Follow Me Home

Monday morning I awoke to rain beating on the window. My bed felt warmer and softer then ever, but I managed to peel myself away from the covers and stumble into the bathroom. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and managed to pull my hair into a ponytail. At five in the morning, the sun had barely risen into the sky yet. But I was up, lacing up my sneakers and ready to go.

I closed the door lightly behind me, slowly releasing the door knob in an effort to make as little noise as possible.

"I was wondering when you would be up." Before my back was even turned, I was greeted by the voice of Agent Cooper, awake as ever. I turned to see him standing shirtless in my hallway, dressed in sweatpants and clutching a coffee mug. I recognized it as one of my own from the cabinet.

"Good morning Agent Cooper." My eyes unconsciously darted from the mug to his exposed stomach, where I took in the view of his defined abdominal muscles. At least they were teaching something in the academy.

"Please," He said, breaking me from my glance. "'Agent' is a little too formal." I stepped around him, heading down to the hallway. "Are you heading out for a run?" I nodded. "Great. Lets go."

We headed out, plugging in our headphones and starting a jog out the driveway. We kept pace today, which seemed like a group effort. My brain told me to speed up, run faster, but I refused. A car slowed to honk at us, and I turned to recognize a friend from school. Agent Cooper eyed them warily, but said nothing.

We ran for about an hour before heading back to the house. Wordlessly, we climbed the steps and headed into our separate bedrooms. I rinsed off in the shower, brushing out my hair and washing my face quickly. I was running late already, so I quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a blouse, letting my hair dry naturally.

"Agent Cooper!" I yelled, jogging down the steps, happy for once that he wasn't standing directly behind me. "We gotta go, we're gonna be late!" My voice echoed off the walls of the seemingly empty house, and I remembered the last time I had yelled so comfortably to someone here. It was Jinx, but before I could think back, Noah Cooper stepped gracefully down the steps, dressed more casually then I had seen him yet. We headed outside.

"I can drive." I quickly sniped when he lead the way to his police car. He followed me to my car without protest, getting into the passenger's side. I began to drive in silence.

"So whats the story, again?" I asked as we exited the development.

"Excuse me?"

"Well we're certainly not telling people that a police officer is following me for a week." I mumbled. He seemed to think about it.

"It may be a little more then a week." He said at first, but before I could process what he was saying, he spoke again. "I am Noah Cooper, an assistant teacher assigned to shadow a student."

"Don't assistant teachers shadow other teachers?" I asked, pulling into the parking lot.

"It's high school." He said. "No one will ask questions."

~~~

He was right.

After parking the car, I had walked into the school, trailed by Noah Cooper himself. Kids waved, said hi, momentarily glanced over him but paid no immediate attention to him. I responded politely to their greetings, wondering how an adult could understand my peers better then I could.

"You seem to know a lot of students here." He said when we entered the building.

"I play a lot of sports." That was the only excuse I could come up with. It was reasonable, although I'm sure some of the acquaintances I had befriended was surely in the glory of my former celebrity/wealthy parents.

"Thats right. How many sports do you play again?" But before I could answer I was interrupted.

"Hey! Its Castillo!" Agent Cooper and I were immediately surrounded by a pack of boys. Sam was at my side, arm around my shoulder. "And how was your weekend, lovely?" He glanced up, suddenly noticing I hadn't entered the school alone. I watched confusion replace the carefree air of his baby blue eyes. "And who is this?"

I blinked away, looking between the two men at either side of me. "Sam, this is Noah Cooper. He's an assistant teacher here. He's been assigned to shadow me." I recited the lines like they were a script, well practiced in a mirror. Agent Cooper held Sam's eye contact, reaching out his hand to shake. He held a poker face, eyes cautious.

"Mr. Cooper." He stated simply, shaking Sam's hand. Sam seemed content with this explanation, and asked nothing about why we had walked in together.

"Alright, well it was good to see you Carolina. I'll see you on the field." He walked off, followed by the posse he had shown up with. I watched as he strolled off, his tan muscles peaking through his T-shirt.

"On the field?" Agent Cooper asked, but I didn't comprehend him at first.

"Soccer practice is after school." I finally answered. My voice was hidden behind the first bell. "And now we're late."

~~~
"Nice of you to join us, Caroline." My history teacher greeted me as I scampered into the classroom, quickly making my way to my seat. The heads of each student turned to watch my make my way. Noah Cooper followed behind me, breezily walking into the classroom. "And you must be...?"

"Mr. Cooper." He replied, shaking the the professor's hand. "I'm the new assistant teacher." Their direct eye contact implied that some sort of communication had been made prior to their meeting. Great, so all my teachers knew about the cop that was following my around.

"Ah, yes. Please take a seat in the back of the class. If you need anything, just let me know."

I sunk down in my chair, aware that the entire class had shifted their focus from me to him. He seemed to glide through the room, sitting in the back of the class. I glanced around at the students, each murmering or whispering something to their friends. I watched Karen Perez type feverishly into her cell phone. I could just imagine what that message said.

"Alright guys, today we're going back to 1842. . ."
~~~

When the bell rang for second period, I immediately headed to the hallway to meet my friends, before remembering I had someone else to walk me to class today. In the hallway I watched the foreign glances from kids I thought I had known. Turning corners, I heard whispers, followed by a cackle of laughter. Rumors were new to me, something I hadn't taken a part of before.

I found myself wishing Jinx was walking next to me.

The rest of the day was about the same. Noah Cooper introduced himself with class to each teacher I saw, all of who seemed to expect him. The students watched his every move as if Ryan Gosling had decided to make an appearance at our small town high school. On the way out, I waited while the room emptied of kids before heading to my next class. No one offered a greeting in the hallway.

Between third and fifth period, I heard a girl in the hallway whispering about me. She said that Mr. Cooper was actually an actor studying for a role in a new film. In lunch, I heard a rumor that we were dating. I scoffed at that one.

By the end of the day, I found myself looking forward to soccer practice. I steered quickly to the gymnasium through kids leaving the school.

"This is the girl's locker room." I stated simply, implying that he could not enter. My tone sounded ruder then I had implied, as if I was a third grader who knew a secret you didn't.

I headed to my locker, alone at last, surrounded by the familiar chatter of my team mates. We changed, gathering our things while he girls babbled mindlessly about boys and parties and drinking. No one got quieter when I approached. I laughed along with their jokes, leading them outside onto the field.

"Carolina, start the run." Coach Dowry stated. I tossed my bag onto the grass and adjusted my ponytail while I waited for the girls to do the same. Once they were lined up behind me, we started running. A light jog, traveling around the school fields, past the track team, baseball and football.

"Hey Caroline, isn't that your shadow?" The silence of the run was interrupted by Jenna. I looked up to where she was looking. Agent Cooper stood at the edge of the football field, circled by a group of the players. He was telling an elaborate story with large intricate hand movements, each of which was being followed by the eyes of each boy. He laughed at the end, shaking his head and brushing his hand through his hair. With that sparkle in his eye it was hard to tell he was older and out of high school.

We continued the run, making a second lap and ending on the field. Practice went as usual-warm ups, skills, drills and a scrimmage. By the end, the sun was low in the sky and my skin was covered in a layer of cool sweat beads.

"Thats a wrap girls, go home. Good job today Carolina." She said, giving me a pat on the back as I walked off the field. I grabbed my bag and turned to see Agent Cooper sitting on the bleachers. Football practice had been let out.

"Ready to go?" He asked, standing and following me towards the parking lot. I sped up.

"Could you maybe wait in the car next time?" I asked.

"That would sort of defeat the purpose, don't you think? I mean considering I'm supposed to watch you at all times." We got into the car.

"Yeah, incase my ex-boyfriend pops out of the bushes during my soccer practice. It wouldn't really help though, because you were busy socializing with the football team." He rolled his eyes, turning to me offended.

"I'm supposed to be a substitute teacher, remember?" He leaned his head on the window and massaged his temple as I drove. "You can be a piece of work, you know that?"

"So I've been told." I muttered. We were silent until we got home.

I took a shower, changing into more comfortable clothing and taking out the homework I had been dreading the whole day. As much as athletics was my strong suit, math was clearly not and I had the grades to prove it. After a few problems, I heated up some leftovers from the fridge.

"Is this your usual dinner?" Agent Cooper came down the stairs in sweats and a T-shirt. I hadn't seen him since the car ride.

"It is when I have homework." I stabbed broccoli with my fork. "Theres some more in the fridge if you want." He followed my instructions, looking at the microwave for a moment before pressing some buttons.

"We'll have to figure something out for tomorrow." I turned back to my math, brow furred. "You have to raise this side of the equation up the third power." He said after a while. He took the pen from my hand. "That will cancel out the logarithm and then you can solve for x."

"Oh." I stated, staring at his clean pen marks on the faded print of the equations. "How'd you know that?"

"I graduated high school early." He said, putting the pen down in favor of his fork.

"Hmm. I didn't know you were such a genius." I remarked, moving onto the next problem. I solved it easily. "That sounds like a lot of work."

"It was." He finished his food and I took his plate, crossing over to the sink to wash them. "But I grew up in a small down, and if you didn't get out soon, you stayed."

"Never looked back?" It sounded like the future I had planned with Jinx. I scrubbed the plate under the water, deep in thought until the water burned my hands.

"I still go back to see my mother, she's still there." It was hard to continue my streak of sarcastic comments and dislike towards this man after seeing this other side to him. I was curious about his mother, but I refrained from asking.

"Well I'm going to bed." I stated, closing my binder and heading up the stairs. I mumbled goodnight and left him alone in the kitchen.

~~~~~
"Pass!" I yelled to my team mates as we ran towards the goal. But I couldn't tell who was where, their figures were all blurs speeding around me. They circles me, enclosing me in a circle. I could hear whispers and laughter from them, and I turned in circles looking for someone.

"Hello?!" I called, but the sound echoed, but there was no response except laughter. I sank down onto the floor covering my face in my hands.

"Carolina?" I heard, and I glanced up. Jinx stood in front of me, easily walking through the blurs of light that I could not catch. He approached me, kneeling down to my level. "What's wrong, baby?"

My eyes welled up with tears and he reached his hand out to me. I wiped my eyes, taking his hand and letting him pull me up. His arms encircled me for a hug, eyes twinkling.

Suddenly his eyes morphed from blue to red, his smile twisting into a sardonic grin. His skin paled and then turned blue, then red, then twisting into scales. I tried to turn but his grip had me, swallowing me up into his expanding space. I screamed, overcome by the sensation of falling.

I lurched out of bed, gasping in a cold sweat.