Hoax (17 page)

             
“Can I take you to school?”  I knew who it was.

             
“If you promise never to call me this early you can take me to school every day.”

             
“Ok, ok, I will pick you up in thirty minutes.”  Usually I was the chipper one in the mornings but I had lost a lot of sleep the past couple of nights.

             
“Bye!”

              I got up and kicked my comforter all the way off of the bed.  That was the only way I would be tempted not to burrow back under it and forget that there was a school to get to.  Not to mention the constant drama.  I sat up, pulling myself completely off of the bed before I let my face break its companionship with my pillow.  I took a cold shower, needing the lower temperature to wake up, and got dressed in a hurry.  Uniforms were the best idea that school administration ever had.  I didn’t have to think about what I wore every single morning.  I just had to follow the rules and pick out shoes.  I’m sure a lot of girls hated it but I for one was grateful, especially on mornings like this.  I had no time or mental energy for fashion.

             
I looked at the clock and took a few minutes to make my bed and straighten my mess so Mom didn’t have so much work to do.  And yesterday Dad had come into my room and announced, like a drill sergeant, that measures must be taken to consume less energy and water.  I wasn’t allowed to ask the whys of the sudden energy consumption issue, just expected to be obedient.  So I did the rest of my homework by the sunlight that poured in my window and listened to music by the moonlight when the sun fell. 

             
But there were too many things that didn’t add up.  I was expected to live on thrift store clothes but my parents went out almost every night and most times stayed the night, wherever they were.  And once, when I went downstairs for a glass of water, I heard Dad grumbling about forty percent of his income was ‘going to extremes’.  I wondered who was getting forty percent of his income. But questions and my parents didn’t really get along.

             
I went downstairs with my backpack in hand and they both sat at the table, both having coffee only. 
What I wouldn’t give for a Wellsley breakfast right now.

             
I didn’t bother to say anything to them.  It was no use.  Outside, Abel waited in his truck and he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of whatever song played on his radio.  He wore his ball cap even thought he knew he would have to take it off when we got to school.  He was so into whatever song was on that he didn’t even see me coming.  He bobbed his head with closed eyes to the music.  I walked over to his side of the truck and knocked loudly on it.  He screamed, not the manliest scream in the world either, and I doubled over laughing.  He rolled down the window and scowled at me. 

             
“Jeez, Corinne, it’s not funny. I nearly…well, I don’t know what I nearly did.”

             
That made me laugh twice as hard. 

             
“I’m sorry,” but I couldn’t stop the giggling as I apologized.

              I walked around the truck and got in.  His right hand twitched the tiniest bit and if I wasn’t really paying attention, I wouldn’t have caught it. 

             
“You’re second guessing again.”  It came out before I could stop it. 

             
He huffed out a breath and said, “I don’t know where we are.  I don’t know if you’re still angry or if you’ve forgiven me.  I’m—,” he turned the radio off, “I don’t know how to act, what I can and can’t say and it’s my fault.  I should’ve just told them to go to Hell.  I should’ve been the one to get Sean out of that.  I just want to go back to you and me.”

             
I knew exactly what he meant.  I would give anything to go back to the comfort of our summer romance.  But that wasn’t reality and it couldn’t last forever.  Everything in me wanted to keep a grudge against him for being a part of a group of people who preyed on the weak, or weak to them.  But I just couldn’t. 

             
I reached between us and took hold of his warm, tanned hand.  He pulled both of his lips in between his teeth and bit on them inside of his mouth.  I didn’t know what would happen today or tomorrow with his friends but I hoped that what we started during the summer could build into something stronger than the crap around us.  And as we pulled into the school parking lot I got an eyeful of the mound of crap we were about to face.

             
Brett stood against the back of his car with his arms crossed, and smiled.  It was creepy at best.  He smiled directly at us and Abel’s hand tightened around mine. 

             
“He won’t touch you.” He seethed under his breath.

             
“I’m not afraid of him Abel.” 

             
“That’s what
I’m
afraid of.”

             
We got out and Abel purposefully walked in between Brett and I as we passed.  Brett cleared his throat and it startled both of us. 

             
“So Corinne, you’re a brave girl.  All high and mighty, saving poor innocent people from us bad people.  But I bet if people knew where you came from, they might not be so willing to accept your help, now would they?”

             
I turned around and faced him from where I stood.

             
“What the hell are you talking about?”

             
“How do you think Daddy paid for the private school education, the big houses and the shiny cars, huh? Might not be the pinnacle of morale everyone thinks you to be.”

             
“Shut the hell up Brett. You’re talking out of your ass.”  Abel chimed in and I turned my head to him, proud.  I wanted to sing ‘We’re not gonna take it anymore.’

             
We faced the school again and I released Abel’s hand and moved to hug him around his side.  He threw his arm over my shoulder and I reveled in one small change at a time.  I just hoped it didn’t come back to bite us in the ass.

Abel

              One human being shouldn’t have that much power over anyone.  Especially not one like Brett. 

             
I didn’t know what he was spouting at Corinne about but I’m sure he’d expound on it sometime.  I didn’t care either way.  We split up in the hallway and even though we were in school and supposed to be safe, I worried about her.  I didn’t want her to be a casualty of my years of blind choices. 

             
It hit me on the way to the cafeteria how high school TV drama my life was about to become.  I walked through the double doors and smelled the plastic, re-heated food.  It was that exact smell that inspired me to pack my lunch every day.  I looked around the room and almost laughed.  There was one table on my right, a round table of Brett’s knights around him, King Arthur.  And then to my left, sat Sean and Corinne.  I didn’t hesitate in making a left turn and Corinne looked surprised.  I bent down and put my lips to her ear,

             
“Is this seat taken?”

             
She turned around and looked me dead in the eye, as serious as I’d seen her since Friday night. 

             
“Are you sure you want to sit here—that’s the question.”

             
“Am I sure that I want to sit next to the most beautiful girl in here, who also happens to be my girlfriend?  Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

             
She smiled and even though it had only been a few days since I’d seen it, the sight of it made me remember that I’d do just about anything to keep it on her face.  The way her cheeks reddened, the way one line showed in her forehead, it made life better.

             
I sat down next to her and pulled out my sack lunch.  She scrunched up her nose at my plain ham and cheese sandwich.  And I’d be the first to admit that it wasn’t culinary perfection. 

             
“Hey Abel,” Sean greeted me and it took me by surprise.  Maybe he was finally trying to break out of his shell.  The shell that I had a part in making him take shelter in. 

             
“Hey, Sean.  What’s up man?”

             
“Listening to your girl groan about AP Calculus.”

             
“Oh? Maybe I should go sit…” and I made a fake attempt to go sit somewhere else. 

             
“Oh no Mr. Collins, you have to listen too.” She grabbed my shirt and made me sit again.

             
So we did.  We listened as she groaned about being forced to take AP Calculus even though she’d already scored a four on the AP test because it was the highest level math class that the school offered.  Then Sean started cracking jokes about how horrible it was to be so smart.  And that eventually led to jokes about going to an all girls school and by the time lunch was over, I was in tears from laughing and Corinne’s face was at a full blush.  It didn’t escape my notice how Brett’s stare bore into Corinne from the other side of the room but I chose to ignore it. 

             
After school I dropped Corinne off at her house and then went straight home.  She had homework to do and since I wasn’t hanging out with my old friends anymore, so did I.  I used to spend the afternoons with them and then study and do homework late at night but now I actually had time to get everything done by a decent hour.  It was a new thing for me. 

             
My phone rang and I answered it, failing to look at the caller id. 

             
“So you’ve picked the slut over us, yeah?”

             
“What?” Over and over Brett was proving my points about him. 

             
“You heard me.  She gives you a little ass and you forget the rest of us and start hanging with that Bailey kid.  Is she giving you a cut of her Dad’s stuff too?”

             
“Brett, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. And don’t talk about her like that.  I’ve already warned you.”

             
He ignored me and continued, “What’s she giving you?  Weed, coke, maybe some ‘roids to help your game?”

             
“You’ve lost it Brett.”  And I hung up not willing to expose myself to anymore of his stupidity.

             
I called Corinne to give her every number of my friends so that she could ignore their calls.  She didn’t answer, so I decided to call her back later.  Then a few minutes later the phone rang.  This time I checked.  It was Corinne.

             
“Hello?”

             
“I’m sorry, but your old friends’ girlfriends…I’m gonna beat their asses.”  I pictured her in her school uniform, asking me to hold her earrings and going after the skanks. 

             
“What happened?”

             
“One of them, Haley or Heather or Hoochie or something, called me and said that I wasn’t good enough for you.  And that whatever I’ve got you high on is clouding your judgment in women…” As she rambled on she began to laugh until she wasn’t even coherent anymore.

             
I laughed with her, they were absolutely ludicrous. 

             
“Oh my goodness, Abel, how did you ever put up with these morons?”

             
“I can’t even remember why I liked them in the first place.”

             
“And what is the deal with her asking me what kind of ‘stuff’ I’m giving you?  I would love to know what all that’s about.  It took everything in me not to ask her if she was talking about Viagra or something. That whole conversation was just stupid.”

             
“Hey, there will be no talk of Viagra.”

             
“It was a joke Super-Ego.”  That threw her into another laughing fit.

             
“Ok, Abel, I’m going to ignore every number except yours and Sean’s so I don’t have to hear any more bull crap.”

             
“Yeah, you do that.” I said and decided to try my luck one more step.

             
“I love you Corinne.  I really do.”  That shut her up.

             
“Abel?”
Oh shit, I said it too soon.

             
“I’ve loved you since we walked into the Silent Film concert and you made sure I was in front of you so no one bumped into me.”               

             
“Really?  I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

             
“Exactly.”

             
“I’ll see you tomorrow, honey.”

             
“Bye, Abel.”