You Can't See Me

“Let’s go Cena!” the officer barked at me, opening the single cell door. I slowly rose and walked over to him. The officer put long-chained cuffs on me and grabbed my arm starting to lead me down the hall. I slightly pulled my arm out of his grasp and continued walking; I didn’t want the guy touching me.

“John Cena, # 693110.” The officer told the receptionist at the front desk.

“What am I doing?” I asked angerly. They do this to much, not telling me or others, for that matter, what we are doing. They make the decisions and then keep it to themselves like it was a secret.

“Relax, Cena, your getting out, someone posted your bail,” the receptionist calmed. She was actually pretty nice and believed in second chances. She also believed that the prisoners were real people and didn’t hold any crimes against us.

“Well, it’s about time!” I complained. “I’ve only been here a year!”

“WELL, if you didn’t break in to someone's home, you wouldn’t be here at all, now would you?” the officer smirked. They always thought they were better and smarter then us. I fake lurched at him, scaring him enough to pull out his gun. I laughed at him.

“Johnny, you don’t want to go back for assaulting an officer, now do you?” the receptionist asked, hiding a smile.

“For one, don’t call me Johnny!” I snapped. “And for two, no ma’am, I would like to be free!” I sang the last word and put out my arms, as far as I could atleast, like a plane, deserving a chuckle from the receptionist and a glare from the officer.

“Anyway, here are some of your things,” the receptionist said pulling out a manilla envelope and dumping it on to the desk. There I saw my silver watch, my keys, my wallet which contained basically my ID and drivers liscense, my dog tags, and a small picture of my family and I.

“Am I getting my clothes back?” I asked, looking down at my current orange attire.

“Yeah, Officer Bill will take you there next,” the receptionist explained.

“Oh, cool,” I laughed.

The receptionist then came around to where I was and gave me a hug, earning a look from Officer Bill.“Now I’ll miss you Johnny, but that doesn’t mean I want to see you back here, got that?” she ordered.

“See you around the block,” I laughed following Officer Bill’s lead to the next room.

Inside the room, he simply took the cuffs off my hands and handed me a duffel bag and went to sit by the door while I changed. Inside the bag, I found my red basketball shorts with the one black and white stripe going down the sides, white tank, and big black hoodie; let’s just say that robing that house was more of the heat of the moment type of decision. I also saw my Boston black cap and my white Nikes. When dressed, I put my things in my pockets, and walked back to Officer Bill. Officer Bill rolled his eyes and led me to the entrance of the prison, where I heard a loud buzz and saw the gates open. Outside, there was a car and out stepped no other then Ronnie Keys, one of my best friends.

“Ronnie!” I yelled cheerfully.Walking over and giving him a hug.

“Sup bro!” Ronnie smiled. Ronnie was a skinny, 5’9” Caucasin. He had a stud in his left ear, which was sometimes hidden by his brown shaggy hair. His eyes were pure silver but he hated when anyone mentioned it because he got them from his father, who would’ve beaten Ronnie to death if it wasn’t for me.

Ronnie’s dad was always an abuser but he never crossed the line. That is until one night in September, Ronnie and I were sitting on the couch watching TV when his father came home. We didn’t think anything of it but when I came from the bathroom, I saw Ronnie’s dad kicking the stuffing out of him.

His dad had a bat in hand that was covered in Ronnie’s blood. Instincts kicked in and I ran over and tackled Ronnie’s dad to the floor. I was on top and he tried to hit me with the bat. I grabbed the middle of it and pushed it down. I held the bat down while he punched me repeatedly in the head. I felt blood oozing then my face and my eye began to pulse in pain.

Finally, he gave up on the bat and began to punch me with both hands. I tossed the bat to the side and attacked. I punched him several times before he finally blacked out. When I stood up, I kicked him twice in the stomach and walked over to see Ronnie.

Ronnie was in bad condition. I sighed and walked back to Dad of the Year, I got the car keys from him, picked up Ronnie, and took him out to place him in the passenger’s side of his father’s red pick up truck. I then drove to the hospital. I drove to the ER part of it and grabbed Ronnie. I hurried inside.

During the drive, Ronnie’s breathes began to come slowly and more ragged. He also threw up blood twice. I later found out that the reason his dad did that was because he found out that the gang Ronnie and I had joined just earlier that day was a rival of his own gang. We didn’t tell anyone it was Ronnie’s dad who beat up Ronnie and partly, me, we just said he was jumped.

Ronnie was also with me when I got arrested. He wanted to stay and come with me but I told him to go, that he could just bail me out. This way, we wouldn’t both be suffering. He’s lucky he’s fast or he would’ve been getting out with me when our sentences were officially up.

“Prison food sucks!” I laughed, answering Ronnie’s question. “And what the heck took you so long!?”

“Well, your bail wasn’t up for 6 months and then I had to get the money!” Ronnie yelled back, getting into the car while I got in on the passenger’s side.

“So how’ve you been?” I asked Ronnie as I turned up “Superman” by Eminem on the radio.

“Not bad, Jazzie is pregnant!” Ronnie said delighted. Jazzie, or Jasmine as her real name goes, is Ronnie’s two year girlfriend. He was planning on “tying the knot” but I wasn’t sure when.

“Really? How long?” I asked amazed.

“13 weeks!” Ronnie smiled. “We already know the sex of it, too. I’m going to be the proud father of a son!”

“13 weeks! Why didn’t I know this already?” I asked shocked at the lack of information I was receiving.

“Jazzie didn’t want anyone to really know until we knew the sex,” Ronnie laughed.

“But I’m your closest friend?” I grumbled.

“Relax, you’re the first one to know anyway, we left the ultrasound almost right before I came to get you,” he explained.

“Fine, what ever,” I rolled my eyes.

“So, have you heard from Cindy?” he asked about my girlfriend.

“Yeah, she broke up with me last week,” I laughed.

“How come?” Ronnie asked, just missing getting hit.

“Relax on the driving; I don’t want to die on my first day out!” I scolded. “And she didn’t want to be in ‘love’ with a convict!”

“Ohh, you're so bad Cena!” Ronnie teased. “God, you’ve done worst that the woman didn’t even know about!”

“Yeah, well, what ever,” I shrugged.”Where are we going anyway?”

“We got to stop at Mr. Cut’s place, he wants to see you,” Ronnie exclaimed. Mr. Cut is basically the leader of our gang, the Chain Gang. He was a fair, nice man, if you were on his good side. I don’t know anyone still alive that was on his bad side.

“Man, if he gives me another petty job to do on my first day out, I’m gonna be pissd!” I complained. “It’s our time for something big, we’ve been here for over 5 years now, and the biggest thing I ever did is rob Crystal Shines, the jewelry store.”

“Yeah, well, what you gonna do?” Ronnie said.

“Absoultely nothing,” I laughed.

The only sound in the car was the music for 15 minutes when we pulled into a drvieway. It was a simple one story house with egg shell yellow paint. We got out of the car and went up to knock. A little girl answered. Mr. Cuts has 4 kids and a wife. He had Dereck (prefers Dice) , 16, Tamie, 13, Lacy (prefers Tink) 6, and Allan, 3. His wife’s name is Chloe.

“Hey Tink,” I laughed. She was dressed in a pink tutu, green leggings, and a long sleeved Disney Princess’ shirt. Her curly brown hair was in messy pig tails and she had dirt covering her freckled face.

“Johnny!” Tink yelled grabbing my leg, she was the only person I let call me that. I picked her up.

“Where have you been?” she asked forcefully, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Vacation!” I gave her an excuse.

“For a whhoolllee year?” she asked.

“Yup, I needed to make sure Santa kept you on his good list,” I smiled.

“Oh, well in that case,” she hugged me around the neck.

“Okay, sweetie, where’s your daddy?” Ronnie asked her as I made a funny face at her.

“In his office,” she laughed as I put her back down.

Ronnie and I made our way around the little girl, now on the floor playing with Barbies. We knocked on the door and waited.

“Cena!” Mr. Cuts greeted, shaking my hand. “So how was your vacation?”

“Sucked,” I laughed, sitting down in one of the two black chairs in front of Mr. Cuts’ desk. Mr. Cuts went around sitting in the red chair on the other side, other then that, there were two book shelves, a desktop computer, and a bureau in his office of brown carpet and olive green walls. He also had photos of his family all over; you would never be able to tell that he was a gang leader.

“And Ronnie, how are you and that girl?” he asked, getting out a file folder. He was very in touch with the guys he worked with.

“Jazzie’s pregnant,” Ronnie smiled.

“Well, that’s great!” he exclaimed. "I love children!”

“So what’s the job?” I asked trying to get to the point.

“Well, you guys know I trust you two the most, right?” He asked. “Well, its about Dice, he came home about 3-4 weeks ago basically beat up, He wouldn’t tell me what happened and I don’t want anyone but you guys to do this, I want you to follow him, make sure he’s okay you know.”

“Won’t that look kind of creepy?” I asked. I did not want to go back to prison because his son got scared.

“Well, you two just got to be good enough so that it doesn’t I guess,” Mr. Cuts shruggered.

“That all?” Ronnie asked.

“Yup,” Mr. Cuts smiled.

“See ya,” I said, getting up and turning around while Ronnie got the folder from Mr. Cuts.

“So what do we do now?” Ronnie asked me back in the car.

“Well, we should start the job Monday, when he has school,” I suggested. “In the meantime, it’s Friday and I just got out of prison, let’s get fucking drunk!”

“I like the way you think!” Ronnie laughed.

“Let’s go get changed up all nice,” I said.

“I got a girlfriend,” Ronnie reminded.

“Fine! You stay in your ridiculous work clothes!” I yelled.

“Whatever, I’ll drop you off, and pick you up at 9, okay?” Ronnie said.

“Fine with me, bro,” I smiled.

We were then at my apartment building. I swiftly got out of the car and walked up the steel steps up to my room. An hour later, I was ready and waiting for Ronnie. I had on black jeans, a short sleeved, black button up shirt, and a gold chain around my neck. I had on complete black nikes.

When Ronnie came he was wearing a long sleeved, white, button up shirt, a sliver chain, and black jeans. He also had on white sneakers. We were ready to get buzzed.

“When is the taxi coming to get us?” I asked Ronnie in the car. We might be part of a gang but we never drank and got behind the wheel. We always had a taxi come get us, the company knew we would probably be drunk, so the driver would know who to look for. The company we always called, lets just say, got a big tip.

We pulled up to a local club, “Clichés”. The name of the club was brightly lit with green lights and in cursive in the air. There were also two spotlights, which ment there was some special event happening tonight. The line was around the corner, atleast. But instead of going to the back we walked up to the doors.

“Yo, Gio!” I hollered to the guard at the door.

“Sup, bro,” He said, breaking the stern look to smile at me. “How’s prison?”

“Why does EVERYONE ask that?” I laughed.

“Well, you can’t spend your first night in line, just come on in,” Gio smiled, stepping over to let us in. Gio would’ve let us in anyway, excuse or not, but this way the people in front don’t give him to much of a hassle.

Right when I walked in, I spotted the first cutie I was going to hook up with. She was average size, long blond hair, and was wearing a jet black dress that showed all her curves. I put two fingers to my head, saluted Ronnie, and walked over to her.She saw me before I reached her and leaned back on the table behind her, waiting.

“Hey, girl,” I smiled. “Name’s Cena, you?”

“Holly,” she smiled back. Her eyes were bright blue and her red lipstick matched.

“Can I buy you a drink?” I asked her, putting out my hand.

“Yeah, sure,” she smiled, taking my hand. I lead her over to the bar and ordered one beer and a Shirley Temple, for the lady.

“So where do you work?” I asked, creating small conversation. Lets be honest, I really just wanted to get in her pants, after a year of none, and I needed it.

“I’m a principal, at Roosevelt High School,” she said, sipping her drink.

“So what are you doing out here drinking?” I laughed.

“Hey, every girl needs a night out every now and then, even principals,” she shrugged.

“Well, I guess that makes sense,” I laughed.

“I love this song!” she laughed, finishing her drink, as a sort of party, techno song came on. She grabbed my hand and we went to the middle of the dance floor. For a high school principal, the lady had some cool moves.

“Hey, want to come home with me later?” I cooed into her ear, on the way back to the counter.

“No, thanks, I’m good,” She smirked at me.

“Come on!” I tried to beg.

“Look, you look like a nice guy, but I really don’t want to, I’m not that type of girl,” She said, squeezing my shoulder a bit. “Plus, I got to go now anyway.”

With that she left. I got drunk and wind up just bringing home some red head wearing a slutty outfit. When I woke up the next day, I asked her, politely, to leave. She said she had to anyway, to go to work, at 4 in the afternoon. It was fine with me; I couldn’t get Holly out of my head. The way she dipped when we were dancing or the way she talked.I got out of bed and grabbed two Tylenol out of the cabinet above my kitchen sink and a glass of tap water. I chugged the water down with the pills. I then went and got dressed in jean Capri’s and a long sleeve, Boston Red Sox jersey with a cap to match. I then called Ronnie to come pick me. In half an hour he was outside waiting.

“Headache?” I asked him, laughing at his head in his hands. He mumbled something, probably insults, in his hand. “Here,” I said handing him bottled water and two Tylenol I grabbed before leaving.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, chugging the water and pills, very much how I did.

“So what are we doing today?” I asked as he put the car in drive.

“We’re going to school,” He said and chuckled by the confused look on my face. “One of us, meaning you, has to get a job there, to keep an eye on the kid while he’s at school.”

“Why does it have to be me?” I whined.

“Uh, because I have a baby on the way so I have to be free as much as possible,” Ronnie excused himself. Now how am I supposed to fight with that?

“Fine, but you need to drive me, I’m not taking a bus and sure as hell not walking,” I demanded.

“Fine,” Ronnie smiled, knowing that he actually won.

“So what school are we going to?” I asked, turning on the radio. “And isn’t it only Saturday?"

“Roosevelt High,” He answered. Why did that name ring a bell?

Ronnie turned into the school’s parking lot. The school was tall; I’m guessing 3 story building that was red brick. It was actually nice.

“You go on and apply for a janitor position, here’s your paperwork, and today is some teacher work day so they should be there.”

“Really? A janitor?” I pouted like a child.

“Well, you can go take the 5 minute quiz for your college degree then,” Ronnie retorted. “Or you can re-enroll yourself, considering you dropped out. You’d be the coolest 23-year-old there!”

“Whatever,” I mumbled, taking the folder and getting out of the car.

I slowly walked over to the building, giving Ronnie the bird before going in. The hallway walls were white with cork boards every other foot on the wall. There were papers for clubs, encouragement, rules, lunch menus, etc. covering all of them. The lockers were a dark blue. It wouldn’t take a genius to see that the school’s mascot was a bear and their colors were blue, red, and green. The floor was a regular grayish tiled floor. I followed the “Main Office” sign and knocked gently on the open door before walking in.

“Hello?” the woman at the desk asked. She was wearing a scarlet red suit that matched her short black hair and red lipstick. She was currently typing.

“Uh, hey, I’m here for a janitor position?” I asked, noticing a plaque on her desk that said “Ms. Rolanda”.

“Oh, okay, just go right on through,” she said, pointing to lightly wooden door that was behind her to her left.

“Thank you,” I said with my best manners. I gently knocked on this door as well and walked in. The principal, or that’s who I’m assuming it was, had her back to me. Her long blond hair was in a ponytail. She had a slick, navy blue skirt on with a matching, mid torso jacket, I could slightly see the white dress shirt and her black heels. She was on the phone.

“What do you mean we won’t get the uniforms?” She yelled. “These kids raised that money themselves and we want what we paid for! No, we cannot change the color!”

I cleared my throat, making her turn. My jaw dropped it was...Holly? She stared at me for a second, in surprise, but then smiled awkwardly and pointed to one of the two red chairs in front of her auburn desk. I waited patiently as she got off the phone, which ended with a “Thank You”, which I’m guessing means she got her way.

“Ever think of becoming a lawyer?” I smiled.

“Uniforms are easy, choosing between the innocent and guilty, bit harder,” She chuckled.

“True,” I agreed.

“So what are you here for?” She asked, taking the folder that I was handing out to her. “Cena, right?”

“Well, Cena is really my last name but I like it better then John, and I’m here for a janitor position,” I shrugged.

“So you’ve worked at other schools then?” Holly asked.

“No, this will be my first,” I answered.

“IF you get the job,” she reminded me of the possibilities. “So I see you went to jail, what for?”

“Stupid actions, basically,” I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it.

“Well, I guess, if you’re not going to tell me, I can’t give you the job, you might not be safe for the kids,” she said, frowning.

“I got caught breaking into a house,” I mumbled.

“Was there a certain reason for it?” She pried me for information.

“Not really, just felt like it,,” I sighed. “Like we were too good to be caught.”

“Obviously not then,” She chuckled, receiving a fake smile from me. “Well, other than that I don’t see anything wrong, you got the job, just come early Monday, like 5:30-6 o’clock, school starts at 7:30.”

“A.M.?” I exclaimed.

“Yes, in the morning, so I guess no partying,” she said. “When you come, ask for Andrew Jones, he’ll give you a tour and show you the ropes. Have a good weekend!”

“You too,” I mumbled, walking out of her office and waving goodbye to Ms. Rolanda. I headed right out to the car.

“How’d it go?” Ronnie asked as I got in.

“I need to be there by 5:30-6, Monday morning,” I mumbled turning up the radio as he laughed.