Beware of Bad Boy

by April Brookshire

  *****

  I woke up with the sun shining on my face and my first thought was to buy some blackout curtains. I’d need them to sleep in on the weekends I spent here. I planned on crashing at my mom’s as much as possible otherwise I’d be bored as hell stuck here.

  Three knocks on my bedroom door accompanied Chance yelling through it, “Caleb, Scott says to wake up!”

  “Yeah!” I grunted, dragging myself out of bed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t skip the first day of school. It really pissed teachers off. It was creepy to open my door and find Chance standing out there. “What’s up, little dude?”

  “Are we playing video games after school?” he asked intently.

  “Um, sure,” I replied, then added as he was running off, “As long as your mom says it’s okay!” Or whatever.

  The bathroom Julie had indicated I’d be sharing with Chance was free. It was decorated with yellow rubber ducks, the shower curtain, the towels, even the freaking soap dispenser. No way was I ever letting my friends up here. The teasing would never end. Soaping up in the shower, I wanted to laugh my ass off. Maybe I’d redecorate this room also. I’d see how the kid felt about skulls, Julie would love that.

  Leaving the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist, I passed by a pissy-looking Gianna who made an obvious effort not to look at my bare chest. “Want to put some clothes on?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Want to help me get dressed?” I countered and laughed obnoxiously when I heard her curse softly. Looking at the alarm clock I failed to set last night, I saw I was running late. I was dressed in two minutes flat and took an old backpack with me downstairs.

  “Caleb, honey, here’s your lunch money.” Julie handed me some one dollar bills. Was she for real? She passed out lunch money every day? My mom transferred money into my bank account every few weeks. But, hey, I was never one to turn down free money, so I pocketed the cash thinking I’d enjoy the extra spending money.

  “Thanks, Julie, you’re the best stepmom ever,” I told her, seeing the compliment had the desired effect from her pleased smile. Oh yeah, I knew how to work the charm so she’d be more willing to give me money in the future.

  Julie handed me a plate of pancakes and glass of milk. It worked for me. I sat down at the kitchen table across from Gianna and dug in. There was a blue backpack on the chair next to her. She was ignoring me, concentrating on her food.

  “Oh darn,” I said sorrowfully.

  “What’s wrong, Caleb?” Julie questioned immediately.

  Slapping my forehead in a dumbass gesture, I explained, “I forgot my school supplies at my mom’s.” Total lie, I just didn’t bother getting any even though my mom bugged me all last week.

  Gianna’s eyes narrowed on me at her mom’s next words. “I’m sure Gianna can lend you some.”

  There was a pronounced silence as Gianna stared me down. Finally, and with obvious reluctance, she said, “Sure.” I kept eating my pancakes, washing them down with milk. With agitated movements, Gianna got a notebook and some writing utensils out of her bag, shoving them across the table at me.

  Picking up the pink notebook she gave me and a pack of pens, I slipped them into my backpack. “That’s sweet of you, really.” I’d seen the less girly colored notebooks in her bag so I grasped she’d done it on purpose.

  She looked proud of herself and I was sure it was the pink notebook putting that smirk on her face. “No problem, Caleb.” Her insincere smile had me wondering if being gorgeous made her a bitch. She wouldn’t be the first beautiful female with a crappy personality.

  Drinking the last of her orange juice, Gianna zipped her bag up and headed for the garage door. Julie stopped her by suggesting, “Honey, Caleb should ride with you today since he doesn’t know the way to school. That way you guys are together so you can show him around.”

  With my back to Julie, I gave Gianna a smug grin and relished her scowl. “Fine, hurry up,” Gianna called out before the garage door slammed behind her. I took both my dishes and Gianna’s to the sink, earning an approving look from Julie.

  Gianna sat in the driver’s side of a white Jeep Liberty. Taking my time, I hopped into the front passenger seat. She started the car as the garage door came up and DMX blasted from the stereo.

  “You like DMX?” I asked disbelievingly. She didn’t look the type to enjoy rap music. More like a Katy Perry fan.

  “Yes, and I’d much rather listen to him than you right now, so if you don’t mind. . . .”

  What a raging bitch. Fine by me, I thought to myself, I’d just check her out in silence. Damn, her body was rockin’. She wore a denim skirt that showed me lots of those luscious legs, a tight-fitting white t-shirt and white Adidas. As I listened to DMX’s aggressive lyrics, I wondered if angry cheerleaders on the rag were now listening to rap music.

  Five minutes later, we pulled into the school parking lot. It was newish looking, unlike the schools I’d attended downtown. The massive two story building was a light brick. As she parked her Jeep, Gianna’s hand suddenly gripped the steering wheel tightly. What was up with that?

  Climbing out of the vehicle, we were literally swarmed. Several people converged, all trying to get Gianna’s attention, both male and female. Guess the girl was popular. The look on her face was interesting. She didn’t seem to enjoy the attention. The curve of her smile hinted at a grimace. The way she held her body indicated discomfort.

  I got a couple curious glances from her fan club. One girl who walked on the other side of Gianna nudged her to ask, “Who’s he? He’s cute.”

  Gianna looked at me as if she’d forgotten I was even there and said indifferently, “This is my stepbrother.” Just her stepbrother, not even my name. Rude.

  Since Gianna apparently wasn’t going to bother with any introductions that was their cue to offer it themselves. I met a Shawn and Erin first. Talk about popular by association. While I was being bombarded, the girl who’d asked about me was now hanging on my arm and trying to get my attention. I saw Gianna hide a smile and walk away from the group.

  “Gianna never told us she had such a nice stepbrother. My name’s Hannah.” I looked the girl up and down and decided she was definitely worth my time. Since Gianna didn’t seem bothered with me finding my way around a new school, I’d allow Hannah the honor.

  “Show me to the front office?” Gracing her with my sexiest smile, I let her grab my hand and lead me towards the front entrance. On our way there, I saw Gianna walk up to a blonde guy smiling at her. He immediately pulled her into a hug and kissed her. For some reason this really bothered me. Maybe it was a protective brother thing. Bitch or not, she was my stepsister now. I shook the feeling off, taking on a who cares attitude about it. It didn’t matter to me who kissed those lips.

  My classes sucked just as much as they did at my last school. My English teacher last year was fresh from college and not bad to look at. The one I had this year had hips almost as wide as the doorway to her classroom. I had a couple classes with Gianna, not sure if it was a good or bad thing. She didn’t seem like the type to let me photocopy her notes.

  She didn’t show me around even after the classes we had together. The idea of ratting her out to Julie crossed my mind. Hannah was more than eager to help me out and I wondered what else she was eager for. At lunch time, I found out the guy Gianna kissed was her boyfriend Josh and that they’d been going out for almost a year. I sat at the same table as Gianna and this Josh guy, but at the opposite end. It seemed as though I’d been inducted into the popular crowd. As if I gave a shit. I’d piss off more than one of these girls before long. Gianna ignored me, but my ego was nurtured by several of the other girls.

  Gianna was a favorite topic amongst our classmates once they found out who I was. I learned more about her during the forty-five minutes of lunch than I did the day before being in the same house as her. No wonder she was such a prissy bitch. All of her peers practically worshipped her. In this shallow society of high school, she outshone t
he other females, and there were a lot of pretty girls here. This was why half my friends were older.

  Her boyfriend was no different than the rest. He stared at her as if entranced and seemed to only take his eyes away from her to look at his food. Once though, he caught my eyes and gave me a dirty look. Oh, so it was like that? Josh, in his Abercrombie shirt, perhaps didn’t like that his girlfriend had a stepbrother living in the room next door. Tough shit.

  Actually quite a few guys stared at her like Josh did. Gianna’s behavior puzzled me, however. She mostly sat there picking at her food and looking up every once in a while to answer a question. Now that I thought about it, I was doing the same thing as these dumbasses, staring. Fuck that! I was going to stop examining Gianna and start planning when I’d be getting Hannah in my backseat.

  After lunch, I had one other class with Gianna. Did the girl ever smile? When the last class of the day was out, I met Gianna at her Jeep and she drove me home in silence before going back to the school for cheerleading practice. After she took off, I hopped into my car and drove down to Denver to visit friends and hopefully find some fun.

  GIANNA

  With the first week of school almost over, I was dying for Saturday to come. It was the same this year at school as every other year. People still wanted to be my friend no matter how unfriendly I was. I quit pretending years ago it was my personality that drew them. It wasn’t all that flattering to be liked for the way you looked. Even when I tried to discourage them they seemed to take it in stride. I think they figured a girl with my looks was supposed to be stuck up and bitchy, so I was merely acting the part.

  Sometimes I looked at some of the other girls at school and wondered what it would be like to be average-looking. Have friends at school that liked you for who you were, not what you looked like. A normal school life appealed to me. The only people I knew who liked me for who I was were what I liked to call my weekend friends. I escaped Broomfield, my mom, school and even Josh every Saturday and tasted freedom.

  Did Josh like me for myself? Sometimes I wondered with him. He started saying he loved me early on in our relationship, but maybe it was the way I looked that he loved so much. Did I love him back? I wasn’t sure. If it was love, wasn’t I supposed to get butterflies in my stomach when I saw him? Maybe I should break up with him, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Dating him kept most of the other guys away, which I liked. Lately, I’d even begun telling him how frustrated I felt about life at school. He seemed to understand.

  Today was Friday and I had to cheer tonight at the first football game of the season. Josh was starting quarterback this year and he wanted me to go to a party afterwards with him. We’d been going out for a while and he’d been pressuring me lately to finally have sex with him. I knew I definitely didn’t want that. Still waiting for those butterflies. If he tried pressuring me too much, I’d have no choice but to break up with him.

  Right now I was doing the usual lunchtime routine. Sitting with the popular crowd, picking at my food and wishing I were anywhere but here. At the other end of the table was Caleb surrounded by a bunch of girls and a few guys he seemed to have made friends with. At least it was a little quieter now at my end of the table.

  Hannah was sitting next to him as she’d been all week. God, she was such a two-faced bitch. She always acted like we were best friends but, I swear, sometimes the looks she gave me were a mixture of envious and hateful. She didn’t hide it as well as she thought. She was under the impression she was Caleb’s girlfriend. Didn’t she realize that to a guy like Caleb she was just the flavor of the week? I’d heard him on the phone last night flirting with some girl named Monica. It was disgusting listening to him purr on the phone to some stupid girl. Once it started sounding like they were about to have phone sex, I turned on my TV full blast.

  CALEB

  All high school parties were the same, chicks and dicks getting drunk and hooking up. The girls thinking screwing the boys would get them love and the boys thinking of how much they’d just love to screw the girls. I was gentlemanly enough to steer clear of the innocent looking ones, the ones whose tears and drama weren’t worth it.

  “Caleb, you’re not even paying attention to me!” Jesus fucking Christ, this chick was annoying. Whether I hooked up with her tonight or not, it was time to give her the boot.

  I spotted Gianna across the room dancing with some random guy to a popular ragga song. I was shocked to see the girl could actually look happy. And damn could she dance sexy. I was getting turned on just watching her.

  Before the song finished, I saw Josh walk over to the guy and push him to the ground. Gianna yelled over the music, “What the hell?” at Josh and stormed off. Josh followed at her heels, looking not the least sorry. I felt sort of pissed myself, but because Josh ruined her moment of happiness. Not that I was jealous of the guy, of course. The girl was the most bitchy, unhappy person I knew. Tonight was the first time I’d seen a genuine smile on her face. Not that I cared about her happiness. We didn’t even like each other.

  “Caleb, I asked you a question and I want an answer!” Hannah whined.

  “What was the question?” I asked, turning my head back towards her. She was pretty, not like Gianna, but doable. It was just her personality which was hard to take.

  “Are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend or not?” she impatiently demanded to know. It appeared I’d be giving her the boot before getting laid. When you heard the G-word, it was time to get the fuck out of dodge.

  Two hours later and bored outta my mind, I was leaning against the side of my dad’s house smoking a joint when a lifted truck pulled up a couple houses down. I couldn’t really see through the windows too clearly, but all of a sudden I heard a feminine voice yell, “Get the fuck off me, Josh! I said no!”

  I realized it was Gianna and ran towards the truck. Opening the driver’s side, I pulled Josh out by the shirt and threw him to the ground. Before he could react, I kicked him in the stomach, glad I was wearing boots. I glanced up into the truck to see Gianna’s shocked and crying face. Turning my attention back to Josh, I continued to kick the crap out of him. I was a firm believer in the saying kick ‘em when they’re down. Who said you had to fight fair?

  I heard a car door slam and looked up to see Gianna running towards the house, opening the side fence to the backyard. Good to know she trusted I had this covered. Either that or she was embarrassed in her choice of douchebag boyfriends.

  “I hope you learned this lesson, because if you ever lay another hand on her without her permission, I’ll break your fuckin’ face,” I threatened Josh. His response was to groan pathetically.

  Taking Gianna’s route into the backyard, I could hear her crying and talking on the phone. I stopped just around the corner to eavesdrop. A person heard the best information that way.

  “I can’t take it anymore, Jared. I hate everything and everyone here. I’m so through with Josh and every guy like him. I would tell my mom I just want to go live with my dad in Houston, but I’d miss you guys too much.” A few seconds later she said, “No, Jared, I don’t need you to come kick his ass. My stepbrother already took care of it.” She laughed and there was silence. “Yeah, I don’t think he’ll try it again.” Another pause. “Yeah, tell Cece I’m sorry for getting her worried, I just needed to let off some steam. See you guys tomorrow. Love ya. Bye.”

  She sighed loudly as I walked around the corner. She jumped back before recognizing me. “Oh, I thought you were Josh.”

  “You shouldn’t have to worry about him anymore,” I told her, scanning her face for I didn’t know what.

  “I’m not so sure about that, but thank you anyways. I better go to bed. I have get up early tomorrow to go downtown,” she informed me and started to leave.

  “What for?” I asked her, not sure why I bothered.

  “Oh, um, I study ballet every Saturday morning at Ballet Denver downtown. My friend Cece also goes there. I usually spend the night at her
house every Saturday, so you won’t see me again until Sunday.” I didn’t have anything to say to that, so she continued, “Thanks again, Caleb.”

  Oddly, I liked hearing my name coming out of her mouth. Shaking off the feeling, I teased her, “Good night, sis,”

  Instead of getting mad like before, she laughed and walked into the house.

  I stood out there and finished my joint.