Special Tutoring

Rhodes

My lungs were on fire.

With me being out of commission for the last few months (while I mercifully had not gained too much weight due to rigorous Flyer-sized portion control!), I had not been able to exercise the way I used to. The punishing speed at which we were pounding the pavement kept biting at my calves. Trevor turned his head back and seeing that I was wobbling way behind them, ran back towards me.

"Save your breath. You ok?" He sounded barely winded, despite carrying his backpack. How did he manage to do that? Much to the librarian's irritation, Emily and I had practically chucked everything behind in our mad dash out the building. Sans belongings, Emily was already yards ahead, almost reaching Amy's front door.

"I'm ok. Just go ahead....I will catch up..save Amy." I shoved his arm to propel him forward.

His only answer was to grab me by my wrist and drag me along behind him. We went through the front door behind Emily (Amy had given us a spare key).

An eerie chill permeated the silent house. Other than our own heaving sounds, we could hear nothing. A strange sense of foreboding rolled in my gut.

My hand instinctively reached to hold my other arm, only to realize that Trevor's hand was still circling around my wrist. Conscious of Emily, I shook him off. But the only words she whispered were, "what do we do now?"

I had no idea.

Should we grab the baseball bats that we had hidden in a cupboard? Now that we have reached crunch time, I belatedly wondered if maybe our plan might have been a tad idealistic...Had we not factored in Sam's inhuman strength? It had taken several muscular footballers to haul him off Trevor the other time...

Amy's strangled scream shattered the silence.

Adrenaline kicked in. I dashed upstairs to her room, heart racing, the two of them following closely at my heels.

Flinging open the door, I came upon Sam straddling Amy on the bed, one hand raised to strike. Pinned under his massive thighs, Amy was slobbering and begging, palms on her face in a vain attempt to shield herself from his blows.

"Get off her!" I grabbed at his raised hand with both hands before the others could stop me. The second my flesh touched his, I instantly regretted my compulsion.

Or was that FEAR?

Seconds passed in what felt like hours.

Sam turned towards me. His eyes were speculative and dark against his broad All-American face. I stumbled backwards as he came off Amy. Released, Amy immediately scooted into the furthest corner of the room behind us where she sank onto the floor, choking and crying in heaves. Emily ran to check on her.

"Well, if it isn't Captain Hero Nerd himself..." he said in a menancing drawl, when his eyes fell on Trevor, who had stepped forward to catch my fall. "Here to rescue the Princess Bitch."

Sam Rhodes sat down on the bed, an ankle over the other leg, bestowing upon us a disturbingly benevolent smile. Only his eyes were the window to the barely restrained evil within him.

"I was wondering what took you so long. Considering that you have been eyeing my woman all this while."

"And we have that unfinished business after all. I suppose I could finish beating you up," he said calmly as he surveyed his knuckles. "But the little slut isn't worth the effort. She already cost me my career."

"Sam Rhodes. Trevor was never with Ames. You were mistaken," I piped up.

"Shut up Mai," Trevor snapped, his eyes meeting Sam's.