Please Read: This is just to clear out a tiny confusion. Daniel knows that Skylar disguises herself with her belts and wig but doesn't know WHY.  He has NO idea that Alicia isn't her real sister.

And he has just seen her in baggy clothes without belts and her wig.

Chapter |15|

"Will you stop that?!" I nearly yelled at Daniel who was supporting an annoyed look.

"What? It's your fault!"

"What part of my instructions did you not understand?" I demanded, as I thinly dodged a mud ball.

"It's because of you that I got hit with that icky goo TWICE!" He spoke as we tried to walk ahead.

The race was proving to be much more difficult than I had anticipated.

The 100 meter track was just a beginning. We had to cross a forest after that.

All the ten pairs were allotted different trails which we had to follow. The one that crossed the forest first would win and the others would be allotted points according to their performance and the time taken to cross the finish line after the winning pair.

But the organisers weren't so kind. They had obstacles planned.

As if the tied legs weren't enough, we were being attacked by wet mud balls and some gooey stuff. Not only that, there were slimy puddles in our way too.

By now I'd been hit by three mud balls but no gooey stuff (Thank god!)

While Daniel had been a victim of two gooey balls and five mud balls.

"Okay stop," I ordered.

Obviously, he didn't listen.

I gritted my teeth in annoyance and planted my feet fiercely on the ground, making it hard for Daniel to move.

Since we were practically glued together, he had no choice but to give in.

"What the hell do you want?" He barked angrily.

"Will just stop and listen to me for like one minute? I don't want to be here stuck with you as much as you so shut up and listen!" I shouted angrily.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Speak."

Taking a calming breath, I craned my neck so that I could look at him while I spoke.

"Listen we should follow the numbers one tw- DUCK!" I yelled as I spotted a mud ball coming our way.

We both bent down immediately, preventing ourselves from getting hit. But fate wasn't on our side since Daniel tripped, trying to get up making us both effectively face-plant into the puddle.

"Ow!" I yelled as I tried to get up.

My face was splattered with mud and I could feel something slimy on my forehead.

Ew.

"Are you cra-," I started to yell at Daniel but trailed off once I saw his face.

One look and I burst out laughing. Wet mud covered his entire face and dripped down his neck and clothes.

He looked at me and snorted. "You're no better."

I continued to laugh maniacally and after a moment, I heard Daniel let out a few chuckles.

His chuckle was really a nice sound to my ears but I was way to busy on laughing that I barely noticed him joining in.

We sat their on our knees, looking as if we'd bathed in mud, laughing.

Once we sobered up, we tried to stand up. And let me tell you that we were failing epically.

"Okay, on three. One, two and..."

"Three!" We both yelled and made a combined effort to get up.

With immense struggle, we did manage to get up.

I let out a victory whoop to which Daniel chuckled.

Damn. His laugh was really good.

After I sobered up, I realised that it was the first time where Daniel was somewhat normal with me.

I looked at him as an awkward pause filled the air.

"Here, uh-clean your face with this," he said fishing out a handkerchief from his pocket and gesturing to my face.

I looked at him in utter disbelief and surprise. "Uh-Thanks," I said, finding it hard to believe it.

It was like I was seeing a whole new Daniel right now. It seemed as if he had forgotten everything for a moment.

I slowly wiped my face, using only a portion of the hanky and handed it back to him.

"Here, you can use the other side to clean yours," I said handing it back to him.

He nodded his head and wiped his face.

I watched him (not so creepily) slowly wipe the mud off his face and clean it-somewhat.

"Listen, I think we're doing it wrong. We've been so busy yelling at each other that we wanted to complete the race each on our own," I said, trying to make the best use of this different side of Daniel.

Who knew how long it would last

Daniel seemed to think about it. I almost thought that he was going to be a jerk once again when he, to my surprise, nodded. "What do you suggest?"

I felt awkward. "Well-," I started and tried to find a way to say it.

After a moment, I gave up thinking and straight away depended on actions.

I slowly and awkwardly lifted my arm and draped from Daniel's back to his waist and held it for support.

I looked away quickly because I really didn't want him to see the blood pooling in my cheeks.

Wow. Had been a while since I blushed.

Over the past three years, I'd come to the conclusion that blushing wasn't made for me but I failed to see that in order to blush, I needed someone else to be the reason.

Daniel, shockingly, chuckled and mimicked my actions.

I blinked several times and even kicked myself with the untied leg to see if I wasn't dreaming.

Was this the Daniel Andrew was talking about?

"Let's go?" He asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and I just nodded.

We coordinated our walk and soon enough we could see the finish line.

I sighed in relief as I thought about facing no more obstacles than I already had.

I literally had enough for one day but it wasn't that bad.

The race was actually fun, to be honest. Whatever that happened that made Daniel forget behaving like a jerk, even for a few minutes let me get a peek through his hard shell.

Maybe we just started off on the wrong foot on something.

Our pace fastened the moment we stepped on the dirt track that marked different lanes for the pairs.

Once we were past the line, Lisa blew a trumpet and I wanted to collapse on the ground.

"Please untie the cloth. I want to lie down," I said, barely keeping up.

I was exhausted.

Daniel immediately bent down, while his arm still held my waist.

Though I couldn't technically feel his hand on my waist due to my belts, it still felt good there.

He managed to open the cloth that ties our thighs together and started working on the one that bound our calves.

"Hey Daniel?"

"Hmm?" He hummed while trying to untied the cloth with one hand.

"Why are y-" I tried but was interrupted by Saliva Factory.

"Oh Danny!"

Daniel's head snapped up and as if someone had poured a cold ice-bucket on him, he looked at me.

It was as if he just realised something and was pulled into the reality. His eyes grew cold and his jaw clenched up.

His eyes lost the bit of warmth of had and he roughly jerked his hand away from me.

He blinked a few times as if not believing that he had been conversing with me.

He then turned to face the blonde monster who had narrowed her eyes at him.

"Were you just talking to her?" She questioned with disgust as if talking to me was like swallowing garbage.

"N-no I...," Daniel trailed off and roughly pulled the cloth free.

"Ow," I muttered since he practically jerked my leg, twisting it a bit.

"You know how much I hate her and you were still talking to her?" She said and made a pouty face, as if really hurt.

Daniel glared at me.

I eyed Lacey in utter disbelief. Was she for real?

"It's all your fault," Daniel muttered angrily.

My jaw dropped and all my good mood vanished as it turned to anger.

"My fault? What th- you know what? Go fall for her fake-ness all you want. I'm done," I spat furiously and turned around to leave.

"Danny! She called me fake," she said and I heard some attempted sobs.

I let a bitter chuckle escape my mouth.

I swear it was like I had a bitch magnet stuck to me since all the bitches really managed to destroy my life every time.

Maybe I'd spoken too soon about peeking into his guarded shell. I snorted at how stupid I was, thinking that Daniel was actually decent.

I was about to leave when Lisa asked everyone to gather around the small podium where she was.

I started my way there when I felt a pair of hands blind me from behind.

"Andrew, you don't have to do that. I know it's you," I spoke and he cursed from behind, removing his hands from my face.

"How'd you know?"

I gave him a small smile which I tried not to be sad one. "Who else do I have who'd do that?"

He looked at me with understanding before (thankfully) diverting the topic. "Anyways, what was your position in the race?"he asked.

I looked at him confused for a second before realising what he asked.

I ducked my head in embarrassment before muttering,"I don't know."

Gosh. It was so embarrassing. I didn't know what position I came on. Was I that lost?

He laughed out loud, grabbing the attention of the ones nearby. They gave us weird looks and I glared at Andrew.

"Shut up."

Before he could reply, Lisa spoke up. "Okay, so here are the results. Andrew and Lacey were the first ones to finish the race, so they get 100 points each for their personal scoreboard.

Mark and Melinda stand second with 75 points each. I request these two pairs to come up on the victory stand.

And the third position has been claimed by Daniel and Penny. You two are also requested to come up on the victory stand. You both get 50 points each for your scoreboards and for the others...," she continues but I stopped listening.

My first reaction was: Andrew stood first?

And then: We finished third?!

Wow. I was actually expecting to be one of the last ones to come out.

I hesitantly dragged my feet to the victory stand, feeling all the eyes of the other pairs boring into my back.

"How did that fatso manage to win?" I heard a girl ask, disgust lacing her voice.

"Obviously this proves how strong and rugged Daniel is." Her friend answered and they both started giggling.

I clenched my jaw in anger. I wasn't going to let their words get to me. I had too much practice anyway.

I climbed on the step that had '3' written on it an a beautiful font.

I shifted a bit to let Daniel climb up. I tried to leave as much space in between as possible but it was hard since we barely had any.

I just clamped my mouth shut and stood there like a statue until the short ceremony was over.
****

"Ugh! I can't wait to shower and fall on the bed. I'm exhausted," I groaned, slumping into the car where Emma chuckled.

"Congratulations on the win, by the way. It's a good start," she complimented and I just managed to give her a weak nod and a smile.

We lapsed into silence when Emma spoke.

"Skye, would you mind seeing where Chloe is? She said that she forgot her teddy. It's been ten minutes," she asked and I nodded.

Emma was busy with sorting out a bunch of papers for the Ball.

Despite my exhaustion, I got out and dragged my feet to find Chloe.

"Chloe? You here?" I asked, as I scanned through the now-empty halls.

Almost everyone had gone back, leaving a few lingering participants.

I swept my gaze through the corridors but they were empty.

I checked out different rooms but she wasn't there. I decided to check the garden at the back.

The moment I reached there, I stumbled upon something that caught my eye.

It was a cute brown teddy.

My eyes widened and I grew anxious.

"Chloe?!"

I increased my pace and stopped when I heard a whimper.

I immediately turned towards the sound and followed it, eventually coming up to a sight that I'd experienced before.

The same guy, that I'd punched on the day of the opening ceremony was cornering Chloe.

Anger bubbled through me and I temporarily forgot all my tiredness.

"Who's going to come save you now? This is your dad's isn't it?" The guy said, lifting his hand to show a ring.

"P-Please give it b-back," Chloe whimpered and I tightened my jaw in pure rage.

Before he could say another thing, I spun him by the shoulder and kicked him in the balls.

He fell down, groaning in pain.

I bent down and tried to snatch the ring back when he held my wrist. His eyes showed that he was furious.

I tried to wriggle my hand free but his grip was strong.

I glared at him and even though I knew that I would regret it later, I punched him with the same hand right in the eye.

His grip loosened as he clutched his eye, groaning in pain and spoke-

"Come near her again and I promise that you won't have your family jewels left to forward your generation."

With that, I quickly snatched the ring from the ground and grabbed Chloe's hand before dashing off from there.

After we had reached the halls, I stopped and bent down to Chloe's level.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, examining her body for any sort of injury.

She shook her head and jumped into my arms, hugging me closely before letting out a few sobs.

I gently rubbed her back, muttering a few soothing words. "Don't worry sweetheart, he won't touch you next time. I'll be there to punch him back to his place," I said.

She nodded but still kept her arms around me.

I wiped away the year that threatened to pour out from my eye and picked her up the same way.

I handed the teddy to Chloe who clutched on to it and I made my way to Emma.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" Emma asked as she saw Chloe in my arms.

Chloe's arms tightened around me as she slowly shook her head.

I slowly shook my my head too. "No. It's just that Chloe was tired to she asked me to pick her up. That's it."

Emma smiled at that and we started our way back home.
****

"You sure you don't want to watch the whole movie?" Emma asked me once again as I tiredly shook my head.

Once we had returned, I had sat by Chloe to watch Frozen and a few other movies to detract her.

Now that she was fine, I'd decided to retire to bed.

"Okay. Call me if you need anything," Emma smiled and I nodded weakly before getting up and making my way towards my room.

I climbed the stairs slowly, examining the cuts on my knuckles.

I flinched as I touched one. The previous ones had re-opened and there were a few new ones too.

The blood was still oozing out and it was paining like hell.

I was so lost in thoughts that I didn't realise that Daniel was coming my way and I bumped into him.

Daniel looked up at me with an annoyed expression.

"Listen, today what you called Lacey, that wasn't a-"

"Listen. I'm really not in the mood to argue right now, so please spare me the fuss. I don't know how or why but I guess we started off on the wrong foot. Why don't we start over?" I suggested, while I could feel my eyes drooping.

Daniel laughed bitterly. "I don't associate myself with fake-people like you."

I didn't even have the energy to snort. "Oh. So how am I fake?"

"Well, for one you wear this pathetic disguise to tell everyone that your ugly and stuff to gain sympathy from your family. And don't think I haven't noticed the way you despise your sister and your mom," he spat sourly.

My head snapped up and I glared at him. "Don't speak of something you know nothing about," I said in a low voice.

He was venturing into an uncharted territory and I wasn't going to allow that.

"Oh I know your type of girls. They try to show that they're weak to seek all the attention they can get. I bet Alicia deserves the love of your family more than you do."

I swallowed. I narrowed my eyes and looked at him coldly.

"That's rich coming from you," I spat.

He looked a bit taken aback before he was back to his glaring self.

"You wanna pull the family card? Guess what you pathetic asshole, you have no absolutely no right to comment on my family when you don't even give a damn about yours!"

"Shut up, I love my family," he glared at me.

"Oh. So that's why they try not to feel sad when you don't have dinner with them at all. Or is that why they put up fake smiles when you ditch their family plans?" I asked, the anger returning.

Daniel looked at me disbelievingly and sneered,"That's not true. I love my mom and Chloe more than you can ever think of anyone loving the likes of you."

Ouch.

"So is that why I found your sister being harassed by someone our age TWICE? Because you were there to protect and show your love to her?!" I yelled at him.

Daniel's eyes widened and his glare intensified even more. "Stop stooping so low that you have to lie," he spoke in a low, dangerous tone.

I gave him a cold and a disgusted smirk and I lifted my utterly bruised hand. "Do you see this? I had to punch that guy to protect your sister from being verbally attacked by a guy who has a personal vendetta against YOU!"

I yelled at him and heard a whimper behind me. I immediately turned to see Chloe standing there, chewing her lip nervously.

"Is it true?" Daniel asked Chloe who stood there nervously.

"CeeCee, please tell me if its true or not," he said, his voice going soft.

Chloe quickly advanced towards me and wrapped her tiny arms around me, hiding her face into my dirty sweatshirt.

I hugged her back and turned to glare at Daniel, who was surprisingly looking at my battered hand.

His eyes snapped to Chloe's figure and his eyes darkened, dangerously.

His jaw clenched tightly and I was honestly a bit scared now.

I had never seen a scarier expression on someone's face.

"Who was it?" His voice was low but held volumes of intensity. His eyes snapped towards mine and it took all my will, not to flinch under his gaze.

"I-I don't know," I answered honestly.

His breathing became ragged and by his expression, I could tell that the guy was in deep shit.

"Tell me how he looked," he demanded.

"Uh- shaggy hair.... Well, I think you'll recognise him easily," I said.

"And how is that?"

I shrugged, feeling a bit more comfortable. "He will have one black eye and a broken nose."

For a moment Daniel looked impressed but maybe that was my imagination again.

He simply nodded and with one soft look towards Chloe, he jogged down the stairs.

"Can I sleep beside you, today," Chloe asked, fidgeting nervously.

"Of course Sweety. Go get under the covers. I'll just clean up and come."

She nodded and ran into the room.

I took a long relaxing shower, washing away all the dirt and goo. After that, I slipped into my oversized clothes and slipped into the bed.

My knuckles ached and were sore but I was way too tired to do anything  about them so I let it be.

I fell asleep the moment I hit the soft mattress an hugged Chloe close to my chest.

As I slipped into the world of unconsciousness, I felt my bruised hand being gently taken into a hand much larger and warmer than mine.

But before I could figure out if it was actually happening or not, I was asleep.
__________________________

So, how was it?

I hoped you all enjoyed it. Have a Great day guys.

And... If you guys want to send me a banner/cover or any type of fan art, PM me and I'll tell you how you can send it to me :)

Vote and Comment. I love reading all your comments. That's what makes me update faster :)

Love you all!