The Rebel's Apprentice

Ethan took me to the tracks, after we picked up a crate of beer of course. Cant go to the tracks with out booze.
He said he was going to teach me a very important lesson that will not only make me more confident, it would help me out in later life. He didn't tell me what it was though. He just said the first step was being confident in yourself and in another person and being chatty helped too. He said what makes me confident is booze. So we drank until about half seven in the evening. Obviously I was drunk by this point. I don't know about Ethan though. I know he can handle his drink, but he still looked a little wobbly.

We were sat opposite each other, talking. I liked it when it was just us. All we did was talk. It was nice. I was beginning to really enjoy his company.
I stopped laughing at something funny he had said and watched him as he took another swig from his bottle. I scooted forward to him. His eyes darted to me, watching him intently. My vision blurred out of focus for a moment before coming back, clear as day. I got an urge just then, the same urge I had when we were in my broom cupboard. Ethan was still watching me watch him when I scooted closer still. I reached out and touched his face lightly. He didn't move but his eyes lowered.

"I think you're ready for your next lesson, sweetie." I dropped my hand and groaned.

"Ohh, I don't wanna study. I just like sitting with you and talking to you and being with you," I slurred. Ethan edged closer to me. I wasn't too drunk to notice that.

"It's a lesson I think you'll like," he said, still moving closer to me. We were sat cross legged opposite one another, our knees touching as we stared at each other.

"You said you've never been with a guy," he began, I lowered my gaze, ashamed.

"Hey," Ethan said gently so I'd look back up at him again. "It's okay, we're gonna fix that. You're inexperienced with guys and we're gonna fix that."

"Why?" I whispered.

"I feel like I owe it to you. You've come so far already and yet something you should have picked up on your own is still foreign to you. So we need to fix that." I nodded lightly, still unaware of where this was going.

"Okay," Ethan said. "So we're a little drunk right now, but that's okay, cause that'll make this easier and less awkward. Oh, and before we start, it's just business, babe." I nodded and Ethan slowly leant forward to me. My heart accelerated rapidly.

"Rules about kissing." Ethan quoted like he'd read them from some unwritten book.

"One: never kiss with your eyes open. Staring creeps people out. Two: never lick your lips before a kiss. Three: go easy on the tongues. Never start with tongue. Four: don't open your mouth wider than your partners. Five: it's okay to touch your partners face but never hold their head there to stop them pulling away. It's rude, above all it's creepy. You got all that?" I nodded, taking note in my head, knowing full well I'd forget by the morning, when I'm sober.

"Okay then," Ethan said. 'lesson one, the sweet kiss.'
Slowly he leant forward to me. I watched as he got closer. Would it be weird kissing my mentor? Funny, I didn't know kissing was on my curriculum.

"Rule number one kid," Ethan said and I flicked my eyes shut. I could only assume he had done the same. Shutting my eyes made me feel more vulnerable. I had no way of knowing how far he was from me or if he was coming at all.
I considered opening my eyes again when I felt the soft sweet lips off my mentor brush against mine. It was only brief and subtle, but he was right. It was sweet.
When I knew he definitely wasn't coming back for seconds, my eyes fluttered open. He was watching me intensely.

"Now you try it," he whispered.
This was what I wanted. Wanted now, wanted back in the broom cupboard. I wanted to kiss him. Taste his lips, feel them against mine.
I was totally drunk, want did I have to lose? I wouldn't remember in the morning anyway.
So without a single thought more I shut my eyes and pushed my lips against his.

It wasn't quite a sweet kiss, but it was definitely something.
I thought now would be a perfect opportunity to try out rule four and five, so I parted my lips a little and touched his face. He obliged by doing the same, momentarily forgetting where he was and the point of this exercise. He leant forward as we kissed, his hand on the small of my back, holding me closer to him.
I didn't mind. I wanted to be closer.
By this point I figured rule three should follow and tried to find something to do with my tongue. Ethan frowned and pulled away from me. I wondered if I'd done it wrong.

"No," he said more to himself than me. "I cant do this. I thought I could teach you this shit without getting carried away."

"You can," I encouraged, trying to pull him closer to me by the front of his jacket. He watched me a moment before shaking his head.

"You're drunk. You don't know what you're saying. This isn't you. This is a bad idea. You need to work this shit out on your own anyway, that's half the fun."

"But I wanna be good like you," I whined. He tried not to smile at the apparent compliment that he was a good kisser, and shook his head again.

"No. it just feels like I'm taking advantage. And besides," he said. "You're my student."

"You said it was just business," I reminded him. He sighed and combed a hand through his hair.

"Look kid, why don't I just take you home?"

I smirked a little."Maybe we can hang out in the broom cupboard," I suggested. He opened his mouth a little to object but couldn't find the words to. Eventually he just sighed and said,

"I thought you didn't remember the broom cupboard thing."
I touched his face again.

"Well I remember now." Ethan sighed but didn't move my hand.

"You are so much different when you're drunk. I cant decide if I like it or not."



The next morning I walked to the bleachers with a strong headache. I held my head as I squinted my way to our meeting point.
Once under the bleachers and out of the sun I was safe to open my eyes properly.

"Hey, Alice," Scott greeted. "What's up with you? Hang over?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess," I mumbled.

"Curious," Zach mentioned. "young Ethan here has a hang over himself. You weren't by chance drinking together were you?" Everyone watched us and my eyes darted to Ethan. He was sat on the floor, holding his head also, looking straight back at me. Funny I don't remember him drinking all that much last night. Though, to be honest, I don't remember much at all from last night. Ethan then shrugged and looked at Zach.

"So what if we did?" he asked breezily.

"Dude!" shouted Scott. "What do you mean so what? You had a piss up and didn't invite us."

"I don't have to do everything with you guys," Ethan defended. "Besides, this was just a teacher-student type thing. I was just teaching her shit." I didn't fail to notice Cookie glare at me suddenly.

Zach shrugged. "Whatever dude." the group was awkwardly silent so I thought I'd change the subject.

"So, am I tutoring you tonight Ethan?"

"Jeez kid, give me some space," he said, sounding strangely pissed off.

I frowned. "I thought you said we should keep up appearances?" I questioned. "you want that car and-"

"Dude!" he glared at me "What do you wanna do? Live in my pocket? Leave it will ya?" and just then as the bell rang he skulked off towards the school. I frowned as I watched him mooch away.
Had I done something to upset him?
Cookie smirked at me as she followed after Ethan.
Scott gave me an awkward smile as he walked towards the school also. I folded my arms and looked moodily at my feet.

"Wanna go behind the school?" Zach asked from behind me. I sighed, knowing I had no choice anyway, and nodded.



"So that was weird right?" Zach asked casually, blowing cigarette smoke into the air. I hugged my legs tighter to my chest and shrugged.

"What was?"

Zach laughed. "Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you. I know you got an IQ higher than some teachers here." I sighed, saying nothing. Yeah, I knew what - or who - Zach was referring to, I just didn't want to talk about it.

"Did you and Ethan have a fall out?" he asked. I shook my head slowly.

"Not that I'm aware of."

"How much did you drink last night?"

"Um, I dunno. A lot, I guess."

"and Ethan?" I wondered why Zach was asking so many questions.

"Bout the same I guess. But he can handle his drink so much better than me. I don't understand it."

Zach nodded. "So you both get wasted together one night and the next day Ethan doesn't wanna know you?" I glanced up at Zach, hoping this wasn't true. "A little fishy don't you think? Seeing he's had you glued to his side since the day you joined us." I looked away from him. It did seem rather odd that Ethan was suddenly giving me the cold shoulder.

"It seems to me that Ethan remembers something that you don't." My eyes darted quickly back to Zach's, which never left mine.

"Do you think I upset him?"

"Something definitely happened last night," Zach shrugged. "But what?" he pondered as he watched me. "What ever it is, it's really ruffled his feathers."
I sighed. Great. So now I have to try and make up with Ethan over something I don't remember doing. And Ethan Kowalski doesn't strike me as the forgive easy type.

"But anyway," Zach said, interrupting my thoughts. "Enough about Ethan, eh?" I nodded, trying to think of something better to talk about.
Then something popped into mind.

"Hey, Zach?" he glanced at me as he sucked on his cigarette. I licked my lips nervously. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"Now, don't answer if you don't want to but . . . who's the pretty ginger cheerleader?" he watched me a moment, not knowing what to say. The silence made me feel rather awkward. Then he chuckled to himself.

"You're a smart kid." I frowned, not understanding what he meant.

"Clearly not smart enough," I said. he sighed and crouched down so he was sat next to me.

"Her name is Pamela Morgan. Her friends call her Pam," he said with a light smile as he thought about her. "She's in my art class. She has a real eye for art. This raw talent that I've never seen in a cheerleader before. She talks to me. She calls me her art buddy, though we cant hang out, naturally. Her friends are secretly scared to let her hang out with me." I smirked a little in understanding.

"And you like her." he looked at me with a crooked smile.

"Like I said. Smart kid." I smiled proudly to myself.

"Why don't you ask her out? Don't you have a prom soon?"

"Nah, that ain't till next year, and besides, she'd never go with me."

"I wouldn't be too sure. I mean, she kept glancing at you on the field the other day. Maybe she likes you too."

"False hope kid, false hope." he stood up again and dropped his cigarette. "Now, I got this suspicion that I know what's up with Kowalski."

"Yeah?"

Zach nodded. "Yeah. So to confirm my suspicions you need to come to mine tonight."

"I do?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"We're gonna make him jealous," he smirked.



So I was all set to go to Zach's house that night, which I was a little nervous about, until someone sheepishly approached me.
I was stood out the front of the school, waiting for Zach, who was late by the way.
The person who approached me however was not the person I was expecting.

"Ethan?" I frowned. He kept his strained expression on the floor, his hands deep in his pockets.

"Hey, look Alice. Bout earlier," he began. "I'm sorry, yeah? I dunno, I just got a little pissed off."

"Um . . ." was all I could manage.

"So why don't you come to mine like planned?" he offered

"Oh . . . well, um, I'm actually going to Zach's toni-"

"What? Don't go to his," Ethan exclaimed sounding a little pissed off and disgusted that I'd choose Zach over him.

"Why?" I asked. Ethan's mouth hung open a moment as he tried to think of a reason for me not to go.

"Cause he's a douche," he eventually settled on. I sighed. "No seriously, kid, Zach's too hardcore for you. Honestly. At least I go easy on you. Besides," he added, frowning a little at me. "You're my student. Why the fuck wouldn't you come to mine?"

"I . . ." he had me there. Now I was lost for a comeback.

"That's what I thought," he mumbled moodily as he dropped his arm across my shoulders and led me away.



"So . . ." I began as I glanced around his room. We were sat on his bed in silence as Ethan rolled a cigarette for himself. "What was up with you earlier?" I finished.
Ethan sighed in irritation. "Jeez kid. Why are you so bothered about every little fucking thing I do? You got your own life. Try living it once in a while."
Oh, harsh, I thought to myself.
I just couldn't understand Ethan.
One minuet he's semi-apologizing to me. Next he's snapping at me.
I stayed silent. Ethan shook his head in frustration while I just felt my eyes start to sting.
I tried my very hardest to not cry, not even knowing why I was crying, but couldn't.
I sniffled and Ethan looked at me.
He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Are you fucking crying?" he asked.

"No," I squeaked, shutting my eyes so he couldn't see my tears.

"UGH!" Ethan groaned, making me feel bad for crying when really he was the bad guy. I felt Ethan shift closer to me on the bed and felt a stiff, tense arm around my back.

"Uh, there there," he tried to comfort, failing a little. Though I was thrilled he was even trying. "Why are you crying?" he sighed.

"Cause you hate me," I stated, my voice rising several octaves.

"Nah. I don't hate you . . . I just get pissed off easy and take it out on the person nearest me, which happens to be you . . . sorry," he shrugged. I nodded, trying to look like I was calming down when I clearly wasn't.
I couldn't understand why I was getting so emotional over this.

"Stop crying . . . um, please?" he asked. "I don't like it when my friends are upset . . . especially cause of me."

"It's fine really," I said as I dabbed at my leaking eyes. "I'm being stupid." he sighed again, guilt evident in his eyes. He rubbed my back before removing his arm from around me and getting up. He walked to his window and opened it. He then lit his cigarette and sat on his window ledge.

"Look what you're doing to me, princess," Ethan laughed. I smiled a little. I preferred it when he called me princess. It was more affectionate then kid, I found.
Ethan blew smoke out his open window and smiled back at me. "You're making me soft. You're a bad influence on me." I laughed. How could I ever be a bad influence on Ethan?
Only in a backwards universe would I ever be bad for Ethan Kowalski.