Draven

I almost sank back into my childhood ways. Submission to an abuser was second nature for me. My Dad used to smack me around a lot, and it was like an instinct to retract and retreat. It all stopped around the time I turned fifteen. I could come and go as I pleased, and I never came home when he was awake. Then when he went to jail a few months ago, I quit worrying about him altogether. The sorry piece of shit was right where he needed to be. 

I knew that Jenny only hit me because I was running my mouth, and honestly I barely felt it. It just took me by surprise. I didn’t see it coming and I reacted the same way I used to when my Dad hit me. I sank back and blacked out. It would’ve taken a jackhammer’s force to hurt me though. 

I wouldn’t show weakness again. 

“Where do you want to do this?” I asked, creeping up to her. Her blonde hair was pulled up in some messy contraption on her head and I could see the small curve of her neck where it met her shoulder. There was a fuss about this girl that I never even realized. The guys wanted her and I could see why, as I drank her in. My eyes slowly made their way down her backside from top to bottom. Dating wasn’t my thing, and even if it was, she wasn’t my type. But I could see myself getting tangled in the sheets with this one. 

“Table,” she said pointing to her left. 

“Pity,” I said raising an eyebrow. “I was hoping we could study in your room.”

Her head jerked to the left in my direction as I was setting my backpack on the table, and I smirked at her. She wanted me back to myself, so I was.

She sat down next to me at the table and took out her books. “What classes are you needing help in?”

“All of them.”

“What?” She snapped.

“I’m failing them all. Well, the ones that matter anyway.”

“You can’t possibly expect me to believe that you’re failing every class. There’s no way you can catch up.”

“The counselor said I just needed a D to pass,” I explained. “All you have to help me do is pull off D’s in every one of them, and I’m good to go.”

She threw her head back laughing. “Really,” she said, speaking to the air above her, like someone was up there listening. Maybe she was one screw short up top, but I couldn’t be picky or choosy. The counselor recommended three people and she was at the top of the list, and the only one I could tolerate for more than five minutes. “It’s going to be a long night, and don’t expect me to work miracles. I’m not doing the work for you. If you fail then it’s your fault.” Her voice was indifferent as she reached for a pencil out of her bag.

I wasn’t expecting some handout if that’s what she was thinking. I just wanted to pass the classes so I could graduate. 

No one thought I could do it.Hell, I was beginning to have doubts myself. But Mrs. Granville, the school counselor, told me that she didn’t want to see me back there again next year. I realized then that I didn’t want to go back either. I was going to pass and get out, or drop out. 

Either way, I wasn’t going back.

We spent the next hour working on one class. Just one.

My head was in a cloud of fog. I hadn’t studied that much in my entire life. The past ten minutes of her talking had gone in one ear and out the other. 

“I need a break,” I said interrupting her. 

“Fine.”

I stood up from the table and stretched out. My legs were cramped up from sitting so long in one position. “Can we go outside for a minute?” I asked.

She nodded, and led the way out back through a sliding glass door in the kitchen. I remember thinking that this was one of the nicest places I’d been to, and seeing that backyard confirmed it. We stepped out onto a large covered back deck that led to a fenced in back yard. There was a cobblestone pathway leading to a large Jacuzzi and a seating area that probably held ten people. It was nice, far nicer than anything I could’ve ever imagined for myself. If she could see where I lived she’d probably shit her pants. There was no way to describe it. It was the exact opposite of her place.

I’m surprised the girl even let me inside her house. If it weren’t for her mother, she probably wouldn’t. It made me want to laugh when I thought about how filthy I must’ve seemed to her. 

“You want something to drink?” She asked, snapping me out of my gaze.

“Sure.”

“What do you like?”

“Anything,” I replied.

I picked a spot on the edge of the porch and sat down, not bothering to sit on the chairs. They looked too nice for company like me. She was probably looking out the kitchen window now, wondering if I was about to steal something. 

I snickered. This stuff was far too fancy for me. 

Her feet stopped next to me and she took a seat, handing me a bottle of Mt. Dew. “You’re going to need this to keep up your strength if you’re already tired after an hour. I figured you’d have more stamina than that.”

“Making jokes huh?” My eyes caught the way her chest moved when she stifled a laugh. “You think I don’t know what your big words mean?”

“Actually, I knew you would. You’re smarter than you let on.”

“Right?” I rolled my eyes. “And you can tell that after one hour of tutoring?”

“Yeah Einstein, I can.” She narrowed her eyes on me and squished her nose. 

“You’re so smart that you think you can read me like one of your fancy books. You don’t know me.” I countered, bristling. I hated people trying to get close to me. I didn’t want people to know me. The real me, I mean. I didn’t care what people thought of “the me” I projected to the world, but my core, the person I was deep down that was harder to let out.

“And you don’t know me.” Her words were harsher this time. “Let’s get back to work.” 

I followed her back inside. There was a chill in the room as we continued to work. She didn’t try to crack any more jokes, and I used one-word responses to answer everything. Quite frankly, it was more like a fiery inferno rather than a chilly snow bank. I hated this idea of tutoring. The more I sat there the more aggravated I got. I was ready to go home, have a cigarette, and blow off some steam. 

The front door made a loud sound as someone came in the house.

“I should go,” I said; ready to use any opportunity to escape. 

“We’ve barely put a dent in this work.” She waved her hand around the table. 

“Tomorrow,” was all I said as I gathered my things. 

“Maybe I have plans,” she countered with a sassy twist of her head. This chick didn’t take any shit from me, and I kind of loved it. I shook my head and laughed under my breath, because we both knew that it was a joke. Jenny kept to herself. 

“You leaving, Draven?” Mrs. Pearson asked as she walked into the kitchen. 

“Yeah. We’re studying again tomorrow,” I explained. I didn’t bother looking over my shoulder at Jenny; I could feel the hard stare at my back.

“Okay dear. See you tomorrow.” She said sweetly as I walked out the door. Stuffing my crap in the trunk, I headed towards home. 

The cigarette hit my lungs and I felt suddenly relaxed. It was a sweet release, expensive, but sweet.

I’d run out of money a couple of months ago, and had been living solely on the money I got from selling some of Dad’s stuff. I got rid of his bedroom furniture, and the kitchen appliances, some of his fishing stuff, and even his gold chain that was hanging from his bedpost. He wouldn’t need it. He was serving a life sentence, and I’d never see his ass again. Besides, I didn’t need or want anything that reminded me of him. He didn’t deserve for me to remember him. 

After paying rent, and electricity, the money had quickly run out. The apartment barely had anything left in it. The one bedroom we had was empty aside from my Dad’s clothes, and the living room only had a couch and television that I kept sitting on the floor. I didn’t have cable, but I liked the static noise when I went to sleep at night. 

The old lady who owned the building let me stay there after Dad was arrested as long as I paid the rent. She told me that the moment I stopped paying, was the moment I was out of there. I wasn’t on the lease. I was seventeen. Technically I should’ve been a ward of the state, but I was laying low. Besides, after I turned eighteen I would’ve been kicked out of any foster care, or group home they put me in. I knew the system. I was in it twice growing up when my parents got locked up. I’d never met any of my other family, and figured that they didn’t even know that I existed. It was probably better that way. 

  With only ten days left in the month, I had to figure out my next step to paying the rent. No one would hire me because of my Dad, and besides that, working was a drag. High school was meant to be about partying and having a good time. It was about sneaking around, and causing trouble. It was about long legged blondes, and sexual highs that you didn’t want to come down from. 

I sighed just thinking about it. 

The streetlight shone through the living room window, as I lay down on the couch. I was worn out. Kicking off my shoes, I relaxed to the sound of static. Tomorrow was a new day, a new adventure, and I went to bed without thinking any more about the rent. Instead, I thought about the smooth curves of Jenny’s hips. They were a guilty pleasure. 

Every dirty guys’ dreams were about a good girl, right?