Finger on the Trigger to My Dear Juliet

I closed the door behind me, making sure to lock it up nicely.

I had an hour to try and clean up this entire house before my father came home. What a joke.

As I tried picking up the garbage strewn everywhere and empty beer bottles, I began to think about Max and, to a lesser extent, Ronnie.

Max might have realized about my standoffish-ness, but Ronnie still was oblivious.

I was worried. What if Max got too close? What if he actually found out?

My mouth twisted as I thought about the answer.

He would leave. Simple as that. Just like everyone else had ever done.

And come to think of it, I was growing fond of him.

I collapsed on my messy bedspread, feeling tension building up inside my body as the digital clock's green letters increased in amount.

The door opened downstairs, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Charlie! Get your ass down here!"

Right on time.

I hesitantly made my way downstairs, fear welling up inside of me as I caught my father standing in the middle of the living room, his face red.

"Tell me why I have to live in such a filthy house?" He demanded, and I winced.

"I-I tried to clean up," I muttered, but he grabbed me by my hair, causing me to cry out in pain.

"It's a mess in here! Is that what you want?! Huh?! You want me to live in a pig sty?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I yelled as loud as I could, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"You're not sorry! You're worthless, you little slut! Worthless!"

"I'm sorry!" I yelled, partly in pain and partly in frustration.

"Don't lie!"

I felt myself be thrown across the room and land underneath the coffee table, the back of my head banging against the hard wood. I whimpered in pain.

My father crossed to the other side of the room, kicking me in the left arm along the way. He disappeared up the stairs where I knew he would be passed out for the rest of the night.

I could only sit there as I rubbed the many bruises along my body in an attempt to dull the pain.

I quietly crawled myself up to the small window and peered out, hoping that nobody had heard anything.

My stomach dropped as I saw a face peek out of Ronnie's window across the street.

It was Max, and he was staring at my house.

Oh God...

[>>>]

"Alright class, today I want you to draw the biggest thing of your obsession right now. I don't care who or what it is, but I want something colorful and amazing. Get to it!"

I sighed as I pulled out the sketchpad, wincing at the pain in my left arm.

"Mr. Green why are you late?"

I looked up to see Max in the doorway and panic fluttered around in my chest.

"I got lost," He mumbled.

"Don't let it happen again."

Max collapsed onto the metal stool next to me, and I outlined the face on my paper with fixed determination.

"Hey," He greeted, and I tried to smile up at him.

"Hello."

"What are we doing?" He asked, and I leaned in closer to him.

"We are drawing one of the things that we are obsessed with. And we need to make it good."

"That's easy," He snorted.

We worked in silence for a few more minutes, and I was finally beginning to relax until Max tapped the back of my hand with two fingers.

"Hey...I heard yelling at your house the other day. I mean, I don't mean to pry or anything but-"

"It was nothing," I interrupted, the lump in my throat returning. "My dad just got a bit pissed because I didn't clean up my mess."

Max nodded, but I could tell he didn't believe me.

And then a few minutes later...

"Really, Charlie, what happened?"

I looked up at him in shock. His blue/green eyes were fierce and his hand was clenched around the pencil.

"N-Nothing, Max, I'm fine-"

He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the final bell. I raced to put my stuff in my bag and hurry to my locker.

"Charlie!"

I felt Max's hand clamp around my wrist, and I was spun around to face him. The breath was knocked out of me as I realized we were little more than a few inches apart.

"I'll tell Ronnie," He threatened. "If you don't tell me."

I felt the anger rear up finally.

"Fine then! Tell Ronnie. It's not like he noticed before, it's not like he cares-"

I cut myself off as I realized what I had just said. Max's hand loosened on my wrist and I walked away, the image of his shocked face still in my mind.

Oh no. What had I just done?

He knew. Max knew and he was going to tell Ronnie.

And I would be officially fucked.

I raced up to where the front doors were, nearly running out of them.

I went around to where I saw Ronnie walking away from the school, and I tried to catch up with him.

"Oh, hey Charlie...what's wrong?"

I shook my head as I tried to catch my breath. Ronnie shrugged and stood off to the side of the sidewalk.

"What are we doing?" I asked. Ronnie looked down at me.

"Waiting for Max," He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Right," I replied. I saw that Ronnie's cigarette package was loosely shoved in the back pocket of his jeans, and I grabbed it. He spun around, trying to reclaim his smokes.

"Hey! That's the third time this week, Fallon!"

"Finders keepers, Radke," I replied, shoving a cigarette in my mouth and lighting it before throwing the package back at him.

"Hey guys."

I took a deep drag of the smoke as Max approached us. He looked at me with guarded eyes before turning to Ronnie.

"What are we doing after school?"

"Oh that's right," Ronnie said, finally remembering. "You're hanging out with us for a bit today, Charlie."

I smiled softly. Ronnie wasn't one to ask. He just told you to do something and expected you to do it. It could be annoying sometimes.

"Alright, what do you want to do?"

"My house?" Ronnie suggested, but Max flashed him a look. "Alright scratch that. Um..."

"Movie?" I suggested.

"Sounds good," Ronnie said. "And by the way, when are you going to get your own damn cigarettes?"

I laughed at his hard gaze. "Sorry Ronald, I'm broke."

"Well who's going to pay for your movie ticket then? And don't call me Ronald!" He demanded, and I shrugged.

"I will."

I turned to Max, my mouth popped open in shock. Ronnie also turned towards him, a smirk on his face.

"I...um, thanks," I stuttered, and he smiled down at me.

"No problem."

As we continued walking, out of the corner of my eye I saw Ronnie's eyebrows twitch up and Max elbow him in the ribs. I rolled my eyes.

What was I going to do?