Wild Things.

Jack walked down the corridors of her high school in a hurry. She wasn't supposed to be there today. Her aunt wanted her to stay home and rest, after all the reading of the will had been in the day before and everyone was still grieving. However, Jack had to see him. She knew that he would comprehend her, he always understood her. He would ease the pain he was feeling due the loss of her great Zia. He would make her feel well…

The sound of her heels hitting the ceramic tiles echoed through the empty hall and she quickly looked to the clock on the grey wall. He wasn't teaching his summer classes yet. She had time to speak with him.

She finally reached an office that a wooden plaque on the left side of the door. A smile appears on her face when she read the name Elliott Walker. Before opening the door Jack smooths her clothes and tugs her hair behind the ears.

The wide smile that was on her lips promptly disappeared once heard a strange noise. Wanting to discover what was the reason behind the noise she had heard, she moves her hand to knob and quickly turns it. Oh, Elliott Walker was fine but he was accompanied by a blond girl that was half naked rubbing her body against his. The girl was so into the kisses and the touches she was receiving from Elliott that didn’t she noticed that someone had entered the room. When the girl moved her hand inside his pants Jack made a loud noise startling Elliott and the girl that quickly blushed in several shades of red.

“Get out” Jack says with rage. Her hands were trembling and she couldn’t believe what she had just seen.

“Jacqueline--” Elliott slowly walks to Jack.

“Get out of here” Jack yells making the girl run from the office as she buttoned her clothes. “And you” she looks to Elliott. “How could you?”

“Jacqueline” Elliott sighs and reaches for Jack’s hand. For a second she left her hand between his, it was a familiar feeling but quickly came to her memory what he had done and she pulls her hand from his with violence. “Let’s talk about this calmly…” Elliot says pointing to a chair. “Sit please”

“No.”

“Very well.” Elliott says calmly. He starts to button his shirt. “She was a distraction… A simple distraction…”

“Am I a distraction too?” Jack looks to the man she loved with rage. “Do you give these stupid bracelets to all of your distractions?” She says shaking her wrist making tinkling noises.

“You are special…” he says with a small smile. “The others are--”

“Others?” Jack dodges his hand that was trying to touch her. “How many do you have?”

“Five…” Elliott whispers. “Jackie, please calm down.”

“Don’t you dare call me Jackie” she said with disgust. “I… I thought you loved me… How could I be so stupid? I bet its part of your act… You say you want to help them, then you read Byron to them and then you fuck them…” Jack moves her eyes to the ground. She was about to start crying and she didn’t want Elliott to witness it.

“I never read Byron to anyone except you” Elliott whispers. “You really are special to me--”

“I don’t want to hear anymore!” Jack shouts. She moves her hand to the bracelet and tries to remove it from her arm. She wanted to throw him the bracelet but it didn’t budge. She was unable to open it alone.

“You’ll hurt yourself. Please calm down… I will get you some tea and we can discuss this calmly.” Elliott says trying to reach Jack that was pulling the bracelet from her wrist as she groaned.

“I don’t want tea and I don’t want anything to do with you” Jack starts crying.

“Jac--” her hand violently collides with his face. He gasps in surprise and moves his hand to the place where he had been hit.

Jack quickly opens the door and starts running down the corridors trying to get away from him. From what she had witnessed and from every moment she had spent in that same office speaking to him. She could hear Elliott calling her but his voice was quickly muffled by the students that started leaving their classrooms.

With all that she was feeling she kept bumping into people that yelled at her as she tried to reach the exit. She had to get away from that place. She was almost reaching the door that led to the parking lot when she bumped into someone that grabbed her arms.

“Jack? Shouldn't you be home?” Ryan asks. When she heard his voice she stood there quietly with her head down to prevent him from seeing her tears. “Jack?” He pushes her head up and she starts sobbing. “What happened? Did someone hurt you?” Ryan asks with preoccupation but Jack didn’t respond, she continued crying. “I’ll kill the motherfucker that hurt you. Just tell me who it was…”

“Take me home Ryan… Just take me home…” Jack pleads.

“Okay… I can keep you company…” Ryan says embracing Jack. Jack shook her head in response. “You shouldn’t be alone… You look miserable” He said as he walked with her to his car.

He opens the door and pushes Jack into the passenger seat. After a few seconds he realized that she wasn’t going to fasten the seat belt so he did it for her.

The ride to her home was relatively silent. They didn’t speak and the only thing that both of them could hear was Jack’s violent sobs. Ryan knew that Jack wouldn’t speak while she was in that state and he didn’t want to make it worse by asking her questions. He knew that when she was ready she would speak to him and he would kill the person that made her cry like that.

Ryan stops his car in the entrance of the De Luca household. He touched Jack’s hands lightly to capture her attention.

“We’re here” Ryan whispers. Jack cleans her face with her hands. “I can stay with you… You know that right?”

“Thank you Ryan” Jack mumbles as she removes the seat belt. “Don’t tell this to the others… Chester would probably fight with everyone till he discovered why I was crying…”

“Okay but will you tell me what happened? Not now but when you’re ready?” Ryan adds looking to Jack. She forced a smile onto her lips and kissed his cheek lightly.

Jack was still trembling and it took her awhile to insert the key in its hole. Her aunt, Maribel, was speaking with someone through the phone. She quickly ran to her room trying to avoid her aunt’s questions because she wouldn’t exactly tell the truth. She couldn’t disappoint her aunt like that and with that thought she started crying harder.

She entered her room and removed her shoes. When she bent over the rings on the necklace made a small sound and the image of her parents came to her mind. If they were alive they would be so disappointed. She could imagine her mother crying and her father yelling. She could imagine the disgusted looks on their faces.

She walks to the corner of her room with her wallet and opens it to face her parents. She started to apologize over and over as the tears continued falling from her face wetting the plastic that contained the picture. She wanted to wash the feeling away. She wanted do something that would make them forgive her. She wanted to feel well again.

~*~

“Cadenza!” Maribel rushes to the door when she sees her daughter.

“Mamma? What’s wrong?” Enza dropped the keys on the table and devoted her attention to her mother.

“Something happened with Jack,” Maribel whispers. “I don’t know if she was in a fight again… She wasn’t bruised or anything but she doesn’t stop crying…”

“Did she say anything?” Enza asks trying to comprehend what was going on.

“No, she doesn’t speak… She went to the shower an hour ago,” Maribel says with a worried look. “The water must be cold and she will catch a cold…”

“I’ll speak with her mamma” Enza took off her shoes and walked to Jack’s room. She didn’t bother to knock and quickly walked to the bathroom. She opens her mouth with surprise when she notices that Jack was sitting inside the shower with her clothes dressed and crying. She was hugging her knees and trembling. “Jack? What’s wrong?”

“Enza?” Jack opens her eyes and looks to her cousin. “Oh Enza” She starts crying even harder.

“What happened? Why are you like that?” Enza quickly closes the tap and walks to a cabinet to remove a towel. “We need to get you out of those clothes…”

Jack started remove her clothes slowly and when she was just in her underwear Enza warped the towel around her. She took her cousin to bed and sat near her.

“Tell me what’s wrong” Enza said lightly.

“I was so stupid” Jack says between sobs. “I… I… slept with a teacher”

“Cosa hai fatto?” Enza yells. Jack starts crying louder.

“It was stupid… I though he loved me… He gave me this” Jack shows her wrist to Enza. Her wrist was bruised and swollen from all the attempts that Jack had made to remove it. “He… He.. He had others…”

“Cosa stavi pensando?” Enza takes a deep breath trying to calm down. “When did that started?”

“Do you remember when I punched a guy because he called me orphan?” Jack mumbles.

“It’s hard to keep track of all the times you get into a fight… But I do remember”

“I had detention with him” Jack makes a small pause and hides her face between her hands. “He put a bandage over my hand and he spoke to me. He said he’d help me stay out of troubles and sat beside me reading Byron. She walks in beauty, like the night. Of cloudless climes and starry skies…” she whispers. “I… I fell for him”

“Oh Jack” Enza starts caressing Jack’s back. “You were foolish but he’s older than you… He should have known better”

“He’s not that old” Jack mumbles. “He’s twenty-six… Enza I don’t want to go back to school”

“I guess that settles it” Enza says mysteriously.

“Hum?” Jack looks to her cousin that had a small smile.

“I was thinking… I wanted to leave Vegas but I was postponing the decision” Enza says lightly. “I didn’t want to leave you but I knew how much you loved Vegas… I want a fresh start and you could use one too.”

“Really?” Jack says with excitement.

“Yes” Enza kisses Jack’s forehead. “However you’ll have to find a job there… It will keep you away from troubles...”

“I’ll do anything.”

“Good. We will speak with mamma…”

“Do we have to tell her what I did?” Jack asks with shame.

“Yes” Enza says lightly. “You made a mistake, a foolish one… And you have to face your mistakes.”

“Okay” Jack whispers. “Could you take this thing out of me?” Jack extends her arm to her cousin.

“Of course. I’ll help you with mamma too” Enza says with a smile. After the fifth try, the girls realized that the bracelet wasn’t going anywhere. “It’s stuck”

“It will serve as a constant reminder of what I’ve done” Jack whispers.

“I hate when you sound that depressed” Enza says after a pause. “Go dress yourself. I’m going to make the arrangements.”