Fallen by Jordan Wadley (freenovel24 .TXT) 📕

Hanna suddenly dropped herself from the branch and all in that single moment it felt like my heart stopped when she fell to the one below, grabbing onto it with her hands. Her hands gripped tightly onto the branch and she swung, hoisting herself back up like she was an acrobat without messing with her beautiful yellow dress.

I put my hand over my heart, “Holy shit Hanna, don’t ever do that again!”

“Aww, were you worried about me?” She said teasingly, climbing onto my branch and sitting next to me.

The answer to that came out of my mouth by complete reflex also taking her by surprise. “Yes.”

She stared at me with wide eyes, then did something I never thought a girl would to to a guy like me.

Hanna pinched my cheeks and cooed, “You’re so sweet!” She giggled, making me ache to hear her laugh again. Argh, I’m so mushy, my mate was going to be the end of me.

“Sweet?” I asked skeptically.

“Yup,” She said popping the ‘p’. “Sweet and adorable.”

I groaned and she laughed once more, “You might as well stop with the whole bad boy persona, you’re too cute for that.”

Internally, my wolf was purring, happy that our mate was complimenting us. I had a reputation to keep up as a bad boy… and then Hanna ran into me and apparently, I’m not the opposite of a bad boy. Wonder that the guys’ll say about this…

“I’m not even a little badass?”

Hanna pursed her lips. I wanted to growl at her teasing, her lips looked so kissable and when concentrating hard enough she looked adorable enough to kidnap. Ah shit, I really am whipped.

“Well...I’ve never seen you do anything mean, I’ve heard stories though.”

This sounded interesting. “Like what?”

“Did you really break Josh’s nose?”

Oh, that story…

“Well, yeah, he was being a prick to my friends so…” I waited for her to response uncomfortably. Hanna seemed like such a gentle person, I didn’t, however, expect her to react to me breaking Josh’s nose.

“If someone was being a butt head to one of my friends, I would’ve done the same thing.” She said fiercely.

Wow, it seems lately that all she does is surprise me. It was kind of a turn on, thought, the fact that she’d willingly punch someone’s lights out for a few of her friends.

“What’s you favorite color?” I blurt out.

She looked at me strangely before laughing. “Wow, way to change the subject. I like pretty much all colors, can’t pick on. What’s yours?”

We went on like that, exchanging questions and answer, getting to know each other better. She seemed comfortable around me while we talking, my wolf growled in satisfaction. I could’ve stayed up that tree with her forever.

“Oh no!” Hanna cried.

“What? What is it?” I responded immediately. Was she hurt?

“We just basically ditched the rest of the day!” She fretted.

“It wasn’t even a full day, Hanna, it won’t hurt.” I soothed.

She looked up at me with her large brown eyes sparkling in worry. “You sure?” The trust in her eyes was wavering but we would get to that soon enough.

“Positive. C’mon, let’s go,” I tugged her arm.

Hanan grinned at me. “Let’s race.”

“Alright, but I’m warning you, I’m a pretty awesome climber,” I told her jokingly. In truth, I hadn’t climbed a tree in forever up until today.

“It’s on. Ready...set, GO!” She slid off the branch easily and fell five feet to the branch below her. Hanna swung herself over that branch and scampered down, jumping from this branch to that before I made it three feet down, she was already four feet from the ground. Damn. She was like a damn squirrel. Hanna lowered herself onto the ground.

“Beat ya!”

I huffed, “I let you win.”

She stuck out her tongue. “Then why is the end of your shirt speared on the end of that branch?”

And of course she was right, there was a gaping hole in my shirt when I made it down. “Fine, you won this fair and square, but don’t get used to it,” I teased.

“I think you’d better get used to losing, you know, for your own good.” Hanna laughed.

I shrugged. “What ever makes you happy.”

Taking her small feminine hand in mine, I led her back towards the school. She didn’t seem to mind, and the thought that ran through my head literally sent my wolf on a howling rage. Her hand fit like a perfect glove to my hand. She was skipping and singing some unknown song as we closed the distance between us and the school, she began to skip looking so bright and full of life. We reached the school and she separated our linked hands. I hated the cold wind that brushed my hand after she let go, realizing we’d been holding hands. I didn’t want to be anywhere without her next to me. Was I seriously already in love with her?

I slipped back into the school the bell had rung and everyone was packing up. I walked to my locker and piled my books into my warn backpack that I haven’t change since freshman year, considering I was now a senior. We never had the money to buy new things unless they were absolutely necessary.

“Hanna!” Kassia ran to me. “Where were you? Me and Jayden looked everywhere!”

I smiled sheepishly. “I kind of ditched for a while…”

Her eyes sparked. “And I’m assuming that a certain guy has to do with this?” When I didn’t respond, she squealed, “Oh my gosh, it was Max wasn’t it? You guys are so cute! Do you like him?”

The last question caught me off guard and my answer kind of just came out without any permission.  

“How much?”

I blushed, “Does that matter?”

Kassia pulled me behind her and dragged me through the halls. I just stumbled along behind her and tried not to get trampled by the student body. “Where’re we going?”

She stopped when we were outside the front doors of the school and sat down on a bench. “Just wait here for a sec.”

I watched a robin fly into the cherry tree nearby and land in its egg-filled next. I vaguely wondered what it would be like to live in a family like that.

“Hey Hanna,” A familiar voice greeted me.

What was he doing here?

Kassia smiled at him, “Max, would you mind taking her home for me? I gotta go...drama club’s meeting in five minutes, rehearsal maybe three to four hours, bye guys!” she said all this in a matter of seconds before quickly skipping back to the school, her blue knee length skirt swishing behind her and her blond hair tangled in the October wind. Gee, subtle much?

Max sat down on the bench, “So, do you wanna hang here for a little while or should I take you home?”

“Here,” I answered immediately. He couldn’t see where I lived, only Kassia knew why I never invited people over or gave my address.

“Okay,” he said. He reached into his backpack and emerged with one of the biggest lunchboxes I’d ever seen. “You want some? I figured you might be hungry, we did miss lunch. I’ve got,” he rummaged through the bag, “Apple juices, ham  sandwich, strawberries, celery, and potato chips. Pick whatever you want,” ge gestured to the food.

God, he was so nice and caring, my eyes went watery for a split second. No one had ever been so nice to me, besides my closest friends. I reached for the strawberries. “thank you.” I bit into one and its tart sweetness exploded across my tongue. “Mm.”

We sat in silence and ate our fill. Since there was only one bottle of apple juice, Max let me have it. I took and sip and put it in between us, daring to say, “You know, I don’t mind if we share it.”

He grinned before taking a swig. “We just indirectly kissed, you know that?”

We did? I blushed. My cheeks heated up way too easily and he laughed. The conversation came much more smoothly after that, I found out that he had two younger sister, he lived a bit far away from our school, like me, he loved being outdoors, etc. The more I got to know him, the stronger my attraction toward him became, I noticed that his afternoon. Oh gosh, I’ve only known the guy for a day and I think I might have a crush.

“So what’s your family like?” he asked, and my hand froze on the strawberry.

I swallowed. “Um...well, I’m an only child. I don’t know any of my other relatives.” I stopped there and he didn’t push me any further, sensing that the subject was uncomfortable.

The wind grew stronger and soon, I was shivering in my knee length dress and white cardigan. Max noticed and after he put his lunch bag on the ground, he scooted closer to me, taking off his jacket and  wrapping it around my small body.

I protested, “But you’ll be cold.” He was only in a black v-necked t-shirt.

Max shook his head. “I can handle it, you don’t have as much fat as I do.”

I grabbed the jacket and snuggled it closer to my body, scooting closer to Max so his large frame could block out the hush of the wind. Max noticed this and wrapped his arms around me, literally snapping me into his side, something about this made me feel protected. I felt warm and safe being around him, something that wasn’t very familiar with me. I reached up and tapped his nose.

“Hmm?”

“What are we? I mean..are we friends or..” I trailed off and looked down.

“What do you want?” he asked.

My heart continued to scream at me to tell him more than friends was fine, I liked him too much. But my head and common sense told me that the situation I was in… I couldn’t drag him into it, and once he found out, he’d surely leave me.

I forced my mouth to form the words, “Let’s be friends.” My heart ached when I saw his face fall slightly so I added, “For now.”

“I can live with that,” Max shot me a smile.

I think I must’ve fallen asleep or something because the next thing I knew, I was being carried. I peeked one eye open and saw that he was carrying me bridal style to what I assumed was his car and placed me in the backseat, making sure not to bump me into anything. I pretended to sleep and he pecked me on the forehead, causing tingles to erupt on my skin. To be honest I didn’t think I could react to that even if I wanted to because my body felt emotionally and physically exhausted.

“Kassia?” I heard him say. “What’s Hanna’s address?”

Silence. Oh he was talking on the phone! I felt my heart accelerate at the mention of my house, I already knew Kassia wouldn’t tell him where I lived. But still, just the mention of my house sent unwanted chills down my spine.

“Oh. Well, she fell asleep so where am I supposed t-”

More silence. “Do you think she’ll be okay with that? Uh..okay then..” He hung up.

He sat me upright and buckled my seatbelt before betting behind the wheel and backout out of the parking lot. I wondered what Kassia told him, I might end up going to my aunt’s house.

It felt like