The Rebel's Apprentice

I didn't bother to ask Ethan where we were going. He'd never give me a straight answer and I'd find out soon enough anyway. I figured he'd take us to the tracks like normal. What I didn't expect was to stop outside his house. The place he always complained about.
Ethan turned to me abruptly and looked me in the eye.

"Okay I need your help, kid," he said quietly, looking back at his house. I nodded.

"Um, sure."

"I'm going to tell you straight up what the deal is, okay?" again I nodded. "Right. he began. I'm 17 in a few weeks and I wanna car." I stayed quiet as he talked. "Obviously I cant afford one myself so I want one for my birthday. It'll only be a crappy little thing, but a car's a car, right?" I nodded again. "But my mom says she wont get me a car unless I can prove I'm making an effort to be a good kid." He pulled a face. "Like she's some perfect saint." There was bitter resentment in his voice. "But if I can show her I'm trying to get my life back on track, she'll get me the car. See what I'm saying?"

"Uh, I guess so," I murmured.

"Good. So you're my friend. We've been given the afternoon off to work on our science project cause an important science fair is coming up." I watched him as he babbled, he'd really thought this through. "I know I shouldn't take you back to your roots but I need you to act geek. Talk geek to my mom and convince her I'm with the right crowd, yeah?" I nodded weakly, my stomach tightening into a knot. "Okay, lets do this."

Ethan walked ahead and I sheepishly followed. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. Once open, he stepped in and called for his mom. I stepped in after him and he threw his keys to a table by the door.

"Mom?" he called again. A short, brown haired woman with tired eyes appeared at the doorway with a hand on one hip and a cigarette in the other.

"Why the hell are you not in school?" she asked without anger. She was obviously used to this and growing tired of it.

"We got let out early to finish a science project," Ethan lied convincingly. His mom looked at me.

"Who's this?" she quizzed, like trying to catch him out.

"This is my friend I was telling you about, Alice. Remember?" He'd told his mom about me?

"This is Alice?" she scoffed.

"Yeah," Ethan said, jumping to my defence a little. "Alice is a grade A student. Isn't that right Alice?" Ethan looked to me and so did his mom.

"Uh, yeah. I'm a total teacher's pet," I stuttered. I wish I could say it was a lie.

"Alice has also agreed to tutor me." I have? "So you'll see a lot more of her." she will? "See? Told you I was sorting my life out" Ethan gloated. His mom narrowed her eyes at us.

"I don't trust you," she said simply. "How do I know this ain't just some girl you picked off the street and paid to say this shit?"

"Cause . . . Alice and I are really close friends, that's why. We have a real connection. We can really see eye to eye," Ethan said quickly, his slick and witty brain running a hundred miles a minute.

"Close friends huh?" his mom laughed. "I know what that means. You said that about the red head. Before you gave her the boot." Was she talking about Cookie? Ethan's eyes narrowed a little.

"Yeah well it's different this time. Alice is different. She's changed me," Ethan stated like it was the god honest truth.

"And what do you think about Ethan? Think he's changed any?" she quizzed me now.

"Oh, yes. He has. He's totally different. He's perfect now." I said, catching Ethan's eye. "We've both changed each other . . . For the best" Ethan held my gaze before I lowered my eyes shyly. Ethan's mom watched us with interest as Ethan lowered his eyes, also seeming a little shy all of a sudden. The short woman raised her eyebrows, obviously never knowing her son to just stay quiet. I could imagine him having a witty retort to everything.

"I'm impressed girl. Maybe you are having a slight effect on him." I let my eyes trail up to look at Ethan but he was still looking at the floor. "go work on your science project. We'll talk about the car later." Ethan turned his back and made for the stairs. I stood awkwardly in the living room a moment longer.

"It was nice meeting you," I squeaked in reflexive politeness before following after him.

"That was close," Ethan sighed as he shut his bedroom door behind me. He walked over to his CD player and I just stood awkwardly in the middle of his floor. "Ten points for thinking on your feet, kid." he smirked at me as he riffled through his CD collection. "I think she bought it. That car's as good as mine." He fiddled about with his CD player and I watched him, trying to convince myself that what I had said earlier was just a quick witted lie.
But something kept telling that it wasn't. that he is perfect, even though he's anything but. He's a nightmare. Never in a million years my type. So why do I find myself staring at him every so often? Maybe I'm just curious. Maybe I'm scared. Whatever it is, it feels good.

He looked back up at me as music started playing and smiled. It sounded very rock and modern. I think I may have even heard it on the radio before now. He opened a drawer and rooted through it. Pulling out a bag of pot. He sat on his floor and leant back against the side of his single bed. He patted the floor next to him and I obediently sat. He proceeded with polite conversation as he rolled the pot into a cigarette.

"So what music do you like then?" I shrugged. Music wasn't really something I knew lot about, though there were a few songs I quite liked. The only music I was into was my piano.

"Um, well . . . I guess Taylor Swift's okay . . . And I don't mind Michael Buble."

"Ah," Ethan grunted. "Michael Buble. My mom loves that fucker. Yeah, he's alright, I guess. But Taylor Swift?" he lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. "We gotta work that one outta you. Ever heard of Kings Of Leon?"

I nodded my head. "But none of their songs really." He stood up and walked back to his CDs. Eventually he pulled one out and walked back to the bed.

"Your homework," he said, handing the CD to me. "They're my favourite, them." he said nodding at the CD. I looked at the cover. It was a dark green and had a strange tiled effect, creating an odd image of a bird-like man. I remembered that I had seen something similar on one of Ethan's shirts.

"And, Jesus, whatever you do, don't ask Zach for music advice." Ethan laughed. "He'll just give you a Muse album." I didn't understand why he found this funny, but obviously Ethan didn't like them. Maybe they weren't heavy enough for his liking. Ethan blew more smoke into the room before he remembered something.

"Oh shit," he said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and holding it out to me. "Hold this," he said. I took it tentatively between my index finger and thumb as he jumped up and opened his bedroom window. He sat back down next to me and looked at me. "Mom knows the smell of pot anywhere," he smirked. I glanced at the cigarette I held and tried not to cringe. Ethan looked at me thoughtfully with his infamous thinking pout. I loved it when he did that. He brushed his fringe from his eyes quickly as he reached out for my hand. He opened it out and put the cigarette between my index finger and middle finger, closing them around it. He tilted his head as he examined his work. He nodded in approval.

"That looks so bad ass on you," he smirked. I looked at the cigarette, hoping he wouldn't make me smoke it. He laughed. "Don't worry," he assured me, taking back the cigarette. "I wont make you smoke pot on you first week." I relaxed a little. At least he had a little compassion.



"hurry up girls! Five minutes!" called my gym teacher into the locker room. I pulled my sneakers on and tied the laces with a sigh. Gym had never been my favourite. I wasn't bad at it, I just didn't like it. I stood up and tied my long hair back into a ponytail. As I shut my locker someone approached me.

"Alice I think we need to chat." I looked at Chloe to show she had my attention. Chloe was a girl on the debate team. We were quite friendly, back when I did stuff like that. "It's about these . . ." she licked her lips as she thought of the best way to describe what she was thinking, though I had a pretty good idea what this was about. ". . . people you've been hanging around with." I sighed and began to follow the other girls out the locker room and into the gym. Chloe followed by my side and tried again.

"Seriously, Alice. They're bad news."

"No they're not," I defended. "They're really nice. Ethan is sweet. They're just misunderstood."

"Ethan?" Chloe questioned incredulously. "As in Ethan Kowalski?"

"Yeah. He's taking good care of me, Chloe. You have nothing to worry about."

"Ever wondered why he's taking good care of you?" she jibed.

"Ethan's not like that, okay? He's going easy on me."

"Don't slip to the dark side Alice. It's dangerous over there . . . And full of Fs!" she called as I walked away from her and waited to be picked last for teams as usual.



"Hey, little birdie. Wanna cut?" Zach asked, appearing abruptly at my side as he dropped his arm across my shoulders and started leading me away from class anyway.

"Um, sure," I replied, knowing I didn't have a choice in the matter. Zach briskly led me out the school, somehow managing to not get us caught and took us around the back of the school. We sat behind the dumpsters and he pulled out his cigarettes. We sat quietly for a moment.

"Ethan's sure taken a shine to you hasn't he, kid?" I shrugged, not knowing what he meant or how he wanted me to respond. Zach squinted at me, the sunlight in his eyes. "I heard he took you back to his last night."

"He did," I confirmed uncertainly. "He wanted to show his mom his new goody goody friend so he can get a car."

Zach frowned. "That's not good y'know?" he stated. I wondered if he meant Ethan using me, but no. "He shouldn't make you act geeky when you wanna change. He's not being such a good teacher is he?"

"Oh no. Ethan is good. He's really looking after me."

"Yeah, I bet he is," Zach said mysteriously as he put his cigarette to his lips. This made me think of something.

"Hey, Zach?" he squinted back at me. I licked my lips nervously. "Is Ethan . . . um," I thought again for the best way to phrase it. "Did Ethan ever have a thing with Cookie?" Zach looked blankly at me a moment.

"You're walking on a minefield there kid," he warned me breezily. "Be careful."

"Oh no," I stuttered. "It's just Ethan's mom last night said that he was close friends with the red head before he gave her the boot. I just wondered what she meant . . . I wondered if . . ."

"If?" he pressed.

I shrugged. "If I just need to watch my back with Ethan."

Zach laughed. "Only if you're both very drunk would you need to watch your back." Zach leant forward. "He may not seem it, but Ethan is a real sensitive kid. I've known him, how long now? Four years? Yeah. Look Alice." That made me smile a little. "Ethan may act like a dick to women, especially around Cookie, but that's only cause she messed him about." Zach leant closer still, so he could whisper and only be heard by me. Not that anyone else was around to hear.

"Answer to your question? Yeah. Ethan and Cookie had a thing. But she fucked him over royally and now he's a lot tougher on girls. It'll take a lot to get him to open his shell up. He's a secretive little fucker, don't ya know?"

"Oh, I know."

"But like I said, he's taken a real shine to you," Zach shrugged. "Maybe you're just what the kid needs." I frowned. I wasn't entirely sure what Zach meant. I didn't want to talk about Ethan any more.

"So, I hear you're really clever." I looked at Zach. He merely shrugged as he blew silver smoke in the air.

"Smarter than the average bear I guess."

"That's cool, y'know?" I told him gently. He turned to me. "Really," I pressed. "Being smart is cool. It makes you cooler than the dumb jocks who cant even spell their own names without teacher assistance."

Zach laughed. "Tell that to the cheerleaders," he smiled. I smiled back, feeling a connection with Zach for the first time. We weren't so different, him and I.

"So what did you think of Ethan's mom?" he asked, keeping the conversation going.

I shrugged. "She's um, she's . . . nice."

"She's psycho, that's what she is," Zach shot back. He shook his head. "The amount of times Ethan's turned up on my doorstep at midnight, soaking wet in the rain cause his mom's locked him out again."

"Really? She didn't seem so bad," I pondered.

"Well, it's not so much her. It's her men. Everyone she's ever had hates Ethan."

"Why?"

"Cause Ethan's a little shit, that's why," Zach said bluntly. "He resents them cause they're not his real dad and so he rebels against anything they say. He always gets in fights with them and his mom does fuck all."

"That's . . . so sad," I said truthfully. I couldn't imagine my life being that way. Zach shrugged.

"I guess." He took a drag from his cigarette. "So what did you two do last night?"

"Well, we talked a bit. Ethan smoked some pot and he gave me music to listen to as homework."

Zach scoffed. "Lemme guess, Kings Of Leon?" I nodded and Zach laughed. "Predictable Ethan." Zach stood up and I followed suit. "I'll show you some real music." He led me away from the dumpsters and towards the parking lot. We weaved in and out of various cars until Zach pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked his car. He leant in and opened the glove compartment. I looked around the parking lot nervously, hoping nobody caught us bunking class.

"Here," Zach said, handing a CD to me before locking his car back up. "Now there's some homework for you," he smirked. Like Ethan had guessed, it was Muse.

"Oh, are these good?" I asked.

"It'll blow your mind," he enthused as he walked back through the cars. I tucked the CD in my bag and followed him. He stopped suddenly and eyed the car beside him.

"Hey isn't this Greg Holmes car?" he asked, referring to a senior jock who I've heard is a total dick.

"Um, I think so," I said, looking at the red convertible which cockily had the roof down. Why tempt the weather? I wonder.

"Yeah. It is," Zach confirmed for himself. He shrugged and continued walking. I cringed as I heard a toe curling scratching sound. I looked down at the car and the long deep white scratch Zach had made with his key. It was across the whole length of the car. Zach just casually kept walking, putting his key back in his pocket and then leaving his hand in there. I stared, mouth agape at the now ruined car, then at Zach, unbelieving at how he'd just shamelessly keyed Greg's car with a cheerful whistle. I snapped my mouth shut and hurried after him, refusing to look at the car as I ran past it.