Draven

After a week of nothing but tutoring with Jenny, I was on edge. She wouldn’t let me talk about anything if it didn’t pertain to schoolwork. I tried every trick in the book, but I got nothing. 

I wanted so badly to know what happened in the parking lot at school with Tyler. I heard several different stories around school, but I didn’t know which version to believe. I’d come outside that afternoon to find him on his knees by her car. I knew she’d taken him down, and I was fucking proud of her, but he must’ve said some horrible things for her to do it. I hated that it was my fault he had. All because I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut. When would I learn?

The next day, I cornered him in the locker room of the gym and threatened to tell everyone that I saw him buy an ounce of cocaine buy my apartment building. I hadn’t really seen him, but some friends of mine had. I should’ve told everyone I knew about it, but I wanted to have that leverage over him. I wanted something that I could use to keep him away from Jenny. When he said he’d leave her alone, I wasn’t so sure, but he hadn’t even looked in her direction the whole week. Either my plan worked, or he was scared shitless that his balls would be kicked up inside him. 

By Friday afternoon I was going nuts. She wouldn’t let me apologize to her, and she was so short with me that I couldn’t stand it. I deserved everything she was giving me, but I just wanted to tell her how sorry I was. 

At 2:15 I had an appointment with the guidance counselor about my grades, and I was nervous. I’d been working hard at getting my grades up, and a few of my teachers let me make up some past work that I had missed. The last thing I needed to hear was that I wasn’t going to pass. I didn’t need that kind of disappointment. 

“Have a seat, Mr. Lepage,” the counselor told me, directing me to the chairs directly in front of her desk. “I called you in here to talk about your grades, but I’m sure you already knew that,” she explained. I just shook my head. “The tutoring is paying off. Your GPA is up to a 1.9 and it looks like you’re going to graduate with your class, so long as you pass you pass your finals with a D or above. Which I believe you can? Your teachers tell me how smart you are, when you apply yourself.

I got a little choked up at her words. I was going to graduate high school. I hadn’t realized how much I wanted that. I think I kept telling myself I didn’t care, hoping one day I’d believe it. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. You’re the one who did the work. But you might want to thank Ms. Jenny Pearson for helping you.”

“I will.” And I would, if she ever let me talk to her again. 

“Oh, and before you go.” She stopped me. “You are eligible to attend prom next weekend. You have the grades to go.”

“Prom?” I let those foreign words roll off my tongue. I hadn’t given one thought to the annual dance.

“Yes, prom,” she laughed. “Now you’re free to go.”

I felt like I was floating on a cloud when I walked out of that office, and the one person I wanted to share the news with wouldn’t speak to me. 

There was someone else that I thought might like to know. So after class, I went straight home to talk to Mrs. Pearson. The excitement of graduating was too much for me to keep to myself. She pushed me to study at home, and she took me in so that I wouldn’t have to go back to that shitty apartment. I really wanted to share it with her. I’d never had a mother figure, but I figured Mrs. Pearson was one of the best.

She had this glowing look on her face when I told her the good news in the kitchen. Her husband Steve was there too, so I got to share it with the both of them. Jenny had gone prom dress shopping with Lo or that’s what her parent’s told me. I wish she would’ve been there to hear my news, but I was going to make that girl talk to me sooner or later. 

“That is great Draven, truly.” Mrs. Pearson wrapped me in a big mom sized hug. 

“Thank you.”

“Good job, Son.” Steve held out his hand. I took it with ease, and wondered in that moment what my Dad would say about it. 

“I was hoping to thank Jenny.” I shrugged.

“She’ll probably be gone half the night. Girls and dresses, you know?” Mrs. Pearson told me. “Are you going to prom?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “The guidance counselor told me today that I could, but… I don’t know.” 

“If you’d like to, you know, we could get you a tux,” Steve said. It sort of shocked me. They were willing to get me a tux. I wasn’t even their kid. And if they knew half the things I’d done to Jenny, they’d probably strangle me and kick me out on my ass.

“It’s okay. I’m not really the prom type of guy.”

“It’s your first prom, Draven.” Mrs. Pearson smirked. “You can’t possibly know if you’re the prom type of guy.”

“Come on, Son. I’ve got the night off. Let’s go see what we can find you.” Steve kissed his wife and even though I was hesitant, I went with him. 

My intentions for the night weren’t to go shopping with Jenny’s Dad. I didn’t even know how we got to that point. Mrs. Pearson was obviously very persuasive. 

Prom?

What the hell was I thinking?

On the drive there, Steve didn’t say too much. But when he parked the car, it seemed he remembered every damn thing he’d been waiting to tell me. 

“Did you break her heart?” His hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. I knew he meant Jenny. I just wasn’t sure what to say. It’s hard to talk about these things with anyone, let alone a father. I also wasn’t sure if “break her heart” was code for something else that I was most certainly not discussing. 

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I disappointed her.”

He nodded a few times. “Do you love her?”

“I… Um…I…” Fuck. I didn’t know. I mean, I’d never loved anybody. Jenny made me feel things that no one else had. She pushed me to my limits. She made feel strong when I was with her. She laughed at my stupid ass jokes. She tore me up when she cried. She made me proud when she was strong. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever met. 

My hands covered my mouth and I sucked in a deep breath. 

“You do don’t you?” Steve asked again. “You just realized that you do.”

I looked over at him and I felt my heart sink into my stomach. I guess love made you sick. I didn’t even have the right words to answer him. There was nothing. 

I was starting to sweat. 

“Listen to me,” he said in a calm voice, but I couldn’t think straight. “Hey.” He caught my attention. “It’s alright.”

“Why are you laughing?” I asked him when he chuckled. 

“I’ve been there. That’s the hot seat.” He laughed some more. 

It wasn’t funny to me. “I’m not good enough for her.”

“As her father, I’d have to agree, but then again no one is ever going to be good enough for her. But as a man, I’ll tell you that you are. You are good enough. Your past, and your lack of money or whatever, doesn’t define who you are. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t good enough. She gets to be the judge of that,” he told me. “There was a time in my life that I felt the same way. I felt like I wasn’t worthy of Sara’s love, but I wanted her. So, I stepped up and proved it to her. I vowed that I’d take care of her the best I could, and I’d love her forever. What you have with Jenny might not be that forever kind of love, but if it is, then I suggest you start making better decisions in your life.”

I nodded my head. I needed a minute to just let it all sink in. I could barely admit my true feelings to myself. It was nice hearing him tell me these things that I desperately needed to hear. I can’t imagine that my own father would have ever talked to me about love, and it was hard watching other people have the things that I didn’t. 

However, I realized then that this was exactly how things were supposed to happen. This family was meant to come into my life at this exact time for a reason. 

“Come on. Let’s go get you a Tux. We’ll talk more later,” Steve, suggested. “And just because you’re living in my house doesn’t mean that you get to do what you want with my daughter. 

I coughed at his insinuation, and agreed of course. 

“I’d just like for her to talk to me.” 

He grinned. “One step at a time.”