A Safe Bet

"Peterson!" She slammed her locker and spun around to the voice that had called out to her. She almost expected it to be for Elena, since majority of them were for her and not for Harlow, but then she saw John walking her way.

When he reached her locker he leaned against it and said, "Tutoring won't be done in the courtyard today."

Harlow raised an eyebrow. "Um, what?" She was the one who would decide where they would study...not him. She was the tutor and he was the 'student'.

"Just...trust me." He winked and turned on his heel and headed towards his next class.

Harlow's jaw dropped. Trust him?! Why should she do that? What did John O'Callaghan have in him to be trusted, and what on earth did he have planned?

But she couldn't say anything anymore because John had already slipped into his class.

Harlow sighed and trudged up the staircase into chemistry, her mind on what John would be doing to her after school, whether it was good or bad, school-related or not.



Harlow was the last person to leave spanish because Sra. Bender pulled her aside and started talking to her about her sister.

"How is Elena doing? I heard what happened..." She asked, sympathetically. Of course, what with their mother being on the schoolboard, she would tell all of Elena's, and apparently Harlow's, teachers about the situation.

"Um, yeah..." Harlow nodded. Sra. Bender patted her arm and whispered, "She will be okay though. The first couple months or so would be rough, but Elena will start to open up and everything will be go back to normal."

Harlow smiled, unsure of what to say. Sra. Bender should have that conversation with Elena more than her.

"Gracias, Senora. I appreciate it." Harlow called out as she walked out the door. When she turned back around her body collided with someone.

"Oh my--" She exclaimed, her history book dropping to the floor. When she looked up, John had knelt down and picked up her book for her.

"Sorry, Peterson. I was just lookin' for you." John said, cheerfully. He looked around and jerked his head toward the senior parking lot. "Come on, I have something planned for us."

Harlow opened her mouth to protest but John was already halfway to the parking lot, Harlow had to run to catch up to him.

"What the hell do you have planned, John?" She huffed, trying to keep up with his long strides.

John grinned at her. "Relax, Harlow." He shrugged, slowing down as they walked through the parking lot, in search of his white truck. "It's just a new place to study, rather than the courtyard of our school. I'm sorry," He scoffed. "But I'd rather not spend more than necessary time at this hell hole."

When they reached his truck, John opened the passenger side door for her and placed her history book in the back seat, along with sliding her bag off her shoulder, and throwing it back there as well.

Harlow gave him an uncertain look but got into the car anyways. It was a weird feeling, being in John O'Callaghan's car. The car where a lot of girls must have been in...

John started the engine and started to back out, before turning the radio on and drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.

The drive was not long but very silent. Harlow was too confused to even speak about anything, no matter what John asked her. John, on the other hand, tried to keep a conversation, or he tried to sing, which Harlow found that he was actually quite good.

Harlow's confusion grew even more when John suddenly turned into a neighborhood. She looked around at the large houses that passed before, and finally John turned into the driveway of a very white house.

"Welcome to my house." John grinned, but when he looked at Harlow's face, his grin flickered. It was a face full of pure shock. Why did he take her to his house? Was it his way of apologizing? Bringing her to the lovely O'Callaghan home.

"John," Harlow sighed. "Why?"

John shrugged. "Because I want you to see what I'm truly like, Harlow."

She stared at him.

"Okay, I didn't mean to call you a standoffish bitch, alright? It just came out and I didn't mean it. But knowing you, you won't forgive me easily, so I thought, why not just back up my defense by bringing you to where it all lies?"

Harlow didn't say a word. She just took her back and slammed the door shut behind him.

He better have a nice home life or she was leaving and they would never leave the school grounds for tutoring ever again.



He ran his hands through his hair and watched, as if in slow motion, Harlow slam the door shut, with more force than necessary.

It would take a lot more than his words to get back to Harlow's good side again.

John climbed out the truck and slammed the door shut too, shuffling through his backpack to find his house key, where he opened the door and let Harlow in.

He walked into the kitchen, with Harlow closely behind him, and threw his car keys onto the counter and dead panned to the refrigerator.

When John turned around, he found Harlow gazing around his house. On the fridge, specifically, were full of things from him, Ross and Shane (Shane, especially). Her eyes focused on Shane's report card (straight A's) and an impressed look appeared on her face.

John furrowed his eyebrows. Why couldn't she have that look when he got an answer right on the psych packet?

He cleared his throat. "No one is home, so we can just go upstairs to my room and study...or we can stay down here in the kitchen." He changed his mind after seeing the look on Harlow's face.

She nodded her head and sat down at the table. Her floral skirt rode up a little as she sat down, revealing a large part of her thighs, making her legs look longer than they already were.

John caught himself staring at her long legs before Harlow looked over and said, "Are you ready?"

He flickered his eyes and nodded his head. "Of course."



John hadn't even looked at page five. He kept on staring at Harlow's legs, dreaming about how they would be tangled with his when he finally would be able to sleep with her. He could already feel that day coming.

"John." Harlow snapped, looking up to see him with nothing written down. "If you aren't going to work then--"

"Alright, alright!" He exclaimed, picking up his pencil.

Suddenly, John heard the garage door open. Harlow looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"It's just my mom and my brothers. It's okay." He assured her, as his mother and two younger brothers walked through the door. The two boys carried their backpacks on their backs and walked in.

Harlow furrowed her eyebrows, as John noticed that she had recognized one of them: Ross.

"Sup, John." Ross said to him, dumping his backpack on the ground. "Uh, hey." He said to Harlow.

"Hi." She said, sweetly, her voice a much higher pitch than usual. "I'm Harlow."

"I'm Ross." He grinned. Jenny O'Callaghan walked in and she smiled at the two of them and she said, "Hello, dear. I'm John's mom, Jenny. You must be John's tutor."

Harlow nodded her head. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I thank you." His mother breathed. "John would probably be nothing without you. No offense, honey." John shook his head, indicating that he didn't.

"This is Shane." John grinned, pulling his little brother into him and wrapping his arms around him and crushing him into a bear hug. Harlow's face brightened when she looked at Shane.

"John, guess what!" The ten year old exclaimed. "I aced my science test!"

"Whoa!" John exclaimed back, raising his hand so Shane could high five him. "That's great buddy. Now if only I could say the same thing about me." He muttered the last part so his mother couldn't hear.

"We will get out of your way." His mom said, ushering the two boys of of the kitchen so that John and Harlow could work. "John needs to study."

"Shane is adorable." Harlow whispered.

"He's my favorite." John shrugged. "How could I not favorite that kid? He's not annoying, unlike Ross."

"Where do I recognize him from?" She asked. John grinned. "He's a sophomore. I usually take him home but he has film seventh hour on Wednesdays."

"Oh." She nodded. "You know, you have a great relationship with your family."

John scoffed. "Its just my brothers, trust me."

"What do you mean?" Harlow inquired.

"I mean," He said. "You probably don't get this, but I'm pretty much a failure to my parents. I failed some of my classes at least once a year since fucking kindergarten. Hell, my parents think that I'm not gonna get a decent job anywhere and just work at fucking McDonald's or something." He shrugged. "If you weren't here, I promise you that my mom would probably flip her shit about something that I may or may not have done and blame me."

"It can't be that bad..." She whispered. John shrugged. "I've learned to accept it, really. I mean, my parents love me, I know that, but I'm just always going to be a failure to them."

"At least they love you..." Harlow whispered.

"What?" John asked, catching only a little bit of that. Harlow shook her head and said, "Nothing."

"Look, Har," He sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I honestly didn't mean to call you a bitch. You aren't one, okay? I was just angry because to my parents, you are perfect. If you were my sister, I would fucking hate you." He smiled slightly.

A hint of a smile was on Harlow's face when she said, "It's okay, John." even though a slight flicker appeared on her expression, that John did not notice. He said, "You are actually perfect, Harlow. I'm not lying there."

She smiled genuinely this time and said, "Thank you. But you really don't know."

"Then tell me." He leaned closer, resting his chin on his hands and he grinned his infamous crooked smile at her.

Harlow looked up at him and she shook her head. "Maybe another time."

Finally, it was one step closer.