Jaded

Bryce swore again, "No. It's criminal charges, asswipe. You could've gone to jail or…" He hung up and stared at me.

I spoke the obvious, "It's not the first time we've bailed Corrigan out of jail."

"I know." Bryce slumped next to me and slid to the floor. "But they would've pressed him harder because he'd be connected to Hoodum."

It was known around town that the cops had a vendetta against Hoodum and his gang. They wanted to shut 'em down completely, but they were having a hard time. Hoodum was slippery and smart.

The door opened again and Chad poked his head out. "Hey, just so you know, Mrs. Walker is freaking out that you guys are gone. You might want to get back in here."

"You were supposed to cover for us." I glared at him as Bryce took my hand and helped me up.

Bryce looked at me, surprised, but Chad shrugged and muttered, "I tried, dude. Jeez."

When he went back inside, Bryce held me back by my elbow. "What was that about?"

I shrugged and moved inside.

Relief was evident on Mrs. Walker's face when she saw us. She snapped two fingers at us and pointed to the seats. "You two, stay put and don't move. I don't care if you're sick, if you have to vomit, or the school burns down. You stay put or face expulsion."

Bryce and I sat.

The other students were still there and had mixed looks of fear, awe, and trepidation.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall when Bryce started to chat with Chad. Over the next hour, each of the students went inside the principal's office until it was just me, Bryce, and Chad. It seemed to take longer than an hour.

Mrs. Walker received a phone call and then hung up. She repeated her instructions for us to stay put before she left the office once more.

"Seriously, guys. What'd you do? I haven't seen Mrs. Walker that pissy since Corrigan got caught screwing the Spanish teacher's daughter."

"Oh yeah," Bryce laughed.

Corrigan's popularity had skyrocketed that week. He'd been suspended for three days, but his arrival to the Friday football game had been to a standing ovation. None of the parents had stood, but some had been amused. Corrigan had saluted the crowd. I rolled my eyes as I remembered. No one liked the Spanish teacher, Corrigan least of all.

"Sheldon," Miss Connors said softly. "Can you come with me?"

I snapped to attention and shot up. Mrs. Walker had returned with the counselor.

"No," I said.

Mrs. Walker looked taken aback, but Miss Connors wasn't surprised. She sighed and stepped back from me.

Oh hell no. I was not going to deal with her.

"Sheldon, please." Miss Connors said again. She frowned at Bryce's hand that had moved to cup my elbow.

"You can't make me talk to you.”

"Miss Jeneve," Mrs. Walker snapped. "You will talk with our counselor or you will be expelled."

I narrowed my eyes at her and called her bluff. Whatever. I didn’t care. "Expel me then."

Her eyes bulged out.

"Sheldon, this is ridiculous." Miss Connors stepped forward. "I just want to talk to you. That's all. I want to know how you're doing."

"No, you don't," I spat out. "You want to try to figure me out. I'm not one of your subjects to understand and test."

"You have so much potential," Miss Connors pressed. "I don't understand why you're wasting it all away. I want to help you."

"I'm fine with how my life is." I stepped back. The chair pressed against the backs of my knees.

Bryce was still beside me. He watched me, but this wasn’t something I wanted him to see. I didn’t want anyone to see this.

"No, you're not. Sheldon, you spend your time with these boys..."

Bryce whipped his head towards her.

Miss Connors faltered, but resumed again, "You are so intelligent, Sheldon. You could already be in college. Your IQ tests were—"

"You can't say any of that!" I shouted. "That's confidential."

"Sheldon, please…"

More students had filed into the office, but they all stopped abruptly.

I shook my head. I needed out of there. I needed to get away, now. "You can't do this. You can't make me talk to you. Expel me then. I don't care. Screw you." I shoved past them. At the door, I stopped and met Bryce's gaze. "Call me later."

He nodded, his jaw was clenched.





Chapter 4





I went home and showered again. After I had changed into more comfortable clothes, I moved downstairs to my father's study. Inside, I sat behind the computer and typed 'Greco' in a search engine. A moment later I searched through the results and found out that 'Greco' stood for a Greco Defense, named after Giachino Greco. It was a chess move that was used by amateurs who were stupid.

Corrigan had been right. The word had been an insult, but a nerdy insult. So I forwarded the article to Corrigan's email.

When I went downstairs to watch a movie later, the doorbell rang. Muttering an irritated curse, I was surprised to see Mena at the door.

"Hi." She gave me a nervous wave.

"Come on in." I gestured inside and we walked towards the kitchen. "Do you want anything to eat? Or drink? I was going to watch a movie."

"Oh. Um…" She laughed again and shook her head. "I can't believe this."

"Believe what?"

"This. Me. You." She waved between us. "I'm nervous and I'm never nervous. I've gone against some of the richest snobs in the nation and I'm nervous around you."

"Why?" I took out a diet soda and slid it across the counter to her. "You want a glass with some ice?"

"Sure." She sat on a stool at the counter, then explained, "I'm nervous because… I don't know. Dumb, huh?"

"I told the school's counselor and the secretary of our principal to expel me today," I stated. I hopped onto the counter and dangled my foot over the edge. "It's not dumb, but there's not a lot that makes me nervous."

"I know. I heard. That was pretty balsy."

I shrugged. "Had nothing to do with balls." I didn’t care about the consequences.

"So…" She took a deep breath. "Have you thought about what I said before?"

"About being friends?" Who outright asked for a friendship?

"Yeah. I know…it's kinda stupid, but I wanted to know before I entered the social scene tomorrow."

"Actually," I smirked. "I'm supposed to become friends with you anyway."

"Why?" She asked as she sat up straighter on her stool.

"Because of Corrigan. He asked me this morning to make friends with you. He wants you to come to a party this weekend."

"Oh!" Disgust flickered over her face before she contained it. "He recognized me after you left school. He did a double-take and started muttering about second chances. I don't believe in second chances for scum like him."

"He's one of my best friends."

"Oh." Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I just—"

I waved her off. "Don't worry." I laughed and drank some of my own Diet Coke. "Corrigan's an ass. I told him myself this morning."

"I'm sorry. I knew he was one of your best friends. I just…when I met Corrigan, he slept with my best friend and never called her. She cried for an entire week."

That sounded exactly like Corrigan.

Mena grimaced again and then she cringed when her phone rang.

"It's my brother," she mumbled before she answered it and moved into the living room.

I nodded. Denton Steele was on the other end of that line. Something in me should’ve reacted, but it didn’t. The superstud had been an embarrassing mistake. Since my parents were gone and their parents had divorced, I didn’t see a future where I would have to see him again.

Then my front door slammed again and I heard Corrigan holler, "Sheldon! Where are you, you freak?!"

I waited as I heard his voice grow louder. Just as he turned the corner, a sly grin spread across his face and he shook his head.

I laughed.

"I cannot believe you." He patted his chest. "You are my idol. I love you. I will always take your side whenever you fight with Bryce."

"Shut up," I chuckled and glanced down.

"Seriously, though," he sobered. "You're a living legend at school. Again. You told the counselor to go to hell."

"No, I didn't."

"You told her to expel you. That's the same thing. You said 'screw you.' I've never heard of any student who had the balls to say that."

"Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “I was pissed."

"And frantic," he added as he hopped up next to me. He patted my knee. "Bryce told me what happened. And thanks, by the way, for covering for me."

That's right. I'd forgotten.

"Corrigan, if that kid talks…" I started, concerned.

Corrigan stopped me with his hand. "Don't. It's covered."

"I know, but Bryce is right. If the cops find out, you know they're not going to be nice. They're after Hoodum."

"I know and seriously, shut up about it.”

I snapped my mouth shut.

"I'm sorry," he muttered in the next second. "I'm worried about you, okay? Bryce said you freaked about the counselor."

"I know and seriously, shut up about it."

Corrigan flushed, hearing his own words, but he shut up. He jumped off the counter and raked a hand through his hair. And then we watched each other, at an impasse. He never wanted to be reminded how stupid his actions had been—not for the action, but because someone had seen him. I didn't want to talk about my counselor freak-out.

"Look," he began. "Want to go grab something to eat? Let's go do something."

Just then Mena came back into the room and stopped short at the sight of Corrigan. His back was still to her. She stood silent and shook her head to me.

I asked, "Like what?"

Mena mouthed 'thank you' and moved to walk down the front hallway. A second later, just because I was listening for it, I heard a soft click.

"What was that?" Corrigan twisted around.

I shrugged. "Did you know that Mena already goes to our school?"

"Oh yeah. I meant to talk to you about that. You know her. I saw her talking to you when you took off," Corrigan accused me as he grabbed my hand and pulled me off the counter. He dragged me up the stairs and into my bedroom.

"What are we doing?"

"You're changing and we're going to go out." His voice was muffled as he pressed his nose in my closet. A moment later, he produced some leather pants and a barely-there halter top.

"Nice try, but no." I shook my head and fell on my bed.

Corrigan nearly giggled as he dove back into the closet and pulled out a barely-there skirt with the same halter-top.

Laughing, I pushed him out of the way. "Get out. I'll find my own clothes. And where are we going?"

Through the closed door, Corrigan called out, "Let's go play some pool or we can go swimming at Chad Yerling's house."

I finished dressing and yanked opened the door.

I wore the barely-there skirt, but my sweater covered the top. It hugged in all the right curves.

"Bryce is a very lucky man," Corrigan mused as his eyes lit up. He suggested, "You have those black boots that come to your hips. You can wear those…"

I slipped on my flip-flops and walked past him. "Let's go. You're driving."

"Then I'm driving your car." He dangled my keys in the air.

I whisked the keys from his hand and locked the front door behind us. Inside the car, I suggested, "How about we go and hustle us some money?"

Corrigan cringed.

"What?"

"Let's just play. Why do we need to hustle?" He glanced at his knuckles.

"Because just playing isn't fun. Hustling is so much more fun and you won't get into a fight. Promise."

He sighed, "I don't like that look." He waved a finger in my face. "That look has gotten me in jail before. I don't like that look."

I grabbed his finger and pushed it down. "Stop waving your finger in my face. And you go to jail plenty enough on your own, you don't need me to get you there." It was true.

"Stop giving me that look." Corrigan sighed when the look intensified.

I stopped at the school's hangout, The Café Diner. It was a stupid name, but everything else wasn't. It had the best burgers, salads, shakes, and some of the employees would slip us alcohol. Corrigan gave me a twenty when I went inside and marched past the back counter. He stayed inside and moved to one of the tables to chat.

After I struck a deal with the head cook, I walked through the main area and I couldn't find Corrigan, but Chet pointed him out.

As I moved around the back corner, near the phone booth, I saw Corrigan had his tongue shoved down some girl's throat.

I took pity and turned to leave. I didn't get far when Chad stepped into my path.

"What do you want, Yerling?"

His eyes trailed down and then back up, but not after it lingered on my breasts.

"Eyes up front, Yerling. Now," I snapped. "And I'm waiting."

He smirked. It was the same grin that I'd seen him use on more than a few drunken girls.

I just sighed on the inside. It wouldn't be my eyelashes that I'd bat at him.

"You don't like me much, do you?"

"What makes you say that?"

He didn't answer that, but said instead, "Are you and Scout exclusive? Because I've seen him with a lot of other girls, you know."

Nothing new here, buddy. "If Bryce and I are exclusive, then it's Bryce and me who should know that."

"He slept with Lew on Friday at his party." He shifted when I tried to move around him.

I sighed and regarded him. The douche wasn’t even smart about his lies.

"What?" Chad sent another of his grins that he'd perfected to get into so many pants. Corrigan had a look. Bryce had a look. And Chad had a look.