Free One Black Rose by Maddy Edwards

car. In the dark I couldn’t see what type it was, but I could tell that it was black and very nice. I frowned and stood still, wondering what was going on. I felt like since I had come to Maine I had nothing but questions.
    The passenger door opened and Lydia stepped out. She looked the same as Leslie, somehow more menacing than she had earlier. Both girls were dressed in slinky black dresses and their hair was done up. And I feel like it’s hard to look menacing in five inch high heels.
    They came towards me. Samuel’s cousins’ eyes were sparkling like hard little black diamonds in the night.
    “What do you want?” I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was now very uncomfortable.
    I didn’t even know these girls, but they’d been really nice to me until now.
    “Just to have a little chat,” Leslie continued in that soft and threatening voice. With every step she took towards me I felt my body getting colder.
    “About what?” I tried to think of what someone brave would do in this situation, but utterly failed to come up with anything.
    “Do you feel threatened?” Leslie asked, frowning prettily. She tried to act surprised, but she ended up smiling. “I don’t mean to scare you.” I was like ninety-eight percent sure she was lying about that.
    “Scare me? Why would I be scared?” I asked. Well, if I wasn’t actually going to be brave the next best thing was to fake it.
    Leslie, who was shorter and more talkative than Lydia, took another step forward. “You should be. Whether or not you know why. You should be.” She was glaring at me so I glared back.
    “This is ridiculous,” I said. “Just say what you came to say and leave me alone.” I was painfully aware of the fact that I was out alone at night and that no one knew where I was. There was one of me and two of them.
    Neither of them said anything, so I waited. I obviously wasn’t going anywhere.
    “Stay away from Holt,” said Lydia finally, looking at Leslie. “We came to say: Stay. AWAY. From Holt Roth.” She stepped up to me, putting her face right in front of mine. I tried not to flinch away, but it was hard. She was cold and her eyes had gone as hard as crystals. I knew she was dangerous.
    Before I could say anything else I heard the crunching of a foot on dirt.
    Out of the darkness came Holt’s voice, “What do you think you’re doing?” He sounded angry. Very angry. I could see that his face was contorted in rage and his eyes never left Lydia and Leslie.
    I would never admit how relieved I was to see him.
    He walked over to the girls, looking like a summer storm cloud about to burst, all black and gray with a promise of thunder and lightening. My traitorous mind added that even his anger couldn’t dim how attractive he was.
    “What do you think you’re doing meddling in this?” he demanded.
    “It’s you,” Lydia hissed, “who shouldn’t be meddling in this. You should leave well enough alone. You are going to ruin everything. Again. And for what?” She tried to have a staring contest with him, but it was clear she was no match for him. When she broke eye contact Leslie said, “Come on Lydia. We did what we came to do.”
    I could see that Holt was breathing hard. I could tell he was trying to keep his temper and not do something rash.
    But otherwise I had no clue what was going on.
     
    Once the two girls had driven off in a squeal of tires and dirt, Holt took a deep breath and turned to me. “Are you alright?” he asked. He looked completely panic-stricken. “You look cold.” Before I could answer he had shrugged out of his dinner jacket and was putting it around my shoulders.
    “They want me to stay away from you?” I asked, realizing that I was close to yelling. “They can’t tell me what to do and neither can you. Shit, my parents can barely tell me what to do since they’re too busy fighting!” I knew that I was upset because I was afraid, but having two girls stalk you in a car is scary! Nothing