Chapter 8

I had been surprised by Katy's remarks when I spoke of being her kissing cousin in the new relationship which would develop if Isa and Joe became man and wife. Over the next we weeks, however, It was clear that, with me at least, she had grown in confidence. In many small ways she showed that she trusted and liked me. When we were going someplace together she would take my hand as we walked. If I did something that pleased her she would give me a hug and often if we were working closely together on some project she would reach out and touch my hand or rub my arm.

As the day when the new term drew nearer I could sense a tension and nervousness in her regarding her return to school.

"Are you worried about the going back to school?" I asked her one day as we lay on the loungers after our swim.

She looked at me for a moment and then she replied.

"Not as much as I was last year, but I do get bullied a lot. My teachers like me because I do well in their classes and sometimes they single me out for praise or use me as an example. This does not make me very popular with a lot of my class mates. I get called names and one or two of the boys keep making lewd suggestions to me. I try to ignore them but there is one particular group of three that make my time at school feel pretty awful."

"This year things will be a bit different," I told her. "You will have me as your friend, and if we go to school together, eat our lunch together and go home together they will assume that I am your new boyfriend and maybe they will leave you alone because of that."

"I would not bet on it," she replied. "They are more likely to try the same with you because you are associating with me."

"Then they would be making a big mistake," I told her. "I am not boasting when I say this, just stating a fact. In my Krav Maga class I am one of my teacher's star pupils and he is very pleased at the way my skills have developed. They will get more than they bargained for if they start messing with me."

"That might be true," she said, "But as dad pointed out that this could get you into big trouble at our school."

"Only if I am stupid enough to try and do things on school premises," I told her with a grin. "There is more than one way of taking care of bullies. It is not necessary to take immediate and direct action. I will make sure I do it where teachers won't see it but at the same time make sure other pupils will still know what happened."

"How will you do that?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it just now," I said, "It depends on the situation at the time, but believe me, I will deal with it and once the news gets around people will leave us alone and one or two appreciating what we have done may even seek to befriend us."

"But I won't have done anything," she said.

"Yes you will," I told her, "You will be seen as someone who is my girlfriend and as someone who has supported me."

She looked at me quietly for some time after this and I knew she was trying to pluck up the courage to say something. I thought she might be trying to think of ways to discourage me from risking getting in to trouble. But once again when she did speak she surprised me.

"You keep saying that people will think you are my boyfriend," she said eventually. "That would be alright if I was your girlfriend. But if everybody thinks that; it means you if you see somebody you fancy you won't be able to ask her out."

I sat up in my lounger and turned to face her, and then I reached out and took her hands and pulled her into a sitting position,

"Katy MacIntyre," I said to her, "I will be living with and going to school with one of the brightest and most beautiful girls in my year. Perhaps even in the whole school, so I am going to be very flattered if they think I am your boyfriend. It also means if I keep being nice to you and we keep growing even closer than we are now, you might even decide that you might really want me to be your boyfriend. So I am not going to worry about looking at other girls to fill that role until such times as you see someone you fancy and decide that you want to get to know him and have a relationship with him."

"Are you saying that you really want me to be your girlfriend?" she stammered.

"Why do you think I made a point of the fact that you would not be my step sister?" I asked her. "I wanted to make it doubly clear that we were not blood related in any way in case this would stop you seeing me as a potential boyfriend. At the same time I don't want to pressure you into being my girlfriend just because we are growing close through living as a family group."

"Until you said that," she told me, "I was a bit muddled in my thinking about you. I was growing fond of you and wishing we were not going to be related. Then I realised we wouldn't really be; but I still thought you were seeing me a sister and caring about me as a sister. Would you really want me to be your girlfriend?

"I would be thrilled to have you as my girlfriend" I replied, "But I think we should wait till school starts before we let our parent and guardian know that we are changing the nature of our relationship."

"I Think you are right," she giggled "We don't want to worry them or doing anything that might knock them of course."

"We might be better to wait till after the wedding in that case." I said with a laugh.

"Where is the hurry?" Katy agreed.

Then she looked at me shyly and blushed as she said,

"But if I agree to be your girlfriend and you agree to be my boyfriend, shouldn't we seal our agreement with a kiss?"

"I knew I was getting a girlfriend who would always come up with really good ideas," I told her as I drew her into my arms and kissed her tenderly.

From this point until the day came for us to start at school. Katy and I drew even closer, we kissed and cuddled but I was careful. I kept it at a low level, no tongues nor too much passion, just a loving tenderness.

Eventually school rolled around and it was pretty much as Katy predicted. She was singled out for a bit of name calling, but no one tried to do anything physical and we were able to ignore it. By the end of the second week, however, it became clear that we were in some kind of a relationship. It was this that provoked the first real confrontation.

We were sitting on a wall chatting and holding hands, when the three guys who gave her the most trouble in previous years approached us.

"It seems our shy genius has got herself a boy friend," the leader sneered.

Then he turned to me.

"What's she like when you bed her," he asked. "Is she a good fuck? I bet with that red hair she becomes a little fireball. If she is, you shouldn't be keeping her to yourself; you should be ready to share her with guys who know what they are doing."

I let go Katy's hand and stood up.

"If I had to share her with guys that knew what they were doing," I told him, "That rules you out for a starter. If you knew what you were doing, you would not be talking to me like that about my girl friend in case I decided to deck you."

He turned to his two pals,

"Ooh!" he said with a grin, "We have a tough guy here."

Then he turned back to me and with a sneer asked.

"Would you like to try to put your fists where your mouth is?"

"I will happily do that but not here and not now," I told him. "I am not going to be suspended because of an idiot like you. But if you want to meet me after school I will be happy to oblige you."

He stepped forward and tried to give me a push but I caught his arm and placed my other hand on his elbow straightened the arm and then began to push against the joint. The other two started to move.

"Get any closer and I will dislocate his arm," I told them, as I added more pressure."

"Stay where you are!" he screamed at them.

People round about started to notice what was going on so I spoke to the leader again,

"As I said," I don't want to start anything here, so I am going to let go your arm. When I do, you will walk away, and if you still want to take things further meet me after school"

With that I pushed him away.

"This is not the end of this fucker! We will get you after school." He hissed.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the other two.

"We?" I asked questioningly. "Are you two sure you want to get involved with this arsehole? It doesn't bother me. I think I can take all three of you. But if I were in your shoes I would think carefully about it."

This little fracas had now attracted quite a small crowd which gradually dispersed as the leader stomped off still muttering threats to his henchmen

Katy was naturally upset by all that had happened and was near to tears. I took her by the hand and led her away from the curious bystanders. We found a corner where we were sheltered from prying eyes and I drew her to me in a hug.

I held her close for a minute or two then I said.

"Don't let this worry you," I told her, "Even if the three of them try to ambush us after school, I am more than capable of taking care of them. The lead guy Forbes goes down and the other two will be a pushover."

This did not reassure Katy and she was still agitated by the situation.

"I've heard that Garry Forbes carries a knife," she said. Maybe the other two do also."

"Well forewarned is forearmed I told her," "I will make sure I put Forbes down quickly and then we will see what happens."

She clung to me tightly then said, "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"Listen sweetie, this is not because of you." I said to her. "These guys go about making trouble and sooner or later they were going to run into someone who would not back down. Better that it is somebody like me who is equipped to deal with them than some poor guy that did not fully understand what he was getting into."