Hellion

/ˈhelyən/

noun

a rowdy, mischievous, or troublemaking person

The next day, Luke did not mention the previous moments of crippling terror that had encompassed my entire being. However, he did drop the bombshell of him having to officially resume the actions of a leader that day, which meant that he would have to announce it to the colonists as well as provide that I was his girlfriend.

Despite Luke and I being very open in our relationship and everyone knowing of our entanglements, Luke wanted to be very formal in his 'initiation' as the leader of the colony and therefore wanted to disclose all of his personal commitments to the people of the colony. Meanwhile, I was worried of the colonists uneasiness of me and how it would affect Luke.

It was no secret that most of the colonists did not like me since I was taken and many resources had been used in order to find me; however, their hatred did not end there. The people of the colony had received very construed stories of Michael's death, as well as my relationship with Janice whose death had been very controversial within the colony.

Upon hearing varying accounts of Michael's death, some saying that I had been entirely responsible while others stated that there was nothing that I could do, the colonists had aired on the side of caution and decided that I was to be neglected from their clique despite my obvious affiliations with the higher up people in the colony's government.

With the rumors swirling and no one being able to determine the truth, the entire colony had been split into what seemed to be a political showdown. Some were on my side while others believed that it was their distinguished position as a member of the colony to remove me from their community by any means necessary.

Although these rebels never had much merit to them and were never seen as being outrageous, I couldn't help but consider the option of them harming myself or Luke in some way in order to prove their point once Luke resumes his position as the leader of the colony. What concerned me even more was the notion that the people would reject Luke as a leader because of it.

As I got dressed in my normal attire which Luke had recommended in order to show that we did not want an elevated lifestyle to everyone else within the colony, doubts about this plan to show our relationship to the public took over my mind. What would happen to the colony if Luke was not in charge?

My mind entered into a downward spiral as I considered it fully. If Luke were not to resume the leadership duties of the colony, the colonists would most likely elect and elder of the society that will abide by all of the rules laid years in advance, which would make them an ineffective leader in the time of this approaching war.

Furthermore, Luke knew all of the battle strategies that were planned for the war like the back of his hand, only needing to go over them with the troops and Calum a few times before heading into battle, whereas an elder who had most likely never held a gun within their hands would not know anything about these battle plans, which caused a problem when time was of the essence.

Needless to say, as I struggled to pull up my black skinny jeans due to shower I had previously taken, I was worried about the reactions of the rebels, especially after all that had happened to Riley.

While it was obvious from the funeral that Luke and I were devastated by the young girl's disappearance of life, another thought running through the minds of the rebels was that I had not attempted to save the young girl, which caused my name to be further smeared and more colonists to join the cause.

Luke, while being worried about the rumblings of rebellion, considered it to be just talk and that the people were getting scared, which resulted in them taking out their anguish upon the nearest victim. Although I understood his hesitation to act on the rebellion as there had been no actual acting upon the threats, I found his stance to be hypocritical as he always lectured to me about my safety.

However, as we walked toward the hangar, I swallowed all of my negative comments that I wanted to tell him and simply smiled up at him, hoping that it appeared that I truly did support his efforts to make the colony all that it could be.

The size of the crowd when we arrived was massive as I huddled into myself, seeing the rebels in a corner together while pointing me out to all of the people who were having a hard time spotting me. I bit my lip, not knowing how this would all go down as we approached the makeshift stage in the front with a microphone attached to a platform that Luke would stand upon to deliver his speech.

Moira was seated to the side of the stage as Calum would be standing beside Luke in an effort to support him. As Luke and I made our way over to the stage, I waved at her and took my seat beside her with a large sigh. Despite Moira's little time within the colony, she had found the rebel group within her first week and was acutely aware of the situation at hand in those moments.

"You have an escape plan?" she asked sarcastically as we caught the eyes of many of the protesters. Some held signs; however, most of them just stood with crossed arms as they chose to not assume what the meeting was in regards to. My bottom lip trembled as I read some of the ugly signs, not knowing what I had done to deserve the amount of hate I was receiving.

"No," I whispered back, looking away from the crowd finally as I found it hard to continuously stare at the group of people that wanted to kill me. "Maybe I should have planned one." Moira's eyebrows perked up at my mumbled words as she offered her hand to me, which I took quickly and squeezed in gratefulness.

As the crowd noticed the meeting was about to begin, silence overcame the crowd. My hand squeezed Moira's cocoa one a bit tighter as I found it hard to breath. Nerves overcame my entire body as I tried to find a way to calm myself while Luke made the announcement. I knew that the feelings of the rebels would not subside once Luke made his announcement, but some part of me thought that if I could get through that, then I would be able to endure anything.

"Good morning and welcome to all of you," Luke began, shifting back and forth on his feet with clear anxiety portrayed upon his features. While Luke was an eloquent speaker and writer, he had no experience speaking to large crowds since he had always been exposed to military life, which only had public speaking in the condensed units of troops he was assigned.

"I have called this assembly in order to propose a fulfilling of the leadership duties of the colony's government." As he went on in his speech, Luke's voice grew in strength, even beginning to phrase his sentences in order make them less monotonous.

While he spoke, I swallowed the lump in my throat, knowing that these moments would be life defining. Truthfully, I was not really scared about the rebels acting on their threats, I was scared for Luke's reaction to it as I knew that the man before me would rather break all of his promises to me than to put my life in danger.

As he continued to describe the duties that would fall upon him and the ideals of the colony that he would uphold, I felt my heart constrict and my palms sweat greatly. Moira was the first to notice as she had been dutifully holding my hand in support. When she noticed the perspiration and its unceasing nature, her blue eyes met my gray ones, fear painted upon them.

"Are you alright?" she mouthed as it would have been rude to speak during such a formal speech. I shook my head, not knowing how I would make it through this entire speech and observe the after effects if I was already sweating like a pig when Luke mentioned his responsibilities. Although Moira didn't say another word, she kept her hand in mine as a way to comfort me.

"As you all are aware, my father's death has left us without an official leader of our small community," he began, receiving many saddened nods from the crowd. I made no move to show emotion as I knew I would snarl my nose at the mere mention of Bob. How the man had managed to fool the entire colony was beyond me, but I knew that appearing to be grateful in his death would be slitting my own throat.

Luke's head ducked after he spoke this, most likely thinking the exact same things as I was in that moment. From the beginning of Luke's life, his father had made his life a living hell, which only caused their relationship to crumble and Luke to, in turn, have different opinions on the world in general. In short, his father's inability to love Luke was what led to his self destruction.

"Since his death, I have been assuming all of his responsibilities in this crucial time of war," the blond boy began, looking up from his paper as he delivered his next statement. "And I would like to submit to you that I be the new leader of our great colony." Although Luke's exterior appeared to be stoic, he was worried. He was worried that the people would deny him the ability to save them.

A breath escaped my mouth as I heard cheers erupt in the crowd, the colonists obviously liking the idea of Luke assuming all of the governmental responsibilities of his deceased father. However, when I looked over to the rebel group, I found their emotions to be stoic just as Luke's had moments earlier.

I knew the look covering their features, it was the same look that LUke had when he was trying to find out what my angle was when I was ending an argument. They were searching for the catch in the entire agreement, which I knew would be their unwinding as they realized that Luke was still fully committed to me.

"I wanted to go into detail with my credentials and my personal information so that you would all understand who you will allowing to captain your ship," he began, going on to cite his years of military experience and training under his father. Slowly my heart slowed in speed as I practically dozed off halfway through Luke's extensive resume.

When Luke had been running his speech by me, I had told him that his lis of credentials was way too long, which caused him to blush before mumbling for me to shut up under his breath. However, as he glanced over the passive crowd while citing everything, I think he determined that I was correct.

Clearing his throat, Luke began speaking once again, "I guess I will stop so that I don't bore you." His joke caused the group to laugh loudly and my heart to flutter at the way everyone adored him even as their leader. Then I realized that his abrupt end to his resume meant that he would be disclosing his relationship with me officially.

I inwardly hoped that Luke would take my advice about not distinguishing me as his girlfriend for the sake of the rebellion; however, I knew he would not accept it. Luke was adamant about not fearing the rebels, but as I stared at the large group, I wanted Luke to deny all affiliation with me due to their glares toward me.

That group, despite only wanting what they thought was right, were the only people between Luke and the office he was about to receive, which caused me to bite my nails in anticipation. Had I not been affiliated with Luke in any way, a rebellion would never exist because their problems with me would not have been a big deal if I were a normal colonists, but I wasn't.

I was Luke Hemmings girlfriend, which placed me in an authoritative position and caused all of the problems. My hand gripped Moira's tightly once again, feeling her squeeze back with the same amount of force as I stared with hopeful eyes in Luke's direction.

Despite my inward pleading, he continued in his planned speech and revealed the only thing that was concerning me this whole time. I felt my heart rate increase once again as I tried to control my emotions to no avail. Moira was still holding my hand and as I began hyperventilating, she was there to help me through it.

"I feel like it is only right to reveal that I do have personal commitments that will not affect the way I deal with certain threats; however, it is only right to tell you all that I do have a beautiful girlfriend that will support me in this position," he began with a smile covering his face as he thought of me. "And her name is Melissa Jennings," he continued, a twinkle taking over his eyes.

That was when all hell broke loose.