Trust Me

Looking behind him as he ran forward, Jake saw Anna casually running with enough to keep up with him. 'What is she up to now?' Turning around to face Anna while continuing to jog round the school, Jake asked Anna "Why are you following me?"

"To make sure you don't stop again." Anna answered. "Now start running or my hand's going to say hi to your back."

Facing forward, Jake increased his speed and carried on with his punishment.

After running his twenty first lap round the school, Jake was running out of breath again and getting fatigued. He had not had a lot of time to catch his breath and recover his expended stamina before Anna told him to keep running. He had been running at his top speed initially but he could not help but slow down.

'Let me at least try to reach the gate again before I stop.' Jake thought to himself. Pushing himself further, Jake looked back and saw Anna still following him at a steady pace without any signs of her putting in effort.

Reaching the school gate, Jake stopped running and bent over with his hands on his knees again. Looking at Anna running behind him, she didn't stop when she saw Jake had stopped running to take a break. Instead she moved to meet Jake in a second and hit him hard on the back which made him fall to the floor.

"What was that for?" Jake asked as he groaned and got up from the floor.

"That was because you stopped running." Anna replied. "Did you think I was joking when I said you shouldn't let me catch up to you?"

"You know I actually kind of thought you were joking, but I guess I should have known better."

"Alright, I'll make you a deal." Anna said as she moved closer to Jake and put her arms around his back, drawing him towards her.

Trying to move away from Anna, Jake found himself stuck and unable to take a step back. "What deal?" he asked, since that was the only thing he could do.

Bringing her lips closer to Jake's and making her prodigious chest touch his, Anna whispered to Jake "The deal that will relieve you of your punishment."

Taking his head back, Jake said to Anna "You have my attention. What's the deal?"

"I want a higher and better view." Shapeshifting her entire back into the back of a Peeler, four wings ripped the back of Anna's shirt and spread out.

"What do you m..." Jake was in the middle of saying something when he saw four wings come out of Anna's back and spread wide open. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you." Using both of her hands to hold Jake tightly, Anna flew up into the air and kept flying until she could see most of the school compound from the height she had reached.

"Are you crazy?" Jake shouted, now holding on to Anna and pulling her towards him as firmly as he could.

"So all it took for you to hold me this tight was for me to fly up with you? You should have said that a long time ago, I would have done it in an instant."

"This is not the time to joke around." Jake said, still frightened from how high he was above the ground and still pulling Anna close to him. "Take us down."

"It seems this is your first time being this high up in the air." Anna said and used her hand to turn Jake's head so he was looking at her, not the ground below.

"What do you think?" Jake asked, replying to what Anna had said. "Why are we even up here?"

"The deal, remember? If you can survive a fall from this height, I'll let you go home immediately."

"You're supposed to be my mentor, not the person who sends me to my untimely grave. How in the world am I supposed to survive a fall from this height?"

"I know you can't. I was tired of watching you run round the school so I decided to teach you something. Don't think your punishment is over." Anna said when she saw Jake open his mouth to speak.

Closing his mouth, Jake let Anna continue talking.

"You'll continue your punishment tomorrow, it's time for you to learn something new. But don't you think this view of the school is much better than the one from down there?"

Slightly calmer than before, Jake looked down and realized Anna was right. He had been caught entirely off-guard by Anna suddenly flying so high up into the air that he failed to notice the amazing view below.

The light of multiple bulbs from different streets and houses made it look like lots of flame beetles were moving on the ground. With the light from the moons being dim, it accentuated the light from the ground making it more amazing.

"Okay you're right, it is better. But why bring us all the way up here? Why so high?"

"That's part of what you're going to be learning, and this might take a few days for you to learn it. First, not that I'm complaining, but instead of holding on to me so tightly, try stabilizing yourself with me."

"How?" Jake asked.

"Do you trust me?"

"No, of course not. You suggested dropping me down from this height, what do you expect?"

"Well you're going to have to trust me for you to learn what I'm about to teach you. Release your hold on my back." Anna said.

Releasing his hands a little, Jake watched what Anna was doing. After he released his hold, Anna gently removed his hands from her back which made Jake shout as he fell to Anna's legs before she raised him up.

Smiling, Anna said to Jake "Calm down, you know I won't let you fall, trust me. Put your feet on my feet. Like you're standing but you're going to be standing on my feet."

Doing what Anna said, Jake put both of his feet on hers and it was as if he was standing on the ground. He was still holding Anna's hands while he stood with the help of her feet. Looking down, it looked like he and Anna were levitating in the air apart from the occasional beating of Anna's wings.