Page 270 of Nobody's Girl

I take a nice-sized dollop of the white goop and place it on his nose. “There you go. All done,” I tell him as a smile crosses my face at how silly he looks.

He looks at me, then his eyes go dark. He leans over to whisper in my ear. “I see you want to play with me. You must feel like laughing since you’ve made me look funny for your amusement. I feel like hearing you giggle, Mrs. Fontaine. I think that will give us both what we want.”

My eyes widen as I remember the last time he wanted to hear me giggle. I almost peed myself as he tickled me.

I can see in his eyes that he’s about to pounce on me. I turn and start moving away from him to the safety of my mother.

I look back as I hear a chair scraping the cement. Sure enough, he’s getting up. If he’s already up, my mother isn’t going to stop him from getting me. I move faster to the side of the house, climbing the railing which runs around the porch. I see a large plant there, so I hide behind it. He walks past it.

Yes! I’m home free!

Then he turns around. “I see you, Alyssa. Don’t move.”

“No, Eden!” I shriek as I start to back out of my hiding place.

“Alyssa! Really, don’t move!” he yells at me.

“What is it?” I ask, remaining perfectly still as I see a worried look on his face.

Then I hear it—a loud humming sound. I raise my eyes to where it’s coming from to see a million red wasps on a massive nest, snuggled inside the plant I’m hiding behind.

One flies directly at my face. I move like lightning and hear the hum of them as they follow me.

I run as fast as I can, right past Eden as he reaches out for me. He runs right behind me as the mass of wasps chase him too. I get to the front door and fly into the house. Eden is right behind me, then turns to slam the door shut.

“Crap, those things are freaking fast!” he says, excitedly.

I start to laugh. He still has the sunscreen on his nose as he looks down at me, bringing his face close to mine. I wipe the white goo off his nose, then I close my eyes in anticipation of his lips touching mine.

His hands at my waist take my attention from his lips as he begins his tickle torture. I scream and try to wiggle out of his grasp, giggling like a maniac all the while.

“Stop, Eden, please!”

He lifts me up, tossing me onto the sofa, then goes crazy on me. “Eden, please!” I beg him.

He stops his tickling, but takes my hands up over my head, stretching my arms up and holding them down. “So, no more tickling, then, Alyssa?”

“Please, no more. I’ll be good. I won’t ever put stuff on your face again, ever,” I tell him, in hopes he’ll let me up.

He holds me still. “Do you promise?”

I nod my head. “I promise.”

His eyes turn from playful to serious. “Alyssa, what if someone other than me was holding you down? Do you think you could get away from them?”

“Eden, you’re really strong. Most people aren’t as strong as you are,” I tell him, then remember the fact that I’m pretty strong as well.

Who does he think I’ll be coming up against, the Hulk?

“I’ll lighten up my grip then,” he tells me as I feel a little less pressure on my wrists. “Now try to get away from me.”

I wiggle and move, but can’t pull away from him. I decide to go for the groin, but not hard or anything. He anticipates my move, though, then sits on me, holding my legs down too.

Now I really can’t move.

After a brief struggle, I give up. “I can’t get away from you, Eden,” I confess to him.

He lets my hands go and then stands up. “We have to get you some self-defense lessons. I’ll talk to Beck about it tomorrow.”