THIS WILL BE 18 AND OVER ONLY.

This story will take place in 1956, set in a small American town. Your character is a new arrival to the town, aged between 18 and 22 years of age. Her and her family have moved here from another state, and have been living in the town for roughly a week. They're the talk of the town, being the only non-white family to currently live here. (Town population is roughly 500.)

They live across town from Robert and his family, and the two have met prior to this and spoken briefly. He knows her name, but not all that much more about her. However, he's the only guy to actually be nice to her thus far.

This will be romance, and explore the relationship between our characters and how it changes and how others see it.

___

~~Mittsville, <Unnamed State>. 1956~~

Robert sighed as he glanced around, the cold winter air biting as he left the book store and pushed his hands into his pocket. Rain was starting to fall as it had been on and off through the day, coating everything in a wet, cold film. Winter was fast approaching, and rumours of an unseasonably early snowstorm along with it. The bitter cold was enough to assure Robert that this was likely, the frost clinging to the few cars parked up another stark sign of what was to come.

His eyes moved around as the teenager moved down the street, the evening dark broken by the glow of streetlights. There was a real unease in the air tonight, which seemed to be linked to a recent tension in this tiny town. A family had moved in from a different state, and they.. well, sadly didn't seem to fit in. They were an African-American family, something a lot of townfolk didn't take kindly too. The family consisted of only three people, two adults and the daughter whom Robert had to guess was his age, or a tad older. He'd just turned 18 that previous day, and now he had no curfew was enjoying a late night stay at the bookstore. This one opened until 9pm to serve students of the local college campus.

Turning down one street, commotion down an alleyway caught his attention. He could see two tall men dressed in leather jackets, jeans and biker boots surrounding someone else. His heart sank when he realised it was the new girl, and before he knew it.. Robert was running to her defence.

"Get off her!" He shouted, pulling on the arm of one thug. Thankfully it distracted the pair, though this wasn't quite what Robert had in mind. A swift punch to Robert's face broke his nose, blood pouring in twin streams which met on his chin and ran down onto the crisp white shirt he'd been wearing beneath his now ripped raincoat. Another to the side of the head sent him sprawling to the floor, where one thug took the chance to kick him in the stomach. Winded and coughing, Robert struggled to his feet.

A deep gash was on his right cheek now, and he swayed a little. Despite this, he remained stood up and refused to back down. One of the thugs grabbed a wooden baseball bat, swinging it hard into Robby's side. A sickening crack sounded out as a rib broke, another as one of the thugs grabbed and pushed his left hand back. Three fingers had been fractured in this, but still the smaller, frailer man didn't back down. In all of this, she had remained physically untouched...

Sirens wailed, and the two thugs ran off down the alley, scaling a chainlink fence and scarpering. The police cars zoomed past the alley though, leaving the bloody and beaten Robert with <Your character>.

"Ha.." Robby wheezed, a small smile on his bloody features. "I.. I won." He hadn't, of course, but she wasn't injured and that was all that mattered to him right now. He was in pain, but didn't let it overwhelm him at all.