Chapter 12
It was so nice to see the coach suspended I almost lost bladder control for a moment when I heard the principal say those words, then I shocked everyone by letting them know that I know longer wanted to be cheer captain, all I wanted was the detention lifted.
The principal agreed and the two of us left after some heartfelt goodbyes that were so friendly I wondered for a second if my mother hadn't been messing around on my dad.
"Are you going to stay on the cheerleading team?" She asked as we met up with Hal.
"I'm not sure yet." I answered honestly. "Part of me wants to the other part doesn't, I know you have always wanted me to stick with it."
"I wanted you to have the experience under your belt for memories later in life that could help you and you have done what I asked, but your future on the team is completely up to you."
"I vote that you 86 it." Hal chimed in.
"Why." I asked intrigued. "I always thought that all the guys liked me in the outfit including you."
"Don't get me wrong you look great in the outfit but then again you look great all the time." He answered with a shrug. "That aside you would have a heck of a lot more time on your hands, with your new job and everything you have barely been sleeping. With a little bit of extra time you could catch back up on your school work."
"I would have a lot more time." I answered walking them to the car. "I could go for that special program so I could get some college credits out of the way to."
"Then it's settled, I'll call the principal later and let him know today while we are out and about." Haile answered.
I watched Hal and Haile drive off before running back into the school where I literally bumped into Katie who was running late as well.
I jumped up ready for a fight, I certainly had enough practice lately but shockingly Katie just stood up and looked around for a minute.
"What are you doing?" I questioned.
"Looking around for a bat." She smiled.
"Unless you plan on waiting till I have another boyfriend and then sleep with him I think you are safe." I said.
"Given what happened the other day at cold stone I'd have to disagree." She said flatly waiting for my answer now that she had brought it up.
"I'm sorry about that." I said as the words failed me to continue.
"Why? I meant to push your buttons and I'd say it worked." She giggled.
"Why do you give me such a hard time these days? We used to be close friends when we were growing up." I asked.
"We drifted apart."
"Yeah but why?" I asked.
"I got jealous, you seemed to have the perfect life and I hated that." She said pausing for a second. "I wished so often that I had your boyfriend, your family, everything."
"And now?"
"Now I see that no one ever has it perfect, it just seems that way. I'm sorry your mom got sick and your boyfriend and dad cheated." She said. "I never wished anything bad to happen to you."
"Thank you Katie." I said beginning to walk past her for class. "Katie?"
We both stopped and faced each other again. "Yeah?"
"I'd like it if we could be friends again." I said.
"Me too." She answered. "I'll see you for lunch sound good?"
"Sounds better than good, it sounds great." I said.
Class was a lot better than I thought it would be, everyone didn't treat me bad or talk any crap about me, in fact the word had spread around the school that Janet was a whore and Kevin was the douche bag that everyone knew he was.
Over night I had become some what of a celebrity, I was the person who stood up for herself and didn't get walked on.
Lunch came around quickly with Katie and myself finding that we had to fight off the masses because everyone wanted to know how we became friends again. it was question after question, was it true that I caught them in bed? Did I really use a bat? Was my dad really mad? Was I going to jail? And so on and so forth.
Finally we had some time to talk, together we recounted everything that had gone on in our lives since the last time we had talked as actual friends.
I told her how wrong I had things when it came to my parents, how I had almost given in to Kevin a couple of times, the things I said to my dad when we had fought and so much more. She told me how hard things had been for her, she had family that had died from cancer as well. Her parents were struggling financially and doing the best they could but a lot more responsibility was placed on her because they were each working two jobs so for the last four months she had been raising her two younger siblings more than her parents.
Before we knew it lunch had ended and the bell signaled that we had to get on with the day.
"It was good catching up with you Alex, I'm glad that we are friends again." Katie said hugging me.
"Me too." I smiled. "Maybe we can hang out sometime when you aren't busy with cheer stuff."
"I wish you would reconsider quitting the team could really use you." She said hopefully.
"Sorry Katie, I need to focus on my job and learning more about my parents since apparently I never really knew them." I sighed.
"I understand, well if you need anything just let me know." She said running off now that the second bell had rang.
I turned to run myself but found my way blocked by Janet who looked like she had been crying. "I never meant to betray or hurt you." She said quickly.
"No? What did you think would happen when you hopped in bed with my boyfriend?" I asked more hurt than angry now.
"I wasn't thinking."
"No you weren't and now our friendship is over, even if you hadn't done what you did our friendship would have been tested by the fact that your mom took my dad." I said.
"That's not my fault and what do you care if they are together, we have always been like sisters and my mom has treated you like a daughter. You have never even liked your mom." She reasoned.
"That doesn't make what they did right and it doesn't excuse you from banging my boyfriend but it doesn't matter because both of you ended up with real winners, I found out that my dad is not who anyone thinks he is. It is only a matter of time before he screws over your mom like he did mine and as for Kevin that piece of crap will chew you up and spit you out the first chance he gets." I said turning around. "Good luck and goodbye." I said over my shoulder.
As I walked to class I saw Kevin limping his way across the courtyard after watching our little exchange, looking across the yard I flipped him off before entering the building and heading to class. Before I reached the door though I was blindsided by a punch that made my vision go black and sent me to the floor.
For a second my vision cleared and I saw Kevin standing over me cocking back his arm to hit me again but before he got the chance at got the image of someone jumping on his back.
The next minute or so I couldn't really see what was happening but I could hear a lot of movement and banging into the wall happening followed by a lot of screaming, finally I felt two sets of hands pulling me up from the floor and a blurry person in my vision inspecting my face.
"Are you okay?" The person said and I realized that it was Katie.
"He hit my face." I stuttered.
"I know and so does the rest of the football team." She answered. "Look."
Katie cleared my field of vision and there in front of me were two of the linebackers punching Kevin in the stomach.
"You like hitting girls huh punk?" One of them yelled as more people began to pour out of the surrounding classrooms.
"Stop." I said walking over to the two guys. "Get out of here before you guys get in trouble."
Both of them came to their senses and run off down the hallway with people asking what had happened, in minutes the whole school knew that Kevin had hit me but it was unclear what had happened after that. Some people said that I beat him up again, others said someone else came to my defense and other said that he tried to run and ran into a wall.
When the security guards and teachers asked
who had beat Kevin up no one would tell them, no one at our school wanted to be the person to help out a guy that hits girls.
They asked me what had happened and I came clean about flipping him off across the courtyard along with what happened next telling them he hit me in the face and Katie jumped on him before he could hit me again but because of the hit that was the last thing I remembered. Kevin ended up expelled from school and a police report was filed by Johnny who told me what was going on with my dad.
Johnny said that my dad had already found a buyer for the house and was going back and forth between there and June's all day moving in. Also, he had been reprimanded for giving approval to the coach the day before, his order to find her had been debunked by some lawyer that called and made it clear to the police that he had no right to look for Alex or declare her mentally unstable and any further attempts made by him would constitute deformation of character and harassment which he was also reprimanded for.
I thanked him for the information and for the first time since everything had started yesterday felt a measure of relief.
The day ended and promptly Hal and Haile showed up to take me to our new apartment which somehow my mother had got approved for in hours.
"How much is the rent?" I asked.
"700.00 she answered, all utilities paid." She answered. "It's a two bedroom."
"Okay but I only make eight dollars an hour, I'm not sure how much I can help out." I said trying to do the math in my head.
"My disability will cover the rent and some food, I will just need you to help out with food every once in a while and gas for the car. My Medicaid hasn't kicked in yet so the only driving that will be done is for you to get to school, work and food." She answered.
"I can help out too." Hal chimed in.
"You don't even have a job Hal, besides you don't have to do that we will make do." Haile told him.
"I know I just want to help." He frowned disappointed that he wasn't allowed to contribute.
"What are we going to do about your treatment until the Medicaid starts?" I asked.
"I'll be okay until then, but for now let's go see the new place, Hal already helped me set up a lot of the furniture we bought today." Haile grinned.
"How did you afford any of this, I thought Richard took everything in the divorce?" I questioned.
"It's true that your father listed everything he knew about accounts wise but there were two accounts he did not know about, knowing who he is and what he was doing I have saved up for a long time. It's not like we are rich or anything but it will help until you find a better job and I get better." She answered with a wink.
The more I heard the more I liked the way she did things and after that display of intelligence I couldn't wait to find out who this woman, my mother really was.
The Life Of Alexandria Drama Of Epic Proportion Page 12