Quickly Becoming Friends

--AN) 36+ advanced chapters on https://www.patreon.com/invayne --

Ricky became hesitant. One thing he knew was that Jas was not a person he could mess with easily. His worries were not unfounded. Jasmine had no choice but to learn how to fight since she lived in a rough area. In the past two years alone, she had been in more fights than she could count on her fingers and toes. 

At the start of this school year alone, Jasmine had gotten into a fight with a young man who accused her of hitting on his girlfriend. Jasmine was so confused at the time but never had time to think about why she was having fists thrown at her. In the end, because she was quite used to it now, the young man ended up face-first in the dirt. She never had actual training in how to fight. She was just a natural at it.

So her threat just now was not unfounded. Jasmine stared coldly at Ricky, who slowly lowered his head submissively. "So…. She is your sister?" He could only take what Jasmine said as the truth or more like he had no choice. If he continued to push, he might end up being beaten up by the pretty boy.

"Yes, she is my sister. You got a problem with that?" Jasmine asked with her arms crossed across her chest. "Let me say this now. If you come near her again, not only will I hunt you down, but I will beat you up every time I see you. I don't care if it is in school or not. I will make you feel the pain my little sister feels when someone is harassing her in the way you are."

Ricky flinched slightly. His gaze looked onto a small shadow he could just barely see on the other side of the counter. He clenched his fists tightly before slowly releasing them. "Fine… Just do me a favor and tell your sister I never meant her any harm…."

Ricky turned and left the store. Jasmine slowly let out a sigh of relief before walking back behind the counter. "He's gone."

"Thank you…." Stacey was still shaken, but she was still able to put a smile on her lips in front of Jasmine. She had always had to deal with these things on her own, so it was nice to have someone there to protect her like this. 

"No need to thank me. But from now on, you should be more careful. We go to the same school, so I can walk you home after, but I still have work afterward, so I can't always be there. If you live close by, I can also walk with you to school as well." Jasmine did not mind walking with someone to school. Normally, she walked alone, but she felt like she and Stacey could become good friends. She didn't have any now as it was. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time she had a friend who was a girl. It was only now that she realized how blind she had been to her whole situation.

"Really!" Stacey's eyes lit up. She would feel much safer with Jasmine around, and she really liked talking with her. So, this worked out perfectly.

"Yes, really!" Jasmine chuckled as she reached down and patted the top of Stacey's head. She found the girl to be quite cute. 

The two chatted about random things until it was time to close the store. Jasmine had Stacey wait by the front while she counted her drawer and the safe. When everything was all set, she locked the store up and walked with Stacey to her house. To her surprise, when they walked up to the building that Stacey lived in, Jasmine found that they lived in the same building! "You know, I live on the top floor…."

"Really!? I live on the fourth floor! I wonder why we never met up in the morning?" Stacey tilted her head to the side and tapped her foot off the ground, lost in thought. 

Jasmine chuckled and ruffled the cute girl's blonde hair before saying: "I normally leave very early since I help my grandmother bring her things to the main road. I spend about an hour there in the mornings and then head off to school from there." 

"Wait! Woods… You Grandma Wood's daughter!?" Stacey finally put two and two together. She had heard about Jasmine from a Grandma she met in the elevator on more than one occasion. She found it funny that even after so long, they had never run into each other. But after thinking about it for a while, Stacey suddenly yelled out. "AHhhH! You're the hot boy I saw at the door one day!"

"I'm a girl!" Jasmine yelled back.

"I know! But at that time, you were wearing a black mask and a baseball cap. But I could tell you were very cute under all that. Your eyes especially. But you can't blame me! I thought you were a guy at the time. I even wished I had taken a picture of you to put on my wall." Stacey blushed as she admitted this. 

"What are you, a stalker!?" Jasmine replied teasingly. Stacey's ears turned bright red, and she quickly shook her head. 

"I didn't follow after you! I just had such a thought after I saw you and felt it was a shame. Anyway! So we can hang out any time we want now, right!?" Stacey looked up at Jasmine with hope-filled eyes.

Jasmine could only smile and nod her head. "You can come over any time you want. But just know that I work almost every night. So if you do come over and I am not there, you hang out in my room until I get home. My hours vary all the time." 

"Okay! Let me follow you home tonight, then. I want to say hi to Grandma!" Stacey really liked Jasmine's grandmother. She had fun chatting with her.

"Alright. But shouldn't you stop in and tell your parents first?" Jasmine did not want to make Stacey's parents worry about her.

"No… It's fine… My mother won't be home until two in the morning. It's just the two of us, and she works three jobs, so I hardly see her…." Stacey's expression became gloomy. She hated being home alone.

"Then, if you are not working, feel free to come to my house. If you know my grandmother, I am sure she would be more than happy to have you around."