The Devil's Pawn

“You’re kidding.” Erica said with her eyes wide with surprise. “You’ve absolutely got to be kidding me right now.”

I stared at the food before me, not making eye contact with any of people around me. All
four of them stared in shock at my news. I bit my lip nervously, shaking my head regretfully,
“I’m completely serious.”

“So she didn’t find out about the party?” Fits asked, confused.

“She didn’t know why I was going to over there, but she knows that I was there.” I
mumbled quietly.

“I…” Trenton shook his head in disbelief next to me. “I’m sorry, Tay…”

I shrugged it off, trying to ignore the stupor my mother had sent me in, “It’s not your fault.
We were both being loud. I shouldn’t have even had anything to drink to begin with.”

Tanner whistled softly, “That majorly sucks ass. She’s driving you to and from school
too? Aren’t you eighteen yet?”

I nodded, “Yes, but where would I go? And I have college in my near future. How would I
pay for that without her help?”

“Get a job?” Erica suggested.

“It would take three jobs to get through the first year, at least.” I mumbled. I dropped my
cheek into the palm of my hand, sighing. “I just have to wait the punishment out. Eventually
she has to forgive me, right?”

“Eventually…” Fits mumbled. “So no more Friday nights for you?”

I shook my head, “Nope.”

“And you can’t come over to my house for ‘projects’ again?” Erica frowned slightly.

“She wants to talk to your parents before I ever go over to your house, and even then,
she wants you to come over to mine first. That way she can watch over us and make sure
we’re working.” I said.

Erica frowned, “That’s so lame.”

“Tell me about it.”

Trenton wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me against him. I leaned my head on
his shoulder, knowing this would be the only time we would get to talk to each other. Erica
and Fits exchanged a look, but I didn’t pay attention to the meaning.

“We’ll sneak you out.” Tanner suggested

I snorted, “You don’t know my mother. She’ll know if I go to the bathroom. There’s no
way I could sneak out.”

“Nothing’s impossible.” He smiled encouragingly.

I shook my head, staring at my food once again. “Let’s just drop the subject. I thought
you guys should know since I can’t do anything for a while.”

“What if we pretended to kidnap you?” Fits offered.

Erica slapped him upside the head, “And what would happen when her mom finds out
she’s still going to school? What kidnapper lets the kid go to school?”

“She could just ditch…”

“This is Taylor, Fits. Not you. She’s not going to ditch school.”

“Even if I did get ‘kidnapped’,” I said, “it’s not like that would discontinue the punishment.
She’d say everything was for fear of me getting kidnapped again. If anything, it would
decrease what limited space I have.”

“We’ll find something.” Erica promised, “You can’t live like that for the rest of the year.
Not now that you have friends to party with.”

“What if you lived with your dad?” Trenton whispered into my ear, just loud enough for
only me to hear.

I thought about it for a moment.

My dad wasn’t living in the house at the moment, but there was no way he wouldn’t
support Mom in her decision to ground me. If I didn’t tell him why I wanted to live with him,
then there was a chance I could pass it off for a few days.

“I wouldn’t be right across the street from you.” I said just as softly.

He shrugged, “You could come over more. Our dads love each other.”

“That’s a disturbing thought.” Tanner mumbled.

I giggled, “Yeah, it kind of is.”

“You couldn’t really do anything then if her dad was always over there with yours.” Erica
frowned slightly.

Trenton smirked deviously, “We could…”

“Not with my dad in the house!” I hissed, slapping his thigh just hard enough to get the
point across.

Trenton gave me a small squeeze, “We’ll get rid of the old men for a few hours. Just
long enough to have a little bit of fun.”

I felt my face heat up as he spoke the last words.

Erica met my eyes, a knowing smirk crossing her lips. She knew about Trenton
fingering me, but she didn’t know that I returned the favor to him.

I planned to keep it that way.

I didn’t want her to know everything about my sex life.

“Look at her face!” Fits laughed, pointing towards me, “She’s all red! Shit’s already
happened before!”

“Shut up!” I snapped. Their comments weren’t helping my blush in anyway. If anything,
they were making it worse.

Tanner’s eyes were wide with surprise, “Did you two fuck already?!”

“No!” I hissed.

Trenton sat there with a smug smirk across his lips. I nudged him with my elbow
sharply in annoyance.

“She likes it rough.” He added, grimacing slightly at the pain.

“We did not have sex yet!” I snapped, glaring at Trenton, “Don’t say stuff like that! You
don’t know!”

“‘Yet’?” Tanner smirked.

“Shut up!”

Trenton pulled me to his side again, laughing. Underneath the table, he curled his
fingers around my bare thigh, pulling it over his legs. He did the same with the other so that
both my legs crossed over his lap.

“You’re so uptight sometimes, Sweetie.” He chuckled. “Just relax. They’re only kidding
about this kind of stuff.”

“I know.” I grumbled,

Erica caught my eye, giving me a dramatic eye roll. I kept my body as straight as I could
so as not to seem like I was literally on top of Trenton. He didn’t seem to mind my position.
His hand trailed slowly up and down my left thigh absently.

“So what if you ask your dad to go over to Trenton’s?” Erica asked.

I shrugged, “I don’t see the problem except once my mother tells him what’s going on,
and I highly doubt he’ll be ok with it.”

“So don’t let him find out before hand.”

“It’s not that easy…”

“I wish it was.” Trenton mumbled.

The bell rang, ending our conversation. I moved off of Trenton, picking up my half eaten
plate of food and taking it to the trash. The four others followed in suit, moving off in different
directions to their next location.

Erica shot me a sympathetic look before she left, “We’ll find something, Tay, we’ll sneak
you out eventually.”

I sighed, “Yeah, thanks, Erica.”

Trenton and I walked off to my next class slowly. He kept an arm wrapped around my
waist comfortingly.

~*~

Trenton tried to give me solace in Spanish class, and I plastered on a fake smile for
him, but my mood wasn’t changing. As the day came to a close, I found myself wishing more
and more it wouldn’t. I didn’t want to go out and get driven home by my mother. I didn’t want
to be within her company for any amount of time.

The thought of calling my dad and using him to my advantage seemed more and more
wonderful with every passing second.

While I doubted he would normally agree to it, the fighting between him and my mother
seemed like it might provoke him to do something rash.

I could only hope.

Eventually, the bell came to finish off my social time.

I had to force myself out of the seat, the last one out of the classroom.

“She’s probably already out there.” I mumbled as Trenton and I walked to our lockers
slowly, “I hate this.”

“Me too.” He grumbled, “Now I don’t get to take a pretty girl home anymore.”

“Shut up.” I giggled, shoving him playfully. He grinned back boyishly, shrugging. “You’re
being really nice lately.”

“It’s pity.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…”

“Shut up.” He rolled his eyes, coming to a stop at my locker.

I glanced at it casually, sighing, “I really don’t need anything from it. I just don’t want to
go out and face her.”

“The wicked witch of the west.”

I cracked a smile.

“Can you call me at all later?”

I shook my head, “She took my phone. I’m surprised she didn’t go to the office and have
my schedule changed. But I don’t think she thinks we share any classes.”

“I damn glad about that.”

“So am I.”

He turned so that he stood in front of me. I leaned my back against the locker, holding
his eyes. Trenton curled his fingers softly around my wrist, holding it. “I’m thinking it’ll be bad
if she sees me walking you out?”

I smiled apologetically, “Just a little…”

“Then I won’t.”

Trenton pressed his lips softly against mine remorsefully. My eyes fluttered close as his
lips moved gently against mine. He pulled away all too soon.

I opened my eyes slowly, biting my bottom lip.

“I’ll see you through the window.” He said softly before pulling away.

I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly, hugging him. Trenton seemed thrown off for
a second, but quickly moved to hug me back. I smiled into his shoulder that I finally
surprised him for once. His body was warm against mine, his breath moving past my ear
softly. I kissed his cheek softly before pulling away.

“I’ll see you later.”