The Fight For Redemption - BOOK TWO

A/N: The first 5 chapters are bonus chapters & are from before the time skip mentioned in the description!

WARNING: This book is the second half of the original version of, “The Fight For Love” that I wrote when I was 15 so it is completely UN-EDITED and there will be many mistakes/errors!

DO NOT READ if you haven't read "The Fight For Love"

A N A S T A S I A

“Hey, I’m Anastasia,” I said smiling slightly at the man sitting next to me on the plane. He smiled back at me with dimples that could get addictive as he moved his bag to the floor and sat in his seat, next to mine.

“Nice to meet you, Anastasia.” He says smiling with his pearly white teeth. It makes me wonder how he keeps it so white when no matter what I do, mine never look that good.

“You too, Tyler,” I reply as I turn my head back to the window, just to think.

“So, Anastasia. Do you have any specific reason that you’re going to New York? Or are you just going for vacation?” He asks as I look over to see more people walk down the aisle, walking to their seats.

“Yea, I needed to get away. Had too many problems, so I’m leaving to start fresh.” I say with a sigh at the memories that keep flooding my mind. The love, the fighting, the pain, the betrayal... Everything.

“Really? I get that. I’ve done it more times than I can count.” He says, and I nod. I’m pretty sure everyone has at least tried to start fresh.

“Yea, why do you do it?” I ask before realizing how rude that was.

“Shit sorry, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I say in a rush, and he laughs.

“It’s fine, seriously.” He says, noticing my expression of regret.

“You sure?” I ask again because I feel bad. I’m not trying to pry, but I feel like I am.

“Yea.” He tells me, and I let out a huge breath as he begins to tell me.

“I’ve just got a lot of problems and drama in my family.” He starts, and I nod, understanding because of all the drama I was in.

“What about you?” He asks, and I sigh as the seatbelt sign turns on and the plane doors close.

“It’s a long story,” I tell him and he just leans back in his seat, buckling his seatbelt before turning back to me with his addictive smile.

“It’s a long flight, and I’ve got time.” He says grinning, but I really don’t know if he’d care to know.

“Are you sure that you want to know? There’s a lot of stuff that I could say.” I explain, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“I want to know you.” He says, and I look down, smiling.

“So please tell me, but if you don’t feel comfortable or don’t want to, I completely understand...” He begins and before I can reply he spoke again.

“I mean, we can talk about water if that’s better for you.” He says like that’s the most interesting topic ever.

“Water?” I ask, and he grins.

“Yea, water.” He explains, and I can’t believe that’s the topic he thought of.

“Why water?” I ask, and he bites his lip, still grinning.

“Do you know why all water tastes the same?” He asks, and I scrunch my brows together because I don’t think they do.

“Actually no, because all water doesn’t taste the same,” I say, and he shakes his head.

“So you’re that kind of girl.” He says smirking, and I have no idea what he means.

“I’m a what kind of girl Tyler?” I ask as the safety video plays on the screen in front of us on the other seats.

“The kind of girl who thinks that water from different brands taste different.” He says shrugging and I glared at him.

“Excuse me, they definitely do taste different. I mean some of them are just gross.” I say shaking my head as the plane gets ready to start moving.

“See, that proves that you are that kind of girl.” He says with a sparkle in his eye, and I laugh. I needed this, it’s helping me feel better. Helping me forget.

“Okay, I guess I am,” I say shaking my head as I feel the plane start backing up.

“So which is it going to be?” He asks, and for a second, I get confused at what he’s asking.

“Which is what going to be?” I question as I lean back in my seat and turn my head to look at him, leaning my head against the seat.

“Would you rather talk about water? Or the drama?” He asks, and I shrug.

“It’s a long flight, so I guess I can just tell you about the drama,” I say, and he smiles, turning his head towards me even more.

“Okay, I’m all ears.” He says to me, and I start from the beginning.

That is how I tell a complete stranger, the story of my life.

Exactly five hours and five minutes later, the plane landed. Tyler is really nice and funny. We talked the entire flight, and it didn’t get boring at all.

He told me that he was in San Diego visiting his sister, well his sisters grave. She died when they were kids, that’s what he told me, and it seemed too hard for him to talk about it, so I didn’t push it. We are strangers after all, but I don’t know if we are anymore since that flight.

Sometimes it’s easier to talk about your problems with a stranger than someone you know because they have an outside look on everything you tell them.

Tyler is two years older than me and a sophomore at New York University where I’m going. Even though all that stuff happened back home, I made sure to send out applications. I sent them pretty much everywhere since I never knew if I was going to need to get away. Luckily I did.

My grades were good, and they always have been, so I got accepted into most of them including New York University. I’m going to be a freshman this year.

Tyler and I walked off of the plane and to the baggage claim together as we waited for our bags to come around on the rotating belt. Once we both got our bags, we both left on our separate ways - separate journeys in the big apple city, New York.