The Devil's Pawn

“So…” I trailed off, poking at the mystery meat on my lunch tray. “I talked to Sam afterschool yesterday.”

Trenton froze in his place, looking up from his food. He sat across from me today instead of next to me. “Did you now?”

“Yep.”

He waited a moment.

“Are you going to tell me about what?”

“I can.”

“Don’t be a brat, Taylor. What did she want?”

I smirked discreetly, giggling, “I’m not a brat, Trenton. You’re the one who’s giving me attitude when I haven’t done anything.”

“Taylor.” He growled sharply.

I giggled, shaking my head softly, “It wasn’t important. I just told her that I didn’t want to deal with her anymore and to go away.”

“And she listened?”

I nodded, keeping my mouth closed. I decided to keep the little kiss to myself. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

He frowned slightly, “When did you talk to her? I thought you said that your mom took your phone.”
“She did.” I said quickly, noticing how his voice darkened at the thought of me being able to speak with Sam and not him. “I told my mother I had to ask a teacher for help after school. It wasn’t a long conversation.”

“Didn’t she see you two?”

“We went inside.”

He nodded, not responding.

It was just us two at the table today. Erica and Fits had ditched the day, while Tanner was in lunch detention for the rest of the week. It was nice sitting with just Trenton. It felt more intimate that way, and both of us preferred that.

Until we got a visitor.

“Taylor!” A familiar voice said happily.

A tray dropped next to mine. I looked up at the owner with surprise. Elizabeth smiled down at me, waiting for me to move over on the bench. I slide over to where Trenton would have normally sat, giving her enough room.

Trenton watched her cautiously.

“Hey, Elizabeth, what’re you doing here?” I asked, trying to give her a subtle hint to leave. I didn’t want her interrupting my time with Trenton. We barely had enough as it was.

“I thought I’d sit down with you. I haven’t seen you in almost two months.” She made herself comfortable, taking a bite out of her pizza.

“We talk all the time in Math.” I argued.

“But I miss sitting next to my best friend.” She turned her attention back to her food for a moment. I chose that moment to send Trenton an apologetic look. He shrugged, ducking his head down, hiding behind his hair.

“I miss you too, but Trenton and I were having an important conversation…” I tried to put as much emotion into my voice so that she wouldn’t be offended. “It was just something that we’d like to finish…”

“Oh really? What happened?” She asked.

It must’ve been a while since I had actually talked with her in person. I had forgotten how nosey Elizabeth could have been. It wasn’t her intentionally being rude; her personality was one full of curiosity. Especially in places where it shouldn’t be.

“Did you two get into a fight or something?” She asked a few seconds after getting no response from me.

“No, nothing like that.” I shook my head, “It’s more personal though.”

“Oh I gotcha.” She nodded, pretending as if she actually understood. I knew that as soon as Trenton wasn’t around she would bombard me with questions. I would have to think up an excuse quickly.

An awkward moment passed where the three of us sat in silence. I caught Trenton’s eyes, biting my lip. His face was impassive.

“So are you two going out?” Elizabeth asked, trying to break the silence.

My face heated up dramatically.

Trenton choked on his food. He pounded on his chest furiously, trying to dislodge the piece of food stuck in his throat. Trenton coughed up a carrot.

Elizabeth watched this with wide eyes, “I’m going to take that as a yes…?”

“No, we’re not.” I shook my head softly, meeting Trenton’s eyes. He nodded slightly that he understood. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand slowly.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, “Really? You both act like a couple all the time. And every time I’ve tried to talk to you outside of class, Taylor, Trenton’s been with you.”
“We’re neighbors.” Trenton said.

“Aren’t you grounded though?” Elizabeth turned to me, giving me a very skeptical look. “At least, that’s what you said to me the other night…”

“I am.” I nodded. Both of them gave me skeptic looks. As if I would lie about being banned from having a social life. “Trenton and I hang out in school because my mother doesn’t let me see him at home since I’m grounded.”

She nodded.

Another moment of silence passed between the three of us.

The pregnant silence filled most of the time in the cafeteria. Elizabeth didn’t seem to be able to sense that she was the cause of it. She finished her lunch slowly while neither Trenton nor myself touched our food.

Towards the end, I found myself watching the clock by the door as it ticked away slowly. Every now and then Trenton would glance back. I hadn’t noticed Elizabeth doing that once.

Trenton straightened up, looking at Elizabeth curiously. “You’re the girl that Brett was fooling around with for a while, aren’t you?”

Elizabeth looked shocked to see that Trenton was addressing her directly, but nonetheless, she nodded.

My eyes widened. I tried to catch Trenton’s eye. He couldn’t talk about Brett with Elizabeth. Not after what had happened only a few weeks ago at Erica’s party. Elizabeth didn’t know about this, and I intended to keep it that way.

“Yeah, I am.” Elizabeth said, “I wouldn’t really say we were fooling around though. We went out on a few dates, but…”

“You went out on a few dates with him?” I frowned, a pang ringing through my heart. Elizabeth had been my closest friend, and to hear that news for the first time hurt. I couldn’t stop myself from asking that.

She nodded curtly at me, “Yeah, I told you this all the time.”

“No you didn’t…”

She blinked, thinking for a moment, “Oh. Maybe I didn’t. Well, it was because you were always sitting over here.”

“Because you were always sitting with Brett!”
She shrugged, “We almost went out.”

Trenton snorted, but quickly turned it into a cough at my glare. Elizabeth gave him a peculiar look.

“Sorry, got a cough.” He said, holding back a smirk.

She nodded, turning back to me. “But like I said, we almost did. He said he couldn’t handle a relationship at the moment with his parents getting a divorce at the moment, though. That’s why we never did.”

I raised an eyebrow, “His parents are getting a divorce?”

“You didn’t know? I would have thought you being friends with Erica, she would’ve mentioned it by now.” Elizabeth said, “They’re pretty close.”

I thought for a moment.

Erica was close with Brett. I vaguely remembered her warning me that Elizabeth would only be used by Brett.

The bell chose that moment to ring. In unison, the three of us stood up, walking over to dump our trash. Elizabeth bid her goodbyes, heading the opposite way Trenton and I were going. We walked in silence for a few moments before I broke it.

“Why did you do that?” I asked softly.

“Do what?”

“Bring up Brett. I wasn’t in my right mind that evening—you know that. I didn’t realize what I was doing until it was too late.”

He shrugged, staring straight forward. “I got curious. I wasn’t thinking about that night. I had kind of forgotten you were messing with him before.”

His voice grew harder towards the end.

“You’re such a liar, Trenton.” I mumbled.

He chuckled, “Are you mad at me, Sweet cheeks?”

“I’m not mad, I’m just annoyed.”

“Because I brought up Brett while your friend was around?”

I nodded.

“You shouldn’t have let her sit there. I wanted to talk to you privately, but then she came around…” Trenton wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me to him. We stopped in the middle of the school as he pulled me to his chest.

“I tried to make her go, but she’s one of my best friends. I can’t bluntly say ‘go away’, now can I?”

“I would have.”
I hit his chest. “Yeah, but if I remember correctly, you weren’t the nicest to me when we first met compared to how you are now.”

“I didn’t think you’d be any fun.”

“What changed your mind?”

Trenton was silent for a moment. I pulled my head off of his chest, tilting back to see his face. A devious smirk decorated his face as he started at me with interest. I felt goose bumps rise up and down my arms as he watched me.

“Well?” I prompted.

He only chuckled, shaking his head softly, “That’s a story for another day when you’re in a better mood.”

I frowned, opening my mouth to take the conversation further when Trenton cut me off, motioning to the door next to me.

“Isn’t this your classroom?”

I glanced to the side, “Yeah but—”

“I’ll see you in Spanish.” He leaned down, pressing a kiss to my lips. It was a quick peck, one I barely had time to register.

I stood frozen in my place for a few seconds after he had left in surprise. Trenton wasn’t one for small pecks like that.

I had to admit, neither was I.

~*~

I sat in my room that evening before my desk with Calculus notes sprawled out all over the place. Tomorrow was the last test of the year in that class, and I was determined to make it my best score all year.

A light breeze blew in from my window, just enough to blow small strands of my hair back. I kept the edges of my papers underneath books to prevent them from flying away. The sun beat down softly, the only source of light in my room.

Downstairs, I could hear my mother making food in the kitchen.

I hummed to myself softly as I stared at the numbers on the papers, trying to review. The numbers blurred together, much to my frustration.

I groaned, burying my head in my hands.

The noise in the downstairs stopped for a few moments.

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head when the door to my room opened. My mother walked in, holding out the house telephone.

“Your father.”

“Thank you.” I took the phone from her, pressing it to my ear. “Hello Dad.”

“Hey, Taylor.” His voice was rough. It sounded like he hadn’t slept in a while. “How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine.” I glanced back. My mom nodded, closing the door behind her as she left my room, “Are you alright?”

“I… I’m perfectly fine.”

“Are you still staying at that motel?” I asked, recalling from an earlier phone conversation we had had that he had moved into a motel room.

He groaned, “No, I moved out of that. I’m staying closer to you know, but don’t tell your mother that.”

“Where?”

“Ah, you don’t know where.”

“I just want to visit you, Dad. I haven’t seen you in almost a month…” I trailed off at the realization of just how long it had actually been since I’d last seen him.

“We’ll see each other soon.” He promised. I had a feeling it was an empty promise. “Listen, I don’t know if your mother has talked to you recently—”

“She hasn’t.” I interrupted.

He faltered for a moment, surprised by my interruption. But nonetheless, he continued as if I never had, “—but she and I have discussed this for a while. I know you don’t want to hear this, but we’re going to get a divorce.”

I was silent.

It wasn’t because I was in shock or saddened, angry or frustrated, or even surprised by the news.

It was because of how impassive I felt about hearing the honest truth. My parents weren’t going to be living together. My mother would no longer be Mrs. Thompson. She would be Ms. Barry, as she was before she married my father.

And that fact didn’t have any effect on me.

“Taylor?” He asked after a few moments. “Are you still on the line?”

“Yeah.” I breathed.

“I know this is going to be hard for you to take. Your mother wanted to wait until it was official, but I thought you should know beforehand.”

“Oh.”
“Now, don’t you get mad at her. We’re both at fault for this. It takes two to tango.” He said, trying to comfort me. I didn’t need the solace.

“I understand.”

“Do you? Your mother and I have been talking about sending you into therapy. We know it’s hard on a child to have her parents separating.”

“I don’t need therapy.”

“Are you sure? I think you’d really like it if you could talk to someone about your feelings on this instead of bottling them up.”

I bit my lip, “I have friends for that.”

“But I mean a professional.”

“I think it would make me feel better to talk to my friends about this,” I hesitated before tagging on, “If I had a phone to talk to them with…”

“Don’t you have a cell phone?” He asked, sounding confused.

“Mom took it away three weeks ago.”

“Why?”

“She thought I was fooling around with Trenton Clark, the boy across the street.” I laughed slightly, as if it was the most lunatic idea in the world.

“Why would she think that?”

“Mrs. Anderson was getting to her head. So she took my phone away and now I’m grounded…” I sighed dramatically.

“That doesn’t make any sense. You’re not doing anything with that boy. I know he’s not your type. Why would she believe Mrs. Anderson?”

“I have no idea.”

I didn’t like lying to him, but I could see the chance and it was too good to pass up. I had to at least give it a try.

“I’ll talk to her about this.”

“No, it’s fine. I guess I’ll just serve my punishment.”

“No, no, I would like to talk with my daughter whenever I want to.” He seemed to grow increasingly angry quickly. I was surprised by this. “If I have to help pay for your cell phone bill, I want you to be able to use it.”

“It’s fine, really.”

“No.” He coughed off to the side. “Listen, sweetie, I need to leave. Good luck on the rest of the school year, and I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I love you. Both your mother and I do.”

“Thanks, I love you too, Dad.”

“Goodbye sweetie.”

“Bye.”

I closed the phone. My stomach twisted painfully. I knew he wasn’t emotionally stable and by saying my mother was doing something he wouldn’t approve of that would infuriate him. And I used that against him.

I was such a rotten daughter.

Nonetheless, I walked downstairs as if nothing had happened, returning the phone to its base. My mother commented that dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes. I nodded as if I had been interested in knowing that.

And returned to my room to study.

As I looked out the window across the street, I noticed how low the sun was getting. The light had darkened a lot more than I had noticed.

A shift in curtains caught my attention.

Across the street, my eyes strayed towards Trenton’s room. He pulled the curtains aside, standing in nothing but jeans that hung low on his waist. He leaned forward, bracing the palms of his heads on the edge of the window.

He smirked, saluting me.