Status: Completed, please continue on to sequel ----->

We Won't Back Down

Chapter Eighteen.

Chapter Eighteen.

Sheila Elwell.

“Where the hell have you been?” our mother yelled at Athena as she made her way beside me on the couch. I rolled my eyes and nudged her with my leg to let her know that she had nothing to worry about, even though the worst hell was coming to her.
“I was studying at a friend’s house, I have a huge test tomorrow and I wanted to be here when you got here…you weren’t at the airport when you texted were you?” She said, her voice not raising a decimal as she looked at her in disdain.
“Young lady, we are asking the questions here.” Our father said as he came from the other rooms, glaring at the three of us like we did something wrong. “I thought I told you three to keep this place clean?”
“You don’t call this clean?” I piped in, I was the one they regretted having the most because I voiced my opinion and they hated that. “We work our asses off, trying to clean it to your standards and…”
“Obviously it isn’t good enough if I have to mention it.” He snapped at me, causing my blood to start boiling and I bite my lip. “Now girls, we are just checking up on you for a week’s time and in that time you have to prove to us that you deserve to stay here without us. If you do not, then expect to start packing up your things for a big move and say goodbye to this hell hole.”
“You have got to be kidding?” Dahlia stood up, “You cannot do that when we are graduating this year.”
“Well, you should have thought about that long before you left town.” Our mother cut in and all of our mouths dropped open and we exchanged the same looks. They had been calling around before they arrived here, I should have fucking known this was why they were back. “You have been staying at a boy’s house and Sheila has been skipping school, do you girls think you can get away with things like this and not have us find out?”
I stood with Dahlia and Athena, as our parents grabbed their coats from the coat rack and turned back towards us. Our father was the first and last to speak, as always.
“We are going to a hotel, but believe me, we will be checking in every once in a while this next week.” He said, turning and they both left soon after that, then the pressure had finally got to me. My body started shaking from all of the possibilities that were going to run through my system and I just started bawling, falling back onto the couch.
“Shh, Sheila it’s gonna be ok, they can’t get away with it.” Dahlia whispered as they both tried their hand at calming me down.
“Are you kidding? They already got away with it.” I couldn’t stop the shaking, it just kept getting worse. Athena hugged me to her, fighting to stop the shaking, but it showed no sign of stopping at this point.
“Dahlia, call Max and get his ass here now.” Athena ordered, throwing my phone to her as she started rocking me back and forth. Dahlia called him up and talked to him, frantically telling him to get his ass there as soon as possible.

Ten minutes later.

There came a knocking at the front door and Athena answered it to reveal Max looking broodingly troubled. He paced over to me and grabbed me by the wrist, dragging me out into the hall not saying a word. He led me to his car and opened the passenger side door for me and I got in. He made his way back around to the driver’s side and his stereo blared to life with “No Matter What” by Papa Roach. I started fixing my hair because I knew had matted to my face and I looked like hell. Max still hadn’t spoken to me yet.
We arrived at a familiar place and I knew exactly where he had taken me instantly. It had been the place we went to escape when we were younger, a beautiful river that ran through our town and with five willow trees that hid it from the road. We sat down by the river in complete silence, but from the reflection I could see the both of us…there were tears streaming down Max’s face.
“Max…Max look at me.” I whispered and he did, almost immediately buried his head into my chest. I held onto him and felt myself slowly starting to break down, trying my best to fight back the tears and be strong enough for him.
“I don’t want you to go…I just got you back.” He whispered, looking up at me and his hair was matted to his face and he looked so miserable.
“Max, it’s not fo…I’m really sorry, believe me I don’t want to leave.” I put my head on top of his as the tears started flowing from my eyes. I didn’t want to lose him; things went so terrible the last time that I stopped being friends with him.
“Then don’t! Stand up to them Sheila. If you don’t… I’m going to lose you all over again.” He said through sobs and I instinctively began to rub his back soothingly. I shushed him and he continued to cry into my bosom. After he had calmed down a bit, he sat up and reached out to touch his face and wipe away the tears that had stained his cheeks with smeared black eyeliner. His eyes were red and puffy, immersed in the salty liquid that made the green in his eyes sparkle that much more.
“Max… You know my parents. If they so wish, all they have to do is say the word and I could be shipped off half away across the world. I have no control Max…” I cast my gaze down half way through my explanation because I couldn’t bear to look him in those gorgeous eyes that I had recently grown so fond of.
“There’s no way… I won’t let you. I won’t let them take you. You can come live me and my mom! You already know she loves you to death. It would be just like old times all the…time.” He got excited for a moment and then assumingly realized how absurd it sounded and I could hear his voice drop in enthusiasm as his face drained of the single flash of hope.
“Max hunny… you know that will never work. I’m not emancipated, as much as I wish I were. But even if I was, I would be terrified to mess up our friendship by driving each other nuts from living together.” I smirked at him, attempting to cheer him up by poking fun at our tempers.
“I know…I just… I wish there was something I could do to stop it.” He said looking up at me and meeting my gaze, a forced smile cracked his lips and I was glad to see him trying.
“We all do…” I replied and crawled over to him. I sat on his lap facing him and straddled his waist with legs, grabbing his face and forcing him to look at me. “I’m sorry. For everything, you know.” I apologized to him, for every shitty thing that had happened between us in the past, for every word that had gone unsaid, and for every hurtful word that had. I hated myself for pushing him away. Now I had given him the tiniest sliver of hope that we would make amends patch things up, a chance to get things back to the way they used to be before our friendship turned sour.
He didn’t’ say a word. He just began to lean in and pull my torso into his so that there was virtually no room for Jesus between us. His lips had lightly brushed mine when an unfortunate familiar voice cleared his throat, causing Max to instinctively push me off. I glared up to see Robert standing a few feet behind Max, whose face had flushed crimson.
“Am I uh… am I interrupting something?” He questioned, a sly smile crossing his lips and he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Of course not. What would you be interrupting? There’s nothing to interrupt. You’re not interrupting anything.” Max practically stammered and Robert almost burst out into a fit of laughter and it was kind of funny to see Max scramble. “So uh… wh- what’s up man?” He asked standing up to face him.
“Gotta piss dude. You’re in my usual natural bathroom spot.” He said and I could feel the expression on my face twist into disgust and I stood up quickly, brushing myself off at the thought.
“I’m umm… I ‘m just gonna go wait in the car.” I said and I booked it through the willows, trying to save myself from the fate of seeing something inappropriate. But then I realized that I had forgotten to steal Max’s keys in my attempt to flee a cock show. I made my way back to the clearing, spotting Max and Robert conversing. I finally got close enough to hear bits and pieces of the conversation and I’m afraid I did not like what I heard.
“No dude! Ugh! Of course not. You know I could never date her. She’d just be another notch in the bedpost.” My heart stopped along with my feet when I heard this come out of Max’s mouth. He was talking about me?
“Yeah?” Robert replied pulling out his phone and pulling up something and showing it to Max. “Well this says otherwise.” Rob sounded as happy as I was to hear that.
“Come on man. You know that’s purely the art of seduction. She means nothing to me. That day in the hallway where I pressed her up against the wall was a show of dominance, and with her she needs to be reminded of her place. She’s just another bitch to fuck and ditch bro.” I could feel my anger flaring up inside of me and hot tears began to travel down my cheeks and I collapsed on the dirt dusted ground next to the tree trunk I was hiding behind. How could he?
I slowly gained some composure as I made my way through the willows and into the clearing again, causing the conversation between the two to stop almost immediately. I walked up in front of him, holding my hand out and biting my lip.
“I forgot to grab the keys…sorry.” I stated and he handed them over, keeping a smart ass grin on his face and I saw a glimpse of him winking at Robert as he smacked my ass. I didn’t say a word as I turned and made my way back up to his car, surprisingly keeping my composure. I zoned out on the sign only a few feet from where we parked and didn’t realize how much time had passed before Max had gotten back into the car.
“Are you feeling better?” Max asked and I looked at him and nodded.
“Much.” I said, not giving him much to work with and keeping up my façade and he didn’t seem to notice my change in attitude. What an oblivious asshole.
He tried to make small talk all the way back to my house, which I mostly shot down with one word to one sentence answers. We finally got to my house and I stepped out of his car, sending a look his way.
“Thanks for this, really opened my eyes to the reality around me.” I stated and moved away from the car door, slamming it shut and moving quickly to the apartment. I noticed him back out of the driveway and down the road, fuck him and the car he drove here in.
I opened the door, ignoring my sisters who kept asking question, but I moved quickly to my room and locked the door. This room didn’t feel like my room at all, it seemed like an eternal abyss and so foreign to me that I just dropped to the floor, having lost all the feeling in my legs. Something caught my attention in the corner of my eye, making me sit up slightly and pull whatever it was from under my backpack.
It was a red bandana…not just any bandana though…it was Jacky Vincent’s.
I never thought someone could fuck me over any worse than he had, but now Max had done exactly that and worse. That feeling of love that was making its way back into my heart for him had been ripped apart yet again. It was just like before when he and Ronnie were in their major druggie phase and he was hanging out with the entirely wrong crowd. He would make fun of me and do everything in his power to ruin my day, like pushing me into a fountain in winter or setting my books on fire in the courtyard. He ripped my heart out then and now it was almost worse, who knew that was possible…

And now I understand why willows weep.
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm gonna apologize for the way I made Max in this chapter, I know this is not how he is in reality and this is an entirely fiction story. I really hope we don't lose readers for this and we realize it has mostly sad chapters lately, but the happy times will come back. We promise.
Please keep reading and subscribe and comment and all that.
Until Next Time.
Happier Times to come.