroom.  Sitting on the toilet seat, I held my head in my hands and cried.  I tried to keep it quiet, but occasionally a gasping, sobbing noise would escape me.  When finally, I had calmed myself down, I flushed the toilet and ran water in the sink for a moment before leaving.

            Beau and his father were nowhere to be seen, until I went to the living room.

            “Ella….”  Beau had a look of dread on his face.  “I don’t think we should talk anymore.”

            I knew the words coming from his mouth were forced, but they still hit me like a ton of bricks.  His eyes were screaming apologies, screaming that he didn’t want to say these words, that they were words being forced from him by his dad.  But they still hurt!

            “Wha—what?”  What scared me even more was the thought that maybe he would actually let this come between us…that he would actually do what his father said.

            “We shouldn’t speak any more.  You’re a bad influence on me.  I think you should leave now.”  He came over to me and took my elbow to lead me to the door.  Right before opening it, he whispered in my ear, “I will text you.  I will find a way to communicate with you.  I love you.”

            His words comforted me, but I wanted to turn around and ask, “How?  How will you text me?  Will I ever hear your voice again?”  I wanted to look at him and tell him, “I love you!  I love you!  I love you!”  But I couldn’t.  All I could do was walk out his front door and stumbled down his front steps.  I was so upset that I didn’t even realize I was walking on their grass, something his father hated.

             And it made me angry.  It made me beyond angry.  We decided that we would meet.  In fact, we had plans to meet up on a weekend.  I’d been saving my paychecks and he’d been saving his.  I was going to rollerblade and he was planning to ride his bike.  We were going to meet in a little town called Grover.  We had plans to hang out at the park and cafés and other places.  And at the end of the day, we were going to get a room at a hotel and sleep.  Yes, just sleep.  We both believe in waiting ‘til marriage.

            I strapped on my rollerblades.  My parents knew what we were doing, and honestly, I’m surprised they were letting us.  I took an insulated lunch bag with fruits, other snacks, three bottles of water; a small bag with two outfits, plus PJ’s in it; and a water bottle to carry in my hand.  Beau texted me and told me that he, apparently has similar stored at a friend’s house.  He told me that he was going to tell his parents he was going on a bike ride, which was technically true, but he wasn’t telling them where his bike ride was going to take him or how long he’d be gone.

            I actually kind of had a bad feeling about it.  In my gut, I got the feeling what we were about to do would get him kicked out of his house.  I told him that and he said he didn’t care.  I did though.  But I knew he’s going to Grover and there’s no way I was going to stand him up.

            I hugged my mom and dad, then was on the road.  I had never rollerbladed so far before in my life and probably never would again.  It took me almost ten hours before I finally saw the “Welcome to Grover,” sign.  I was exhausted.  I crashed at a little mom-and-pop restaurant and texted Beau, telling him I was there.  He was also there in a few moments.

            The moment I saw him, even though I was tired, I ran to him and collapsed in his arms.  I’m hugged him, touched him, felt his warm body against mine.  I smelt the smell that was 100% Beau.

            “I’ve missed you so much!”  I whispered in his ear.

            “I’ve missed you too.”  He whispered back, before gently kissing me.

            His arms were tight around me and I felt safe.

            “I don’t think hanging out at all the places is a good idea for today.”  He told me when we were finally sitting across from each other at a table, hamburgers in one hand, the other person’s hand in the other.

            “Why not?”  I was immediately worried.  Maybe he’d decided his parents were right.  No, he wouldn’t have.  If he had, he wouldn’t have biked all the way here.  I knew he wasn’t too fond of biking.

            “I am exhausted, Ella.  I love you so much, but I am exhausted.”

            I felt myself relax.  “Then we go straight to a hotel and sleep then.”

            He nodded.  “You have bags under your eyes.”

            “So do you.”

            Staying at a hotel with him was different than I thought it would be.  I wasn’t really sure how I thought it would be.  I hadn’t planned that far in advance.  He took his shower and changed to sweats and a t-shirt, I took mine and changed to a nighty and shorts.  Then we sat together on the only bed in the room, too tired to stay up, but too elated to sleep.

            I laid my head on his shoulder and fell asleep before I knew what I was doing and woke up to a pounding at the door.

            “Beau Stephenson, open this door!”  The angry voice of his father came through the door.  I instantly wondered how they found us, but wasn’t really shocked.  After all, they would have hunted him down.  He was their only son and besides, happy endings don’t work for me.

            He gently laid my head down on the pillow and answered the door.

            His father was livid and his mother wasn’t much happier.  “What do you think you’re doing?!”

            “I love Ella, okay?!  Is that a crime?!”

            “So you run away and stay in a hotel with her?  Are you even a virgin anymore?!”

            “Just because two people stay in a hotel together, does not mean they have sex.  You guys did raise me right.  I am going to wait until marriage to have sex and Ella feels the same way.  I just needed to see her, needed to talk to her, touch her.  Please, you have to understand!”

            “No.  You choose now.”

            “What do you mean?”

            My gut had told me this would happen.  With a stony face, his dad looked right him straight in the eye.  “You choose between your mother and me, and that girl.  If you choose her, you are no longer welcome in our house.”

            I saw his heart break.  He loved me.  I knew he loved me.  But he also loved his parents.  There was plenty in them to love.  They didn’t like me, okay?  But his mother was a good cook, his father made funny jokes…they just didn’t seem to think I was good enough for him.  They wanted what was best for him, they just…didn’t think it was me.  And if they were trying to prove it to him, they didn’t seem to be going about it the right way.  They were driving him away.

            He looked at me.  I looked at him.  Tears filled my eyes and I nodded.  Choose them.  I whispered to him in my head.  You need your family.  I don’t want to break your family.  Your family needs you.  He shook his head.  I nodded.  Then I turned away.  I didn’t want him to see me cry.

            “How can you ask me to do something like that?”  He turned back to his dad.  “I can’t choose.”

            “You ran away from home!”  His father’s voice was loud and sharp.  And hurt.  Very hurt.  “Do you know what that did to us?  You are our only son.”  His voice was quieter now, not as harsh.

            “Do you know what you did to me?” Beau asked.  “Do you know what you did to both of us?  All these rules,” he waved his hands widly, ‘and regulations and finally telling me not to even talk to her, they hurt!  And what hurt most was you saying the only reason I feel about her the way I feel because she was the first girl to return my feelings.  I love her because I love her.  Not what she did do for me or what she can or can’t do for me.  I love her because I love her.  Maybe I’m just a teenager, but I’m not stupid!  I’m especially not stupid about my own feelings and emotions.  Maybe we’re both filled with hormones and if that’s the case, it’s going to just play out and we’ll break up!  And you won’t have to worry about me and her ever again.  She was telling me to choose you guys.  She’s over there crying now, because she’s scared.”

            I wondered how he knew I was crying.  He couldn’t see me.  He was looking at his father.

            “I can’t choose.  Please, don’t make me choose.”  His voice broke.

            I looked up and saw the hard expression on his father’s face crumbling.  But I was still scared.  After all, men have this habit of being hardheaded.  I was going to have to make him choose, wasn’t I?  I would have to break up with him.  It would be the only way to keep him with his family.  I’d heard of families that had been broken up by things like this and I didn’t want his family to be one of those.  Not because of me.

            There was a battle going on inside both Beau and his father.  I could see it playing out on their faces.  I wanted to scream, because there was a battle going on inside me.  I was sure that if I just went up to Beau and begged him to choose me, he would.  I didn’t want to lose him.  Not my Beau.  Not my wonderful boyfriend.  Not the only guy I’d dated that my brother had ever liked.

            “Fine.”

            Fine.  One word.  One word from his father, but it meant he had given in.  It meant both his parents and I could have him.

            “But you are grounded.  And we will discuss this.  There will be rules in place.  And you may not like them, but they’re staying.”

            He nodded numbly, barely believing that we had won.

            “And I think you need to tell Ella goodbye and we’ll go home now.  We’ve already called her parents.”

            “How did you find me?”

            “We found someone who saw you riding your bike on the highway and followed all the information we could get until we found out that a teen boy matching your description and a teen girl had checked into this hotel.  You scared us, Beau.”

            I saw him take it in and he nodded.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to scare you.  I just wanted to see Ella so bad.”

            His dad nodded.  “Now tell her goodbye, we need to go home.”

            He came to me and wrapped his arms around me.  “I love you.”  He whispered in my ear.  “I love you so much.”  And he kissed one of the tears that remained on my cheek. 

            I hugged him tightly.  “I love you too.  Text me when you can.”

            He nodded and walked out the door with his parents.  I was glad he hadn’t been forced to choose between us.  It would have ended badly.  But hey, at least now…somehow, I was going to see Beau again.

©2015 Katie Holm

The Classifieds

“Wanted: friend for a 16 year old girl.  Preferably under eighteen.  Gender does not matter.  Call or text ‘459-662-8436’ if you are interested.”  Cam threw the newspaper down on the kitchen table.  “Good grief, does this girl want friends or pedos?”

His girlfriend, Angie, came up behind him wrapping her arms around his shoulders, “I don’t know, but why should we care?”

He rolled his eyes, “Mostly, because she’s another human.”

She grinned.  “She must be a pretty desperate human to be putting a wanted ad in the paper for friends.”

Cam shrugged.  “Well, we could always call….”

Angie pulled away and crossed her arms.  “Say what now?”

“I said, ‘we could always call.’”

“Why would we want to call?”  She flung her hands in the air, “She’s obviously desperate.  Of course, she could be a pedophile herself.”

“We’ll take a knife!”

“She’ll have a gun!”

“You’re just paranoid.”

“And you’re just a thrill seeker!”

“I’m calling.”  Cam pulled his phone from his pocket, winking at his girlfriend as he did so.  “It’s ringing!”  He whispered after dialing the number.

“Put it on speaker phone.”  She whispered back.

“Hello?” Came the slightly electronic sounding voice.

“Hi, my name is Cam and my girlfriend is Angie, we’re calling about your friend ad?”

“Oh!  Hi!  I’d almost forgotten about that!  I’ve been in this town for a while and I’m super lonely, but I don’t go to school here and honestly, the local youth group doesn’t seem like a good place to make friends.  I’ve gone a few times, but they all already have their own groups of friends.”

“The Cliff?  Yeah, I know what you mean.  So, when would you like to meet me and my girlfriend?”

“Well, I guess today is as good a day as any.”

“Ya think?”

“Well, I don’t have anything to do other than read, watch movies and waste my time on the internet.”

“Hey, us either!  Wanna meet at the park around three?  That gives us about an hour.  And we have cookies.”

“Are you the dark side?”

“Absolutely.”

“I heard you guys lied about the cookies.”

“That’s our New York branch.”

“Oh, okay, then I’m cool with joining you!  Three, you said?”

“Unless you can come up with a reason why that’s a bad idea, yep.  Oh and by the way, what’s your name?”

“Lillian.  Thank you so much!  I can’t wait!”

“Yeah, sure sounds like fun.  Bye!”

“Bye!”

Cam hung up, then turned to his girlfriend who was shaking her head, her dark brown ponytail swinging across her back.

“You are an idiot, Cam.  She doesn’t go to school here?  Why didn’t you ask where she goes to school?”

He shrugged, “I guess I didn’t think about it.  But don’t worry, Angie, we’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure that’s what all kids who are about to be raped say.”

An hour later, Cam and Angie were at the park, sitting on a bench, waiting for Lillian.

“Well, this is boring.  Our pedo won’t even show up.”  Angie complained.

“Oh come on, Ang!  We don’t know she’s a pedo!”

Angie crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.  She was worried and it was quite obvious to Cam, who had grown aware to the fact that whenever she was worried, she acted constantly irritated.  “But she could be.”

Just as Cam was about ready to defend their unknown new friend, his phone sang out the Star Wars theme.  “That’s probably her.  Hello?  Yeah, we’re on this park bench.  Say wha?  Um, alright.”  He hung up then turned to his girlfriend, “Um, Angie…we got a problem.”

“She is a pedo?”

Cam shot her a look, “No, the problem is that a pedo has her.”

“What?”

“On the other side of the park.  She got a phone call shortly after ours and she decided to try to meet us both.  She met him about fifteen minutes ago and he’s been trying to convince her to get into his truck and go to a hotel.  She’s scared to just walk off.”

Angie’s eyes widened.  “We can’t let that happen.”

“Exactly.  Which is why you’re going to call the police and I’m going to go rescue her using whatever means possible.”

“My knight in shinning armor, always rescuing maidens in distress, while at the same time remaining faithful to me.”

“My princess in glistening silk.  Now I’m off!  To slay a dragon.”  He kissed his girlfriend on the forehead, then jogged toward the slide on the other side of the tree line that obstructed his view.

“Babe!”  He shouted, flinging his arm around the shoulder of a short, slender brunette talking to a short, gotee-d man.  “I thought we were meeting on the other side of the park!”  He chucked her gently under the chin.  “I swear you dye your hair this color.”  Then, turning to the man as though seeing him for the first time, “Oh, hi!  Have you met my sweet Lillian?  Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Oh, Cam, stop it!”  She caught on, after first staring at him with a blank look in her eyes.

“I can’t help it!  I must proclaim your beauty to the world!”  He looked dramatically into the sky.

“Well, you shouldn’t do it so loudly.”

“Fine, if you say so, sweet thang.”

Lillian rolled her blue eyes, shooting him a thankful glance.

“Thank you so much for keeping my beautiful girlfriend company while she was on the wrong side of the park.”

“Wait, so she made plans to meet you?”  The man asked in a gravelly voice, hooking a thumb through one of his belt loops, bringing attention to his snarling lion tattoo.

“Of course, she tends to make plans with her boyfriend.”

The man crossed his arms over his chest and licked his teeth.  “But she told me the reason she put the ad in the paper was because she had no friends nearby.  I would think that a boyfriend would qualify as a friend.”

Lillian looked up at Cam, worry in her eyes.

“Oh, it’s very simple.  See, I called her about, what was it, twenty minutes ago?  Told her I was coming.  She must have forgotten about you until now or something.”

She nodded uneasily.

“Cam?”

The three turned to see Angie coming from behind the trees.

“Angie?  Oh my word!  I didn’t want you to see this!”

“Why do you have your arm around that girl, Cam?”

Cam dropped his arm from off Lillian’s shoulders.  “I can explain.”

“Cam, who is that girl?”  Lillian questioned.

“That’s…um…my cousin!”

“Your cousin?”  Lillian raised her eyebrow and gave him a rather dubious look.  “She’s a rather attractive cousin….”

“Yes, well, attractiveness runs in my family?”

“I’m not your—”

“Only attractive cousin, I know….”  Cam winked at Angie, knowing that would get the message across.

“I’m your girlfriend!”  Angie shouted.

“But wait….”  Lillian looked from Cam to Angie in faux confusion.  “I thought I was your girlfriend, Cam?”

Cam lowered his head.  “You are.  You were.  I came to break up with you.  I didn’t want to mention Angie.  I didn’t want to hurt you.  It’s been forever since I’ve seen you, but seeing you now, I just don’t know.  Maybe I’m not mature enough for a girlfriend.”

“Evidently not!”  Angie crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.  “You can keep her, I refuse to remain your girlfriend.  I feel used!”

“So do I!  Have you ever heard the song ‘Two Black Cadillacs?’  Well, that’s the new song I’ll be singing when I think about you!”

A police car pulled up and a tall, black, muscular officer got out, walking slowly and cautiously toward the fighting trio, stopping beside the man with the lion tattoo.  “They’re really havin’ at it, ain’t they?”

“Sure looks like it.  Apparently that boy had two girlfriends and they met.”

“That never goes over well.”

“Sure doesn’t.  I learned that the hard way.”

“Oh didja?  I learned it because my brother learned it the hard way.”  Then he sighed, “Might as well try to break these kids up.  Alright!  Enough!  I was called here because of a disturbance, is this it?”

“Yes officer!”  Cam told him, displaying a thumbs up.

Without another word, the officer had the man with the lion tattoo handcuffed.  “You really shouldn’t try to convince sixteen year old girls to get in a vehicle with you.”  He went through the proper procedure, then situated the man in the back of the cop car.  “As for you, young lady,” he waved a finger in Lillian’s face, “you should know better than to put your number in the paper asking for friends.  That man is the kind of friend you’re going to attract.  Do your parents know what you did?”

Lillian lowered her head, “No officer.”

“I recommend telling them and not answering calls from any would-be friends.  Some will be nice, like Cam and Angie, but not everyone in the world is like them.  And in the future, don’t you ever do that again.”

She nodded.  “Yes officer.”  Then she turned to Cam and Angie.  “I’m sorry.  I guess you probably won’t really want to  be friends with me now anyway.  I guess that ad actually seemed pretty desperate.”

“Yeah, it did.  But we’ll be friends with you anyway.”  Cam told her.

Lillian glanced at Angie, who shrugged.  “You don’t seem to be a pedophile, so I think I can manage to be your friend.  You obviously need someone to protect you from creeps.”  She smiled kindly.  “But in the future, avoid creeps.”

Lillian laughed.  “Alright.  Thank you so much.”

Cam shrugged, “Hey, that’s what friends are for.  Thank you officer.”

“No problem.  Keep an eye on your little friend now.”  He nodded his head in a friendly fashion toward the trio.

When the officer had gone, Lillian rolled her eyes, “Great, now I’m the little friend.”

“Well, you are the shortest.”

“And you look hungry.  Would you like to have a picnic?  There’s a Subway right down the street where we can get some sandwiches.”

“That sounds amazing.  I’d love it.”  Lillian couldn’t stop smiling.  Sure, she’d attracted a creep…and she’d also attracted some friends.  She’d also learned a lesson:  Never, ever, under any circumstances, put your number in the paper asking for friends for sixteen year olds!

©Katie Holm2015