Who Knew Vengeance Would Be My Savior

“What are you doing up so early?” Johnny mumbled walking into the kitchen.

I was currently standing against the counter drinking a glass of water, still in my pajamas from last night.

“I have school.” I answered when I finished chugging down the rest of my water, “what are you doing up?” Today was Monday, my favorite day actually. Instead of going to school for the whole day, Seniors could go in at ten, but after ten they were considered late.

“I’m always up this early,” He answered with a shrug, “do you have a cell phone?” He asked sitting down at the table.

I shook my head and placed my glass into the sink, “I cant afford one.”

He frowned for a few seconds, “wait here.” He stood up and hurried out of the room. I listened to his steps going up the stairs and down the hall, a few moments later they sounded like they were coming back. The kitchen door swung open letting him step in.

“Take my phone so we can get a hold of you after school.” He shoved the silver phone into my hands, “the guys are on speed dial, and Lacey is number 1.” He explained, “and I already put it on silent so you don’t get in trouble.”

“Alright, I’ll try not to get it taken away.” I smiled before checking the time, “I should get dressed.”

He nodded and stepped out of my way, mumbling something about needing to eat anyway. I laughed lightly and made sure to keep my steps light, the last thing I needed was for Ichabod to come running for a game of fetch.

I smiled remembering how I had woken up, somehow Zacky had shifted around during the night so he was laying on my tummy, his drool seeping through my shirt. Ichabod had snuggled up to my neck, his head resting just underneath my chin. As for Mr. Doodles, for some weird ass reason he had been dropped between my legs, I laughed lightly.

As I walked in my room I couldn’t help notice the faint blood stains on the carpet, they seemed to be screaming out my name. I let out a shaky breath and tore my eyes away from them, hurrying over to the closet. I couldn’t afford to be late for school again, I’ve been in enough trouble there as it is. I opened my door quietly and started to shift through my clothes.

Now that I really looked at all my clothes I realized they brought back quiet a few bad memories. I stifled a groan and shook them out of my head, trying to keep my mind blank for once. I finally decided to wear my rose cami, my black rose capris, and my normal black flat vans. I walked over to my bed and picked up my bra, stripping out of my old clothes and into the new ones. I made a mental note to get some money from my bank account later to go buy a hamper.

“Amy?” A soft knock on the door made me look over.

“Come in,” I said softly, “I’m decent.”

The door opened slowly and Lacey popped her head into the room, “do you want a ride to school? The girls and I are going to the mall extra early.” She laughed.

“I didn’t know the mall was even open this early.” I laughed quietly, “if it’s not to much trouble I’d love one.”

“It’s not any trouble don’t worry,” She laughed, “just let us know when your ready to leave.” She smiled before closing my door quietly. I could have sworn I saw Ichabod prance in but I guess I was seeing things, I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to the mirror.

Sadly it seemed like my hair decided to be a tangled mess today. I groaned and threw it up into a sloppy but cute bun, clipping it at the base of my neck with a black barrette. I picked up my eyeliner and put on a quick layer, I never was one for make up. Go figure. I set the thin stick down and picked up Johnny’s phone, shoving it into my pocket.

“Hell here I come.” I said enthusiastically. I picked up my black messenger and groaned, it felt a bit heavier than usual. Once again I could have sworn I saw it move when I slung it over my right shoulder, almost like something alive was in it. I shook my head and walked out of the room, muttering that I needed more sleep.

Zacky’s POV:

“Hey, where’s Amy?” Jimmy asked as he strolled into the living room, the rest of the guys behind him.

“School.” Johnny answered lazily, “she has my phone if you need to tell her something important, not hi.”

Jimmy sighed, “that’s not fair, saying hello is very important.” He flopped down onto the sofa, “did Lacey take your plastic?”

Johnny shook his head, “I gave it to her, so in a sense she did take it.”

“You and your damn technical answers.” Matt laughed sitting down, “Val has mine though, she distracted me with her hand.”

I snorted, “I feel lucky now, I don’t have a girlfriend so my credit card stays happily in my pocket.” I patted my thigh.

They all chuckled, “oh just wait, one day Ichabod will learn how to use it. Then you’ll have to explain why there’s animal porn on your credit card bill.”

All of them laughed while I frowned, “speaking of Ichabod, did any of you see him?” I hadn’t seen him at all today, not even when I put out food for him.

“Nah… usually he runs over and tries to play with us.” Brian exchanged glances with him.

“ICHABOD!” I waited for a few moments, waiting for the sound of his footsteps hurrying towards us. But all I heard was silence, this was not normal.

“I saw him before Lacey left..” Johnny piped up, “is he outside?”

I stood up and walked to the door, “ICHABOD!” I waited to see the black ball come hurdling towards the door, but once again nothing.

“Umm Zacky?”

“Yeah Jim?” I turned back to him.

“I think I know where Ichabod is.” He laughed looking up from his phone.

Normal POV:

“So the variable which we recognized as ‘v’ needs to be found, and how do we do this? By multiplying 43 by 26. Can anyone tell me the answer? Hmm? What is v?” I sighed and stared at Mrs. Foree, not giving a rat’s ass for what she was teaching. We learned this back in seventh grade, this was calculus not little algebra.

Right away Jenna Marvin’s hand shot up into the air, a smile plastered on her tanned face. “I know it!”

“And what would it be?” Mrs. Foree asked smiling.

Jenna smiled and opened her mouth to speak, as she did so she glanced over to my side for some reason. “It’s… dog?”

“Dog?” The class room burst into laughter, “sorry but no Hun.”

“No! Look!” She pointed near my feet.

I frowned and looked down, my eyes widened to the size of the planet when Ichabod stared back at me. His tail wagging a million miles an hour, obviously happy to see me. Oh. My. Fucking. God.

“Oh my god! Get it out of here!” Mrs. Foree screeched, throwing a dry erase marker at poor Ichabod.

He yelped and jumped away from it, running around to leap onto my lap. He braced his front paws on my desk and started to bark at the teacher. He snarled a few times and leaped around, looking like a guard dog.

“AMY-LYNN SEWARD!” Mrs. Moe, the assistant teacher screamed at me, “GET THAT DOG OUT OF HERE AND GET TO THE PRINCIPALS OFFICE RIGHT NOW!”

I cringed but none the less gathered up my things, tucking Ichabod under my arm as I hurried out of the classroom. A gut feeling told me this was not going to end well.

“Ichabod I’m furious at you,” I growled as I walked down the stairs, “you are to never hide in my back pack ever again.”

He just stared back at me, he turned his head to the side and started to lick my hand. I groaned and stopped at the base of the stairs. I set him down slowly and pulled out Johnny’s phone, they were going to call someone anyway. For a moment I debated whether or not to call Lacey, but she had to be at the mall still. I sighed and picked Jimmy, he had to be over at Johnny’s right?

Jimmy, tell Zacky and Johnny Ichabod hid in my back pack, get to Huntington High right now… I pressed send and looked down at Ichabod, shaking my head.

*
*

“Mr. G, Amy-Lynn’s brother Jonathan is here.” Mrs. Tiffany said cutting off what Mr. G had been saying to me. I bit onto my bottom lip to keep from crying, trying to calm down before he said to send them in.

Mr. G pressed the call button back, “alright, send him in please.” He leaned back in his chair and fixed his eyes on the door. Ignoring Ichabod who was growling at him, his body placed on my lap like nothing. I was tempted to push him off but I was being a bit nice to him. I wanted someone to comfort me.

The office door opened slowly, both Johnny and Zacky walked in slowly. A scowl over both of their faces, Ichabod’s growling stopped when he saw his Father. His tail started to wag as he jumped down and pranced over. Zacky narrowed his eyes and attached a black leash to Ichabod’s collar, muttering something to low for me to here.

“Hello Mr. Seward, I’m Mr. G, the assistant principal here.”

Johnny nodded, “hello, I’m Amy’s brother and this is her… cousin Zacky.”

Mr. G smiled at them both, “I regret to tell you that this is Amy’s third strike, she is suspended from school for two week.”

I hung my head down, embarrassed by this whole thing.

“Isn’t there some way we can avoid this? It’s not like she brought Ichabod here on purpose.”

Mr. G shook his head, “no there isn’t, Mrs. Ross has made up her mind, there isn’t anything I can do. We have some work for her already so she won’t fall behind.” Like I would do any of that work, I made a mental note to spend a week at the beach.

Johnny sighed, “alright, do I have to sign her out?”

“No, she’s free to leave now.” He waved us off with a simple shake of the wrist. Like one you would do when a fly was bothering you.

I stood up, my head still staring down at the floor. I handed Johnny back his phone and hurried out of the room, pulling out my Ipod so nether of them could try to talk to me.

*
*

“Amy can I talk to you?” Zacky asked as I walked into the house.

“No.” I answered right away. I still felt hurt from what Mr. G had said to me, I sniffled once and hurried up the stairs and into my room.

As soon as I entered the room my eyes landed on my reflection in the mirror. Memories of a while ago floating back into my mind.

“Ah come in Amy.” Mr. G said smiling at me.

I gulped and walked into the room, Ichabod following at my feet. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t know he was in my back pack, I swear.” I pleaded, standing there uncomfortably.

“Take a seat please,” he waved his hand to the black chair by his desk. I did as told nervously, Ichabod jumped up into my lap. “You know we’ve put up with quiet a lot of your troublesome ways here.” He started, “coming in late, ditching, not turning in work, sleeping in class. And of course that awful lie about your Step-Father.”

“Lie?”

He raised his eyebrow, “you honestly thought we believed you? My Dear why would anyone want to touch you? Your not very pretty.” His words stung painfully.

“You think I’m lying? He raped me! He let his friends beat me and use my body!” I cried, Ichabod started to growl, “why would I make something like that up!? I tried to fucking kill myself you asshole!”

He narrowed his eyes, “you made it up because you’re a silly little girl who wanted attention, you put an innocent man in jail with your claims. For all we know you could have wanted it, you stupid whore.”

I stared at myself, tears making their way down my cheeks slowly. I sniffled and wiped them away, I stripped out of my clothes quickly and into a tank and boxers. I crawled into my bed and started to sob into the pillows, furious that no one believed me.

“Amy?” I ignored the voice, “Amy please look at me.”

I sniffed and turned my head to the right, frowning when I saw Ichabod’s head and paws resting on my bed. “What the?”

“I’m sorry I went to your school.” Someone moved his paws around, I looked towards the floor to see Zacky laying there, trying to be sneaky. “I’ve been a very bad boy and my Daddy will neuter me if it’ll make you happy.”

I laughed lightly, “aw Ichabod I don’t want that.” I reached over to scratch the dog’s head.

“Damnit Ichabod get your tail out of my mouth.”

I snorted, “nice Zacky.”

“You feel better now?” He asked sitting up.

“Sort of, just frustrated and confused.” I answered, “you know for a moment I thought Ichabod was really talking to me, I almost pissed myself.”

He laughed, “that would have been interesting,” He sat on the edge of my bed, “have you been crying?”

I shook my head, “no, I kept rubbing my eyes to get my eyeliner off.” I lied.

He narrowed his eyes playfully, “alright… I’ll believe you for now.”

“Yay I’m off the hook.” I laughed.

He grinned, “for now you are.” He shook his finger at me, “anyway I was wondering if you’d like to go to the studio with me? I have to finish a track for a song and I don’t like being there alone. It’s… creepy.”

I laughed, “but I just got undressed.” I kicked my legs.

He looked at my clothing, “eh keep that on, now get your bum out of bed and into my car.” He ordered standing up.

I sighed, “yes Master!”