The Devil's Pawn

Trenton didn’t go to school Monday.

He sent me a text saying that I had to ride the bus.

I would’ve been mildly annoyed that he couldn’t at least drive, but he sent a frowning
face through punctuation at the end. Maybe he really was sick.

I snorted at that comment.

I finished dressing, slipping a sweatshirt over top of me to hide the shirt I was borrowing
from Erica. Ever since the first time I wore the outfit she had loaned to me, I found myself
wearing more of her clothing than of my own. I liked hers more.

I pulled my hair into a high pony tail, letting a few curls hang loose. Giving myself a
once-over, I was satisfied with my appearance. It would look like I had over slept until I was
able to take the sweatshirt off.

I slipped my flip-flops on, deciding the weather was warm enough to break those out. I
made my way to the kitchen, clacking away.

The sight before me stopped me dead in my tracks.

I froze, my eyes wide with shock, surprise, disbelief at what was before me.

“Morning, Taylor.” My dad’s familiar deep voice cracked the wall of silence that had
formed. I blinked.

“You… You’re back.” I whispered.

It had been nearly a month.

He half-smiled, “Only for a little.”

I frowned, “What?”

Dad straightened up, folding the newspaper he had been reading in half. He pushed
his mug of coffee off to the side, looking me dead on. He licked his lips nervously as he
struggled to phrase his words the way he wanted.

“Your mother and I… are having a rather momentous disagreement at the moment.” He
began, but I quickly cut him off.

“I know that. What do you mean by ‘only for a little’”

His eyes narrowed, “You know it’s rude to interrupted.”

I bit my tongue, looking away, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, we were intending to tell you together, but for
now, I’m going to get an apartment nearby. I just returned to get my clothes.”

I blinked, unable to process what he was saying, “But you’re… you’re sitting here
drinking coffee like you always do.”

“I know.”

“Dad…”

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” He sounded sincere. If he truly was sorry, he wouldn’t be leaving
me alone with my mother, “I can’t handle the tension between your mother and myself now.
I’ll return soon, but I just need… a break.”

“You’re not… you guys won’t…. you’ll come back right?” I asked, thinking of the positive
rather than the negative.

He nodded, “Of course. I still love you, sweetie.”

“You’re leaving me.”

“It’s not something I want to do…”

“You have a free will.”

Dad sighed, quickly growing frustrated with me, “Look, Taylor, I love you. You’re my only
child and I love you to death. But your mother is not someone I’m able to tolerate anymore.
I’m just taking a break so we can work on our marriage again.”

“Couples don’t take a break from each other if they need to work on their marriage
though.” I whispered.

“Taylor…’’

I shook my head, swallowing painfully, “I need to get to school.”

“Taylor!”

“No, really.” I turned, making my way towards the door. Dad caught my wrist, pulling me
back to face him.

He held my eyes, his shining slightly in the light. “I love you, Taylor. You’re my only
daughter. Don’t be mad at me, sweetie.”

“I’m not.” It wasn’t technically a lie. It just wasn’t the entire truth. I wasn’t mad, I was hurt,
disappointed, annoyed.

He gave a weak smile, letting me go, “Have a good day at school.”

“Thanks.”

I left as quickly as I could.

School passed slowly and uneventfully. I forced myself to keep my mind preoccupied
with school work to prevent myself from thinking. There were so many things that I wanted to
think about. Sam, Trenton, Friday night, my father, my mother, Tanner.

Calculus pushed them all to the furthest point away.

Unfortunately, math could only last so long before the bell rang for lunch. I shuddered at
the thought of a free period.

I simply couldn’t allow myself to think about anything.

I needed time.

I needed to space myself from everything.

I needed to find Erica.

“Bitch.” An arm linked through my own, pulling me away from my locker where I had
been staring aimlessly into. I turned my head in surprise to see Erica eyeing my shirt angrily.
I smiled innocently as we walked to lunch.

“What?”

“I like that shirt.”

“You let me borrow it!”

She snorted, “Thief.”

I laughed, nudging her with my elbow, “You so let me borrow it, Erica. I’ll give it back
tomorrow if you really want.”

“Good!” She laughed, nudging me back.

We walked into the cafeteria, pushing past the mass of people that crowded our way to
the food. Erica grabbed a tray for herself this time. I looked at her in shock.

“Is... Is…. Is Erica actually buying her own food?!” I gasped at her mockingly.

She rolled her eyes at me, piling on lettuce for her salad, “Shut up, Taylor. It’s just you
and me at lunch today.”

“Did all three guys ditch?”

She nodded.

“Why?”

Erica looked at me with a face of are-you-serious?

“Seriously, why?” I asked, grabbing a water bottle along with my salad. We walked
towards the cash registers, Erica digging furiously in her pocket for cash.

“Tanner scored a little bud. Trenton and Fits are probably with him stoned out of their
minds.” She stopped talking as she paid.

I waited until we had walked a good distance away before I spoke, “I didn’t realize that
they smoked.”

“Really?” Erica laughed, “I’m surprised. You remember that little get-together we went
to? You were bored out of your mind?”

“Yeah…”

“Before you came everyone had smoked a bowl or so. That’s why we enjoyed it.”

I made a face, “Are you serious?”

She nodded, taking a seat at our table.

“Why did Trenton take me there?!” I was disgusted. I poked at my salad angrily, “I’m not
into that kind of thing!”

“He didn’t think things through. Leave the damn tomato alone. It didn’t do anything to
you.” Erica said.

I shot her a look.

She shrugged, brushing it off.

“So why aren’t you with them?” I asked hesitantly.

She made a face, glaring off to the side, “Apparently, I can’t miss anymore school
without a doctor’s note.”

“You’ve missed that much?”

“Guess so.”

I sighed, “You guys are crazy.”

“How many days have you missed?”

I bit my lip, looking away shyly.

I didn’t answer her.

Erica raised on eyebrow at my silence, shaking her head disapprovingly, “None?”

I nodded bashfully.

“You’re such a good kid, Taylor. You’re never going to have any fun in life if you don’t
start breaking some rules.”

“I have plenty fun as it is!”

Erica smirked, leaning forward on the table, “Let’s see. You lie to your parents about
hanging out with us—that’s breaking a rule. And I know you always have more fun with us
than you do any of your nerd friends.”

“They’re not nerds…” My defense was pathetic.

“Yeah, they are.” She said, “But let’s continue. You break school dress code all the time
when you wear my clothing.”

I blinked, shocked, “I’m breaking the dress code with this?”

She nodded, “Too low or too short.”

“Wow.”

Erica laughed, opening her mouth to continue.

“Dude,” I gave her a look, “I get your point. I enjoy breaking the rules according to you.
But according to me, I’m a good kid.”

“Good kids never prosper.”

“That’s such crap.”

“I’ve never heard you cuss.” She said pointedly. “Never. You always replace the curses
with darn or crap or frick.”

“I’ve never felt the need to cuss.”

“Weird. Doesn’t it bug you how everyone else does it all the time though?”

“Not really.” I shrugged, taking a bite of my salad. I waited until I had swallowed it before
continuing, “I mean, I’m kind of used to everyone in school cursing. I just don’t find the
appeal that everyone else does.”

“It’s not an appeal… it’s the fact that the teachers don’t want you to, yet you do anyways.”

“Appeal.”

“Whatever.” Erica rolled her eyes. “So new topic.”

“You switch them a lot.” I laughed.
“Shut up!” She giggled once, taking a sip of her drink, “Anyways, what happened Friday
night after the movie?”

My eyes widened, “Look… I….”

“I mean, did you stay at Trenton’s house again?”

“Yeah…”

“Did you guys fuck yet?”

I flinched at the foul word she used. The way she said it made it disgusting, dirty, cheap.
I would have preferred almost anything else. “No!”

She seemed surprised by that, “Really?”

“Did you think we would?”

“You guys have been getting pretty close lately. Trenton really isn’t one to wait a while
before he screws a girl.”

“He ah…” I felt my face heat up a bit at the memory of what happened Friday night. I
looked away, embarrassed. Erica clearly caught onto my mood, her interest in the subject
perking up. She leaned forward, loaded with questions.

“What happened?”

I was surprised she only asked one.

“He uh…. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“How?”

“He…” I leaned forward, motioning for her to do the same. She gave me an eye roll, but
leaned across the table nonetheless, moving her ear towards me. I lowered my voice drastically, whispering it in her ear, “He fingered me.”

Erica pulled back, a smirk across her face. “Oh really?”

I could hold back a smile, “Yeah.”

“How was that?”

“Amazing. Have you ever had that done to you before?”

She nodded, “A few times.”

I wasn’t surprised at that answer. “I didn’t know it was possible to feel that wonderful!”

She laughed softly, “Wait until you have sex for the first time… You’re still a virgin though,
aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“For now.”

“What?”

She smirked, her eyes twinkling. “Nothing.”

“No, what are you talking about?”

“Eventually you won’t be a virgin. I mean, what a horrible fate that’s going to be—dying a
virgin? At least you’ve had an orgasm.”

“Erica… what was that ‘for now’ comment supposed to mean?” I ignored her previous
comments.

“Nothing, nothing.” She shook her head, getting ready to change the subject to
something else when I stopped her.

“Do you know something I don’t know?”

“I know a lot of things you don’t know. I know what sex feels like, I know how to give a
blow job, I know your fly’s down.”

My eyes widened as my hands flew down to pull the zipper back up, “That was not funny.
You could have said that more discreetly!’’

She giggled evilly.

“You know what I mean.”

“About what?”

I groaned, flicking a piece of lettuce at her. Erica gave me a look, throwing half a tomato
at my head. I dodged it, laughing.

“I’m being serious though, Erica. What do you know?”

“Plenty.”

“Erica!”

She only laughed, taking another bite of her salad.

I watched her in silence, waiting for her to crack.

She did a few minutes later.

“Look, just break up with Sam. Then… let the chips fall where ever they may.” She stood
up, grabbing her tray and walking towards the trash can.

How did she know about Sam?

“Wait—Erica--!” I called after her, but she had already disappeared.

The bell rang, dismissing us from class.

I dropped my tray off, eyebrows furrowed together in thought.

While I didn’t know how she had found out about Sam, I had a sneaking suspicion
Trenton had something to do with it. Everyone knew Sam was Tanner’s girl, but Trenton was
the only one to know Sam was mine. Was.

I was already using past tense with her.

As I walked to my next period class, alone, I realized something.

I needed to break up with Sam before she hurt me anymore.

I needed to do it soon.

I needed to do it now.

“I’m doing it today.” I said aloud to no one in particular. The loudness from the hallway
drowned out my random words, preventing kids from hearing me. No one turned around to
give me a strange look.

I bit my tongue to keep from doing that again.

Pulling out my phone, I kept it hidden from the teachers as I walked through the halls,
texting Sam secretly.

We need to talk. Today. Meet me after school.

I opened my locker, lingering for a few minutes as I waited to see if I would get a
response from her before the tardy bell rang.

I knew Sam well enough.

My phone lit up a few seconds later with her response.

Sorry babe, I can’t today. Tomorrow?

I felt my lips pull down into a frown. I shook my head.

No, Sam, that just wasn’t going to work. You owed me an explanation. I owe you a heart
break. Today.

I’m serious. You need to come.

She answered a few moments later. I glanced at the clock, grabbing an estimation at
how much time I had left.

Not much.

I’ll try.

You better, I thought.

I closed out of her message, sending one more before the bell rang.

My fingers ran over the keys as I walked down the hall, making a desperate attempt to
avoid running into people.

I’m breaking up with her.

My thumb pressed the send button, the message heading straight to Trenton’s phone.

I tucked my phone in my pocket, opening the class room.

My heart beat rapidly in my chest at what was to come.