Teenage Dirtbag

When I got on the school bus next Monday, I didn't spot Haley on it. Strange, she always got on at the stop before mine. I took a seat, and grabbed my phone out of my pocket to send her a text where she was. By the time the school bus arrived at school, she still hadn't replied. I went inside and walked straight to the cafeteria to find Alex, who was sitting in a corner next to the vending machine, listening to music and playbacking along.
"Alex" I said. He clearly didn't hear me. I pulled the string of one of his earphones, causing it to fall out of his ear, and causing Alex to jump up.
"Oh hey" he said, when he saw me.
"Do you know where Haley is?" I asked immediately.
"Uhm.. no? Why would I? If you don't know then I sure as hell won't know either.. Why?" Alex replied.
"She wasn't on the bus and hasn't answered my texts for 30 minutes" I said.
"She hasn't answered for 30 minutes? Dude calm the fuck down, she probably just overslept" Alex said.
"Haley never oversleeps" I disagreed.
"Well, there's a first time for everything" Alex said. "You shouldn't worry this much."
I sat down. "I guess you're right" I muttered.
"Of course I am" Alex said. "I'm sure she's fine"

The bell then rang and Alex and I got up and walked to our Biology classroom. Despite Alex's attempt to make me feel better, I was still kind of worried. This wasn't like Haley. I couldn't focus throughout the whole class, and by the end I still hadn't gotten a reply from Haley. I walked out of the classroom as soon as the teacher allowed us to and I decided to call her, but after ringing for a few minutes, my phone went straight to voicemail. Alex came walking up to me.
"Is she still not answering?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"Why are you so worried though?" Alex asked. "I mean, if you wouldn't be at school, nor would you be answering your phone, I would probably just assume you were still asleep. It's not that rare at this hour..."
"Well yes, but the difference between her and I is that my father is not addicted to alcohol. That man is unpredictable, and something just might have happened" I explained.
"Ah right.. I guess you've got a point there. Well, just try to focus on school. Maybe she'll be there by the end of the day, or maybe she'll text you back in 10 minutes saying she's sick or something. And if not, you'll just go by her house after school. I'll even go with you if you want me to" Alex said.
"Thanks man, I just might take you up on that offer" I replied.
We then walked to our Spanish classroom, and came in pretty late, but the teacher let us off the hook.

By the end of the day there was still no sign of Haley, so Alex and I decided to go by her house after school. By now I was pretty worried. Haley wouldn't sleep till fucking 3 PM, now would she? We got in Alex's car and I gave him the directions to Haley's house. Within 15 minutes, we arrived at her house. The house was dark, and it didn't seem like there was anyone home. We got out of the car, and rang the doorbell. We waited for a minute, and I rang it again. After ringing the doorbell for 10 minutes, still no one answered. Alex had tried to look through the windows, but the curtains were closed.
"I have a bad feeling about this" I said.
"Yeah, I must say I'm with you on that..." Alex replied. "Any other ideas where she could be? Where does she usually go when something is up?"
"Uhm.. well, I guess my house" I answered.
"Then let's go to your house" Alex said, returning to the car.

He and I both got in the car, and Alex drove to my house. From the corner of the street, I could see a huddled girl sitting on the steps of our front porch.
"Well I guess we found her" Alex said, looking at the huddled figure as well.
He pulled over in front of my house, and we both got out quickly. When Alex and I got closer, I notices red stains on Haley's white blink-182 shirt. She wore that shirt all the time, and I was pretty sure those stains were not supposed to be there.
"Is that blood?" Alex asked whispering. I shrugged.
"Hales?" I asked, when we were only a few feet away from her.
Her head shot up. Her face was covered in the same red liquid as her t-shirt.
"What the fuck happened to you? Where have you been all day?" I exclaimed. "We were fucking worried"
"Jack shut up, I'm pretty damn sure she has a good excuse" Alex said, and I realized he was right.
We sat down next to her.
"Seriously though, what happened? Is that blood?" I asked at a lower volume.
"My dad" she muttered.
"I knew it. What did he do?" I asked, while I lay my arm around her.
"The usual. He had had too much to drink this morning. Rachel had already left for school, but I overslept. He was already irritated when I got downstairs. I was in a hurry to get to school on time, but he was suddenly very chatty, and wanted to talk about all kind of stuff. I told him I didn't have time for it, but he kept on asking questions, keeping me from leaving. I got irritated, lost my temper and yelled at him to leave me alone. I should've known better. He lost it. Started screaming how I shouldn't talk to him like that, how I was such an ungrateful little piece of shit. When I tried to walk away he put out his foot and made me trip. I scribbled back up, but before I even stood up straight I felt his fist against the back of my skull, and everything went black. I woke up a few hours later to find my father passed out on the couch as usual. I ran out of the house, to yours, and then I realized I had forgotten my phone, so I decided to just wait here till you got home" she explained.

Alex and I had been dead silent throughout the whole story. What her father did was horrible, but the way Haley told the story was even more shocking to me. She was showing no emotions at all, she wasn't scared or angry, because she was used to it. This had happened so many times before.
"Jeez, I'm so sorry.. I had no idea your home situation was that fucked up" Alex said shocked.
"Yeah well, it's not exactly something I tell everyone I meet" she said shrugging.
"Hales.. You have to get out of that house. I know you love your dad. I do too. But the man living in your house is not your dad anymore. You don't have to deal with this just because he's your father. I know the loss of your mother has been and is still hard on him, but he can't do this to you and Rachel just because of that" I said.
"I know... But it's not that easy. I can't just leave and go live somewhere else. I have to protect Rachel, and if I leave my dad won't survive for a week" Haley said.
"I hate to say this, but that's not your problem, it's his. He should be taking care of you, instead of the other way around. I don't think you have to leave your father to let him figure this out on his own. I think he needs professional help, but my first priority is to get you and Rachel out of there. If you're not gonna call Child support, I will" I said determined. "But first we're gonna clean you up, come on".
We got up and went inside my house. We took Haley straight upstairs to the bathroom. I gave her a wet towel to clean the dried blood from her face, and then went to get one of my sister May's shirts for her to change into while Alex stayed with her. After she cleaned her face, Alex and I went downstairs, giving her privacy to change.
"Has this happened before?" Alex asked as we sat down in the kitchen.
"Unfortunately yes, a couple of times." I answered.
"Poor thing" Alex muttered.
"I wouldn't tell her that if I were you. This is exactly why she doesn't tell anyone about her father, or why she doesn't want anyone coming over to her house. She doesn't want their pity" I said, while opening my laptop that was on the kitchen table, to search for the Child support phone number.
"No wonder she's so tough" Alex said.
We were silent for a few minutes.
"Hey man, should I tell Rian and Zack you're not coming to practice?" Alex asked me.
"Yeah that.." I started.
"No, you are going to practice" Haley had appeared in the doorway. "You're not missing your first practice on my account. Can I come though? I really don't want to go home"
"Yeah of course" I said quickly. "Do we have to pick Rachel up from school as well?"
"No, I just texted her to stay at a friend tonight" Haley said.
"Well, then we should probably go" I said, closing my laptop, but not before Haley could see what website I was on.
"Look Jack, I really appreciate your concern and I love you for being so protective of me, but this is something between my father, my sister and I, that I don't walk to involve you in" she said.
"Haley, I have been involved from the moment you and your mom were in that car crash..." I muttered.
"Yes. You were there when I lost my mother. Please don't take my father away from me as well" she said.
I didn't know what to say to that. I guess she was right. This was her decision.
"Sorry, you're right... I just wish I could protect you from all of this" I said.
"I know, but I don't need a protector, even though I love you for even trying" she said, smiling a little.
She hugged me tightly and then turned to Alex.
"And Alex, thanks for being here as well. This must all be pretty overwhelming for you, to hear this all at once" she said and she hugged him as well. "Thank you"
Over Haley's shoulder I could see Alex smiling. Though I felt so bad about what happened to Haley, I couldn't help but see possibilities in their hug.
"Now let's go" Haley said, as she let go of Alex. "You guys shouldn't be late for your first band practice!"
We agreed, and we all went outside, got in Alex's car and drove to Rian's house.