Chapter 25

When the college was about to start, there were some minor issues with Marie's scholarship, as they would have liked her to live in the dorm. It took just one call from my aunty, in which she asked them if they were ready for the publicity of cutting the scholarship from a young mother, who didn't want to get separated from her one year old girl. Besides, they didn't have enough room in the dorm in the first place. Luckily, they came to their senses.

When we first visited Marie's campus area together, I understood for the first time how huge a step she was taking. All her childhood had been controlled by her parents, then up until last summer she had been very dependent on me. Working in that office had been a big step, but this next one would be huge. I could feel her uncertainty.

"Marie, you'll be ok, here. In fact, I would be surprised if you don't feel much more mature than most of the people here. Remember, you can always reach others by phone."

"Thanks, Eric. I sort of believe it myself, but I still have my fears."

"Don't. I trust you, and you'll do just fine."

So, off we went. Ms. Fraser was back to take care of our 'not-so-little' Lily, and we headed to our colleges. If our last years in high school had been crazy so were our first semesters at the college. Marie carried a heavy load; and while my studies were not as heavy as hers, I expanded my studies outside the computer science courses I was taking. In fact, I soon found out that I was able to pass those courses directly, by taking an exam. That made it possible for me to take more classes about running a small business, and also some very low level programming. Once again, it was Ms. Fraser who partly made all this possible. After all, I also had to work, to pay for everything. Even if it was possible to do some work with my laptop while sitting in on the courses that required attendance without thinking, I still had my real work at home.

Of course all that meant that we had no real social life with the other students, but we both were quite happy with that. When we compared notes, we both found out that several of our fellow students seemed quite immature. On the other hand, that was not a big surprise to us. This was their first taste of freedom, too; and the 'responsibility' had not yet hit them. For our own sanity, we tried to keep our Sundays free from other activities. Then, every so often, my aunty and Beth 'stole' Lily from us on Saturday afternoon. This allowed Marie and I to have some time to ourselves, so that Marie didn't have to worry that she would wake our angel.

We made a few appearances at some social events at each other's colleges; but in order to avoid problems, we made sure that we only participated in events at which we could both go together. After all we had made up our minds that we wanted out of this area once we had finished college, and we wanted to do that together as a family. So, when we visited a semi-official party in my college I had Marie very tightly by my side, in order to avoid problems. I took advantage of all the physical training possibilities that my college offered. I made sure that if I had an extra hour or two in the middle of the day, I would spend it training, if there was no urgent need to work. So, even if I didn't take part in any of the sports teams the college had, most of the guys knew that I kept myself physically fit. None of the guys came to harass Marie, but they did come to tell me that I was one lucky son of a bitch. I smiled and agreed. Unfortunately that didn't stop some of the girls. At first Marie was amused but when the suggestions became more blunt and included both of us we decided that it was time to leave. Back in our car Marie was no longer amused but fuming from jealousy.

"You better stay away from those hussies while studying, buster!"

I stopped the car to the side of the road and turned to Marie.

"Marie, we have something special! We have our plans. We have Lily. I have a girlfriend who is better looking, and hotter, than any of those girls down there. There is no way in hell that I would risk any of that for some lousy sex with some drunken bitch. Besides, I have made a promise that some parts of me belong solely to you."

"How do you know that the sex would be lousy? You better explain that part to me later on."

Later, back at home I explained it to her in detail. I showed her that, as both her body and the sex we had were magnificent, it had to be lousy with those others. I'm not sure that my logic was waterproof, but Marie seemed happy with it!

When we had a similar kind of party at her college, there were no problems in the beginning. We socialized a bit with some other students who had also decided to become teachers and her friends included both first- and second-year students. They were impressed to find out that we had been living on our own for almost two years and that we had a little girl. It was a bit later when one of her friends turned to us.

"Marie, now that I've seen your boyfriend, I can understand how it's so easy for you to turn your back on all those guys hitting on you."

Now I turned to Marie and decided to tease her a bit.

"Guys hitting on you? How come I have not heard about this, before?"

Marie looked a bit uneasy.

"Look, Eric, I know how protective you are, but I have to learn to stand up for myself."

I released her from the hook and smiled and kissed her good. Hey, no PDA rules, here! She was breathing a bit heavily when I released her.

"Buster, I will make you pay for that. Now, go get us girls some drinks."

"Yes, ma'am!"

She rolled her eyes but of one the girls laughed when I went to get the drinks. Soda for Marie and a cooler for her friend.

When I came back the girls were not there. I looked around and could not see them. Suddenly I heard a muffled but familiar voice.

"Let us go, you bastards..."

I put the drinks onto the nearby table and followed the voice. There were four guys dragging the two girls to the side door. I raised my voice.

"I think the ladies informed you that they do not want to go with you, so would you please release them - now."

"Fuck you, these two cunts have refused our services all the year. But don't worry, we'll return them to you soon, just slightly used."

The other three thought that was hilarious.

"This is your last chance to release them, so that nobody gets hurt."

For some reason that seemed even funnier to them. Both of the girls looked at me pleadingly. According to the jackets, all the guys were some sort of athletes. Football players, perhaps, but certainly not from the starting squad. Still, I was on foreign ground. I took two more steps towards them hoping for reaction. They didn't disappoint me.

The one closest to me threw a punch. I sidestepped a bit, and walked inside the punch. I kicked his groin with my knee, lifting him six inches off of the floor. One out without permanent damage, and three to go. Marie used that second to kick the guy holding her and she didn't hold anything back. I'm sure if her shoe wasn't broken, at least her instep was hurting. He would sure hurt more, with his balls now residing up near his neck. Good girl. The second free guy tried to kick me. But in order for the kick to be effective you have to hit your target. If you miss, you might even hurt yourself. Especially if someone moves your supporting leg's knee even the slightest bit in the wrong direction! I don't think that anyone noticed. The last guy was frozen there and still holding Marie's friend.