The school was slowly falling out of sorts with Anton gone. The punishments weren’t nearly as severe and students were already talking about things feeling like the old days. The classes started to get more chaotic, with distractions that made my attempt at learning difficult. At the end of the day, I decided to go see Sloane for the first time since I left his house. I had been forced to pass him in the hall a few times, but I always kept my head down and didn’t look his way. Luckily, he showed me the same courtesy.
“Mr. Thorne...” I lightly knocked on his door.
“Yes?” He lifted his head and his face immediately soured. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Can we talk?” I walked into the office and sat down before he could respond.
“I don’t need you coming in here to plead Anton’s case for him. I heard everything he had to say when he left.” He leaned back in his chair.
“I care about your brother. I know that may be hard for you to hear and I know you don’t have a very high opinion of me, but he really did change me. Why don’t you pull up my grades from the last couple of weeks and take a look.” I motioned to the computer.
“I’ve seen your grades—I know you’re only passing one class.” He waved me off.
“Just look, please?” I motioned to the computer again.
“Fine.” He leaned over and tapped the keys. A few seconds later his eyebrows raised in surprise. “So, you’re cheating finally? You stopped caring about failing grades and now you’re just cheating—great.”
“I’m not cheating. I’m working my ass off for those grades. It’s going to take a lot more work to get where I want to be, but I plan on graduating this year.” I held my voice firm, even if I was annoyed by the accusation.
“You’re serious about that.” He turned away from the computer and looked at me.
“I am. Mr. Thorne, I’m really sorry about the things I did to you. I know I was a total bitch and don’t even deserve to be at this school after the way I treated you, but I am genuinely sorry.” I twisted my face into a look of remorse and it was authentic as my words.
“You’ve never struck me as the type to grovel.” His tone eased up and he tilted his head. “Maybe someone like you can change after all.”
“Could I accompany this grovel with a request?” I was apprehensive to ask, but I felt like I did need to do it.
“If you just told me all of that so you could beg me to reconsider what I did to Anton...” His tone got more intense and a hint of anger rose up against his lips.
“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “I would like for you to tutor me.”
“Tutor you?” He laughed and his eyebrows raised. “What the hell?”
“I do need help. I’m working my ass off to get the grades I’m getting, but I’m so far behind. I would ask one of the teachers, but I don’t think they’re quite ready to forgive me yet. I want you to see that I’m serious about this firsthand. I promise that I’ll work hard and I’ll do anything you say. I just want to have a real shot at graduating.” I laid the proposal on the table with my plea, hoping he would agree.
“You know what—fine.” He nodded and shrugged. “I was a teacher long before I was a principal and if you’re serious about trying to turn this around—you may be the only student here that gives a shit. I’m warning you though—if this is another one of your fucking pranks...”
“It isn’t. I promise.” I smiled and shook my head. “I really do need help and it wasn’t like I could ever ask Anton for it.”
“That’s true.” He chuckled and nodded. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you here tomorrow afternoon.”
THERE WAS MORE TO MY request than tutoring. It was a foot in the door, but I also wanted to try and help Sloane. He hadn’t been there to see what Anton did to turn the school around and it was clear that all of Anton’s work was going to be wasted if something didn’t change. If there was a way that I could get the tutoring I needed and try to drop hints about what he should be doing, then it could be a win for the both of us. I hoped it would somehow help to repair the damage between Anton and Sloane as well. If I could show him that I genuinely cared about his brother, he might just understand there was more than just chemistry between us. I knew it wouldn’t be the first topic of conversation, but it would have to come up at some point.
I left school with a smile on my face—for the first time without having Anton’s lips on mine before I went home. I dodged dinner when I got home and went right up to my room with my books spread around me in a matter of minutes. I was already behind on several midterm papers and regardless of how well I did on the tests, those were going to ultimately decide my fate.
Chapter 17: Anton
The streets were rough. I had to lie to my parole officer when I met with her and say that I lived with my brother. She didn’t do any checking when she saw that I was employed at his school as well. I passed the drug test and got to keep living my lie, each day taking me closer to a paycheck that I could use to get my own place. During the day, I panhandled in the business district, catching a few spare coins so I could eat. At night, I slept at a homeless shelter where I got a second meal and a shower.
The cell phone my brother was gracious enough to give me when I got out of prison was dead and I forgot to pack a charger when I left. Even if I had Bethany’s number, I wouldn’t be able to call her. I wanted to see her one more time before the weekend, so after I got enough money to eat on Friday, I walked back to the school and crept through the back door. My beard was starting to come in again and it helped with my disguise. I hid in the closet after the other janitors left the area and waited to catch a glimpse of Bethany.
“Frank is finally throwing another party. You need to come tonight. You haven’t been to one in ages!” Bethany was at her locker and her friend Amy was right beside her.
“It hasn’t been ages.” Bethany scoffed and shook her head. “I’m just really busy with school now—plus my parents are out of town for the weekend.”
“See, that is more of an excuse to come to the party!” Amy nudged her. “You won’t even have to worry about going home.”
“Not tonight. Maybe next time.” Bethany picked up her books and started walking my way. I immediately grabbed her as she passed by.
“I walk by this closet every day and all I can think is that I wish someone would drag me into it.” She practically squealed when she saw me.
I silenced her with a kiss. I had missed her so much and it was almost surreal to have her in my arms again. My cock was rock hard just from the feeling of her lips against mine. It had been almost a week since I had her to myself and several days since I had even felt her lips. I wanted to take her right there in the closet with our bodies satisfying the craving I could sense in her as well. Our lips formed a seal as we continued to kiss and I slid a hand under her shirt. I wanted so much more than a kiss, but I wasn’t going to risk getting caught in the janitor’s closet—especially since it would call attention to my identity and surely end my chances of getting a paycheck. I enjoyed our kiss as long as I thought I could reasonably do so before pulling away. Her breath was warm against my lips which were still tingling when they were separated from her. Her beautiful eyes mesmerized me for a moment, almost like they did when I first saw them glimmering with a desire for me.
“I missed you.” I smiled and pressed my lips to her forehead.
“I missed you too.” She nodded and ran her hands along the edge of my abdominal muscles. “So, were you listening to me talk with Amy?”
“I was.” I nodded in confirmation.
“Did you hear that my parents are out of town for the weekend?” Her eyes sparkled as her smile turned to a devious grin.
“I did—I also heard that you have a lot of schoolwork to do.” I tilted my head and smiled as well.
“I’ll have to take breaks, I can’t spend the whole weekend working.” She pulled close to me again. “We really need to exchange phone numbers.”
“My ph
one is dead, so it won’t matter.” I shook my head back and forth. “When are they leaving?”
“Tonight. Let me write down the address for you.” She dug into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. “If you come by around seven, they’ll be long gone.”
“If I start walking now, I should be there by then.” I looked at the address, which was across town.
“Here.” She reached into her purse and pulled some money. “You can take a cab.”
“I don’t want to take money from you.” I put my hand over the cash and pushed her hand away.
“I need to see you—please.” She pushed the money into my hand.
“Okay.” I sighed and took it. “I’ll see you at seven.”
“I’ll even cook something for you.” She squeezed my abdomen. “You’re losing weight out on the streets.”
We kissed again before she finally left the closet and headed back into the crowd. I waited until some of it had died down and made my way out of the school. I decided to save the money I had gotten from panhandling since Bethany had offered to feed me. I went back to the homeless shelter and showered again before putting on the cleanest clothes I had. I did some quick calculations and determined that I had an hour before I actually needed to leave, so I hung out with a few of the regulars. They all had stories similar to mine—at least where prison was concerned. Most of them hadn’t lived a good life and the streets had been even worse for them.
Just hearing some of their horror stories made me realize that I was lucky to still have all of my fingers and toes living on the streets. I was also glad that I had an alternative when I got some money in my pocket. The rest of them weren’t that lucky. Even if they could get money, most of them had habits and addictions to feed. None of them had an inspiration like Bethany to keep them motivated to try and pull through the setback. When the hour was done, I got into a cab and gave the driver the destination. He made me pay up front when he saw how far he was taking me, but then we were on our way.
This is going to be a great weekend.
Chapter 18: Bethany
I was practically doing cartwheels when I left the closet. I wanted to rush home and get everything ready for my evening with Anton, but I still had my tutoring session. I definitely didn’t want to blow Sloane off and have him lose the trust I had gained. There had only been one tutoring session, but I felt like we were making some progress. There had been no discussion about Anton and he seemed to loosen up after he realized it wasn’t the reason for my request. I had disguised my advice about how things should be changed in the school by mentioning some of the things the students didn’t like. The statements were general, and one of the main things I talked about was just walking around the school during classes. It seemed to have struck a chord because he was out in the hallways earlier that day—it was the first time he had really maintained such a presence since his return and it was immediately noticed by the students. I headed to his office with a smile on my face when I plopped down in the chair across from him.
“You’re particularly happy today.” He looked up from his computer.
“It’s Friday!” I nodded enthusiastically. “Two days without school.”
“You have schoolwork to do though, don’t you? It’ll hardly be a break.” He tilted his head inquisitively.
“Yeah, but you know—it’s the spirit of Friday and all.” I opened my textbook and pulled out a sheet of paper.
“So, the fact I saw my brother sneaking into the school earlier has nothing to do with your sudden bout of happiness?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“Oh...” I looked straight down at my paper—we were busted.
“What the hell do you see in him anyway? You know he’ll never be the kind of guy to settle down.” Mr. Thorne sighed and shook his head.
“I like him.” I flashed a half-smile and shrugged as I lifted my head. “We’re happy together.”
“You still want to see him even though he doesn’t sit in this chair?” Mr. Thorne kept his gaze on me.
“The chair has nothing to do with it. Yes, that was how it began, but he really did help me find something I was missing in my life. His influence is why I’m trying to do better in school and graduate. If he never came along, I would still be the bitch you hated.” I shrugged again. “He’s good for me.”
“I never thought I would hear anyone describe my brother that way.” Mr. Sloane rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. “I assume you’re going to be seeing him this weekend?”
“Yes, sir.” I nodded. There was no reason to lie about it at that point.
“Ask him to come by the house on Sunday. I think we need to talk.” He sighed deeply.
“I will.” A smile crept up on my face.
“I got some more of your grades today. I must say, I’m actually impressed by what you’re doing. You got a perfect grade on your Sociology essay.” He shifted the conversation away from Anton, but I didn’t mind since he had given me a morsel of hope to take home with me for the weekend.
“I worked hard on that.” The smile on my face widened.
“It’s a shame you’ve never tried to apply yourself, because you’re actually quite intelligent.” He looked over at my textbook.
“Thank you.” I looked down at my textbook as well and we started discussing my latest assignment.
I did my best to focus on the tutoring, but my thoughts were on Anton. I was finally going to see him again, and I needed to feel his touch so bad that my mind was clouded with it. After a couple of failed attempts at reading the page in front of me to answer Mr. Thorne’s latest question, realized that I was going to have to buckle down or I was going to be there all night. I found the answer to his question and we moved on to the next one.
Mr. Thorne was a really good teacher. He kept things interesting as he helped me learn information I normally thought was boring. When the session finally ended, I was almost in tears from laughing at his corny jokes. I gathered my things and headed to my car. With the tutoring officially behind me, my thoughts shifted back to Anton. I needed to get home quickly or I wasn’t going to have a meal waiting for him like I promised. The excitement was building as I stared at the clock. It felt like more than a week since I had been with him. The stolen moments in the janitor’s closet barely counted after the time we had spent together leading up to it.
THE KITCHEN WAS A BIT of a disaster once I put together a decent dish of spaghetti and meatballs, but I had time to spare. I put the garlic bread in the oven and leaned back against the counter with a sigh of relief escaping my lips. I was going to be able to deliver on my promise of a good home-cooked meal for my starving, homeless man. I grabbed a cigarette and walked out onto the balcony, lighting it up as soon as I was outside. I looked at my phone and saw that I had at least twenty minutes before he would be there if he was on time. My heart started to race and it wasn’t just the fury of the nicotine pushing my pulse higher than it normally was. It was the excitement of seeing Anton, having him there with me, eating dinner with him—all the things normal couples did that we had never done. We definitely weren’t a traditional couple, but I didn’t care. I wanted the happily-ever-after and the white picket fence with him. It didn’t matter to me that he was an ex-con or that we didn’t know a lot about each other—I knew enough to know he was exactly what I wanted.
“Those things will kill you.” A voice broke the silence of the evening and I spun around to see Anton in the doorway leading out to the balcony. “And leaving your front door unlocked will get you killed.”
“You saw the neighborhood, right?” I threw my cigarette off the balcony. “We haven’t had a crime here that didn’t involve a kitten in a tree since I was a kid.”
“I’m pretty sure a few of your neighbors called the cops when they saw me step out of the taxi.” He chuckled and walked towards me.
“Let me get the garlic bread finished and I’ll give you the grand tour.” Our lips met and we kissed until I could hear the beeper
going off in the kitchen.
I pulled the garlic bread out of the oven and put it on the stove to cool. I took Anton’s hand and led him into the living room where I showed him pictures of me growing up—along with the ones of my shining star brother who had more wall space than me. We walked around the dining room, the den, and eventually we got to the stairs. We paused for another kiss before we finally started walking up them. The top of the stairs was mostly bedrooms. My parents had the biggest and my brother had the one next to it. He didn’t live with us, but he had never moved most of his stuff out so it looked like a tribute to his senior year of high school. The spare room was mostly just a bare bones room with a dresser and a bed, so there wasn’t much to show. We got to the end of the hallway and pushed the door open to my private sanctuary. It was decorated with posters of bands I liked, a few pictures of my friends, and a whole lot of pink. I had thought about painting it a few times, but I never had the motivation.
“So, this is where I sleep.” I pointed to my bed.
“It has good support.” Anton pushed his hands against it. “Hopefully it won’t break before we’re done putting it to work this weekend.”
“That will be difficult to explain to my parents, so please restrain yourself.” I nudged him with my elbow. “Come on, we’ll have time enough for that later. We should eat before the food gets cold.”
“Only if I get to have you for dessert.” He grabbed me around the waist and pressed his lips to my neck.
“Me? I thought you would want cake...” I teased him slightly before I gasped from the feeling of his lips on my neck.
“Some Bethany cake, for sure.” His hand moved below my waist and locked onto my inner thigh.
“Stop, I don’t want the food to get cold.” I pulled away, but my body was already heating up from his touch.
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