Royal Flush

by Ella Goode

  “Suure.” She drags out the word. It doesn't matter. I don’t care if people think I do or don’t like the game. I go to support my friend. Ally is different from everyone around here and I am grateful that she got transferred in. I’ve been stuck at FU High since my freshman year. At first I tried to fit in but I knew that was never going to happen. I don’t actually feel as though I fit in anywhere. Not at school and definitely not at home.

  My phone vibrates on the desk table. I pick it up to see a picture my mom sent me. It’s of my dad with another woman who looks like she could be about my age. I don’t recognize her. She’s either a one-night stand or a new mistress. I’m embarrassed to say that these pictures get forwarded to me by my mom on a regular basis.

  Mom: This is why you have to be independent or you’ll be stuck with an asshole. Don’t end up in the same situation that I did.

  Her text is filled with anger but I’d bet anything that she’s crying right now. I know she shouldn't be sharing this shit with me but she does and I can’t help but be mad with her. I hate him. She needs someone to talk to. She has kind of played a part in me hating my father but he’s earned some of the hatred on his own without her having to help.

  “Is that your dad?” Ally glares at my phone. It’s not like everyone around here doesn't know my father's face. Most of them also know about his infidelity too. As if high school wasn’t hard enough, I have extra for people to gossip about.

  “One would think a senator would be more discreet.” He really doesn’t give a shit anymore. He thinks he’s untouchable and he’s lost touch with reality. His wife and kid are an inconvenience to him now. The wife that stuck by his side when he was a nobody. Now that he is someone, he’s conveniently forgotten about the woman that helped put him there. My mom doesn’t have to worry about me depending on a man. I’ve already sworn them off.

  Me: Fuck him. I love you.

  I fire a text back because what else can I really say? She won’t leave him. I’ve tried to get her to a thousand times but she’s scared of him. Why, I don’t know. It feels like it’s about more than money.

  “Who sent you that?” Ally asks with her eyebrows furrowed together. Probably because it’s newsworthy but I’m sure it’s some PI my mom hired to follow him. I don’t understand why she likes to pick at this wound. She knows what the PI will find and it will only end up hurting her. Maybe she does it to stockpile blackmail material. I could get down with that. The problem with turning something like this over to the tabloids is that it’s almost like burning down your own house.

  “My mom.” I instantly regret saying it the second the words leave my mouth. It’s worse when I see the look of shock on Aly’s face.

  “I’m sorry, Mel.” She leans into me. “If you need anything…”

  “I don’t want you to punch my father in the balls but if I change my mind I’ll let you know.”

  “You’re never going to let that go, are you?” She laughs, making me laugh too.

  “The new girl punching a jock in the dick? Nope.” I’ll never forget that. No one had even seen that one coming. Ally had looked all sweet and innocent but she packed a good punch.

  “Stop talking about my girl touching other men’s dicks.” Owen drops down in the seat next to Ally. Of course the teacher doesn't say anything about him just walking into a class that isn't his. The football team gets away with murder for the most part. We still have a few minutes before class starts. He kisses her cheek, whispering to her that he missed her.

  Owen is one of the few guys that I like around here. Like Ally, he’s different. More so with the way he treats her. He’s not shy or embarrassed to show how much he loves her. In fact, I bet he’d paint it on the side of the school if he could. If it was up to him, they’d be walking around wearing some matching shirts. I’m sure it’s coming. I’ll make fun of them while secretly finding it adorable. They give me hope that not all men are assholes.

  “Food?” I lean forward, having a feeling that’s why he’s stopped by. Ally is prone to skipping breakfast and Owen isn’t fond of this. As always, Owen pulls out something to eat, handing a sandwich to Ally and then to me. He is always bringing her something. I’m always stealing half of whatever it is, so now he grabs me something too.

  I open it, taking a big bite of the bacon and egg sandwich. My mind should be on the test that I have today but all I can think about is my mom and what she is feeling right now. Thoughts of how I could make things better keep racing through my mind. She might be right. I need to keep my head down, get good grades and get into a good college. If I could graduate and offer my mom some financial security then maybe she might be able to free herself from my father.

  I doubt my art will get me anywhere. It was also something my father refused to pay for me to go to college for. It looks like they will both be getting what they want for me in the end. Like I said before, what I want doesn’t matter.

  Chapter Three

  Brad

  “Thank you for coming to class, Mr. Hayes,” Sarina Cruz, my honors advisor, says.

  I don’t lift my head from my desk. “You told me you were going to recommend that I fail the term if I didn’t.”

  “You’re required to attend unless you have a verified absence and even then you can only miss 10%.”

  “My attendance is like 90%.” I know. I changed the records last night.

  “We all know you hack into the system.”

  Unlikely, given I don’t leave a trace other than changing a few grades now and then. Ms. Cruz says something about how I can’t be doing this all the time and that it’s a bad precedent for my future. I tune her out because I’m tired and I need a rest. I was up way too late last night and my body is sore from the workout I put it through.

  “Are you listening to me, Mr. Hayes?”

  “No,” I mumble into my arms.

  “Brad!”

  I open an eyelid. “When I was a freshman you said I could come here any time and relax from the stressors of being a gifted and talented student. So here I am, relaxing from the rigors of class.”

  “You’ve only attended one today and Mr. Mariner reported that you slept the whole time.”

  “I was not sleeping. I was resting my eyes.”

  “Brad,” she says with a short puff of exasperation. “I know you’re too smart for these classes, but until you graduate high school, you need to follow the rules here.” She lets something drop in front of my face and it flutters down to land on my fingertips like a feather plucked from some unlucky bird about to be roasted for a holiday dinner. “This is the number for Melody James. She’s struggling in her trigonometry class and needs assistance. I recommend that you call her and set up a time to tutor. Otherwise, there will be no more access to the GT lounge and you will be required to sign in every morning physically in order to be marked in attendance. The physical check-in will be matched daily with the computer records and then again every week until your graduation.”

  With a groan, I push into a sitting position. “You’re really going to blackmail me with this?” I nod toward the piece of paper on the table.

  “Don’t think of it as blackmail,” Ms. Cruz says. Now that she has my attention, she returns to her desk. “Think of it as a growth opportunity.”

  “I’m six feet. Why would I need to grow?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe Melody likes taller men.”

  “Melody can suck my d--”

  My words die on my tongue as a girl sexier than Carter Franklin’s sports car walks through the door. Her hair looks like she dipped it in cotton candy. Her tits are full and her hips look the perfect roundness to take a real pounding. Nonchalantly, I tug my hoodie down over my lap so I don’t embarrass myself. The movement catches her eyes and they shift from Ms. Cruz to me. She gives me a quick once-over flick and then dismisses me as unimportant.

  “Ms. Cruz,” she says, directing her attention back to the honors advisor. “I’m Melody James. I was told to come here for—�
�� She pauses and sneaks another glance my way. “Well, I see you’re busy so I’ll come back later.”

  “No, no, come in.” Ms. Cruz gestures for Melody, my future, to come inside.

  All traces of tiredness are gone. I sit up as straight as I can and wait for my introduction. I should smile. My brows crash together. Do I remember how to smile? I haven’t done it in a while. I move my lips around and it feels strange so I shut that down real quick. I’m not great at wooing chicks but even I know that looking like I’ve got malfunctioning duck face isn’t going to do me any favors.

  “This is Bradley Hayes. He’s volunteered to be your tutor for this term.”

  Melody cocks her head to one side and inspects me like I’m an ugly insect pinned on her science board. “Do you even go to school here?” She swings back to Ms. Cruz. “I have never seen this person in my entire life. Shouldn’t I have a tutor who has taken trigonometry before?”

  “Nah, that class? I hate that fucking class,” I moan, the words slipping out before I can stop them.

  “See!” Melody points a finger at me. “He’s not the right one.”

  I’m definitely not. I can handle blood. I can handle knives. I can handle a gun being pointed in my face, which happened last week when some guy at the match got mad that I’d beaten him for the third time in a row. But not Trigonometry. It’s boring as shit. “Definitely not the right one,” I agree. “You should drop it and hang out in the GT lounge. You could do an independent study, right, Ms. C?”

  And I’d be here every day, just as Ms. C told me I had to be. I rub my hands together at this perfect plan.

  “I don’t want to take an independent study.”

  “It really is too late to drop the class,” Ms. C says. “But to answer your question, Melody, I don’t know of a better tutor for you than Brad. He is a student here and has been for the last two years but it doesn’t surprise me that you haven’t run into him as he’s often…” She trails off, unsure of the right word.

  “I skip a lot,” I offer. No need to hide the truth. I’m not embarrassed of it.

  “Yes, he has an attendance problem. In fact, I thought pairing the two of you up would solve both your problems. Brad can’t miss more days at school and you need in-school tutoring. It’s a perfect solution, if I do say so myself.” A phone ringer goes off, catching Ms. C’s attention. “Let me take this phone call while the two of you get acquainted.”

  She grabs her phone and steps out of the classroom. Melody glares at me as if I murdered her cat. She dumps her backpack on the table and slumps into a chair.

  “You have the name of a douchebag,” she declares.

  This is going really well. “I don’t know how they run things in your household, but I didn’t get to pick my name.”

  Her pretty lips press together. I wonder how hard she’d slap me if I told her she looked cute doing that. Probably harder than the jock from this morning. Melody looks like she would not hesitate to take someone down. The corners of my mouth twitch upward. I’d definitely volunteer to be her first victim.

  “What are you smiling about?” she demands.

  “You don’t want to know,” I reply.

  Chapter Four

  Melody

  He’s probably right. I don’t want to know what’s going on in that head of his. He almost looks like a typical jock. He has the build of one but he doesn't hold that pretty boy appeal that Owen and Carter have. He’s more rough around the edges. There is even a small faded mark on his chin, making me think he got into a fight. He probably got it from running into a door. Yeah, I’m not sure how he’s going to help me with Advanced Trigonometry. I hate math almost as much as I hate my father. That’s saying a lot because we all know how I feel about that man. It just never came easy for me. I initially thought anatomy and physiology were hard but trigonometry quickly rose to the top of that list. I’ve come to realize that math and science are so not my thing.

  “Stop staring at me.” I rub my hand down my face. I really do need help with this class. I’ll wait for Ms. Cruz to get off the phone so she can find me another tutor. One that can actually help me. I don’t want to ask Ally for help because of course she’d say yes and she has her hands full as it is. No matter how hard I try in class, it doesn't seem like I’m making any headway. It’s all very overwhelming. Maybe some of us just aren't built to think this hard. It’s one of the reasons I love art. There are no equations or calculations, just my hand, some paint and a brush. I sigh internally, knowing that I need to use every tool that’s given to me in order to pass trig. I’m guessing that Brad is my best option at this point.

  “Then give me your trig homework to stare at.” I drop my hand from my eyes looking at him. His hoodie has dropped back from his head. Now I see another scar that sits below his right eye. It’s small and white. I’m betting that it’s over a year old. I wonder how he got that one.

  “Fine, hot shot.” I reach into my bag, pulling out the three pages of equations I have to get done by tomorrow, handing it to him.

  “Got a pencil?” I reach into my bag, absently grabbing one. It’s not until after I hand it to him that I realize it’s one of my sketching pencils that’s a deep plum purple. He doesn't mind as he starts doing the equations one after another. He doesn't look as though he even has to think about them. Instead, his pencil flies over the paper and in no time at all he’s done. I snatch the papers from him because I can’t comprehend how he could have done them so fast. I grab the answer key they always give us, readying myself to check his work. This trig stuff is more about showing your work than only giving an answer, so they always give an answer key with homework to make sure we worked the problem until we actually solved it. One after another, his answers prove to be right. I’m not sure why it annoys me, but it does.

  “I thought you hated trigonometry?”

  “I hate all classes.” He shrugs.

  “Except GT lounge?” Ms. Cruz says, standing in front of us now. She doesn't wait for an answer. “The point isn't to do her homework, Brad.” She taps my papers. I kind of agree with her. I have to learn how to do this crap if I’ll be taking hard classes in college. “No changing her grade online either.” Now she points her finger at him. Again, he gives one of those shrugs.

  “You can do that?” I ask because I’m a little in shock that Ms. Cruz called him out on it. His crystal blue eyes look over at me but he doesn’t give me an answer. I get lost in those eyes for a second, the color reminding me of a beautiful ocean with the sun hitting it. It’s not just one blue. This is why I suck at trig; I get distracted too easily. There’s something about him that pulls me to him. Maybe it’s the whole mystery thing that he has going on. I can’t figure him out. Built like a jock but isn’t one.

  “Nah. I don’t know what Ms. Cruz is talking about.” He shrugs but gives me a little smirk on the side. People always say don’t judge a book by its cover and I’m guessing that I had Bradley all wrong.

  “I guess I’ll let you tutor me.” I feign annoyance, making it seem as though I’m the one doing him a favor.

  “I hope you’ll let me…”

  “Don’t finish that sentence.” I glare at him, cutting off whatever ridiculous thing he was about to say. I hate that I have to depend on a man to help me pass this class. Why couldn’t they have found me a female tutor? It doesn’t help that Brad is easy on the eyes either. I’m not interested in any of that so it won’t be a problem. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

  “Don’t be late, don’t flirt with me and try not to be a dick and this should work out for both of us.” I lay down the ground rules so that we’re all clear. I have a feeling Brad here doesn’t play by the rules, but I feel the need to share them anyway. I’m trying to take some sort of control in this situation.

  “I think you two are going to work great together.” Ms. Cruz slaps her hands together, smiling. I want to roll my eyes but I don’t out of respect for her.

  “For once I agree with you, Ms. C
.” He leans back in his chair as he openly begins to stare at me. Maybe this isn’t going to work out for both of us. If he doesn’t behave himself or if he thinks I’m some sort of pushover that’s going to fall all over him because he’s smart and handsome, he’s got another thing coming. I know how this story turns out. I live with my parents as an example every day. Well, when my father comes home. The only thing he’s going to get from me is another scar on his pretty little face if he so much as puts a finger on me.

  “Deal.” I reach my hand out to him, already breaking the no finger touching rule I made in my head. His hand stretches out and caresses mine. Something that I’ve never felt before passes between us and I know in that moment that I’m in trouble. That I’m probably going to regret those rules that I decided to make.

  “Deal,” he says, but his hand doesn’t immediately let mine go and I’m not sure that I want it to.

  Chapter Five

  Brad

  We finish the problems quickly. There’s always a trick to math theorems and once you know what it is, the solutions come easily. Or they do for me, and Melody seems to be catching on quickly. While she bends her head over the last equation, I find myself staring at her hands. They’re slender and elegant. Thin bands of gold wrap around her fingers. The middle one has two with one resting above her knuckle and the other tucked against the base.

  Melody and I don’t have much in common even though we both attend FU High. Franklin is a rich kid’s school. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t that a diploma from this place is a fast track to a rich kid college, which feeds into a rich kid job. I know how it works—all connections and shit. It’s who you know, not what you know, so while I might be the smartest kid in FU High, it doesn’t matter because I don’t know anyone.