CHAPTER SIX
I burst into laughter unexpectedly. I should have known. I suspected it anyway. She leaps up immediately and he looks at me with wide eyes.
"Listen, Jessie. I can explain."
When I'm finally able to stop laughing, I say; "You don't have to explain yourself, Diane. You too, Dante."
His face relaxes but hers is still worried. She starts putting on her clothes immediately. I walk over to my bag, put my books in and walk towards the door.
She follows me, screaming my name in the hallway.
"Listen Jessie. I'm sorry."
I finally turn back. There are streaks of tears on my face.
"Sorry for what, D?"
"For not telling you."
"Its fine. I don't remember complaining. This is what you want, isn't it? Have it your way." I start to walk away again. But she holds me back. "You don't drag me like that," I snap and yank my hands away. She gasps.
"We need to talk, Jessie," she whispers, attempting to touch my hand again.
"Touch me one more time, and I will slap you." I take a deep breath to calm down. "We can talk when you come over to my house. You can both finish what you were doing in there. I can't be late for detention." I start to walk away again. She doesn't stop me this time. I turn back and she's still there.
"Straighten up your hair. You look like a ho." I tell her. She casts her eyes down immediately.
I don't know if I was rude. But what I know, is that I'm just letting her know how I feel. I don't even know why I'm crying. It's her life. Her body. Her everything.
So why am I crying?
You are in love with her. My subconscious tells me.
∞∞∞
I walk straight into my detention class. The teacher is busy with his phone. I think he's playing Candy Crush. I'm the only one there. Thank the heavens. I can't imagine being here with some bad boy. I haven't finished saying it when he walks in.
The bad boy.
He has a black eye and a few bruises on his face. I gasp. Does he look a lot hotter? Or am I imagining things? He takes a seat next to me. Why, though?
There are about 12 empty seats left in the class. I wish he says something but he doesn't. I look from the teacher to him. The teacher is still playing his game. Jeremy is just staring into space. I notice the way his body tenses up a little bit, from time to time. There's a little cut just above his eyes. And the way his plump pink lips rest at the lower part of his face…
"Stop staring," he says suddenly.
I jump. "I-I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I'm used to it." There it is- the pride.
I try to bring up a topic. "Since you're too proud to say hi, I'll tell you first. Hi Robert."
He hesitates to answer. "I told you we can't have a conversation right? We aren't friends."
"You did. I'm not eager to be your friend either. We have to talk. We're practically stuck here for the next two hours."
He nods as if he is reasoning with me. He finally says. "Hi, Theresa."
I smile. My wide smile. "So what should we do? Questions and answers?"
"What if we have oral sex?" he asks, pointing at the teacher still playing the game on his phone. "Mr. Grudmund will never know." My eyes widen and he laughs. "I would never be so stupid to do such with you without your permission. You'll be the one begging. Soon. Questions and answers will be fine."
I feel insulted. I want to sit somewhere far away from him. But instead, I say; "You start first."
Suddenly interested, he plops his elbows on the table and supports his head with them. He faces me.
"Have you ever had sex before?" I try to act not surprised.
"Is that what you ask people the first time you meet them?"
"Practically, yes. I'll take that as a no." As I open my mouth, he says, "Plus, you answered my question with a question. So I will have to ask you another one."
I shrug. "Okay."
"If I took you to my house, will you let me finger you?"
At least I know what that is.
"N-no. Never."
He laughs his mocking laugh again. "I don't have to beg you, Theresa. You'll beg me to fuck you." He suddenly gets close to me. "I can do a lot of dirty things to you." I shudder in my seat. How can he manage to speak such dirty, dirty words and still remain this collected? Its… amazing. The teacher suddenly excuses himself. Only I and Jeremy left alone.
He doesn't do anything though. We just spend a little bit of time talking about other people at the school. Other people except ourselves. I noticed he tries to dodge any question concerning himself. He tells me that Donnie likes Diane a lot. But he doesn't want his cousin dating any of his friends.
"Huh, you don't know what your cousin is up to," I tell him and he frowns.
"What is she up to? You're her best friend so you must know a lot. "
"I don't know anything," I sing.
Let him wonder.
"That reminds me, why did you get sent into detention?"
"I fought with a bunch of guys," he says shortly.
"So why did they beat you up?"
"Beat me up? I beat them up. You need to see their faces." He smiles a little.
"So why didn't they get into detention too?"
"I did the most damage, Theresa. I always do the most. You need to know this."
The teacher comes back in. It's 5 o'clock already. Time goes so quickly.
"You can both go home, now, ruffians."
"Finally, a little time away from this witch," he whispers and I laugh. I'm the witch?
The teacher leaves before we even get up.
"He isn't a serious teacher, is he?" I ask Jeremy.
"It doesn't matter. You'll get to know him from next year." He tells me.
As I walk towards the door, he blocks me.
"Let me leave, Robert."
"I don't want you to go," he whispers.