[ WARNING. this chapter will contain implications of suicidal thoughts and a possible suicide attempt.]

CHAPTER TWO.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

    It was exactly 2 years after the EF5 ripped through Kit's world that she decided she couldn't stick around Oklahoma anymore. She couldn't take having to drive under the overpass where she watched her friends die. She couldn't take the pitiful looks she received when she walked around her neighborhood. Worst of all she couldn't take having to see Connor and Addy's parents, who watched her when she walked by. They tried to talk to her, tried to tell her that it was okay. She couldn't do it. Being around them?  It filled her with the reminder that Connor and Addy should have been the ones to survive, not her.

    Everything was too much. She wasn't "Kit Lainey the future country star!" anymore. She was the girl who survived a tornado, who watched the people she loved die. Everyone knew it. Kit didn't want to be that girl, she couldn't be that girl. She needed to leave.

    The day she decided to go, her parents tried to convince her to stay. After hours of arguing back of forth, they both realized she wasn't going to. So when they couldn't convince her to stay, they tried to convince her to go to Tennessee. It's where she had been planning on going before, she could still go now. No matter how long it had been since Kit had even hummed a note, her parents were insistent that she not give up on her dream.

    Kit didn't want those dreams anymore. Even more than that, they felt impossible to achieve. With a hand that had nerve damage so bad that it made it hard to even strum a guitar, and the memory of the last time she sang when she was holding on for dear life. Her dreams faded away - or rather she shoved them down so deep that she could pretend they never existed.  So no, she wasn't going to go to Tennessee.  She wasn't going to be a star. Kit didn't know where she was going to go or what she was going to do. All she knew was that she needed to leave because she couldn't survive here any longer.

....

    When Tyler Owens met Kit Lainey she was stuck on the ledge. It wasn't a literal ledge, but it might as well have been, and Tyler became determined to pull her off of it.

    The Wranglers were headed back to Arkansas. Tornado season was basically over and there wasn't anything left for them in Oklahoma until it returned. They'd stopped at the gas station, Boone claiming he needed "fuel." Really he was out of snacks and with a 6-hour drive ahead of them, everyone knew that they had to stop or they were going to spend that 6 hours listening to Boone complain about how hungry he was.

    When he walked into the gas station his eyes were down on his phone. He was scrolling through the comments of their last video. His eyes narrowed as he saw some that weren't exactly what he'd call compliments. Labeling them as "Reckless Idiots," who were "Going to kill someone someday."

    Dani did what she could when it came to keeping track of their accounts, but with 500 thousand followers it wasn't an easy task to handle alone, and she preferred handling the merch and the marketing of the Wranglers. Tyler couldn't really blame her, reading the comments made his head hurt.

     "Come on man,"  A voice brought his attention away from his phone and he glanced up. "You're telling me that there are no more buses coming tonight? It's barely midnight."  He stepped out from behind the rack of candy he was behind and looked towards the counter. His eyes landed on a woman, probably in her mid-20s.  The cashier groaned and shook his head at her.

    "I told you, lady, you're out of luck." He snapped. "Bad weather is about to hit and there won't be any more buses until probably Thursday,"  Tyler heard the girl curse and watched as she shook her head before storming out of the building, leaving her snacks behind. Tyler walked towards the counter, grabbing a soda from the cooler before pushing it towards the cashier, his eyes didn't leave the door where the girl had left through.

     "I'll pay for the lady's stuff too," the cashier didn't say anything, he just nodded. Tyler paid before picking the snacks up and walking outside. His eyes wandered, trying to find where the girl had gone.  There she was in the short distance, seated on a bench alone. Her head was in her hands and he could hear the small sobs she let out. He paused and looked back at his team who was heading back outside, but then he went with his gut and stepped towards the girl.

    She didn't notice when he approached, or even when he cleared his throat. She only noticed when suddenly he reached his hand out, offering her the snacks she'd left.

    "You..." He trailed off. "You forgot your snacks," She looked up at him and their eyes met. Tyler felt completely awkward, not even sure what he was doing. All he could tell was that this girl needed help and helping was what he did best.

    "I didn't pay for them," her voice was quiet and he shrugged.

    "Don't worry 'bout it." She hesitantly sat up and took the snacks from him, a wary look still on her face while she wiped her tears. Clearly, she was trying to pretend that she hadn't been crying.

    He took the time to observe her. Her right hand was shaking consistently, even as she sipped the soda he'd grabbed for her. Her eyes looked tired and empty. He'd seen the look before, it was never good.

    Tyler was about to speak again when he saw her phone. He couldn't help but snoop a little, and even if he couldn't read it exactly, it looked like she was looking up nearby bridges. He didn't like that. "You alright out here?" He spoke before he could stop himself, unable to hide the worry in his voice.  She stayed silent. "I heard ya talking about needing a bus?"

    "I just need to leave, can't wait til Thursday." She ran her left hand through her hair. "Don't gotta worry, I'll figure something out." She was being careful with her words and that worried Tyler more than he already was. The way she was looking at her shoes and avoiding his eyes, the Google search still pulled up on her phone, it wasn't exactly a recipe for something good.

    "Thanks for the snacks but, you can leave me alone now."

    Tyler paused. He could leave her alone. It would be easy to walk away and let her be. If he were anyone else then he probably would have. Unfortunately for the girl in front of him who wanted to be left alone, he wasn't anyone else.

    "I could," Tyler acknowledged her words. He didn't walk away, instead, he sat down next to her. "But why do I feel like if I leave I'm going to regret it?" She froze but didn't speak. After a second of silence, she stood up.

    "I should go," Tyler grabbed her arm and she pulled it away instantly as if she'd been burned. She glared at him and he put his hands up. "Don't touch me." She went to walk away again. Tyler spiraled. How did he get her to stay? A thought popped into his head.

     "We have room for one more," She stopped.

    "What?"

    "You need a ride somewhere? We have room for one more," He didn't notice that Boone had walked toward them and was now giving Tyler a confused look.

    She stared at him. It was like she was trying to decide if he was serious or not. Truth be told, Tyler was figuring that out too. He didn't know what he was doing, but he wasn't taking back the offer. Something was happening to her and he wanted to help.

    "You're a stranger." The girl was blunt as she crossed her arms across her chest. Tyler knew she had a point. They had literally met barely 5 minutes ago and he was offering to let her catch a ride with him. He opened his mouth to respond but Boone beat him to it.

    "Hell we're not strangers, we're on the you know, the Youtube? Half a million followers," he grinned at her nodding his head, not exactly sensing the tone of the situation. Apparently that somehow worked because the girl cracked a smile. "Tornado Wrangler's baby!"

    The girl's smile fell at the sound of the word tornado. Tyler didn't question it.

    "We got room in the truck, don't we Boone?" Tyler looked at him, moving on from the mention. Boone caught on immediately and nodded.

    "Oh hell yeah, we always got room. Especially for a lady as pretty as yourself," His voice shifted towards flirtation and Tyler rolled his eyes. "I'm Boone, this here is Tyler." his friend clapped him on the back and then walked towards the girl who had stepped towards them a little.

    "I don't know where I'm going." She admitted. She didn't give her name but she took another step closer. "I don't exactly have a plan," Tyler shrugged.

    "You any good at social media?" It was a shift in the conversation but Tyler had a point in doing so. She needed a place to be, she needed a place to go. The Wranglers had an opening.

    Boone seemed to understand what was happening finally and so for a quick second, he bolted towards the rest of the team. Tyler could see them nodding in the side of his eye and Dani was walking towards him within a minute.

    "I ain't bad at it. What's that have to do with a ride?"

    "Our team needs someone to manage our accounts. Comments, blocking, photos, meetings. That kind of stuff."

    "You're offering me a job?" She seemed surprised as she spoke slowly and Tyler nodded.

    "Hell yeah he is," Dani leaned forward, sending a smile to the girl. "I need help and these losers won't do it." Tyler rolled his eyes and shoved her lightly. Dani laughed. Tyler turned back to the girl. She seemed hesitant but hopeful. "What do you say?"

    The girl paused for a good 30 seconds. She bit down on her lip. Tyler wanted to know what was going through her head. More than anything he wanted her to say yes, to let him and his team help her off the ledge that she was clearly on.

    "My name is Kit," she took a step forward towards him and Dani. Boone wasn't far behind and he had a beaming grin on his face.

    "That a yes Kit?"

    "It's a very hesitant..yes."

    The words left her mouth and Tyler grinned. Boone let out a cheer. Kit's stomach twisted in anxiety, but the way Tyler was smiling comforting at her, made her feel a little better.

    Honestly Kit didn't know if she was going to regret this. God, she didn't even know what she was getting herself into. They said the words Tornado Wranglers. She recognized that name. Storm Chasers. What the hell was she doing getting involved with chasing again after what had happened last time? Almost immediately she wanted to take her agreement back.

    It was a bad decision. The last time she'd gone chasing it had resulted in so much pain. It lived in her mind. The remembrance that if Connor hadn't convinced her to come with them into the storm, he might have saved himself and he would still be here. Instead, he was gone. It was just her. Well, Javi and Kate too- but Kit hadn't talked to them in ages. Kate always ignored her calls and the last time Kit had talked to Javi? He told her not to call him for a while. So really- it was just her.

    Kit was always one who was there to make good decisions. But what was the point of making good decisions if you were always alone? She was at the end of her rope and she was slipping, but Tyler was here, opening his doors wide and inviting her in. She followed alongside his team, moving towards the vehicles. For a second she paused and looked down at her phone.

    Her heart beat quickly while she looked down. She still had her search open and she swallowed while staring at it. It was the alternative decision to leaving now. She could feel Tyler's eyes on her, but she didn't know what he was doing. She paid no mind, ignoring his eyes. He was watching her and continued as he watched her close the open tab on her phone. A small smile raised on his face and when Kit looked up and saw, she gave him a confused but nervous look. Did he notice the tab? God, she hoped not.

    Boone threw his arm around her shoulder as he introduced her to the rest of the team and she blinked in surprise at the affection. One by one, she learned everyone's names and heard as they welcomed her onto the team. Kit didn't know why these people were offering her a chance. It didn't make any sense to her.

    Tyler was going to take the chance on her. He'd talked her off whatever ledge she was on for now and offered her a place in his family. She'd accepted. Whatever she was running away from, the Wranglers would be a place she could run to.

    "I should mention, I'm not real good with storms," She wouldn't explain the reason why, probably not ever. They didn't seem to care or question it. Tyler only opened the door of the truck to let Kit and Boone in.

    "Don't worry. We'll make you a storm chaser!" Boone nudged her and she raised her eyebrows a little. There was a hint of a smile on her face.

    "Yeah, I'd like to see you try."

    Kit climbed into the vehicle and glanced around. She was really leaving Oklahoma. Whenever she used to think about this day it was to go to Tennessee. That seemed way far in the past now and it caused her chest to ache at the memories. Was this why Kate had left? Did she leave because of the pain that Kit was feeling now? It was a question she had that she doubted would ever be answered so she tried not to think about it. Kate was gone, Javi was gone, and now it was Kit's turn. So she looked out the window as Boone rolled it down and pulled her to lean out of it at the same time Tyler spoke.

    "Challenge accepted Kit."

note.
  shorter chapter but also i'm going to try and write  another one tonight. i almost just made this one longer but i felt like it was more important to show this part where she's joining the wranglers rather then jumping right into the movie. you'll get more background on her relationship with the wranglers as the story goes on.
again, i  hope you enjoy! again, please vote and comment!!!
  - c.j