“I don’t need a babysitter. Go back to class.” Dane sits opposite me in the waiting space outside the principal's office. He’s stretched out, legs across the floor between us and lounging casually with his head back against the wall behind, as though this is no big deal. He is infuriatingly cool despite his mess of a face and his dad being in there trying to save his ass. The school nurse has seen him, and it’s nothing but minor cuts and bruises, which now sports some sterile strips. What I thought was a burst-out piercing was instead a little cut after it broke out. His eyebrow is swelling, but his piercing is still there.
I can’t believe I worried about this moron and waited with a nervous breath for him to come out and look absolutely fine. He has some bruising around his jaw and eye, but it’s barely anything compared to the mess Greg was in when he left. He had blood all over his collar and shirt. Dane’s bloody nose was gone after he blew it.
“Your dad asked me to sit here while he talks this out in case you need medical attention. He’s worried you have a concussion or some hidden injuries.…. Do you know how close you are to being suspended?” I eyeroll and then raise a haughty brow at him before returning to flicking through my biology textbook that I’m making notes in. Trying my hardest to blank him out.
“You know that won’t happen. He’ll do what he always does: flash cash, promise donations, and perks, and I’ll get a week of detention.” He exhales heavily, sliding further down in his seat, so his feet cage either side of mine in the small space, and I pull my knees together to avoid touching. Tutting at him for invading my space.
He’s rumpled as usual and slouching. He sounds annoyed that his dad has become so proficient in clearing up his son's bullshit that this has become a nothing scenario. I wish, for once, he would tuck in his shirt, button it up properly and tighten his tie so it didn’t sit in the middle of his chest. He’s so scruffy in a boy band, idol kind of way. His wrists are littered with leather bands, skateboard-Esque bracelets, and a chunky watch he wears on his right.
“You’re lucky it was him they called and not my mom, or this would be going a whole different way. She wouldn't get you out of anything and make you take whatever punishment was owed. What is wrong with you?” Sitting with him gets on my nerves when I feel more uptight about what’s going on in there than he is.
“Nothing is wrong with me… Greg attacked me. I merely defended myself.” He closes his eyes as though to zone me out, and I grit my teeth, scowling and narrowing my eyes at him. My temper riled at his nonchalance.
“You were sleeping with his fiancée….. I think it’s understandable that he might want to beat your ass.”
“He should have done a better job of it then, shouldn’t he?…. Maybe then I would be the one in the ER getting my head stitched and not sitting here listening to you.” He blows out more air, shifts in his seat, and buries his hands in his blazer jacket pockets, still not opening his eyes. His whole aura is saying, ‘go away and leave me be,’ but like it or not, I’ve been appointed watchdog. His dad doesn’t trust him to sit here alone.
“You have no regrets about what you’ve done? Destroying their relationship? Getting into a fight in school and trashing the foyer?” My tone gets sharp, that inner swirling chaos he always triggers in me making me tense all over and have the urge to pound his head into the smooth surface behind him. I don’t know why he always makes me feel this way.
He’s despicable.
Dane sighs as though I’m an irritation in his day and sits bolt upright, pulling his feet back and perches forward to stare me right in the eye. Seemingly deciding that taking me head-on will be the fastest way to shut me up.
“Why should I? Was I dating Greg? Not my relationship to destroy. I owed him no loyalty, and I don’t have a girlfriend or a fiancee….we were not even friends. If he can’t satisfy his woman and she strays, that’s on him… It would have been some other guy if it wasn’t me. Renee’s the one you should be lecturing, little Miss moral high ground. I didn't start the fight, and I didn’t trash the foyer alone. But carry on like always, blaming me for everything…. you’re so like your mom.”
“It’s never anything on you, right? It’s always everyone else and because of other people.” I snort in disgust, hearing only his refusal to accept blame for this. Despising him more for the grossness of what this is all about. Cheating, hurting people. He has no soul.
“That’s not what I said. As usual, you only hear what you wanna hear.” He sighs, tilts his head back, and stares again at the ceiling. He sneers and sits back, seemingly irritated with me as much as I am at him, and we both fall into silence before a distant ringing distracts his attention. He tilts to the side to listen to the receptionist taking a call in the other room.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I lean sideways to haul it out from my lower pocket, my heart beating a little harder with hope as I fish it out. My stomach somersaults with a flash of excitement that finally, my dad has texted me back. I know he’s been working hard and busy. I have been waiting to hear back from him for a few days about spending the break with him in New York.
I swipe my screen, and my mood dissipates again, like the sinking of a rock in a pond, as Elisa’s name appears at the top of my inbox. I try and hold my expression blank, but pain swells in my chest.
I have taken class notes for you. Hope everything is okay? Xxx
I stare at it for a second, gripping my emotions internally to calm them and slow my rapid heartbeat, and then scroll down to my last texts to my dad. Unread, unresponded to, and it’s been almost forty-eight hours since he read my last one, which too had no reply. My stomach sinks, pushing it out of my head because I don’t want to blame him or be hurt by this, and I slowly switch off the screen and slide it away. Breathing slowly and carefully to curb the instinct to cry.
“What’s gotten you looking so tragic?” Dane’s voice pulls me back to him to see he’s now staring my way, not the ceiling tiles. I breathe out with heavy irritation.
“Nothing,” I reply blankly. “None of your business.”
“Boy you like rejecting you?” He smirks, and I have the urge to kick him. “Realized that would be a life of torture.”
“I have more sense than to chase after a boy. No one in this school is worthy of that attention. Unlike you, I am not interested in dating anyone.” I snap at him, aiming my venom at him directly.
“You know, I have a theory that maybe if you got laid, you wouldn’t be such a cranky bitch all the time. You might learn how to smile.” He winks, slides his hands behind his head, and stretches out again so his feet are back at mine. I know he’s trying to goad me, so I bite my lip to curb a reaction.
“Maybe if you got laid less, you wouldn’t be such an arrogant walking creep.” I snort, but the little gleam and widening smirk tell me he heard me. He’s a sicko who loves our bickering when insults get thrown.
“Daddy still ignoring you?” he slides his legs to one side of mine, crosses his feet at the ankles, and gets comfy, propping his head forward to watch me with glee. I turn slightly away, cross mine, and pretend I am disinterested.“Get lost.” I pick up my textbook again to try and ignore him, hating how he always seems to be able to dig into my head and figure out the small things. From a look… For someone who seems oblivious in life, he always catches on real quick to what’s happening around us. It’s annoying. He’s either super observant or can mind-read.“Did I hit a nerve? Ouch…… you know….” He grins at me, and I know something hurtful or cutting is coming, and when it comes to my father, my heart is a fragile mess.“Don’t okay?... Just don’t.” My tone is clipped with an edge of pleading that I didn’t intend. A light waver to my words, and my eyes mist over. I don’t need a big finger pointing at my insecurity over whether my dad even loves me. Especially not from Dane.I don’t nee
A rap rap disrupts my focus on my bedroom door before it’s rudely pushed open, and Dane stands in the open space looking at me at my desk by the veranda.“Monique says to come down for food. You aren’t to eat in your room.” He tells me blankly and then pushes off from my door frame to walk off. Not waiting for a response or to see if I even heard him.I get up, drop my pen beside my notebook and laptop, and follow him out the door. Glad for the food break as I was starting to see double while working on my essay. Seeing him loitering ahead of me in the hallways as he walks at the speed of a snail back to wherever he came from, I hurry to catch up.“Move, slow ass.” I nudge him to one side with my shoulder, barely budging him as I power march up beside him to get by. Seeing as he’s taking up the center of the walkway. Thrusting myself forward to cut in front of him, yet I'm hauled mid-step with a hand on my upper arm and tugged back again, so I stumble into him.“Losers come last.” He
“Yo, virgin…?” He clears his throat, voice strained, and I glance back, seeing him getting to his feet and adjusting his shorts. A little blush on the high points of his cheekbones, but he seems to recover rapidly. He locks his gaze on mine and keeps me rooted as I walk away.“What?” I snark at him, so focused on walking while snarling his way, I walk straight into the door frame and bang my cheek, shoulder, hip, and knee simultaneously and ‘ouch’ in reaction. It’s a sharp shooting pain over the entire left side of my body that has me crumpling.“Yeah … that…. You suck at multitasking.” He laughs at me, wanders up to where I am hopping around, rubbing various sore points on my body and face, and uses his flat palm to push my head away as he passes, covering my entire cheek. I fall on my ass because of my weird posture and holding my leg up, and it only makes me rage all the more.“You’re a jerk. I hope your food chokes you.” I snort, knowing he intentionally distracted me because I wa
“Quiet now, please.” Our class professor raises his hands to bring quiet back to the chatter of our English lesson. “We have one week before break, and I know it’s agonizingly close… but you still have to work.” He turns and taps the board, highlighting random topics with his torch pen that are laid out in a numbered list. “One assignment before then… due on the last day. I want you paired off in groups of four, and we will make this a team deal where I assign you guys one topic each. A full week on nothing but this, so a little seating reshuffle before we end for the weekend. Let’s make this fun and relaxed, guys.”There’s a chorus of groans from everyone in the room, including Elisa next to me, as no one ever likes to group in for projects. Especially not pre-holiday ‘fun’ ones where the assignments are always lame. It’s always unequal pairings where certain people get stuck with the majority of work. I personally do not care, as my control freak self likes the be the one researchin
“I’m nervous. He’s never sat near us before.” She whispers as though this is some mortal sin and then sinks back within herself when he steps back to us and nods directly behind me.“We will sit there. Jordan and Sam have gone to the back.” He gestures to the two vacancies, and I turn enough to see my admirer gazing at me longingly from the back row, where he is huddling up with two of the shy girls in our class. Both are pretty smart and in the chess club, so I am glad they picked a decent group.I feel bad for Jordan that Dane always seems to pick on him in subtle ways and intimidate him constantly. I have never understood why he dislikes him so much, as Jordan is such a sweet person. It seems like since we were about eight years old, Dane just decided Jordan was someone he would always pick on.“Sit behind me … because otherwise, Dane will spend the next week prodding me, hanging over my shoulder, or pulling my hair. I know what he’s like.” I am turned in my seat and tap the desk d
It’s past midnight, long past it, and I’m standing in the kitchen drinking some water to take an aspirin before I finish up on some of my notes from school all week. I have my one full day I do monthly at the shelter tomorrow as it’s Saturday, so I want all my homework to be up to date because I’ll be too tired later. Sunday, I have plans with Elisa for a much-needed break.I’m hiding away from my parents in their room after hearing them fight again. I heard the name Dane so many times I wanted to rip my ears off and came down here to escape it instead. It sounded bad this time.My mum was yelling like a banshee, which she rarely does, and Bryan was reacting to it, which he never does. He’s such a solid, push-over guy that he normally lets my mom vent and takes it, but I could hear him shouting back.Over the past few months, it’s become a regular occurrence. It’s like it builds up, my mom finds fault in everything that Dane does, and Bryan’s lack of controlling him gets attacked. Sh
“Why are you so selfish and irresponsible?… You only think about yourself and not anyone around you….. You’re blinkered to anyone else's feelings, and life is one big fucking party to you. Don’t you have any sense of responsibility or one ounce of decency? Do you even care about anyone else… or see how I struggle?” The floodgates open, my voice getting more strained and pathetic with every word as tears roll down my face and sheer frustration consumes me.My mum and Bryan fighting, my dad never replying to my texts and rarely seeing me, school getting harder with more work as we get older, and the pressure to stay as a top achiever clings onto me. College is looming closer, and the fear I won’t get accepted and my mom will get disappointed in me eats inside me every day.Dane avoiding me, ignoring me, and treating me like a disease he might contract if I get close. Dane causing so much shit and ruining what little of a family I have, and living in an atmosphere that’s suffocating. E
“Don’t even think about getting up,” I warn Dane with a sinister glare as he shifts in his seat and then moves back down. Knowing better than to rile me today. I’m still sore at him for what he did last night, and soon as I get him alone, we will be talking about the damn racing. I barely slept from nightmares about him crashing his stupid bike.“My head is killing me.” He implores my sweet side with a pathetic pout, but the mood today is vile. Suffering from lack of sleep due to emotional fragility, exasperated by my mom getting up at 5 am and informing me she was heading off for a weekend spa and Bryan taking off on some business trip. So obviously, they aren’t talking and taking time apart. We have been left alone with our housekeeper.I blame Dane for all of it and how hellish I feel today.“Whose fault is that?” I snort, picking up the notebook from the table in the middle of the four of us. I start jotting down notes as Elisa picks out key points from an article she is reading w