User blog:WayfinderOwl/This Game We Play 2

The Game Changer
I waited for ten minutes. The school gates loomed over me, the shadow created bars over my own. Seemed fitting since I will be stuck with the parents for a whole weekend. I planned to get plenty of money out of daddy anyway. Nerds skulked around trying to get a look at me. One clutched a notebook to his chest, and growled “one day.”

They are repulsive nerds. If any of them dared talk to me, I would have the whole football team beat them up, then pick the pocket protector wearing dorks off one by one as I destroy them all.

Twenty minutes, still no show. To really piss Dad off when he finally did show up, I unbuttoned the lower buttons of my blouse, and knotted it in my classic Kyla Vazquez style. Waiting really started to piss me off, having to check my phone every five seconds—but I doubted he would call. Why would he? If I dumped the brat here, he’d turn up before I even finished setting her down on the sidewalk.

The hideous yellow bus came to a stop at the curb. I had no choice but to lower myself to getting public transport. Ted wasn’t around to give me a ride. He had spent most of his time driving out of Bullworth just because he could. Testing out the speed on the open road, and all that.

I boarded the bus, and instantly felt the urge to puke. The floors were sticky, and there was this horrible smell. “I want to go to Old Bullworth Vale. You know the Vazquez house?”

“Don’t care,” the driver snapped. “Just shut up, sit down.”

“Do you know who I am?” I argued.

“Some kid who either better sit down, or get off right now.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“I’m telling my dad about you. He’ll get you fired!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Take your best shot! You think you can make my life worse? I drive brats like you around for less than minimum wage.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I shot him a glare. Once I was done giving Dad an earful for not showing up, I’d ruin this guy. See how cocky he is, when he is a hobo living on that dirty side of town. I walked down the sticky aisle, the soul of my shoes crackled with each step on the overly sticky floor. The upholstery was held together with dirt and duct tape. Disgusting. Dad owes me a whole new outfit for having to even go near this flea ridden tin can. The seats at the back were the worst. Somewhere in the middle was something resembling a clean seat. I sat, looked out the dirt covered windows.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The bus moved towards Bullworth Town, then it turned right. Why did it go right? It should have gone left. The tunnel leading to the dirty streets of New Coventry loomed ahead. I presumed the bus was going to turn around, but no such luck. More and more of the poor side of Bullworth spread out through the tiny gap in the dirty windows. Then a bridge that looked like the gateway to hell. I’d never gone this far before.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Excuse me…” I called.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The ignorant pig of a driver didn’t answer. I saw a trailer park—an actual trailer park, with furniture outside, decorated with questionable stains. The odd burned out car shell littered the side of the road—and not nice cars either. These probably had more than one owner. The air creeping in through the window reeked of meat, which intensified as the door opened.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Get out,” the driver said.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You knew I’m going to Old Bullworth Vale, I’m not getting out,” I argued.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “And, you should have gotten the other bus. This one always has followed this route.” There was a sick look of delight in his eyes. He probably neglected to tell me on purpose.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I stood. “Do I look like I usually take public transport?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He didn’t even hear me out. I ended up on the sidewalk, gagging at the meat choked air, freezing cold, not a clue where exactly I am, let alone how to get back to civilization, watching that yellow death trap drive away. I rummaged through my backpack for my cellphone, and didn’t find it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Oh, crap. I’d given it to Kirby and got him to charge it. He wouldn’t dare go through it. Not that he could crack my security pin.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Shaven headed kids, with ripped clothes, piercings emerged from a dark alley across the road. One crossed over, eyes glowing with delight. He had a beard.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Hey boys, check this girl out,” he called to the others. “You lost baby? How about we show you a good time?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The other two crossed over, all of them muttered stuff at me, and tried to touch me. I screamed, but no one came. None of them were familiar to me. They certainly weren’t Bullworth Academy kids. One put his arm around me, and tried to steer me away from the bus stop. I slapped him as hard as I could, attempted to run over the road towards a warehouse—this was difficult, given the fact that I wore wedge heels. The warehouse had SPENCER SHIPPING in big letters, that was comforting enough. I knew that Tad Spencer’s father owned it. That was some connection to the world as I know it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Another kid was over there, with the same look. He was tall, dark, and thought pairing an orange sleeve shirt and grey t-shirt with camouflage trousers actually matched. What hell is this? Had that twisted jerk on the bus killed me, and I would have to endure this life forever?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The kid glared at the other kids, grinding one fist against the palm of the other. “Get lost.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Play the game, Leroy,” said the one with the beard. “We found her.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “She’s on our side of the street, now get lost,” he told them. “Or do I have to knock you all out?” I had to admit, he was kind of sexy. Totally my type. His only flaws were the tattoo on the back of his neck, and the fact that he wasn’t a jock. I’d so dump Damon for him, if he wore Letterman. Then that red-haired pig Christy could keep him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The other kids scurried off to the hole from where they came.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You should go back to school,” said the boy named Leroy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I don’t know how,” I said. “That bus jerk dropped me off here, and I’m not even sure where I am. I don’t have my cellphone either.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He pulled his t-shirt off. The orange shirt underneath clung to his body just right—this kid worked out. He offered me the shirt. “You better put this on. Walking around like that is just asking for trouble in this hood.” His brown eyes traced the curves of my body.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I didn’t want to wear the cheap five dollar shirt, but if it kept creeps like those other kids away, I had to lump it. Taking a chance, I slipped off and handed him my backpack. He didn’t run off with it, he just stood there, while I covered my uniform in the t-shirt he gave me. The ruffles at the bottom of my skirt along with an inch of the blue fabric was still visible, but I didn’t look like a school kid anymore. I pulled my long hair out of the neck hole. Leroy handed me my backpack.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Got a name?” he asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I wanted to say “You don’t know who I am?”  but considering that he was the first decent guy I had met in this place, and that included the soon to be ex-bus driver, I said, “Kyla Vazquez.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Leroy Atlas,” he replied. From one of the pockets of his cargo pants he retrieved a flip phone that looked ancient compared to my own. “Here, make your calls. I got a couple of bucks on it.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I took the phone, dialed Dad’s number. The answer phone picked up; “Diego Vazquez, leave a message and I’ll ring you back.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Dad, it’s Kyla. You know, the daughter that isn’t Ana. I got lost in some rat hole past New Coventry. I need you to come pick me up.” I hung up. Realizing he didn’t have the number, I rang again, let it ring once, then hung up. I gave the phone back to Leroy. “He might ring back, it was the answerphone.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Leroy nodded, returning it to his pocket. “We should get out the cold. Jerry and the boys will probably come back.”

♦ ♦ ♦

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Out of the cold meant a rusted storage container wedged into the end corner of an abandoned warehouse. There was a rotten mattress resting on cinder blocks, shelves on all the walls with broken TVs, radios, small generators, random junk. The cleanest thing in the whole place was a sofa that was probably new. I sat down on the sofa at one end, Leroy at the other end. I put my backpack between us. He had gotten two sodas from the vending machine that was probably stolen as well.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “If you want something to eat, I’ll have to leave you here and head out,” said Leroy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I got something,” I said, pulling the ziplock bag of chips out of my backpack.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You don’t seem like the type of girl to eat a whole bag of chips,” Leroy observed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I don’t really. I eat one or two in the morning,” I replied. “What type of girl do you think I am?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Leroy leaned his arm on the back rest, turned to face me. “I know who you are at school. I go there.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> How did I not know that? I tried to place him. To rule the little people, I had to at least recognize their face, as I pushed them out my way. He had the look of one of those kids who had the nerve to try to touch me. He looked about my age, maybe a year older. That means we share a gym class at least. Or I could have done a cheer for the class with Mandy, she would have chosen me specifically, not one of the other heifers we danced with. In my head, I built up a picture of the whole sophomore gym class sat on the bleachers, and tried to place him amongst them.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Then one kid popped into my head, well a rumor of a kid. After Gym at the beginning of the year, when I was in the locker room, the tramp named Christy told us a rumor of some dropout kid beating up Ted. Mandy was so mad, she snubbed him for a week, for making her the girlfriend of the boy who got his ass kicked by a sophomore.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Oh!” I said, with more enthusiasm than I intended. I’d finally placed him. “You’re the kid that beat up Ted!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “It ain’t like that,” Leroy dismissed, helping himself to some of the chips.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “How could it not be like that? Everyone was talking about it for weeks.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He offered me some of the chips, but I declined them. “Ted came at me while I was coming out of history. He shoved me, trying to act all tough. I rose to the bait, raised my fist to punch him.” He clenched his fist demonstrating what happened. “Like a total pussy, he raised his hands to his face, and cried, “Not the face!” I just shoved him, and walked away in disgust. The guy is all bark, and lacks the balls to back it up. You know how rumors get. Some people say you have blackmail on anyone with even the slightest bit of power.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “That’s true,” I confirmed. “You wouldn’t believe who I have dirt on. I even have one of the prefects in my pocket—I’m not saying which one.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Maybe it’s best I don’t know. So, what brings the co-captain of the cheer squad to Blue Skies Industrial Park?” He popped open his can of soda, and drank some. I hadn’t even touched mine; too much sugar.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “That bus driver is a jerk. Do I look like the type of girl who knows where buses go?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Leroy tilted his head to one side. His eyes traced the curves of my body. From my perfectly proportioned face, down to my small feet in wedge heels. The way the t-shirt clung to my curves in just the right way, granted, it did look a little weird going over the knot of my blouse, but hey, I had plenty to flaunt.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You look hot, girl,” he commented.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I do?” I replied, flattered. “Really?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Oh yeah. So damn hot, that shirt is ruined on me now. All I’ll be thinking of is how you wear it better.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> His phone rang. He removed the cellphone from his pocket. The ringtone was some generic noise that probably came with it. “I’m guessing that’s your pops. I don’t recognize the number.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I glanced at the screen. “Yeah,” I confirmed. I flipped it open. “Hello?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Who is this ringing my cell?” Dad demanded.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> My jaw dropped open. Is this guy for real? “Your daughter. You know, the first born. The kid you threw away for the baby brat.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Where are you? I’ve been parked outside this school for ten minutes,” he growled angrily.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Oh, it’s okay for me to stand there waiting, but god forbid your precious Porsche is exposed to sunlight! If you’d bothered to listen to your messages you’d know what happened. By the way, I hate you, this is your fault, and I expect an apology. With actual words, if you know how to do that. Then cash.” I hung up on him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The look on Leroy’s face implied he had heard both sides of the conversation. “Your dad is a dick.” He won my respect.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Dear old daddy rang back ten minutes—yes, ten minutes—later to tell me he’d be there in an hour. A whole hour. Not even fully here. He would wait for me at the tunnel to New Coventry. The damn car meant more to him than me. Naturally I told him “You’re the worst father ever!” I didn’t care about his excuses. Probably some BS about Ana. I hope they have another kid after I’m long gone, and push her right out. That would teach the little bitch a lesson.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I wanted to smash the cellphone, but it didn’t belong to me. I handed it back to Leroy instead. No probs. I’d smash something expensive when I get home. Something that meant a lot to Diego “Spineless Father” Vazquez later. Maybe throw in something of my plastic and botox filled mother’s as well.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I have an hour,” I told Leroy. “And I have to go meet him. How am I going to get through this place, and New Coventry without being seen? Everyone at school will just love this. Stupid Kyla can’t even ride a bus! Christy will be spewing BS about it for weeks.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I can get you there,” said Leroy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You can?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Yeah, and no one will ever know.”

♦ ♦ ♦

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Getting out of the industrial park was the easy part. No one cared. Those creeps knew I was there anyway. Not that it mattered what they thought. They were repulsive dropouts, so far off my radar, they weren’t even worth thinking about. The streets were grungy, and the gutters lined with trash. Leroy walked beside me, placing himself on the outer parameter, nearer to the curb.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Leroy was a mystery. He was out of my social circle, and even being seen with him would obliterate everything I worked for, but I wanted to get to know him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “What do you do around here?” I asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He had his hands in his pocket. “Unless you like fighting, ain’t much to do. I do like to bust some sweet rhymes.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Like poems?” I said, crinkling my nose at the thought. Poetry was boring.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “No, like raps. I improv. Like; ''Walking through the industrial park. It’s damn cold, close to getting dark. New kicks on my feet. Avoidin’ all we meet. Peace!”''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “So cool!” I was genuinely impressed. Damon was terrible with words, unless it involved an argument. “Could you make one up about me?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I have been playing with one. ''Damn girl, you looking fine. You’re too out of my league to make you mine. In my arms, I wanna hold you tight. Give me a chance girl, to treat you right. The way I feel about you is like this; let me come close and give you a kiss.”''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I felt touched. More than touched. I actually wanted to kiss him. “No one’s ever made something up like that before. Only rhyming thing about me is a stupid cheer Christy made up once. Kyla is a slut!”  I clapped. “ ''She can’t keep her legs shut! Woo! Get over yourself skank!” '' I rolled my eyes. “She’s the slut. Not me.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> As we entered the slums of New Coventry, Leroy pulled me behind a truck. There were Greasers ahead. Not just some of them; the entire clique. This was bad. If even one of them saw me, they would tag it all over school.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I stood so close to him, I could feel the heat from his body against my own. For a moment, I considered if that was really a bad thing if people found out.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I would get the chance to date who I want, but I would be a loser like everyone else.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I wouldn’t have to blackmail to get what I want, but no one would do anything for me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I would still be possibly the hottest girl in school, but I wouldn’t be a cheerleader.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Taking a step back, my foot hit against something. I looked down at a canister of spray paint. “What is this?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Our way out,” said Leroy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He told me to go down an alley and wait. Leroy crossed the road, and sprayed a message on the wall for the greasers; I nailed Lola – Omar. He hurried back to me, then whistled loudly. The plan worked like a charm. All of the leather jacket clad greasers found the graffiti right away.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Johnny growled, “I’m gonna kill him!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Mandy had such a crush on him. If I ever wanted to take her down, that would be the gem I use. Okay, he was borderline attractive, I’ll grant her that one.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> One of the greaser girls spoke up, I think her name is Antonia or Angela. Either way, she looked a fashion disaster in leather and outdated vintage. “We should take the fight to them, before they tag more BS.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> They didn’t linger. Each greaser ran towards the industrial park we had just left. Leroy was so smart; we had New Coventry all to ourselves. Side by side, we could walk down the street without any worry that we would be seen. Spending time with Leroy was nice, different, but not something that could last.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Grease, dirt, and a smell I couldn’t place clung to the roads, the gutters, even the buildings. More than once, I wanted to stop to puke. Leroy didn’t seem bothered by it, as if all air smelled so repulsive.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Can I ask you something? Why do you date that Damon West? Guy’s a dickhead.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “How do you know I—.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He raised his eyebrows at me, as if to imply “Are you really going to ask?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Oh, right. Everyone knows everything about who I date.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I mean, call it none of my business.” He put his hands in his pockets. His shoulders hunched up, and eased into a shrug. “You two are always in a fight. Focusing on everyone else. He never talks about you in the dorm, but punches out any boy you talk to outside your posse. More a fight than a relationship, you know?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Damon asked me out,” I explained. “I always had the hugest crush on him. The boys on the football team threw loads of beach parties in the summer. I was friends with Mandy, so I got an invite. I was just starting out as a cheerleader. He asked me out. We went on one date. Suddenly we were like celebrities. Ted and Mandy. Me and Damon. Like the it couples. A week after school started up, we ended up like this.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “If you want, I could leave a dog dump in his pillow,” Leroy offered. He explained by adding, “He’s my roommate.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I laughed at the thought of him finding the dump. “No! I’d have to walk around all day with him.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Offer’s there. If you want.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He had asked me about my love life, and I was curious about his.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Won’t your girlfriend be jealous of you doing favors for me?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I don’t have a girl,” Leroy replied, stuffing his hands in his pocket. “I’m into hot chicks. None of them are into me.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The tunnel to Bullworth Town loomed ahead.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> We faced each other, framed in the dark tunnel.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “I guess I should give this back,” I said, pinching a wrinkle of the t-shirt.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You keep it. I told you, you wear it way better than me.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I entered my number into the phone book of his cellphone. “Don’t text me until Monday. Kirby has my phone, and he’d probably try to read my messages. What I have on him, he’d love to get something on me.” Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. I would prefer to have contact with him when I had my phone again.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Kissing him in public would be pushing it. That would be asking the universe to catch us in the act. As I walked down the tunnel, I did look back. Leroy was everything I wanted in a boyfriend except popular. If I let myself, I could easily fall in love with him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I climbed into the awaiting Porsche.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Are you alright, Princesa?” said Dad.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I nodded.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I would have shouted at him that he had a nerve calling me that, since for the last three years that was exclusively a nickname for Ana, never mind the fact I had it for twelve years previously. Ranted on how he had left me in the middle of nowhere for over an hour. Accused him of being the worst father on the planet. Screamed that I hated him until he took me shopping in Old Bullworth Vale and buy me everything I laid eyes on.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> My mind was in a rusted old storage container, replaying a rap titled “Kyla.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> As we passed through Bullworth Town, I saw Damon and Christy leaving some coffee shop together. A few hours ago, I would have demanded Dad pull over and get a coffee, while I slapped the stupid right out of the red-haired heifer and told Damon he was so dumped, then in the morning hit on someone right in front of him to make him hit the guy, then we would be back together. The same old game. He hurts me, I hurt him, then we get back together.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> That was before Leroy; before finding out what it felt like to be around a guy who both appreciated the perfection that is my body, and actually listened to me when I spoke. I turned my gaze away from the window, and away from Damon and the red-haired heifer.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Dad handed me my cellphone. “A friend of yours gave this to me.”

♦ ♦ ♦

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I waited all weekend, and still no text or call. Leroy’s number was already in my contact list, I had gotten the number from Daddy’s phone while he was cooing over the brat having a tea party with her dolls. Monday I returned to school, hoping to seek him out and tell him I had my phone. I looked everywhere I could think of. In the cafeteria during meals, while Juri fetched my food, I perched myself at the edge of the table and looked for him. In the corridors between classes. Had I thought during the time we had together, I should have asked him about his classes. Under the table while I ate, and during boring classes, I watched the screen of my phone. During cheer practice, I watched the bleachers in case he might come to watch me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Nothing. The guy was like a ghost. No matter how much I wanted to know, I couldn’t ask anyone. Too many questions would be asked why I wanted to know. Giving up on him, I decided to go back to Damon’s dorm with him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I walked through the door, and there he was. Sat on the other bed, reading a thick text book, scribbling notes on a spiral bound notebook. He glanced up at me, but didn’t seem surprised to see me at all. Leroy was Damon’s roommate?! All this time, Leroy was the psycho roommate that Damon sometimes bitched about, that stayed up late reading by flashlight. Who snuck out and came back after curfew.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Then I remembered that he had told me that. How could I have forgotten?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Distinguishing Damon’s part of the room and Leroy’s was easy. Damon is a slob, who just throws his stuff anywhere, while Leroy was neat and tidy with books that had actually been opened more than once. I noticed Leroy was wearing a t-shirt exactly the same as the one he had given me. Of course, he probably got them in bulk. Still, that shirt meant everything to me. When life with the family got so much I wanted to run away again, I got out that shirt and clung to it like a security blanket, and suddenly everything was okay again. He was there for me in my time of need, and I didn’t need to ask or blackmail for it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Damon had already sat down on his bed. “Well, sit down,” he told me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I sat down beside Damon, my phone rested on the covers beside my hand.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Damon shot Leroy stink eye, and the glare was returned.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Like I want to listen to your shit,” Leroy informed him, curtly. Leroy fetched a Walkman from a draw on the desk, put the earbuds in his ears. I couldn’t tell if it required CDs or tapes, either way, it was just as old as his phone. Turned his back to us, still reading from the thick textbook.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I looked to him wondering if he could hear us, or if he really was listening to music. Damon seemed more focused on bouncing a baseball off the wall and catching it, than the fact that I was sat near him. I had all this hotness going on, and he didn't even bother to look at it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Why did you ask me out?” I asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Damon scratched his chin; there was some stubble on it. He seriously needed a shave. He shrugged. “Dunno.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “How could you not now?” I demanded.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “Ted said, “Dude, Mandy’s giving me blue balls. Could you date her friend, so I can get laid?” I said, “Whatever.” I figured you were more hot than crazy.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> My jaw dropped. I wanted to scream at him, or dump him, or both. The screen of my phone lit up—I must have forgotten to switch it off silent. I glanced to Leroy, realizing he could hear us. Just a short text, but it really opened my eyes; Why do you date this prick?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Leroy was right. Why did I date Damon? All this time I thought he genuinely liked me. Ted and Mandy did push us together, but we stayed together because it was right, expected, and our feelings matched. Turned out they did; we both didn’t like each other anymore. My heart used to flutter at the sight of him, now I just wanted to dump him and be rid of him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I texted back; After away game, I want only you.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> “You need a shave,” I told Damon, abruptly.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> He wanted me to be a crazy bitch, I will be just that.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The craziest bitch who ever dumped him, the moment we arrived home from our win. Let him enjoy the high of slaughtering the other team on their home turf, just as he pulled me into a kiss in front of the school, I would tell him; ''Get your hands off me. I don’t love you. I never loved you. YOU’RE DUMPED!''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I would scream it loud enough for the whole world to hear.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> I crinkled my nose with disgust. “I’m not walking around with you looking like a bum.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Damon muttered something, that contained the word “Bitch” and stormed out.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> The moment he was gone, and the door was shut, I rose from the bed. My body collided with Leroy, safe in his arms. I clung to him, looking up into his brown eyes. More than my own reflection reflected in those warm eyes, it was the look of someone who actually liked me for all I am.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> Our lips met. Two stars shooting through the night sky, colliding together, spreading out like the dazzling sparkle of a firework. None of the beauty faded in a crackle, it spread on and on across the dark night. Once in a lifetime beauty, just like this.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;"> No kiss I’d ever had made my knees buckle.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-autospace: ; text-justify: inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 150.0pt;">Is this what love feels like?