• “Okay class! Today, we’ll be testing the enzymes in cow liver.” The teacher’s voice rang out. Cow liver? Eseme could feel her stomach turn violently.
    “You know your lab stations, the papers you need are there. Go ahead and start. Jake? You can observe one of the groups.” Jake nodded. Jake, so that’s his name. Eseme left her seat slowly, still a little woozy. She went to her lab table and sat down. In front of her was the small Petri dish with chunks of liver. Just then Eseme leaped to the trash can. “Yuck…” She muttered whipping her mouth. Her thraot burned. Jake could see the color drain from her face. He winced. The rest of the class laughed. The teacher rushed over and patted her on the back. Jake came over to help. “Are you okay?”
    Eseme glanced at him, but quickly looked back at the garbage can where the contents of her stomach were. She felt even sicker now. “Why don’t you take Eseme to the nurse?” The teacher suggested. Jake looked at the teacher and pointed to himself. "Me?" He felt a sweat drop roll down the side of his face. Jake smiled and looked back at Eseme who still looked like a ghost. The teacher looked annoyed now. "Yes you! Go! Before she pukes again!" Eseme groaned a bit. Did she have to say that? Eseme began to leave the room with Jake, holding her up as dizziness engulfed her. Jake grabbed his envelope and Eseme’s books and led her out of the room.
    Jake felt a little nervous…helping Eseme. He held a comforting hand on her back as he led her to the nurse’s office. She held her stomach. Jake sighed. Talk to her already! “I’m…uh…sorry about that.” He whispered. Eseme looked at him a little confused…why was he sorry? She could hear the whispers of multiple students walking through the halls.
    “What’s with the sword?”
    “Seriously…is he allowed to have that in here?”
    Other girls smiled at Jake or gave a cold glare to Eseme. She did her best to ignore the unwanted attention, and there was no doubt that Jake was doing his best too. Eseme looked to Jake again. She was sure he hadn’t done anything to be sorry for. She looked up at him, her blue eyes like ice. She suddenly went down to keeping the pattern of her steps. 1-2-1-2-1-2....they were closer to the nurse's office. Jake slowly removed her hand from her back and walked with her. Eseme kept her eyes to her feet as she counted her steps. Ignore him was all she had to do.
    Jake sighed "So you’re mute?"Jake hadn’t heard her talk at all and wanted to know if she could even speak. Gordy mentioned something about that; her only uttering a few words. Maybe she was completely mute, but he wanted to make sure. Eseme nodded. She wasn't really mute, it was just that she didn't want to talk, because whenever she did...it felt like she was always talking about her sister. Eseme tried hard to forget about her, but it never worked. This man seemed nice too. Part of her wanted to talk to Jake, but found it in her best interest not to. If he was on Gordy’s side he may tell him something.
    Eseme entered the nurse's office. The nurse was seated in her desk, typing on her computer. She turned and smiled, but then saw Eseme. She jumped out of her chair. “Oh, my dear! What happened?”
    “She got sick. We were testing cow liver.” Jake answered.
    “Oh, well there’s always one who gets sick. Come sweetheart. Just sit down. You’ll be fine.”
    Eseme was sat in a chair next to the nurse’s desk. Jake put down her books right next to her, taking the envelope for himself, crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He looked at Eseme as color returned to her face slowly. What was it about her? He looked at Eseme carefully. She wore a plain black t-shirt and jeans that were probably a few sizes too big for her, but her studded belt kept them up. Her hair was more black then her shirt as it pooled down her shoulders. Eseme was looking down, so he couldn’t see her striking blue eyes. Why did everyone treat her like an outcast in this school?
    Jake, in only the short amount of time he had seen her at school, had noticed it. All the students, every single one, ignored her. In fact they seemed to try to distance themselves from her. It wasn’t right. She seemed so isolated like she wasn’t even there. Invisible.
    Eseme sat back in the chair and closed her eyes. She began to feel a little better, but as she did she felt more and more aware of Jake’s presence. A man with a sword was following her. That was the only explanation. Why else would he be in every place she was? That may have explained the sword…maybe…but what about that envelope? Well, fine then. Follow her. See if he found out anything. Eseme slowly looked at him, and then quickly back down at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. Why did he bother her so much? She looked at him again. Her eyes seemed to be glued to him. She wanted to introduce herself. She took out a pen and paper and wrote 'I'm Eseme' in her near perfect hand writing. 'Thanks.'
    Jake read the note and whispered. "Hey, my name’s Jake. No problem." He smiled at her and continued leaning on the wall. "So how are you?"Good. She was being social. That must have meant he did something right.
    Thanking him was the least Eseme could do. No one else would have taken her to the nurse’s. That was for sure. The nurse took a small pack of saltine crackers out of a cabinet and put a bucket next to her feet. “Here you are.” She said handing her the saltines. “These will calm your stomach. The bucket’s there if you need it.” Eseme nodded and took the crackers as the nurse went back to her desk. She opened it and stuck one in her mouth as she wrote to Jake. This way she could review what she wrote before showing it to him, besides, she wasn’t sure herself if she could speak anymore.
    Eseme's eyes narrowed at Jake's question. It was so casual. She wrote. 'Fine, I suppose.' She looked up at him, half suspicious. She looked at the paper and added something. 'Why are you following me?' Eseme knew that that was probably rude to ask, but she had come to that conclusion...she was probably right too.
    Jake thought about it for a moment. Was it really the obvious? What was he supposed to tell her? ‘Yah I’m following you because Gordy told me about your past and now has decided to give me the job of stalking you to get some more information.’ Sure. That sounded great. He looked at her and said "I heard that your sister was killed by the man called the blood murderer." He murmured “I’m like…” What was a good word for stalker? “…your guardian angel.” Eseme was startled. Gordy… She thought angrily to herself. No privacy what so ever. Was there something to do with that envelope of his? Was he trying to help her? Eseme couldn't help but giggle at the thought of having a 'Guardian Angel.' Who would want to protect her? She felt herself blush slightly. She wondered what to write next...but she decided to stay silent...for now at least.
    Jake smiled when she giggled. It sounded like bells to him. It wasn’t too high-pitched like most girls when they were trying to flirt. He knew if it was fake or not. That had been real. He hadn’t heard a sound like that in a long time. Jake smiled wider. "We should probably get back to science....or do we have to go to a different class?" Eseme looked at the clock hung on the wall across from her. She wrote 'MATH ' in big letters. Her least favorite subject. She stood and picked up her books. She took his hand to lead him to her class room.
    Jake laughed a little as he was dragged down the halls by Eseme. He felt somewhat of a jolt when their hands had touched. He blushed lightly as he tried to stop his sword from rattling when he ran. It didn’t really work since Eseme was dragging him and he was trying to hold his sword with the hand that was holding the envelope Chief McGovern had given him. Eseme smiled as she led Jake through the familiar halls. She had heard the rattling of his sword as he tried to suppress it. She glanced at his face. Was he... was he blushing?! No, he couldn't be. She took the long way through the halls. She felt like a child doing this, but it was a nice change. They made it to the math class, and she took her seat, at the back of course. Maybe it wasn't so bad being visible for once.


    Vince Donovan had skipped his class. He was never really meant for school. No, he had a higher purpose. He could smell her. She was here. He was sure of it. Vince was a broadly built boy who probably belonged on the football team if his grades weren’t so bad. He was nineteen and still in high school. Like he cared. It wasn’t that he wasn’t smart. That wasn’t it…he probably knew every lesson forewords and backwards, but he needed to stay in the school for another reason.
    Vince went to the bathroom and glanced at himself in the mirror. His red eyes smoldered. “Crap…” He muttered. Vince blinked a few times and they turned a muddy brown that matched his hair. “There we go.” He smirked. “You know, it isn't very smart to stay out very long." He said to what he thought to be himself. A small chuckle vibrated in Vince’s throat as he continued down the hall.

    Jake sat next to Eseme in math class. He looked at the hand she had held, rather than listen to the lesson that he had probably had heard a few years back…maybe the year before. The jolt had faded into a tingling sensation that dissipated when Eseme had let his hand go. He somehow…missed it. He glanced over at her. She was busy scribbling in a notebook. Jake went back to examining his hand, then back at Eseme. What was she doing? He leaned over just enough to see a perfect drawing of a knight in armor fighting a dragon. “Whoa…”
    Eseme jumped. Jake was peering over her notebook. She smiled and lifted her arms away so he could see it. The teacher was too engulfed in the lesson to notice. Jake nodded and smiled and went back to his desk. She watched him take out a blank piece of paper from the envelope. So was that just his stuff? Jake took out a pen from his shirt pocket and wrote something at the top of the page. He folded the paper up and made sure the teacher wasn’t looking before throwing it onto her desk. Passing notes? Had Gordy really hired this guy? Right now...she doubted it. Could that mean he was really her guardian? That also seemed unlikely.
    Eseme picked up the small folded paper and began to flatten it out to be read. She did it as carefully as possible so that the teacher wouldn’t hear. Jake seemed to watch her anxiously. ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’