by Sam Crescent
When Kurt went to touch Lily, Eagle held him back.
“What about Chloe?”
“You can see your daughter any time you want, Kurt. I’m not going to keep her away from you. I’m hoping we can be friends. This doesn’t have to end badly. I just don’t want to be in a relationship with you anymore.”
“Come on, Kurt, grab your bag and let’s go,” Eagle said.
Lily didn’t close the door straight away. Chloe stayed on the stairs waiting. Kurt actually argued with one of the men who grabbed him, helping him move along. She didn’t see who it was, but it surprised her all the same. It was the first time she’d seen her father fight a member of the club.
“I’m so sorry, Lily,” Eagle said.
“It’s not your fault. Not really. You’ve got a better hold of my husband than I do. I should have known years ago I’d never be good enough. Especially not compared to the club.”
“Kurt’s an idiot.”
“He just wants to earn his patch.”
“You know it’ll never happen. I’ve told him repeatedly he won’t. The brothers don’t trust him.”
“And I’ve told him the same, but again, he’s determined. At least he’s got a focus in life. Thank you for being here.” Lily held onto the door. “I really need to get back.”
Eagle looked past Lily’s shoulder to Chloe. She held her hand up in greeting.
“I’ve talked to my son. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”
“You really didn’t need to do that,” she said. On the inside, she was cringing at what it could mean. If Eagle had hurt Alfie, would she see the bruises tomorrow at school?
“I did. My son will learn one way or the other to act like a gentleman.”
“Thank you, Eagle. I do appreciate it.”
“Don’t be a stranger, Lily.” Eagle nodded at her, smiling at Chloe and then leaving.
Her mother finally closed the door.
“I think Eagle’s got a crush on you.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Whenever you enter a room, he’s watching you. He’s not married either.”
“Chloe, sweetheart, you’re eighteen and full of romantic ideas. Eagle doesn’t see me in any way. I’m Kurt’s problem. Not his.”
“He’s not married though.”
“I am.”
“Not for long. What will you do if Eagle keeps coming around wanting to spend some quality time?” Chloe asked, holding out the now-cooled-down hot chocolate.
“If that ever happens, which it won’t, I will deal with it.”
“And if it does happen?”
“Honey, sweetheart, I’ve been married for a long time. I’m trying to keep it together right now to prove to you I can be strong, but the truth is, I’m falling apart inside. Seeing your father like that, I wanted to take him back. My love for him hasn’t gone away. It never will. I love him so much. This isn’t going to be easy for me. I’m not going to start dating. I intend to spend as little time around men as humanly possible.” Lily sat down beside her on the stairs.
“You don’t want to date?”
“No. I hated dating even when I was younger.”
“I’ve never been on a date,” she said.
“I know. When you do, and someone will ask you one day, it can be the most amazing experience of your life. When your father asked me out, I was on such a high from being around him. He had a way of making me believe I was his entire world.”
“You don’t feel that anymore?” Chloe asked.
“Only when he’s trying. After we’ve had a fight. You’re not supposed to feel those things when the other person feels guilty. It’s the kind of feeling that lasts forever.” She sighed and shrugged. “You’ll get what I mean.”
“I do.” She rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too. This doesn’t mean I’ll be upset with you for hanging out with your father. I want you to have a good relationship with him. It’s important for the two of you.”
“Okay.” Chloe doubted her father would come around to spend time with her. She knew he’d gladly be around Lily, but that was a given.
He’d lost the one woman who loved him, and now he’d fight to get her back.
Did she want to help bring her parents back together, or would she only be hurting her mother more?
****
Monday at school wasn’t any different from any other day. Chloe walked in to find someone had spray painted “fat ass” across her locker, again. It wasn’t original.
When she saw it, there were plenty of people to bear witness. She did nothing more than go and grab the necessary supplies from the janitor’s closet, and start to scrub off the mess.
The janitor got so tired of his morning coffee being interrupted that he told her where to find the supplies and where the spare key was.
Returning to the locker, she began to scrub. The cold, disinfected water slid down her arms, and it was a struggle for her to reach high above her head, but she tried to, and absolutely failed.
“Here, let me help.”
She jerked back as someone put a hand on her back. She turned to see none other than Alfie himself, helping her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m helping you.”
“Didn’t you do this?” she asked.
“Not this time. Besides, I have learned the error of my ways.”
“The error of your ways? Your dad told you not to bully me anymore.”
“And look at me, I’m listening to him. There must be something in the water.” He winked at her.
She shook her head, a little dazed. “There’s no other cloth.”
“Then hand me yours, shorty.”
“I can do this.”
“And I’m saying you don’t have to. Stop being such a dork. Let me help.”
Chloe looked at him. “I don’t need help.”
“And you’re going to be incredibly difficult about this, why?”
“Hello.” She lifted up the cuff of her shirt. “You think I don’t remember getting a banana thrown at me, and you pinning me down?”
Alfie looked at the bruise, and she saw his frown. “I didn’t hold you that hard.”
“Yeah, well, it hurt, and now look. I don’t want to get into this argument with you. Just leave it alone, okay? I can scrub the insults off my locker every single day of the week.” It was one of the many reasons she came to school earlier than she needed to.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you, or leave marks. Did you show your mom?”
“No. Of course not. She doesn’t need to know about them.” It was a bad enough weekend without adding to it with her own problems.
“Can we start over here?”
“Alfie, I don’t trust you. Let me clean up my mess and move along. Join the rest of them who enjoy watching this.” She turned her back to him, expecting him to go and do whatever it was he did when she cleaned her locker.
Instead, he reached over her, pressing her against the hard metal, and took the cloth right out of her hands.
“Hey.”
He then pressed one hand in her face to keep her back from him.
“Stop it. I mean it. I can clean my own locker.”
“And I can do this for you. Consider it a penance for all the bad shit I’ve done to you over the years.”
“Alfie, stop it.”
She grabbed his arm and tried to move it out of her way, but he wasn’t having any of it. Alfie was by far stronger than she was.
He only let her go when he finished scrubbing the words off her locker. It sucked, and she hated he was able to do it without her.
“There, all done. It looks awesome.”
“You didn’t need to do that.” Did she now owe him a favor or something? This was one of the reasons why she didn’t want him near her stuff. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?”
; “Yes. Don’t for a second think I don’t know you do a good deed, you want payment.”
“I thought I said this was already payment for what I owed you. I’m sorry for what I did. The bullying and shit. It’s going to end.”
She stared at him, still lightheaded. This couldn’t be happening to her.
“I’ve got to get to class.” She opened her locker and prayed nothing was inside. She just wanted to have a dignified exit, if that was even possible.
“You don’t have to run off. Maybe we can get to know each other.”
There was nothing inside her locker, and she grabbed the couple of books she’d need.
“That’s not going to happen. I’m not stupid. You think I don’t know what is happening here? I don’t know what it is you guys have planned, but I want no part in it. I’m sorry if your dad did anything.” She noticed how he tensed. “I begged my mom not to go to the clubhouse, not to talk to him. I know you hate me, and you get some sick, twisted pleasure from hurting me, but I didn’t want to say anything. My mom, she’s tired of all this. So, I’m sorry if you got hurt or if your dad said anything. If this is really true, you don’t want to hurt me anymore, then just leave me alone. Please.”
She turned her back on him and walked away, heading in the direction of her class.
This was why she tried to avoid being near any of the club when she was at school. For the most part, they owned the school. Teachers were afraid of them, and most of the other people were too.
What they said was law.
Standing outside her homeroom class, she wanted nothing more than the door to be open to allow herself inside, to sit in her chair by the window, and just to disappear.
She’d never been good at making friends. It was one of the reasons why she was on her own all the time.
Friendships didn’t come naturally to her. There were a couple of times she thought she had connected with a couple of girls here, but it had all been part of a joke.
They would hang around with her, pretending to like her, studying with her, watching movies. Then there would be some gathering, and they’d want her to do some stupid initiation stuff to make her be like them.
She’d always walked home, head held high. The only person who really understood her was her mother. The door finally opened, and she slid inside.
Miss Hops smiled at her. “Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yes.” She liked Miss Hops, who also taught history as well. “Did you?”
“The best.”
The conversation was cut short as other students started to arrive. Sitting by the window, she glanced outside, staring out across the field. It wouldn’t be long before the football team was out practicing for the big game.
She jumped as the chair at her table was pulled back, the sound drawing everyone’s attention to her.
Alfie was sitting down. He’d dropped his books onto the desk, and even seeing them was a surprise.
He went to this school, but didn’t actually attend it. He often showed up to class with no books, no paper, and no pens.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m taking a seat right here.”
“You can’t sit here.”
“I can’t? I don’t see a problem. If my memory serves me right, I can sit wherever I want.” He leaned back in his chair, his arm resting across the back of her chair.
“Yeah, you can, but why here?”
Her heart was racing. She didn’t dare look anywhere else in the room.
Miss Hops approached her table. “I don’t want any funny business happening in my class, Alfie.”
“There’s no funny business going to happen, Miss Hops. I’m sitting with my friend Chloe, here. Believe me, we’re like BFFs, now.”
Chloe gritted her teeth.
“Is this right, Chloe?” Miss Hops asked.
“Erm, yeah, sure. It’s fine. We’re both friends.”
If she tried to get him moved, it would only end badly for her.
Turning to the front, she tried to ignore how close he was.
Miss Hops walked to the board at the front of the class. It was one of the old-style chalkboards. This was the only classroom in the school that hadn’t had a marker board installed.
Chloe tensed as she felt her hair being played with. She normally wore it up in a ponytail to keep the long locks out of her way, but after waking up really late, she’d left it down, with a quick run through with a brush.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Your hair is soft.”
“You think I don’t see what is going on here?”
“What is going on here?” he asked.
“I don’t know, so stop it. You’re being nice again, and stop touching my hair.”
“If you want you can touch mine.”
“No. No, thank you.”
She grabbed her hair, pulling it down over her shoulder so he couldn’t touch it.
“Spoilsport.”
Homeroom never lasted so long, and she kept glancing at the clock, hoping it would tell her she could move on and be out of this nightmare.
It was nice, Alfie being this way, but it wasn’t real. She knew it wasn’t. Tapping her fingers on the desk, Miss Hops took attendance, and then started to talk about personal space. Each homeroom class was the same with Miss Hops. She believed she was preparing them for the outside world, for what to expect when they got a job, and had to start paying bills and taxes.
“Do you think she even realizes people don’t give a shit about all of this?” Alfie asked, leaning forward.
“I don’t know, but she’s trying, and the least we can do is pay attention.”
“True, but come on, no one cares. I think they’re all interested in why I’m sitting right beside you.”
“Then they need to get a life, because this is nothing. This is you doing whatever it is you’re doing to prove a point. I don’t buy it either. No one else should.”
“Come on, you’re telling me you’re not loving me sitting beside you? There’s a hundred girls right now who’d love for me to be sitting in this very spot with them.”
“Then go and find them. Sit with them. Hang out with them. I don’t care. I don’t want you to sit next to me.” She wasn’t stupid. Something was going on, and she’d figure it out soon.
Alfie sighed. “You know, you’re a hard person to win over.”
“I don’t want to be won over.” The bell rang, signaling the end of class.
She picked up her books, wanting to go, but Alfie threw his chair back, standing up. He stopped her from escaping.
“Will you cut this out?” she asked.
“No. You’re going to have to learn to trust me.”
“And you think stopping me from getting to my class is magically going to do that.”
“It’s going to do something.”
“Alife, move please.”
“What do I get out of it?”
“The pleasure of knowing you did an amazing deed with getting nothing in return?” she asked.
“Nah, you see, I don’t do anything for nothing. You want me to move aside, you’ve got to do something for me. In fact, you’ve got to do two somethings for me.”
“Why two?”
“I helped clean your locker.”
“You didn’t give me a choice. I didn’t ask for help. That one doesn’t count. Neither does this one. I don’t have to pay or owe you anything. Being a gentleman and common courtesy, you should just move.”
“Kiss me here,” he said, pointing to his cheek.
“Not a chance.”
“I’m not moving.”
Miss Hops was still in the room.
“Miss Hops, Alfie won’t move to let me pass.” She knew it was a bitchy move, but there was no way she’d kiss him.
Not his cheek, or lips, or any part of him.
“Alife, do I need to escort you to the principal’s office?”
&n
bsp; “No, you don’t. Well played, Decker,” he said.
Chloe walked right on past him, and left the room. Just as she crossed the threshold, someone put their foot out. She didn’t see it until the last possible moment, and she went flying. Her books were flung from her arms as she cried to catch herself.
The corridor erupted in laughter as she landed. She winced as pain shot through her hands. She’d landed a little funny, but nothing could ever save her from the embarrassment of Alfie witnessing it.
Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed her book and kept on walking.
Her face was on fire.
“She did a floor flop!” someone yelled.
Gritting her teeth, she rushed to the bathroom, and luckily no one was inside.
Putting her book behind the taps on the sink, she grabbed the edge of it and took several deep breaths.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine.” She closed her eyes and tried to get a hold of her emotions. It didn’t matter about the laughter. She was used to being the butt of everyone’s jokes.
This time, it felt a little different.
She didn’t see who had tripped her.
Whenever she went down like that, with a loud slap on the tile, it was always her mission to get the hell out of there. She hadn’t been prepared for the fall. Sometimes she was and was able to catch herself. This time, she didn’t.
She’d actually been enjoying Alfie’s company.
Her first biggest mistake.
Running fingers through her hair, she looked up and finally stared at her reflection. “It doesn’t matter. You’re a good person. Hold your head high. The countdown to leaving is already happening.” She took deep breaths. The tears didn’t come, nor did the sadness.
She could get through this.
It wasn’t the first fall she’d taken, and it wouldn’t be the last.
Chapter Three
Alfie found Ian, Riley, and a couple of the other guys hanging out at the bleachers. The football team was doing some warmups, and as he approached, Ian stood up.
“Hey,” Ian said, winking at him.
He got close to his friend, shook his hand, and then punched him in the face.
Ian went down onto the bleachers.
“What the fuck?” Riley asked.
“You tripped her, didn’t you?”
“What?” Ian asked, covering his eye. “That fucking hurt, man.”