‹ Prequel: Cougar
Status: I got yo' back, Jack. Bitches be crazy.

Puma

Chapter Seven --

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TUESDAY - DAY SIX.
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Birds chirped outside the window, waking me from my sleep – I scowled and shot them down with my Mag-Fed 20mm Rifle.

Setting the weaponry to the floor, I stretched and yawned, extending all my extremities to their full length, not stopping to be considerate of Carter Sauce as he slept peacefully beside me.

Well, didn’t have to. I stared at where Carter had fer sure slept the night before and saw the space was empty. Being a smart cookie, I looked to the now unclaimed bed that used to be his roomies, but, nope, it too was empty.

I sat up and looked around the sides of the bed. Maybe I knocked him off? Only seeing my riffle, I lounged back in wonder.

Well, wtf? Where is he? He probably got up to go…errr….somewhere to do…errrr…something.

Eh.

The possible time of morning registered to me suddenly and I checked the bedside clock for what I should do. Ten-ish til forty-five after. Forty-five is when they check my room. Might as well take myself back before it’s too late. I grumbled to myself as I stood from Carter’s bed, prayed he wasn’t badly maimed, and made my way to the door. It stuck shut, so I had to give two attempts before it budged.

The slight screeching his door made when I finally got it open drowned out the creaking the bathroom door produced when it was scraped ajar. I was jerked back by a hand going over to cover my mouth and the other locking around my waist.

Since I’ve coincidentally been subconsciously reflecting back to all the horrible events that have happened to me – the one being Vanessa shaking me awake at night – I became rigid at the reminder of New York when that one a-hole tried to choke me out.

I’m not sure that paragraph made sense, but I’ll say it again, meh, it’s like six a.m.

My reaction was to elbow the jerk in the gut and flee, but my mind was dumb and instead filled with panic, hindering me from making an escape. My head was tipped back over his shoulder, and that’s when it all came to me. Though, the room was dark, my eyes adjusted readily to the outline of their face – it was an angle I knew. An angle I’ve seen while macking on his neck and falling asleep on his shoulder.

I jabbed my elbow back, my scolding of his name sounding muffled against his hand.

“Carter!” I snapped and just like that, he laughed, letting go. Not waiting for his explanation, I straightened myself out, groaning, “I swear you’re trying to kill me.”

“I’m trying to protect you,” he countered, his amusement fading quickly. He grabbed onto my forearm when I rolled my eyes. His voice turned protective and stern. “You have to look out for yourself. You can’t trust them. You can’t trust anyone. They’re all out to get you. No one really cares – no matter what they say; no one give two shits about what happens to you in here.”

He had this crazy look in his eyes – you know, the one that’s like: ‘I’m a crazy, rabid squirrel – AND I WANT MY COOKIIIEE!’ (Over the Hedge reference, ya know. We watched it Sunday.)

But as quickly as he dabbled into the manner of a conspiracy theorist, he jetted back to his ‘normal’ self – and I use that word loosely. He released his deathgrip on my wrist and laughed shortly, waving his hands nonchalantly.

“You know what would’ve happened if I wasn’t someone you could trust?”

“Yeah, I would die. Thanks.”

He started to smile and I gave him a sharp look, turning to the door.

“Hey, wait,” he said, gently re-grabbing onto my arm. “Lemme walk you.”

“So you can push me into a door then claim you’re ‘training’ me for the real world?” My sarcastic question raised his smile even higher. Carter shrugged as he pushed himself in front of me to look out into the dimly lit hall.

“You just understand me,” he whispered back, eyes darting left and right. Coast was hopefully clear because seconds later, he yanked me out of the room and we sprinted a few doors down. A door creaked behind us and I looked back to see it wasn’t Carter’s but rather the one opposite of his.

Nurse Joy stuck her head into the dark room, asking habitually, “Tom? Tom?” then “Sawyer? Boys, get up.”

Carter threw me into my room the exact moment she backed out. He (clearly) didn’t run in with me. I stumbled back, watching him jam the door shut, him on the other side. Hoping he had his own little plan, I long-jumped over Skip’s bed and into mine, diving under the covers.

Looks like I could have Skip-speed walked to my bed, because there wasn’t a knock at my door for about thirty more seconds. But that gave me time to stop breathing like a woman in labour and sweating like a whore in church.

I think I pulled my ACL on the jump, mate. Fuuuuuccckk.

Aww. Jenny? Anyone remember blonde Jenny that tore her ACL? She’s, like, chapter two, isn’t she?

Aw. Miss her too.

Brighter-than-it-actually-was-light from the hall blinded me through my eyelids when Nurse Joy finally creaked open the door to say, “Tyler? Tyler, hon, are you awake?” Feigning sleepiness, I grumbled, flinging my hand in the air at her, mostly praying she’d shut the effing door. It’s too early for that shit.

And she did, not bothering to tell me to wake Skip, because she always tells me that. But once she left, I stayed under the covers and sighed, feeling a heaviness in my eyes before I pulled myself up and shifted to have my legs hang off the side of the bed. I got up, slipped on my slippers and woke Skip the second the door was pushed open again as Debra came in to take over the job.

I left her to it and headed for the nurse’s office for my morning check-up. I was stoked to hear Nurse Jack tell me, “Your wounds are healing nicely. I think those stitches are ready to come out.” But within minutes, I was cringing.

Stitches are a bitch to put in and take out. Well, it tingled and felt soooo weird. When it was finally over, I left her office with my sleeves willingly rolled up.

They felt so stuffy constantly being under bandages and sleeves. Let's just remind myself to not pull any of that 'self-harm' bullshit ever again.

I sat in the lounge with Hunter until Carter came out, then I sat with both of them until Carter and I were called out into the hallway. We said goodbye to Hunter who apparently has the breakfast period after us and went down to the dining room.

Thirty minutes later, I followed the usual group out of the lift and into the hall of the fourth floor to see something strange. A woman stood over at the nurse’s station, chatting with the two nurses that sat on the other side of the counter.

She didn’t appear to be a nurse at all. Not even a visitor. A little overdressed. Dark, perfectly pressed suit, long straight blonde hair that came down to her shoulders, and a pair of thin-rimmed black glasses that her hazel eyes suddenly looked pointedly through at me when one of the nurses – who appears to be little Georgie - turned her head and nodded in my direction, as though the gesture was answering the woman’s question.

They didn’t get the chance to say anything, like tell me to come over to them, when Carter did that for them. He grabbed onto my hand lightly, pulling me over to the station where he waited patiently for the woman and the nurse to finish their conversation before he started his, presumably about work.

But as he leaned his elbows onto the counter, Georgie smiled up at me.

“Tyler Williams,” she said to the woman, holding her hands towards me. Carter raised a brow and so did I. She continued, “What timing. Tyler, this is your lawyer.”

“Attorney,” the woman corrected Georgie. “Very little difference between the two, but…” She stuck her hand out passed Carter - he was right in between us - for me to take. We shook as she introduced herself. “My name is Alana. You can call me Lana for short.”

Oh, shit. Great. Court soon.

Though she already knew my name – and probably much more about me – I still felt the compulsion to introduce myself to her.

“Tyler,” I said, putting on a tight smile. She gave one right back.

“Is there a place where we can talk privately?” Lana asked no one in particular.

Georgie said, “Of course,” hopping out of her chair to show her true adorable height and told us to follow her. I made a face to Carter’s confused one and followed Georgie and my attorney.

We weren’t led anywhere special. She literally took us to the lounge.

“This is the most private place we have at the moment,” Georgie laughed, taking us to one of the farthest back and secluded table in the lounge. “No one really comes back here, anyway. They all stay pretty close to the TV.”

Once we sat opposite of each other, Georgie left us alone. Lana began to talk as she took the manila file she was apparently holding and flattened it onto the table, flipping open to the first page. My dumb picture.

Does everyone have a copy?

“We have a lot to discuss today and, unfortunately, not a lot of time or privacy. Now the purpose of this hearing is to determine your rehabilitation potential.” There’s a pause and her cool, clam, and collected voice drops down into a serious tone. She asked me, “You do understand what you’re being charged with – and I mean, really understand?”

There were two possibilities – drugs or Rebeca. Which was this one? Or was I going to have to deal with both at the same time?

I nodded to her question, holding back my own, hoping she might make it clear later on. And she does.

But first, she flicks through the folder – it’s got a lot more in it than the one in the nurse’s office and the one Kas has. She stops on a particular page and takes out a white paper. She gave it a brief look and slid it across the table towards me. She held it in place as I looked down at it, then left it there before me. I didn’t read what it says and instead look down at my hands.

“That is called a charge sheet. You can guess what’s on it.”

I stare at the wall behind her.

“Your charges,” she said again, taking the slip of paper in front of her. “Possession of Illegal Drugs – heroin, felony to the fifth degree and marijuana, a minor misdemeanour - and Statutory Rape,” – My stomach tightened. – “Unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, to be more specific, and that age gap, oof...All that together, we’re looking at…I’d say a fine of about $4,000 and for jail term of around a year – more or less depending on the jury and, of course, how well I defend your case.”

I’m going to hurl. I dropped my head into my hands.

$4,000 and a year in jail?

“That age gap,” she repeated as if I’m even listening. “That’s gonna be what gets us. Not to mention your previous job - …Are you…okay?”

“I’m gonna vomit.”

She laid the file onto the table so that it keeps her place and she leaned forward to put her hand on my shoulder. My instant reaction was to jerk myself away from her, and I did. She sighed, taking her hand back to pick the folder back up.

For the first time, she sounded uneasy.

“Listen, Tyler. I know that this is the last thing you want, but you need to face what you did, no matter the consequence. I’ll try to help you and get them to see your side, but there’s no sure way to know what the verdict will come to. If it doesn’t work out how you want, you need to understand that and face the facts. Okay? But just so you know, I like to win. I’m bringing my A-game. That’s one thing you can count on.”

I kept my head in my hands and nodded as best as I could.

I could almost feel Lana relax. Her composure was back. Voice was measured.

“What we need is for them to see your progress. Keep a good name here; don’t take yourself down. Clean yourself up. Your hearing is scheduled for Thursday. I’ll meet with you one other time before the trial.”

In two days? That’s all I have? Then what? Friday’s my last day here, isn’t it? Or is it Saturday? Is it like this so that if I do fail, they can just ship me off to jail immediately?

I only get one shot to prove myself?

That heavy feeling in my stomach was back and I was getting a headache.

Lana is speaking again. Slipping the charge sheet back into the folder, she said, “Don’t leave any details out in your hearing. About you, your relationship with the minor. Don’t hold anything back. Honesty will get us far. Lies make the jury cringe especially when they already know the truth. Everyone already knows everything about the case. Don’t make up lies just to save yourself, because in the long run, those lies will come right back to you.”

“Everyone knows?” My voice cracks when I finally look up at her.

“It’s all over the news,” she said with a nod. “In the newspapers. I thought you knew. Cases like this seem to get a lot of attention these days. Teacher sleeps with a student then gets busted for drugs? That’s a new one. Given the details about you and the girl, it’s been catching like wildfire. There’s this nosey little reporter who’s been trying to follow this case from beginning to end. He fills up my answering machine nonstop.”

Another pause as Lana flips open the manila file one last time. “I was going to show you this later and go over them with you but time is not on our side.” She pulled from the folder a newspaper that had been bent twice to get it to the right size. The reason that folder was so full.

She took a look at it before sending it my way, a couple more joining it.

“Read up on what they’ve said. You need to know what we’re up against.”

We? I guess she’s got a lot riding on this case too. We’re kind of a team now.

I promised her that I’ll look over the articles. She stood from the table and I stayed in my seat. She hesitantly patted my shoulder as a goodbye. Then she left.

Are you kidding me? She literally just fucking got here.

She was seriously here for not even five minutes and I feel like I’ve just waken from the dead. I collapsed onto the table from utter exhaustion and sighed heavily, managing to get a whiff of the musty material the newspapers were made from. I slouched up to take a look at the headlines.

‘Former Trojan High Teacher Accused of Having Sex with a Student’

‘Teacher Fired After Statutory Rape Charges’

‘Drugs and Sex Are What Sent This High School Teacher to Trial’


But the last one was what almost made rip the articles up: ‘Ohio English Teacher Sleeps with Sixteen Yr Old Student’

I was reminded of her stupid age.

Oh, god, that’s like a five year gap – oof. That’s it. I’m going to hurl.

I clumsily folded the newspapers and legged it to my room as fast as I could, completely knocking into Carter as he rounded into the lounge. I ignored him and yanked my door shut, chucking the newspapers onto my bed and then my stomach into the toilet.

I flushed my breakfast down the commode and slumped my back to the wall, my forehead in my palm. Within seconds my stomach began to calm down, keeping inside whatever food I may have left – and then the bathroom door opened and all it took was, “Woah, are you okay?” for my body to lurch itself forward and continue to vomit into the toilet.

Carter waited for me to finish before handing me a stream of toilet paper – some dry and some wet from my puke – jk. He ran them under the tap for me.

I held the dry ones over my mouth as he flushed the toilet. He sat diagonally from me on the edge of the tub.

“You alright?” he asked once I stopped dry heaving.

I tried to keep the attitude out of my voice – “Great.”

“What’s up? Why’d you…?”

“Dairy doesn’t get along with my bowels,” I lied. “That parfait shit is fighting back.”

“I think those blueberries were old,” he said, nodding in agreement.

“I thought they were raspberries?”

“Ew.”

I laughed, my stomach once again chilling out. Then he decided to fucking talk some more.

“Who was that lady?” he asked, watching me tear a couple more sheets of toilet paper, discarding the older ones. “Your…lawyer?”

“Attorney,” I corrected, wiping the corners of my mouth to the point where they were bound to be getting a bit red.

“Right, sorry. What’d you do?”

“Stuff.”

“Illegal?”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said. “I was just wondering.”

“I know. I don’t mind. It’s just…I’ve got…” Deep breath, everybody. “Court. Like, Thursday.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well.” Carter seemed to think for a moment. Then, “Well, good luck.”

“Thanks.”

“You gonna be okay?” He was gesturing between me and the toilet. Though, I had a feeling I was going to spend the rest of the day hugging the toilet bowl, I nodded slowly.

“Mmhmm.”

I was a bit…pleasantly surprised when he stood up only to bend down quickly to kiss my forehead.

“Feel better,” he said, also grabbing the pile of toilet paper I managed to accumulate next to me, throwing them into the bin. “Oh, and brush your teeth.”

“Got it.”

I was alone again. I stayed on the ground for a few more minutes just in case I wasn’t ‘okay,’ but when I was sure I was nearly there, I got up, brushed my teeth, and collapsed on my bed, onto the newspapers.

Not in the mood for them, I shoved them under the mattress and slept on them for about an hour. I woke up and was made to continue on with my day by the lovely Joy – who’s apparently a skank? Remember that convo with Carter?

I really don’t get that vibe from her, though, so…?

Eh.

I see him a lot – Carter. I hope it doesn’t annoy you, but he’s like everywhere I go. I can’t really do anything about that. Sorry.

Anywhoo ballyhoo, Kas wasn’t here today, which really fuckin’ blows. Last time she wasn’t here, I was in a bad mood that just got worse. Today ain’t starting out too great and she’s not here again?

I’m about to go sleep in the pool, like come on.

Just when the day seemed like a dud, four oh-clock came around. I laid in my bed with Carter’s lap under my head. We both looked up when the door to my room opened completely with Debra on the other side.

“You have a visitor,” she told me happily.

I sat up so fast and knocked Carter in the jaw with my forehead. I was numb to the pain while Carter wasn’t. He groaned loudly as I hopped up.

“I do?”

Her smiled grew. “Yup. I’ll take you to go see her.”

Guys, it’s Ally. For sure her. Should I be as excited as I was? What if it’s weird? Too weird?

Oh, who cares. ALLY CAME TO SEE ME FINALLY. I get to hug her!!!!

I happily followed Deb to a room that, unbeknownst to me, was still up on the fourth floor. Debra led me through the door-less archway that had two guards stationed in front of it. The room reminded me a lot of the rooms you see in prisons where the inmates’ families will come see them.

Yeah. I’m basically a prisoner already.

Round tables were spread around the decent sized room and boxed off phone booths lined one of the walls while large barred up windows took up the adjacent wall.

My eyes scanned each occupied table and landed on Hunter. Her back was to me but she was amiably having a conversation with a woman I assumed to be her mother. They both had the same ‘fro of hair.

I glimpsed from them to the other tables.

I instantly spotted someone I knew.

Ellie.

She had been grinning at me ever since I walked into the room. I found myself pouting in disappointment that she wasn’t Ally and she caught the expression and flipped me off, but straightaway, she hopped up from the bench and held her arms out for me.

“Hey, shithead,” she greeted with a huge smile. When I was in close proximity of her, Ellie grabbed my hands and embraced me forcefully. I felt my ribs crack but laughed through the pain, hugging her even tighter.

“Hello, Eliza,” I teased back as she groaned.

“How ya been?” she asked, drawing back from the hug to look me in the eye.

“Oh, great, ya know -”

“Oh, shit.” Her eyes fixed on my neck and her thumb hovered over the long cut. She frowned up at me. “Mum would kick your ass.”

“Good thing she’s dead.”

“She would’ve gotten ya in the after world,” Ellie giggled, finally pulling entirely away from the embrace. She beckoned me to sit down with her, and I did, laughing too as El continued talking.

Taking her hair out from her high ponytail, she fixed it back up, saying to me with a laugh, “What, were you not expecting me to be your visitor? What was with that frowny face, love?”

“Well, don’t get me wrong. I love you and all, but -”

“You want Ally,” she said, nodding. “She’ll be up in a few. She went to get you something from the gift shop. Shelb’s here too.”

“Awesome,” I ‘grumbled.’ Ellie smiled real toothy at me. She apologised for not coming to see me sooner, and basically reiterated my phone call with Ally. She had to wait a week, but they got a day cut off since my lawyer lady was coming by to see me today. Our one-on-one bonding time was cut short when I heard a very high-pitched valley girl voice scream my name.

“TYLEEERRR!! MY BABE!”

All da heads in this room snapped back in shock to look at Shelby Staunton as she came sprinting into the room. Her blonde hair now had a couple streaks of blue, pink and purple in it, and like Ellie’s, was up in a ponytail.

I stood up to welcome Shelby’s hug and got sight of the figure that came following her into the room.

Ally.

:D

Every ounce of happiness a person should be capable of feeling was all up in my heart. I really missed that face.

But first – (lemme take a selfie)

I sprinted towards the two girls, making the impression that I was aiming for Ally’s arms that she now held out for me, a huge smile on her face, but at the last second, I changed Ally’s smile into a frown and Shelby’s frown into a huge smile when I jerked away from Ally. I got eye level with Shelby, screamed along with her, and tightened my arms around Shelby’s waist, picking her up into the air.

I spun around with her in circles as she giggled loudly.

I set Shelby back down, letting her hold on for a couple more seconds and smiled at Ally’s overdramatic pout.

“Oh, I see how it is,” Ally moped, crossing her arms. I noted the plush polar bear in one of her hands and met her eyes with a big smile. “I spent five more bucks on you and you ain’t even gonna hug me first? What is that?”

“If you’re gonna complain…” I trailed. They laughed and Ally tried to keep her pout going. Once I held my arms out for Ally, her angst instantly dropped, along with her big smile.

She suddenly bit her lip and grimaced, her eyes becoming glossy.

I felt my heart break but Ellie and Shelby both gushed, “Aww!” when Ally took in a small sharp breath to hold back her tears. They came out anyway, harder when I picked her up for a hug.

Her legs gripped around my waist and she dug her face into the nook of my neck. I could feel her tears on my shoulder and hoped they were happy tears as she whispered to me tearfully, “I missed you so god damn much.” She pulled away to flick my nose hard. “Don’t ever do anything like that again, got it?” I grabbed the back of her head and shoved her back down onto my shoulder.

“No promises.”

Her hug tightened but she laughed.

“Fine, fine.”

We stood in our theatrical hug for a few more seconds until Ellie groaned that she wanted to catch up with ‘her baby brother.’

“Eighteen seconds!” I grunted at her.

“Eighteen seconds!” she declared matter-of-factly.

I stuck my tongue out at her. Not ready to let go of Ally yet, I kept her in a hug and carried her over to the table where we sat, her in my lap, still in a half-embrace. She propped her head onto my shoulder, quietly sniffling away the tears.

Happy tears, right?

I waited for either Shelby or Ellie to instigate a conversation, but Ally took my attention by softly kissing my neck a few times. I angled her a look and we both smiled. She leaned up to kiss me quickly on the lips.

"I love you so much," her voice cracked as she whispered.

I felt myself smile. "I love you, too."

She grinned before straightening herself up to push an even more passionate kiss onto my lips.

Oof. I missed that.

It took every fibre of my being to not pounce on her.

Oof.

“Alright, lovebirds,” Ellie said smiling. “Save it for the bedroom, yeah? I haven’t seen him in about a week either. I’d like to have a decent chat with him, please.”

Shelby, as always, has no filter.

“Yeah,” she said with a smirk. “Ain’t no way he’s gonna be listening to us if you’re gonna be eye-fucking each other this whole time. Then again, the next chance you guys might have to get it on is going to be during visiting hours at Dettmer. And you only get, like, ten minutes, so…just saying.”

At first, Ellie laughed, but corrected, “Dettmer’s another mental hospital, idiot. You’re thinking West Central.”

Now I corrected lovingly, “West Central's for juveniles, idiot number two. I’m a big boy.”

“Then where the fuck would they put you?” Shelby asked laughing. “The ‘adult’ prison is being, like, condemned or some shit.”

I somehow managed to forget how much Shelby likes to cuss.

“Are you serious?” I gave them all a doubtful face. She nodded and Ally started talking.

“Yeah, apparently it’s got ‘unfit living conditions,’ like this pipe bursted in the basement or something. I don’t really know. A lot of students were talking about it. I talked to Yunker, I think, Friday. He’s always up on that stuff, but I wasn’t really listening.”

Ellie nodded, saying, “I think they’re moving people all over the state to other jails until they get it cleaned up.”

“You’ve got a long trip to take,” Shelby said jokingly to Ally, laughing again. As Ally flipped her off, my sister slumped to lean against Shelby; she had to drape her arm over Ellie’s shoulder to keep her from tumbling.

Ellie said, “So there’s a lot of people filing up the jails now. Maybe the judge will just let you off with a warning, you know, because they don’t want to have to deal with any more people.”

“I heard they’ve been letting people out,” Ally said, lifting her head off my shoulder. She rested her arm in the place her head just was and bit at her nails. “Druggies, robbers – but keeping all the rapists and murderers in, obviously. Can’t have them running around.”

“Yeah, I heard that too,” Shelby nodded, fidgeting with Ellie’s long locks of black hair.

“Well,” I sighed. “Hopefully I just have to pay the fine or whatever; get a new job – clearly. I don’t even know which is worse. Apparently I have, I think, a four grand bail.”

“Four thousand?” Shelby said, her eyes wide. “Well, shit.”

“Who told you that?” asked Ally.

“I’ve finally met up with my lawyer lady – attorney, whatever. Yeah, we went over all the charges and I can get up to a year in jail with a four thousand bail.”

“What are they gonna do if you do have to go to jail?” Ellie asked, scrapping her nails against the plastic table. “I mean, everywhere else is getting pretty packed, even West Point.”

“West Point’s a fuckin’ military place,” Shelby sniped at Ellie.

“Fine!” Ellie snapped. “West Central, whatever. Where could they put my fucking brother? That’s all I need to know, so I can bail him out in the dead of night.”

“You’re both stupid,” I sneered at them. “I’m not a juvenile.”

“See,” Shelby said, “That’s why I’m thinking you’ll just get the bail. There’s no place for you to go. Besides, it’s not like you’re ever going to be a big problem. You’re not some sick-o junkie.”

“They don’t know that,” I countered. “To them, I rank high on the creep list and I have a major drug problem. That’s all they know about me. Think about it,” I said, “If you guys didn’t know me personally and just heard about what happened on the news, wouldn’t you be all for just putting me on the death penalty? That’s how they probably feel about me.”

They murmured sounds of reluctant agreement.

“See,” Shelby said again, “I’m about to show up to court and be your lawyer, like, ‘Uh, excuse me, Mr. Judgey-Your-Honour, uh, you’re wrong. Sorry ‘bout that. Rethink it over and get back to me. This boy here? He’s good as gold. Swear it. Bye-bye. Now where’s my fiddy grand? I got a wedding to pay for,’ like come on.”

“You’re fuckin’ stupid,” Ellie laughed. “But hell, I’d kill to see how that’d go down.”

“He’d win,” Shelby said factually. “Remember that dumb bitch that tried to show me up in debate? Took her down like half the guys at our school – which remind me,” Shelby leaned forward and said to me, “You remember that skanky teacher - what class did she teach? – Biology? Dark brown hair?”

Ellie, already seeming to know what Shelby was getting at, finished the story eagerly.

“Lemke. She taught Maths, actually - but right. She slept with, like, five of her students and guess what she got in court? Uh, I’d like to tell you, but she never got court. They let her off *snaps fingers* like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Ally nodded at me. “All she got was probation. That’s happened before, too. I don’t think you two were here when the other time happened – I’m pretty sure it was my first year teaching at the high school and one of the social studies teachers sexted one of her students then had sex with him in her classroom – more than once. She got court but ended up only having to pay bail, then after her probation was up, she was allowed back into teaching.”

Shelby was nodding.

“She’s the one that works at the ghetto school down in Miami East, right? Yeah, I heard about her. Maybe Tyler’s got a chance.”

“Doubt it,” I interjected pessimistically. “What’s the difference between me and them? I’m a guy.”

“That’s true,” Ellie pouted, clicking her teeth. “It’s like when Coach Kop got caught doing the dirty with that one chick; he got fired and put in jail for like a year, didn’t he?”

“That’s what I heard,” Shelby said. Her face suddenly twisted into a disgusted look and she said, “That’s fuckin’ dumb, too. Lemke did five of her students and didn’t get shit for it.”

“That’s the law system for ya,” Ally laughed, shaking her head. “Some people just get special treatment.”

Women,” I emphasised and was pleased that that didn’t backfire on me. They all nodded in total agreement.

“Bunch of bull,” Ellie said and sighed. “I don’t think this is what feminists had in mind when they said they wanted to bring women up. Gender shouldn’t affect anything. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be getting from all this? Still seems pretty one-sided to me sometimes.”

I have a lot more respect for the three of them now. Not that I didn’t before, but they’re speaking my mind. No one should get special treatment just because of their gender. It’s dumb and isn’t right.

“All I’m saying is,” I pushed out a heavy sigh, repositioning Ally’s butt so it wasn’t on my knee anymore, “I better get the same punishment a woman would get for doing the exact same crime.”

“If you don’t, I’m gonna be kicking some ass, because that’s disgusting. It really is.”

No one disagreed with Shelby. They were able to sit around and talk with me for a little while longer, but the thirty minutes seemed so short, and soon I had to walk with them to the elevator and hug them each individually as a goodbye.

Shelby stole the first hug, shoving Ally and Ellie out of her way. She got up on her tippytoes, ruffled my fringes with a smile, then hugged me tightly, wishing me luck. Ellie did the same, only she gave me a big kiss on the cheek and whacked me against the back of my head.

I frowned at her and then Ally. She looked like she was ready to shoot waterfalls out of her eyes again, but she shook her head, globbing onto me for a very long hug. I held onto her, dragging the hug on even longer until Shelby groaned that she wanted Taco Bell.

Ally let go of me after a tight squeeze. She kissed me on the lips twice and pulled me into a hug one more time. She had to be yanked away by Shelby and El, having to throw the stuffed polar bear plushie at me.

I managed to catch it and watched them step into the lift. They all turned to me and waved goodbye.

Ellie said to me, “We’re definitely going to see you soon, got it?”

“We will be all up in that court room, too,” Shelby laughed, clapping her hands together all ghetto-like.

The doors slid shut and I sighed, standing still for a few moments.

Yeah. I’m never getting over her.

Greaaaattt.

Told you it wasn’t going to last very long. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t allowed to come visit; when I saw her again, I fell like – I really love her still, is what I’m trying to say and it sucks. Love is dumb.

Well, I’m sorta tired. I think we have about another half hour until it’s dinner time. I turned to head for my room and collided right into Carter’s chest.

Reverbing from the collision, I groaned, “Why do you always do that?”

He didn’t answer my question and asked instead, “Is that…her? She’s pretty.”

I looked down at the polar bear I had in my grasp and nodded.

I held it up for him and said, “Not everyone thinks that, but I’m glad you agree. She is quite the beaut, ain't she?"

He slanted me a look and I smiled, but it quickly dropped.

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s Ally. The blonde one, all blonde, I mean. The other two were my sister – the one with black hair – and her girlfriend.” Wait....fiancée? Right?...I completely forgot...

“So you’re bi?” Carter said, following me as I spontaneously decided to go chill in the lounge, taking the bear with me.

“I thought we went over this,” I teased. “It seems that I am.” I plopped down into the sofa. He joined me.

“It looks like she still wants to be with you.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I got that vibe, too.”

“Are you going to, you know…get back with her?”

I answered honestly. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’d be smart, but we’re not exactly geniuses at this. Why? Do you…have a problem with that?”

“Kind of,” he said bluntly with a laugh.

I asked again, accidentally snorting, “Why?”

He shrugged as if the answer couldn’t be more obvious.

“I like you.”

“What if I cut my hair?”

“I’d still think you were sexy.”

I shook my head at him sadly.

“You’d be the only one.”

“Good,” he smiled. “I don’t like sharing, anyways.”

I gave him a look and he laughed. Slouching back into the cushions of the sofa, I moved the teddy bear into my lap and looked over its features. I can’t believe she’s still buying me this shit – not that I don’t like it; it’s just…it’s so her. And she didn’t even tell me if she named it anything. She’s had the privilege of naming Tyger Oakley and Joey Graceffa. I got nothing.

I guess I could name it…Grace Helbig or something. She’s white, like…? I don’t know. I’ll call Ally later and get her opinion.

Carter lounged back with me seconds later and chuckled at the stuffed animal.

“Cute,” he said. “She get it for you?”

“Yup.”

“Did she get the tiger and the kangaroo for you, too?”

“She likes to spoil me,” I said snobbishly with an ‘eye roll.’ “Nothing I can do about that.”

Carter laughed lightly.

“Right, right.”

I didn’t reply with anything so we went quiet, mindlessly watching the TV screen until it was dinner time. After dinner was over, I parted ways with Carter and set my room as my desired destination. Skip slept soundly on his bed and I hopped into mine, retrieving the news paper articles from under my pillow.

I flipped through the headlines and mumbled to myself, randomly picking one to hold in front of me.

I read its title: ‘Ohio English Teacher Sleeps with Sixteen Yr Old Student’ and let my eyes skim the article.

Accused of statutory rape, a 21 year old teacher now faces up to a year in jail thanks to additional charges.

Many were shocked about the accusation while others say they saw it coming. “He’s too young,” mother of two, Tracy Mills, says about the teacher. “He probably thought he could get away with it because of his age. It’s still wrong and disgusting. I’m glad they got him.
” –

I immediately stopped reading. I flung that article to the floor then picked up another, scanning it for more comments, stupidly curious about what people now thought of me. I ended up reading the entirety of an article marked ‘Teacher Fired After Statutory Rape Charges’

"Venturing far from approved curriculum, Troy High School teacher Tyler Williams was allegedly busted for bedding a student. Police say the lewd act was committed in the student’s home while her mother was at work. The student claims this was the first time it had happened, while others laugh and say that illicit encounters took place at the school several times!

More than a few students took to Twitter to express their shock — and adolescent amusement at the teacher’s arrest.

“Mr Williams had sex with a student hahahahahahaha why am I not surprised?” wrote one Trojan High alumni.

He has been placed on administrative leave pending the probation and a trial with a $100,000 bond. Police say Williams is due for court coming next Thursday, October 17th.


I’mma find that bitch who put that on Twitter, like what the fuck. I don’t like that nobody was surprised that this happened, just…really? And they used my fucking name and pinned me down with the words ‘statutory rape.’

Fuuuuuuccck them.

Also, it’s a four thousand dollar bond, not one-hundred. Geez. Stupid journalists.

I dumbly went on to read quickly through the rest of the articles. All mostly an exact repeat of the first two. Becoming bored and annoyed with what they all said, I picked up the newspapers I had dropped onto the floor and read through the funnies and played a couple rounds of Sudoku. But I suck at Sudoku and that was very evident.

I threw the newspapers to the ground and huffed, pushing myself under the covers.

For the longest time, readers, I thought Liam Hemsworth and Chris Hemsworth were the same exact person. They’re not. Gale isn’t Thor.

Wow.

Goodnight.

I also thought Ashlee Simpson and Ashley Tisdale were the same person.

I’m not the only one, right?

Well, like I said…goodnight, though it’s not even eight.

Eh. bye.
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm not the only one, right?
...right?

Oh, and, uh, you may have noticed that this chapter was marked as chapter seven instead of eight like it should be. I went in and added what was chapter three into the same chapter as chapter two.
I can't find a way to explain this so that it makes sense, but yeah. anyway all this means is that chapter two now has a word count of over nine thousand as opposed to the mere three thousand it had before. I also did this because I feel like it's taking too long to get to the real plotty stuff and for some reason, doing this makes me feel like everything's more balanced or something okay bye now. I don't know what i mean to say.