Eternal Ties

The next morning, Sandra and I were driving to my house in her red convertible.

“So what’s high school like?” she asked, pulling up into my driveway.

“Really boring, trust me” I muttered, getting out and walking up to the front door with Sandra easily keeping up with me.

“Hm…so how’s the ‘evade Christopher’ plan going?” she asked, looking around my living room as I picked up my backpack. She had let her long blonde waves down this morning, her bangs clipped back. She was wearing tight-fitting jeans, knee length boots, and a white tank top with a blue jacket over it. I could just imagine all the guys that were going to drool over her.

“Ugh…it’s getting harder and harder every day” I muttered, grabbing some books I’d left on the table.

“You must be setting a world record, no one’s held up this long” she commented, following me upstairs to my room where I began shuffling through my drawers, looking for the thing I had missed most these past three weeks.

“How long did it take you?” I asked, moving to scavenge my closet.

“About 6 days” she scoffed, “And people said that was impressive”

“Hmmm…” I mumbled, looking through rack after rack of clothes. “I found it!” I exclaimed triumphantly, holding up a black silk dress shirt.

“What is it?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s my dad’s old shirt, I stole it from him just before he ‘died’” I said, holding it close and inhaling its smell; my dad’s smell.

“Have you…washed that thing?” she asked, a bit disgusted.

“Define wash” I said, throwing it into my bag and walking downstairs.

“Don’t you want to get anything else?” she asked as we walked out of my house.

“Nah, oh and by the way, we’re making another side trip on the way home from school” I said, getting in the passenger seat, Sandra following into the driver’s seat.

“Does Christopher know?” she asked with a sly smirk on her face.

“Of course not” I replied just as sly.
I walked into to school with Sandra, Labette, and Zoë at my side. I kept looking around furtively for any sign of Greg.

Sandra, Labette, and Zoë went off in different directions. Being seniors, they had most of their classes in a separate building, one that had better air conditioning, I might add.

I sighed and looking down at my Thursday schedule. I had a free period. Maybe I could go hide in the library, try and steer clear of Greg and Chris. No, Greg knew I hid there.

Before I could think of another place to hide, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped around, thinking it was Greg, but it was Christopher. He was dressed in khakis, a white dress shirt and a thin black tie. He stared down at me, grinning.

“Hello Miss Hanover, I’m Mr. Haynes, you’re new guidance counselor and British literature teacher” he smirked.

I scowled at him and turned around, trying to walk away, but he caught my wrist, causing me to come back to him, “Not so fast, Maria”

“You know you can’t touch me like this at school” I growled through my teeth, “People will say we’re having an illegal affair”

“I understand that” he said politely, retracting his hand, “But you must also understand something”

“What?” I snapped.

“People are looking for you, Maria, and I’m not just talking about Greg” he said in a low voice, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

“Like who?” I muttered, crossing my arms in skepticism.

“Look, I can’t get into the details right now, just be on your guard” he murmured. Chris put his hand on my arm in a comforting gesture, then quickly pulled away and walked off.
The rest of the morning went by smoothly with no run-ins with Chris, Greg, or any mysterious figures. My whole body and mind had been wound up at the thought of seeing Greg. I kept on replaying events in my head of what might happen.

Scenario 1: I see Greg. Greg sees me. Greg yells at me. Greg beats me up. Greg tells me what a stupid little whore I am and asks me who I’ve been ‘fucking’. I tell him no one. Greg calls me a liar and beats me up again. Greg kills me.

Scenario 2: I see Greg. Greg sees me. Greg hits me. Chris sees Greg hitting me. Greg gets kicked out. I get stuck with Christopher once more. Mysterious figure tries to come after me. Mysterious figure succeeds. I get killed.

Scenario 3: I see Greg. Greg sees me. Greg is happy to see me and worries why I’ve been gone so long. Greg is sorry for all the things he’s done to me. Greg kisses me. Greg loves me like he used to. And Chris dies.

Okay, so the third scenario was more like a ‘fantasy’. But anything can happen, right? So apparently now all of the realistic scenarios end with me getting killed. Cool.
I walked into the lunch room, my whole body shaking and on alert. Greg was going to be here. I couldn’t elude him any further. Just then, my worst nightmare walked straight up to me…and kissed me.

“Maria where have you been, sweetie?” Greg asked concernedly, cupping my chin in his hand.

“My mom was in the hospital” I replied softly, my body frozen. It seemed every time I was with Greg my body turned into some kind of robot that just tried to please him.

“I’m sorry, honey, is she gonna be okay?” he purred, gripping my hand.

I nodded, still shocked by his pleasant demeanor. Was my fantasy actually coming true?

“Beautiful girl” Greg murmured, a slight smile on his face. He leaned in and placed another gentle kiss on my lips.

I trembled with immediate relief and doubt. He wasn’t being nice to me, he wasn’t calling me ‘beautiful girl’ like he used to. He couldn’t be.

“I-I love you” I stuttered, breaking out into tears.

“Oh I love you too, baby, now c’mon let’s have some lunch” he said, leading me to an empty lunch table.

We sat there and had lunch. It was an actual reminisces of how things used to be with Greg. He told me he loved me, kissed my cheek and actually listened. I told him how my mom was run over by a truck and it seemed like he felt my pain. He placed a hand on my knee, squeezing it comfortingly as I cried over my mother and I couldn’t help but love him again.

“Hey you wanna come over my place after school, baby?” Greg said, kissing my forehead.

I faltered, a feeling of uneasiness washing over me. Greg seemed too good to be true. How could I be so sure that he wasn’t going to become his old self behind closed doors? I couldn’t be sure. Greg did this sometimes. He pretended he loved me, pretended he cared about me in front of people so they wouldn’t suspect anything. Now he was just luring me into a false sense of security so we could go back to his house…and he could kill me.

“No…no I can’t go…I have to v-visit my m-mom” I stuttered. I always stuttered around Greg on account that I had trouble speaking around him. When we first started dating, I stuttered because I would get flustered around him because he made me feel special. He thought it was cute at that time. Now I stuttered out of pure fear and he hated it.

“It will only be for an hour or two, you can visit your mom after” he said, taking my hand and squeezing it. I knew he was doing his best to hide his anger.

I knew what I had to do now. I had to make him so angry that he’d hit right then and there, in front of the entire lunch room.

“I have to go see a friend” I said, calmly.

“A friend?” he asked, trying his best to keep his face straight.

‘You want to hit me now don’t you?’ I told him in my mind, ‘You want to call me a dirty slut and throw me against the wall right now’

“Yeah, we met at the hospital, he’s really nice…” but before I could go on, Greg’s knuckles collided with my cheek and I was thrown backwards and onto the floor.

“You fucking whore!” I heard Greg scream.

The whole lunch room seemed to go quiet. Everyone was staring, just staring, including Greg. But just as quickly as the room had gone quiet, it erupted.

“Someone call the police! Call an ambulance!” numerous people screamed.

Hands were all over me, pulling me away from Greg. My vision was hazy, so I couldn’t really make out who any of these people were. My head was throbbing and my face felt wet and numb. I suddenly felt a pair of cold hands slide in my own and without even looking at him, I knew who it was.

“Can you stand up by yourself, Maria?” Chris murmured as the noise slowly dyed down and the only things I could hear were the sound of Chris’ quiet footsteps and my feet stumbling to keep with him. I felt his arm slide around my waist and his other hand bring my arm around his neck and hold it there, allowing me to use him as a crutch.

“Thank you” I whispered, my voice weak.

“A small victory” he sighed, “At least you’re safe from one predator”

“There’s something you’re not telling me, Chris” I mumbled, my vision going in and out of focus now.

“Maria! Mr. Haynes oh I could have never seen this coming!” I heard a high-pitched feminine voice shriek from behind us. It was Principal Campbell. She was a middle-aged woman who, from many years working as a high school principal, was slightly paranoid.

“Maria will be fine, Mrs. Campbell” Mr. Haynes assured, turning on his charm.

“Gregory is to be expelled at once! And I would be thoroughly shocked if he does not receive jail time! Don’t worry Maria he won’t touch you again! I’ll make sure of it, now I think you should come with me so you can tell the police exactly what happened” she said, her hand touching my arm. I knew she meant well, but at this point, with my head pulsating so loudly I felt like my eardrums were about to explode, I just wanted to lie under the covers with the lights off forever.

“That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Campbell, but I think Maria just needs peace and quiet right now, she can talk with the police when she is in a more stable state” Christopher said, his voice smooth as silk.

“Oh…of course…” she said, flustered. I heard her footsteps stop and go in the opposite direct until they were totally out of earshot.

“Come on, I’m taking you back to the house” Chris said, picking up speed slightly.

“No…wait” I protested, my words slurred slightly.

“Maria, whatever it is, it can wait…” but I cut across him, “I need my b-bag”

“I’m sure your teachers will understand why your homework is not in…” he said, exasperated, but I wasn’t going to give up that easily, “I need it” I said, as firmly as I could muster.

“You love making things difficult don’t you?” he muttered, leading me in the direction of my locker.

I quickly opened my locker and grabbed my bag and unzipping it. I pulled out my father’s shirt and held it close, gripping it so hard; I could feel my nails digging into my palms through the fabric.

“Daddy” I whispered, before breaking out sobbing.

Christopher eventually coaxed me into his car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“That shirt was your father’s, wasn’t it?” he said, looking down at the shirt I still had in my hands, gripped tightly.

I nodded, sniffling slightly.

“I miss him” Chris stated. I looked over at him. His face was controlled, just like Greg’s was back in the cafeteria, but Christopher was hiding an emotion much different from anger: grief.

“It’s okay to feel sad, you know” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

“I don’t need a therapist, Maria” he sighed, rolling his eyes.