Be a Good Girl, Sandy Jones

I sat in the noisy classroom, surprised that I hadn’t seen Dani all day, which was rare. We always ran into each other, at some point of the day, and had our daily yelling battle. But not today, I hadn’t seen her at all. For lunch, I just got in my car and drove to the car to sit on the bench and think. I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday, the few chips I had while Dani and I worked. I regretted not eating dinner, just a little.

Everyone was with their partner, talking about what they wanted to do, and Mr. Wallen was at his desk, pretending to be busy so he wouldn’t have to answer questions.

I looked toward the door of the classroom when I saw a flash of pink and blonde. Dani stood in the doorway, wearing skin tight black jeans and a pink, low-cut sweater thing, looking in at the roaring mass of students, then her eyes landed on me. She seemed to study me for a few seconds, and when I didn’t sneer or frown back, she tried a shy smile.

Then, I really did frown. I narrowed my eyes at her, and moved my eyes away to stare out of the window.

I didn’t pay her anymore attention until she pulled a chair over to sit across from me, at my own desk.

“What’s your problem?” She said, but she wasn’t angry, she sounded more hurt then anything else. I snapped my head around to glare at her.

“What’s my problem? Well lets see, I had to spend an afternoon with you, I got slapped in the face because you decided it’d be funny to make me look like the bad guy, I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, when I ate those few chips, and, oh gee, I don’t know, I haven’t slept. Not to mention I haven’t had a cigarette since yesterday afternoon, when I was driving your ass to my house,” I ranted, and Mr. Wallen looked up to see if it was important enough for him to get up off his lazy, fat ass. When he saw it was just us, then he went back to reading his news paper.

Dani seemed wordless for a few seconds, but I didn’t give her the chance to talk one word to me.

“Now, if you don’t mind, Dani, I’d like to get to work on this stupid-ass project, so I don’t have to see your face more then needed, or speak to you anymore then is healthy.” I growled hatefully. I had to admit, I was grouchy, but still, I needed someone to vent to, she could take it. If I said anything like this to Rob or my mother, I’d probably get grounded, lectured, and possibly slapped again. I didn’t like getting slapped. I could deal with just about anything else, but getting slapped in the face.

Dani just sat there for a few minutes, staring, open-mouthed, at me. Then she seemed to snap out of it, and we got to work on what we wanted on the poster, only get a quarter of the way there, before the bell rang.

“Meet me out at my car, since I can see you’re puppy is waiting for you,” I said, nodding at “Tough Guy”, who I had broken his already broken nose. He stood at the door, looking between me and Dani. I gathered my stuff slowly, slipping them into my bag as Dani hurriedly did what she needed to, then bolted out the door to go talk to Brad, whatever his name was. I heaved a sigh and made my way outside, knocking into Brad on the way out.

He stopped talking to Dani and glared down at me, laying a beefy hand on my shoulder and shoving me back against a row of lockers. I hissed in pain as my shoulder connected with the cold metal. In just a few seconds, Brad was looming over me, and I giggled at his two black eyes, from the beating I had given just a few days ago.

“I don’t usually hit girls, but you’ll be the exception,” he said, as he punched me roughly in the face. I moaned in pain as I slid to the floor, and I heard screaming. I opened my eyes to see Dani trying to pull Brad away from my sprawled figure. He followed like an obedient pup. Dani tried to help me up, but I pushed her away from me roughly.

“Don’t touch me, keep your claws away from me,” I spat, literally, at her. Bloodied saliva was now on her pink sweater thing, but neither one of us looked like we cared.

I got up on my own, spat out a glob of bloody saliva, and walked outside, startled briefly by how sunny it was outside, and made my way to my car. I got in and started to drive out, but Dani stopped me.

“What about the project?” She said, probably finding some way she could tease me about being beat down.

“You know how to get to my house, don’t you? Find your own ride,” was what I wanted to say. Instead of saying that, I said: “Get in.”

She got in, and I kept my eyes on the road as I drove. Instead of going to my house though, I drove us to the park. It was sunny out, it wasn’t going to rain, and I didn’t want to go home. Rob would just have to deal with the fact that I wasn’t going to be home for a few more hours, and find another way to get to work.