care if he saw Hillman talking to me.
“He does have good taste, though.”
Right then, Jenna came around the corner and stopped in her tracks. Her jaw dropped when she saw me cornered. Like a drill sergeant, she marched over and stood between us.
“Don’t you have something better to do, like fuck one of your cheerleaders?” Her hands were on her non-existent hips, tousled curls cascading around her face. Hillman stood back, intimidated by this girl who was almost as tall as he was.
“You’re a bitch, you know that?” He walked away, his footsteps hard and fast against the pavement.
“I got him good and pissed!” she squealed, proud of her prowess. Whatever she did, it worked and I felt the adrenaline run from my body. Even better, her mom pulled up and we got into the SUV.
“What the hell was he doing?”
“I saw him talking to Christian and he must have followed me.”
“It looked like he was giving you the once-over.”
“Or something…”
Mrs. Beltran drove by Hillman’s Beemer just as he was pulling off his shirt.
“If I was only younger,” she said, slowing down on purpose. Jenna looked at me and we both pretended to gag.
Chapter 13
“I’ve been watching you. A lot.” Hillman pressed against me with such force that I bit my tongue, the blood seeping through my teeth as I cried.
“And I think that you should’ve been with me, instead of him.” He leaned heavy on my chest. My lungs gasped for air, but not before I started seeing black stars in front of my eyes.
If I could just pass-out I’d be fine. I wouldn’t know what happens next. For now, it felt like my soul was somewhere else, on a different planet.
I was able to catch a su dden, deep breath of air, and then another. When the black stars cleared I saw Christian pounding his fist into Hillman’s face.
≈
There’s nothing like a good drink to end a bad day. Seeing Christian from afar, and being cornered by Hillman like a caged ani mal, brought the whole day down.
My dad had bought some cheap bottles of cabernet and stashed them in the pantry in case of emergency. They already had several better bottles, and I thought if I mixed one of those with the cheap stuff, I could pluck one for myself, undetected.
In my room with the door locked, I poured the wine into a mug and chugged it. With another mug-full, I sat down at my computer and checked Facebook.
There was a friend request. Jesse Leary.
I was amazed to see a photo of the boy in the khaki jacket looking back at me. He was quick to seek me out, and I granted his request, exploring his page.
Jesse had over 450 friends. Quite a few were much older than him. His profile was goofy. He listed Quasi-Buddhist Methodist Atheist as his religion, and that his political views were left and right, up and down. He was a month older than me, single, and looking for new relationships. I thought it was cool to not only make a new friend at school, but have that friend find me on the Internet.
My warm buzz wasn’t half bad, either. The bottle of wine was almost gone, and I held ground without feeling like I’d gone too far. This wasn’t bourbon, after all. That was for alcoholics.
However you put it together, a bottle of wine on a school night was no picnic the next day. It was like crawling through slime to get showered and dressed. To top it off, I got my period. My hands shook as I tried to press a pad into my underpants, and it fell into the toilet and floated around the bowl like a lifeboat.
I didn’t give two shits about what I’d wear for the second day of school. A purple sweatshirt? Great. Jeans? Fine, as long as they didn’t give me camel toe. Tennis shoes would give me the tread I needed to keep from tripping in my post-wine haze. And Tylenol, God bless it, for the pain in my head and in my pelvis.
Jenna was happy to see me looking like my regular self.
“You looked goth yesterday. So not you, Beck.” She dabbed at her face in the back
“He does have good taste, though.”
Right then, Jenna came around the corner and stopped in her tracks. Her jaw dropped when she saw me cornered. Like a drill sergeant, she marched over and stood between us.
“Don’t you have something better to do, like fuck one of your cheerleaders?” Her hands were on her non-existent hips, tousled curls cascading around her face. Hillman stood back, intimidated by this girl who was almost as tall as he was.
“You’re a bitch, you know that?” He walked away, his footsteps hard and fast against the pavement.
“I got him good and pissed!” she squealed, proud of her prowess. Whatever she did, it worked and I felt the adrenaline run from my body. Even better, her mom pulled up and we got into the SUV.
“What the hell was he doing?”
“I saw him talking to Christian and he must have followed me.”
“It looked like he was giving you the once-over.”
“Or something…”
Mrs. Beltran drove by Hillman’s Beemer just as he was pulling off his shirt.
“If I was only younger,” she said, slowing down on purpose. Jenna looked at me and we both pretended to gag.
Chapter 13
“I’ve been watching you. A lot.” Hillman pressed against me with such force that I bit my tongue, the blood seeping through my teeth as I cried.
“And I think that you should’ve been with me, instead of him.” He leaned heavy on my chest. My lungs gasped for air, but not before I started seeing black stars in front of my eyes.
If I could just pass-out I’d be fine. I wouldn’t know what happens next. For now, it felt like my soul was somewhere else, on a different planet.
I was able to catch a su dden, deep breath of air, and then another. When the black stars cleared I saw Christian pounding his fist into Hillman’s face.
≈
There’s nothing like a good drink to end a bad day. Seeing Christian from afar, and being cornered by Hillman like a caged ani mal, brought the whole day down.
My dad had bought some cheap bottles of cabernet and stashed them in the pantry in case of emergency. They already had several better bottles, and I thought if I mixed one of those with the cheap stuff, I could pluck one for myself, undetected.
In my room with the door locked, I poured the wine into a mug and chugged it. With another mug-full, I sat down at my computer and checked Facebook.
There was a friend request. Jesse Leary.
I was amazed to see a photo of the boy in the khaki jacket looking back at me. He was quick to seek me out, and I granted his request, exploring his page.
Jesse had over 450 friends. Quite a few were much older than him. His profile was goofy. He listed Quasi-Buddhist Methodist Atheist as his religion, and that his political views were left and right, up and down. He was a month older than me, single, and looking for new relationships. I thought it was cool to not only make a new friend at school, but have that friend find me on the Internet.
My warm buzz wasn’t half bad, either. The bottle of wine was almost gone, and I held ground without feeling like I’d gone too far. This wasn’t bourbon, after all. That was for alcoholics.
However you put it together, a bottle of wine on a school night was no picnic the next day. It was like crawling through slime to get showered and dressed. To top it off, I got my period. My hands shook as I tried to press a pad into my underpants, and it fell into the toilet and floated around the bowl like a lifeboat.
I didn’t give two shits about what I’d wear for the second day of school. A purple sweatshirt? Great. Jeans? Fine, as long as they didn’t give me camel toe. Tennis shoes would give me the tread I needed to keep from tripping in my post-wine haze. And Tylenol, God bless it, for the pain in my head and in my pelvis.
Jenna was happy to see me looking like my regular self.
“You looked goth yesterday. So not you, Beck.” She dabbed at her face in the back
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