by Jay T
“Alright class, settle down. Welcome to your senior year.”
A couple of kids cheer. When it quiets down something bangs on my desk. I jump and open my eyes to see a coffee cup. I look up to meet Evan’s eyes. Not holding back, Evan says firmly, “We need to talk.”
Someone in the front of the class says, “Ooooo.”
I look up and the entire class including the teacher is looking at us. Evan keeps looking at me until I finally nod. He releases the cup, leaving it on my desk, and takes the closest open seat, diagonal from me. Evan is here, in my school, in my classroom. I try to focus on the teacher as he goes over the syllabus, but I keep stealing peeks at Evan. I can see him looking at me out of the corner of his eye. He’s fidgety. His leg is bouncing and he keeps adjusting in his seat and tapping his pencil on the desk.
The coffee can’t go to waste; that would be terrible. So, I pick it up and take a drink. It really is my favorite. How did he know?
Evan turns in his seat to look at me as I set it back down on the desk and he smirks at me. I roll my eyes and drink it like I bought it.
An hour later, the bell finally rings. I begin to gather my things but there’s a hand in front of me before I even have by book closed. I look at Evan’s face, and back down to his hand. I don’t want to take your hand. I don’t need your help standing up from my desk. I slam my books closed, open my bag, and shove them in as forcefully as I can muster before glaring at Evan. I swat his hand away and start walking towards the door. I feel a hand on my lower back. I want to enjoy it, I really do, but not right now. I swat it away but it comes right back.
Evan guides me out to the hallway, off to the side. I put my back against the locker so he has to stop touching me. Instead, he puts his arm on the locker above me and leans down so only I can hear him.
“What exactly do you mean when you say you’re going to hell, Eva?” he spits. He’s clearly upset.
“I don’t know, Evan, you tell me.” I spit right back.
“What? Why would you say a horrible thing like that?” He looks in my eyes searching for answers.
Moments tick by before I finally answer, “I don’t know.”
He whispers, “Look, I know you’re having bad dreams. I know the darkness is still after you. I just thought you knew better than to entertain it.”
Every time he talks to me, I swear I know less and less about him. I don’t even know where to start. He knows I’m struggling. He knows they’re still coming after me and he’s choosing to stay away from me? Why does he hate me this much? I’m genuinely hurt. I feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes but I know we aren’t alone and I’m not starting my senior year off in tears over some guy in the middle of the hallway! I take a deep breath and try to find some snotty retort to toss at him, but I can’t think of anything. Instead, I nod at him and walk away. I finally think of a response.
“I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment,” I mumble loudly enough that he can hear me.
“What?” Evan yells but I don’t want to stop and argue with him anymore. I go to my locker and open it. I wish I could climb inside and hide for a few hours.
Amy appears beside me, leaning against another locker. “There’s a pep rally Saturday before the game. Guess the guys have been asked to perform.”
I groan loudly. Great. Now all the girls will really fawn all over Evan.
“We aren’t that bad,” Evan says from behind me.
“Can I help you?” I ask him. Why is he following me around?
“Just trying to swap out books,” he holds up his hands in defense. “209, that’s my locker.” He points to the locker I’m blocking. He’s literally right beside me.
I groan, slam my locker closed, and mutter, “It’s going to be a very long year.”
Evan smiles at me. I swear he’s enjoying this. I walk with Amy to the next class.
“Hey Evan, we have practice tonight in the gym together. Don’t forget,” a super pretty brunette in a cheerleading uniform yells across the hallway as she waves her fingers at him.
Evan smiles and nods at her but doesn’t respond verbally. “Eva, maybe I’ll see you again today,” he says as he walks past, briefly putting his hand on my back again. He keeps walking and his hand slides around my side before he finally lets me go. I take a steadying breath because no matter how much he irritates me and makes me furious with him, I still desperately want his touch.
“When are you guys going to fix this?” Amy asks.
“Grrrr.” I sigh. “He makes me so angry.”
“What did he do?”
“I don’t even know. It’s just.” I don’t know how to explain it. “He acts like he hates me one minute and then likes me the next. He just needs to make up his mind already.”
“Only time will tell, Eva. Only time will tell. But for the record, he loves you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“If your story is right, if he fell to Earth to protect you and be with you, then you are his only thought here.”
“It doesn’t feel that way. I think he has buyer’s remorse.”
Amy puts her arm around my shoulder and squeezes before letting go as we walk into class.
25 evan
“So, what’s this I hear about you signing us up for a pep rally?” I ask Brent at lunch. I didn’t even know about it until I overheard Amy tell Eva.
“Oh yeah, I was going to talk to you guys about that. We’re kind of all things school functions. You know, school assemblies, Christmas concerts, half-time shows, pep rallies.”
I look over at Liam and Ryan who nod in agreement. “The ladies are going to love us.”
“Do Robert and Tristan know about this?” I ask. “How is that going to work?”
“Well, no, not exactly,” Brent says. “We won’t always be up to 100% on performing while Robert’s at work on the platform and Tristan is at college but we got the majority of the gang here.”
I’m just along for the ride. I’m just along for the ride.
I don’t have to look up to know Eva’s just walked into the lunchroom. The other guys all look at her. I’m not the only one who’s noticed her beauty.
Luckily, the seat next to me is empty and I’m already sitting with her friends. I smile inwardly.
“Hey, beautiful ladies, we saved you seats. We had to beat the other women off for you,” Liam says.
“The girls are fighting over you boys now?” Amy kids.
“Yep,” Ryan says, nodding. “You’re looking at the new hot commodity.”
Eva takes one look at the open seat next to me and the one next to Brent. She looks at Amy and makes a face. I try not to chuckle. Not because I want her to be mad at me, but because she is so worked up over nothing. She’s pretty cute when she’s being feisty. She reluctantly sits down next to me and begins to eat her lunch. I don’t want any of the other guys in here thinking they can make a move, so I need to let them know she’s not available. When she leans forward to take a bite, I casually put my hand on the back of her. She leans back and feels my hand there and turns to glare at me. I smile and wink at her. I can tell the guys in the room are curious if she’s with me or not, and that’s right where I want them to be.
The rest of the day goes by uneventfully. The guys and I practice with the cheerleaders for their pep rally on Saturday. We went over some choreography for a of couple songs. It should be a pretty good show. Then I took off and went to work until later in the evening.
***
After work, I pull up and park in front of the foster home. I gather my things and head inside.
I hear screaming as soon as I close the door behind me. “How many times do I have to tell you not to leave your tooth brush on the counter?”
There’s a little boy holding a teddy bear tightly, his eyes staring at the ground in front of him. He can’t be older than eight and I’ve never met him before. He must be new here.
I start to walk towards the sound of the yelling but the foster
mom grabs ahold of my arms and shakes her head “no.” I pause for a moment but the foster dad raises his fist at the little boy and I can’t stop. I shake her loose and yell to draw his attention my way.
“Hey!” I’m about the same height as this guy, but I’m probably twice as big. He doesn’t scare me. “Is there a problem in here?”
He has a beer in one hand and he stumbles for a moment as he shifts his weight to look at me. He slowly and clumsily saunters up to me and pokes me in the chest with his finger.
The finger to the chest is what set me off in the last life. Stay calm.
“Yeah, this little runt keeps leaving his toothbrush out on the counter. He needs to learn his lesson.” He turns back to the kid cowering beside the couch.
“Hey, little dude,” I say, looking past the drunk guy in front of me, “What’s your name?”
His sad, scared, wide eyes meet mine and he doesn’t dare not answer. “Ethan,” he whispers.
“Ethan, why don’t you go grab that toothbrush for me and put it in a bag with some of your clothes. Does that sound ok?” I say calmly.
He nods as he runs behind me, away from the foster dad.
The foster dad smells like a bar. I turn back to let him know that I’ll be taking Ethan for the night, but he sucker-punches me in the face. I stumble back, not because it was a very hard hit, but because it caught me by surprise. I get turned around and as I turn back, a chair come flying at me. I raise my arm to protect my face and the chair hits me in the chest and breaks. My adrenaline is in full gear and I know I need to stop this before it gets even more out of hand. I grab the piece of splintered chair from his hand and toss it across the room. His eyes go wide as he realizes it’s his turn. I’m not going to sit here and allow him to hit me. I crack him once across the jaw and he falls to the ground like a rag doll. I stand over him to make sure he’s actually knocked out and not just faking. I slap him hard across the cheek to make sure and there’s no reaction. I look up at his wife.
“You should stay at a hotel tonight.”
She nods.
“Grab your stuff. I’ll wait. Is there anyone else here?”
“No,” she says, “they’re all out with friends.”
“Why not this one?” I ask indicating the hallway where Ethan disappeared.
“He’s too new. He hasn’t made any friends yet.”
I nod, “Hurry up. I don’t want to have to knock him out again.”
She hurries down the hallway and emerges moments later right behind Ethan.
He’s a cute little kid with short dark hair. It seems like he’s grabbed everything he owns because his arms are completely full and there’s a ratty brown teddy bear dragging along the ground behind him. It falls from his arms and he doesn’t notice. I grab it as Ethan and the foster mom reach the front door.
She looks at me and says, “Thanks, Anny. I’m really sorry about all this.” She waves her hands at the house. She doesn’t know my name yet.
“You know you deserve better than this, right?” I ask.
She just shrugs.
“Nobody deserves that,” I point at the deadbeat unconscious on the floor.
She touches my arms and says, “Thank you for coming home when you did.” She holds her hand out for Ethan and he grabs ahold of my leg and shakes his head no.
“He can stay with me,” I say.
She nods, then she gets into her car and leaves. She didn’t ask where we were going. She’s not getting mother of the year award.
I look down at Ethan as he looks up at me.
“Well, kid, I guess it’s just you and me tonight.”
Looks like we’ll be sleeping at the cabin. I can’t very well make the kid sleep in the car.
On the drive, as the adrenaline starts to subside, it starts getting harder to breath. I sit up straighter in the seat and instantly regret the movement. I clearly have some broken ribs and my jaw is starting to throb.
When we get to the cabin, Robert’s truck is outside.
I hesitate for just a moment, but long enough for Ethan to notice my concern. “Is it safe to stay here?” he asks, barely above a whisper.
They’re the first words he’s said to me besides his name. He’s been completely quiet up until now. “Yeah, bud, it’s safe here.” I assure him. “Go ahead and grab your things.”
He has a death grip on his teddy bear but he reaches back and grabs his toothbrush from the backseat and holds it up for me to see.
“Good job.” I smile at him. “Let me go in first though alright?”
He nods slowly, his mouth hanging open a little.
I get out of the car slowly. I grab ahold of my side and groan. Ethan scrambles out of the passenger seat and comes to help me stand up straight. I mess his hair when I’m upright and say, “Thanks, kiddo.”
Outside the door I hear two guys talking. I knock twice and hear “come in.” I open the door to see Robert and Brent. Brent is sitting on the couch and Robert is pacing back and forth. “Just the guy we were talking about,” Robert says.
I look at Brent and he waves me in. “Come on in, Anny. We were just talking about some gigs coming up.”
I turn around and bend at my waist, careful not to move my ribs, until I’m eye level with Ethan, “You ready to meet my friends?” I ask.
He shakes his head no.
“They’re good guys. I promise.”
His eyes light up ever so slightly. He takes ahold of my hand and squeezes. I guide him into the cabin but he wants to stay hidden behind my legs.
“Robert and Brent, this is Ethan. We need a place to crash for the night.”
Brent’s eyes fix on Ethan and he comes over to meet him. He gets down on one knee so he’s eye level with Ethan and holds out his hand. “Hi, Ethan. It’s very nice to meet you,” he says.
Ethan has a hold of my pant leg and he hides behind me from Brent.
Brent gives up and stands back up, looking me square in the face.
“Dude, what the hell happened to you?”
I shrug. Damnit that hurt.
I grimace.
Robert comes out from the kitchen holding a water bottle.
“Anny, what happened?” she asks. “Is Eva alright?”
Eva, he just associated me with Eva. A smile plays on my lips. “Yeah, no she’s fine. This happened at the fosters,” I say pointing to my face.
Robert looks down at the little boy glued to my legs, “Is he ok?”
I want to shrug, but I don’t.
“You got any ice here?” I ask.
“Yeah.” Robert goes back to the kitchen as I try and get the kid to sit down. I turn around and say, “I think we might have some Spongebob on the tv. Do you like Spongebob?”
Ethan smiles and nods. Of course, what kid doesn’t like Spongebob?
“Do you think Brent can help you find a place to put your toothbrush and get you some blankets?” Iask. He grabs ahold of my hand but I tell him, “It will be ok. Brent is super nice.”
He lets go and follows Brent upstairs to a bathroom where he can brush his teeth. Brent disappears into a room to get some blankets from a closet.
“What happened?” Robert asks handing me a bag of ice, Advil, and a glass of water.
I grab the ice and put it on my ribs.
“That was for your face,” he says. “What the hell happened there?”
“Chair.” I mumble, swallowing the Advil and a drink of the cold water.
“You just make friends everywhere you go, don’t you?”
“People used to like me.” I look at him until he looks away. He’s still upset with me for not being more forthcoming and for not staying with the band at Eva’s apartment.
“I try like hell to hate you, man,” he says. “I don’t-,” he rubs his face, “-I just don’t understand you.”
I nod. Yeah, he probably doesn’t.
“They broke?” he asks pointing at my ribs.
I nod again.
“I think I saw an ac
e bandage in the bathroom upstairs. I’ll go check.”
“Nah, man, wait till he comes back down. Don’t scare him.” I say nodding in the direction of the stairs.
“Was it bad?”
“He was pretty scared. He hasn’t talked much since it happened,” I say.
Ethan makes his way back downstairs and stands beside the barstool I’m sitting on. His cold little hand reaches up and grabs ahold of my forearm.
I smile down at him. “Ready?” I ask.
He nods and smiles shyly.
Brent follows a few minutes later with a couple of blankets and some pillows. I try to set Ethan up on the couch and let him watch tv alone, but he won’t let go of my hand. I carefully lower myself to the couch and sit with him until he falls asleep before sneaking out to get my phone from the car.
No missed calls and no text messages. I decide to call my boss and let him know I won’t be able to make it to work tomorrow after school. I don’t explain why; I just tell him that something came up.
I make my way back inside and Robert has the ace bandage on the counter.
I pick it up and nod a thanks and go upstairs to the bathroom. I try to get my shirt off but I can’t seem to raise my arms without grunting in pain. I grind my jaw back and forth and try again. It doesn’t work. I finally decide to pull my arms out of the sleeves. I get my right arm out and I slowly work the shirt over my head and slide it off my left arm. Robert, on his way to bed, passes the bathroom. I left the door open so I could listen for Ethan. I drop my shirt on the counter, careful not to drop it on the floor because I don’t think I could pick it up again.
“Shit!” Robert says from the hallway.
I look at my reflection in the mirror. My left side is black and blue from just under my armpit all the way down to my hips. The bruises spread from the middle of my chest in the front to my right side in the back. I grimace again. The left side of my sy left jaw is swelling up as well. It has a nice dark blue glow to it.
“You should probably see a doctor,” Robert says. “You might have some internal bleeding or something ridiculous like that.”
