Gaurdian Angel ch 1

I could not believe what I was seeing as i gazed into his crystal blue eyes. Water filling my lungs, I froze. His pleads for me to keep swimming only sounded like whispers as I sank deeper into the lake.

My name is Samantha Dawn, Sam for short. I live with my family in a small town in Indiana. I'm the third child out of four. None of us really get along, except my older brother Wesley. He got along with everyone. There wasn't a person out there who didn't like Wesley; he was such a people’s person. He is the reason I'm still alive, and i will love and miss him every day for the rest of my life.

I woke up to my alarm clock going off. My bed was so warm and comfortable i didn't move for a few minutes even though the noise of the beeping was giving me a headache. Finally, I got up slowly and walked over to my closet. I picked out a short sleeve shirt that had My Chemical Romance written on it, and slipped into a pair of black jeans. I brushed my hair and teeth then put some more eyeliner on. Slowly and tiredly, I walked down the stairs, not really wanting to be with my family.

When I got in the kitchen Wesley and Ashley, my older snobby sister, were the only ones sitting at the table.

"Hey Sam! Want some cereal?" Wesley asked, already knowing the answer.

"You know I don't like breakfast." I walked to the closet to get my coat and backpack.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, do you two want me to drive ya to school?" He mumbled through a bite of toast. Wesley had saved every penny he earned for his car, which was an old Ford Mustang that was his pride and joy.

"Nope," Ashley said as she looked over her nails. "My boyfriend is picking me up."

Wesley’s eyebrows drew together in a 'I don't like my little sister having a boyfriend' look. "How old is he?"

"Sixteen, duh. That's how he can drive." She snapped, getting up from the table and slipping her nice boots on. Her phone rang and a tight smile crept on to her face. "Hello? Oh, hey...yeah I'll be right out." She snapped her phone shut, flipped her long dark hair, and said over her shoulder, "Alex is here. See ya'll later."

Wesley stood up and put away his and Ashley's cereal bowls in the sink. "Ready?" he asked as he turned towards me.

"Yup." I mumbled, still trying to wake myself up completely.

He smiled and grabbed his coat, book bag, then keys and walked out the garage door with me behind him. We got in the car and he turned on his CD player. The 'Black Parade' started to play. I laughed and said, "Hey I'm wearing this band on my shirt."

"Oh are you now? Huh, what a coincidence." He said sarcastically, giving me a wink. We knew every line to all the songs so we both sang loudly, and badly, all the way to school. The middle school and the high school were right next to each other so he parked in the middle of the parking lot so it was an even walking distance. I didn't get out of the car right away and just sat in the car trying to calm my stomach. Everyday before school I would get this nauseas feeling that I couldn't explain. Wesley waited patiently outside the car. When I finally got out he locked the car and pocketed the keys.

"Ok kiddo. Have a good day being a small 7th grader!" He shouted, walking away towards the school.

"Bye, Wes!" As I watched him leave about five guys and a couple girls swarmed him within a few seconds. He was easily the most popular guy at school. I turned and looked at the middle school. It wasn't very impressive. Only about three hundred students in all. I sighed and started off on a slow walk towards the entrance.

Waiting by the doors what I saw lifted my spirits somewhat. Jack, my boyfriend, was waiting with Jessica, my best friend, for me. They both smiled and waved, Jack giving me a big hug, when I got to them. Jack had dirty blonde hair that he always flicked to the left so it hung over his eye slightly. Jessica linked arms with me and towed me into the building just as the two minute bell rang. I grabbed Jack's hand so he followed behind us. Jessica started babbling about what she wants us to do this weekend.

"Ok, I'll see ya later!" I called to Jessica as she left to go to gym. Jack and I held hands to my locker. He stopped and looked around as I got my science book out and put it in my back pack. "Somethin' up?" I ask, he usually is a big talker at the locker, but today he looked distracted.

"What? Naw, it's all ok. We're goin' to be late" He said, eyeing the clock on the wall. He was right, we had a little less than a minute.

"Oh, ok. Bye!" I said, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. He touched my cheek softly then turned and walked to his math class. I shut my locker and hurriedly made it to my science class. The first four classes went by agonizingly slow. When the lunch bell finally rang I sprang out of my seat and walked with the rest of the 7th graders to the lunch room. I didn't bother with the lunch line; nothing at this school was edible anyways. Jessica and Jack were at our usual spots near the edge of the small cafeteria. They had their heads really close to each other but when I sat down next to them they pulled away quickly and smiled at me.

"S'up," they both said at the same time. I raised an eyebrow in suspicion but didn't bother to push it.

"Nothin'. Just tired," I said, shrugging.

"So," said Jack slowly, "are ya'll still comin' on the lake trip next weekend?"

"Heck yes!" Squealed Jessica beaming. She was one of the most dramatic people I knew. Even her hair was dramatic! She had died it a bright red and the tips were bleach blonde. It was cut into a sort of spiky bob. She's the only person I think who could pull off that kind of hair-do.

Jack looked at me expectantly. "Yeah, I sure am." He seemed convinced of my sincerity because he continued on talking.

"It's gonna be so much fun." He then went into details about when and where we're going to meet at and where the boat is going to take us.

After lunch I had English. Since it was Friday all we did was read a 'free read' book, which meant we could read whatever we wanted, for the whole class period. I loved this class so much. English was by far my favorite subject. Math was next which was the exact opposite; I hated it. I was absolutely horrible in it. The only way I was passing was because Wesley would always help me out with my homework and studying for tests. Thankfully, my teacher didn't believe in giving homework over the weekend so i was at ease when the final bell rang.

I walked over to Jessica's locker and waited till she got there. "Hey Jess," I said, leaning against the locker next to hers.

"Hey, girly." She said brightly, stuffing textbooks into her backpack. She closed her locker and we started talking about what she was doing this weekend. "I can't believe you're leaving me in my time of need!" she pretended she was about to swoon over by putting a delicate hand to her forehead.

I laughed and said, "Hey, you know fridays are off limits." I held up my hands in defense. She rolled her eyes and huffed.

"What are ya'll doin this weekend?"

"Not sure. Wes hasn't told me yet." I said, speculating. It was usually just a movie that he would take me and my two sisters to, but sometimes it was just us.

We were outside of the school now. Jessica walked to and from school because she lived just a mile away from the school. She waved goodbye and made me promise I'd text her. I looked over to the parking lot and saw that Wesley wasn't waiting by the car yet so I waited on the sidewalk in front of the school. Jack came strolling out and when he saw me he made his way over.

"Hey, babe." he said, giving me a hug. A warm gush swept through my body from his embrace. I breathed in his heady smell, making myself remember his scent. "Want to come over to my house for a little while?"

I looked over to the parking lot and saw Wesley walking to the car. I frowned and shook my head. "Can't today, babe, sorry. Tomorrow I can though,"

He shrugged and nodded. "Alright, I’ll text you later." He gave me another hug and bent down to kiss me. It was too short for my liking but the butterflies in my stomach still went crazy anyways.

I walked to the car and hopped into the front seat. "Where's Molly?" I asked, buckling up. Molly was his girlfriend that he usually drove home every day.

He was looking down at his hands which were clenched into fists on his lap. "Sh-she broke up with me." He tried to make it sound like it was nothing, but I knew him well enough to hear the pain brewing underneath.

"Oh, Wes! I'm so sorry! Do you know why?" I was suddenly angry as I looked at my brother's pain stricken face.

"No, all she said was 'I don't think this is working out'. Then she just walked away." He glared out the window and said, "She left me for another dude."

"No!" I gasped, totally shocked. "She wouldn't!"

"She would, and she did. I saw them behind the bleachers during lunch." He suddenly put his car into gear and shot out of the parking lot. "Come on, lets do something really fun today." He blasted the music so loud it was impossible to talk, let alone hear anything we were trying to say. We rode in silence all the way home. When he pulled into the garage he seemed a little better. He turned the radio down before he turned the car off.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Sure." He said, distractedly. He got out of the car and said, "I'm goin to my room ok? So don't come in ok?"

"Alright...you want to talk?" i said slowly, following him inside.

"No, I just want to be alone for awhile." He said indifferently, walking up the stairs and closing his door gently. I thought that was kind of strange. Wessley never wanted to be alone. The house was empty so I threw my bookbag into the closet and stomped up the steps wondering how tonight could possibly be fun with Wessley in a mood like this. When I passed his door he turned on his stereo really loud. Nirvana screamed out of his speakers and made his door slightly vibrate. Poor guy, I thought sadly as I walked to my messy room. I sat down on my bed, at a loss of what to do. So I decided to clean my room. What seemed like seconds later I heard my mom shout from downstairs.

"Wessley! Sam! Get down here, it's dinner time!"

I groaned. Usually Wessley and I were out of here before my mom came home so we wouldn't be stuck eating her dinner. She was a horrid cook. I groaned. Usually Wessley and I were out of here before my mom came home so we wouldn't be stuck eating her dinner. She was a horrid cook. I walked out my door and hesitated by Wessley's room. His door still vibrated slightly from the booming bass stereo. I knocked loudly and a few seconds later the stereo turned off. I heard him stumbling towards the door.

He cracked it open and said, "Yeah?"

"Um, dinners ready." I said slowly, looking at his face. It looked like he'd been screaming; his cheeks were red and his eyes were slightly blood-shot.

"Ok, thanks." He closed the door then opened it back up as I was turning away. "We're still goin out tonight, k?" He smiled his usual relaxed smile. I nodded and went down the stairs.

Halfway down I smelled something familiar. It was mom's meatloaf. Ii groaned; I hated meatloaf. When I got to the kitchen my mom and Mandy, my little sister, were sitting at the table. Wessley came down and so did I.

"Where's Ashley and daddy?" Asked Mandy looking at the clock on the stove.

"Dad's gonna be home late tonight and Ashley should be here any minute." Mom said, putting some meatloaf on everyone's plate. She worked as a waitress at the diner thats a few blocks away. Her tired eyes and aging face showed her hardwork and stress. As we all ate she lit a cigerette at the table and drew in a big breath and puffed it out slowly. Her hands slightly shook as she wiped her brown hair out of her eyes.

Nobody talked as we slowly picked out our food, none of us really actually eating it. Mandy made sour faces and sat there moodily. Wessley usually always had something to say to fill the silence at the dinnertable but not tonight. He ate in silence as did everyone else. When i couldn't take anymore of the dinner I got up and placed my dish in the sink. Wessley put his on top of mine then dashed up the stairs. He slammed the door and a few seconds later I could hear him strumming his guitar, playing loudly and without rythm. Then he quieted down and started playing some of the songs he wrote.

My phone suddenly started vibrating in my pocket. I took it out and saw that Jack was calling me so I ran into my room to answer it.

"Hey," I said almost breathlessly.

"Hey, babe." I smiled. I loved it when he called me babe. "How's hangin with your brother?" I stopped smiling.

"We ended up not goin anywhere tonight." I sighed. "His girlfriend broke up with him today. He's takin it pretty hard." I flopped down on my bed and looked up at my ceiling. I still had the sticky glow in the dark planets from when I stuck them on in elementry school.

"Ah man that blows," he said nonchalantly.

"Yeah," I said slowly, "but tomorrow we will probably do something." When he didn't say anything to that I said, "Soo, what have you been doin' today?"

"Nothin really," he said distracted, "what are you doin tomorrow."

"Umm," did he just forget what I just said? "Wess and I are probably gonna do something."

"Who's Wess?" He asked suspiciously. There was a short pause where I made a bewildered expression.

"My brother." I said shortly. I could feel my temper slightly rising.

"Oh yeah! Ok, well I'll talk to you later babe!" He said. I had barely gotten out "Goodby-," before the line cut off; he had hungup.

I shook my head and went to my dresser. Did he really not know my brothers name? I pulled on my pjs which were green and pink boxer shorts and a long grey t-shirt. I then walked to my brother's door, who was still playing his guitar, and knocked twice loudly. The guitar stopped and he shouted, "What?"

"It's me, Same. Can I come in?"

"Sure." He said in a subdued voice.

I opened the door and walked in. Wess had band posters on every inch of his room, most of them hard rock but he also had some rap and R&B. On the left side of his bed he had his guitar stand, and on the right he had a shelf full of CD's. On top of the shelf was a very sophisticated stereo player.

"What, Sam?" he asked in a soft tone.

"I just wanted to talk to you." I said as I walked to his bed and layed down.

"About..?" He asked. He was also wearing his pjs -blue boxers and white undershirt.

"I dunno. Maybe the thing that happened at school." I said with a little sarcasm.

"Well," he looked at his guitar he had strapped around his shoulder, "there's really nothin more to say."

"Oh come on! Wess! Are you serious? You've been up here for like 5 hours, I'm not stupid you know." I said crossing my arms.

He grinned at that last part and I scowled at him. He was still looking down as he set his guitar on its stand then sat next to me on his bed. He then put his face in his hands and went completly still. I layed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

"Wess, she's just another girl. Come on, you've had plenty of girlfriends before. This one was no different. You're a senior, you'll be goin to college soon. I heard college girls are better than high school girls." I said matter-of-factly. He didn't move as he talked through his hands.

"I asked her to marry me."

The force of that sentence hit me like a train. My hand slipped off his shoulder. "You did what?" it came out as barely a sound.

"Sam I asked her to marry me after we graduated. I thought we were going to live together and make a family together. I honestly thought that. I thought that's what she wanted too. I guess not..." He trailed off. Suddenly he got up and started pacing. Unlike my room, his was very neat.

I felt so helpless. What was I supposed to say? I was still in shock over the impact of what he just told me. His face terrified me -because his looked scared. He looked like a desperate man. As if pacing was going to solve something, he went back and forth repeatedly, pulling at his hair sometimes and muttering things like, "So dumb." "How could she?"

I got up and stood in front of him. He stopped and looked down at my determined face. His face started to relax then he slumped to the ground in a heap.

"Sam, I thought she was it." He whispered. "What if I don't find anyone else?"

I knelt down beside him and gave him a hug. "Oh, hush. She's just a speed bump, Wess. You have your whole life ahead of you." I sounded so confident. What did I know? I was just thirteen but somehow I knew my words were right.

He finally hugged me back and smiled. "Thanks, kiddo. You're a good sister." I blushed and looked down at the floor.

"So...do you want to talk about it some more?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Nah, let's talk about something funny. I want to laugh." he said gruffly, getting up and laying down on his bed. I sprawled out on the floor and thought.

"Hey, remember last summer when our car broke down in the middle of nowhere?"

I groaned. I remembered that car ride very well.

"Yes, aww that was aweful." I shook my head and Wessley chuckled.

"Then Ashley found out that she was scratching so much 'cause she had gotten poison ivy."

"Then we all got it!" I finished for him. We both started laughing at the memory.

An hour later we heard my dad come home but we were too absorbed in our memories to go say hi. We talked about everything from crush's to family, to secrets, to problems, to school. It was well past midnight when we heard someone come in the front door and slam it close. We heard the person stumbling around downstairs and knocking things over. Wessley and I both jumped up and ran out the door to see what was going on.

We both quickly and quitly went to the kitchen. Ashley was in there. She had a lot of makeup on and she had a stain on her shirt.

"Ashely? What's wrong with yhou?" Wessley asked in alarm. She was staggering where she stood. She ignored us and tried grabbing the counter but fell down anyway. Wessley grabbed her in time before she hit the ground. "Ashley are you drunk?" He sounded angry. He smelled her and said in disgust, "Ugh, you smell like beer. Sam, grab her other arm, we need to get her upstairs before mom and dad wake up."

I quickly grabbed her other arm and helped Wessley drag her up the stairs. She protested the whole way up, trying to run away or slap us.

"Shut up Ashley! You're gonna wake mom and dad up!" I whispered angrily. Their room was the fartherest down the hall thankfully, so they didn't hear the whole commotion downstairs. I shared a room with Mandy. Wessley and Ashley had their own rooms. Wessley's was the closest to the stairs going down to the kitchen, then it was Ashley's room, then mine and Mandy's, then Mom and Dad's. We finally made it to her room and laid her on her bed. As soon as her head hit her pillow she was out. Wessley and I sighed with relief and walked out of her room.

"Should we tell mom and dad?" I asked, looking up at him.

He was thoughtful for a moment then whispered, "No. She'd be in so much trouble and then mom and dad'd be pissed and all this drama. But I do want to have a talk with her. I can't believe she did something this stupid!" He shouted in exasperation. I nodded in agreement. We got to my door and he said, "Tomorrow, we're going to downtown Indy. They put some new stuff in the museum. So at 9:30 we're going, k? So be ready." He smiled and said, "Goodnight."

"Ok, goodnight!" I whispered excitedly. I went inside mine, closed the door, and found my way to my bed in the darkness. Mandy breathed softly in her bed which was on the other side of the room as mine. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.