Chapter 13: Chapter 7: My Bad Habit

Principal Hemsher had a hand on the empty lizard tank, a photo of the deceased lizard placed over it, when I walked into his office and, because he hadn't been expecting me, his attention didn't immediately draw to the door when I entered.

I noted the slump of his shoulders as I took a seat behind him, waiting for him to break away from whatever principalness was happening before my very eyes and recognize that he had company.

What I didn't expect was a distressed monologue from him.

"I think I was too harsh on her, Wilby." Why was he whispering? What did mom ever see in this guy? "So what if she killed you, set the lab on fire and break countless, valuable equipments?Yes, she's an everything hazard but is that really her fault?"

Wait, is he talking about me right now?

I shifted uncomfortably in the chair, my eyes darting to my only chance of escape as he went on and on about my behavior. It was a scary slope down memory lane since some of them had already been chucked to the mist of memories at the far back of my mind. I guess it's true what they say about victims and grudges.

I winced at some of my deeds, finding it hard to believe that my younger self had really done such horrid things. Surely, there was a misunderstanding somewhere in there.

Something tells me he wouldn't appreciate my presence after this list.

Slowly and silently, I raised from the chair and crept my way to freedom, away from Principal Hemsher and his never-ending monologue. My hand wrapped around the doorknob,the click sounding out my fastcoming escape to freedom.

The old man screamed.

I flinched, begrudgingly turning back to him.

"Morning." I let go of the door handle and turned fast around, seeing him clutch his decaying heart. I approached him with all thirty-two's. "I just got here."

"I've known you since you were a baby." He rubbed his forehead, sighing like a disappointed parent. "Don't try to lie to me."

I pursed my lips in offense as I sat down, clasping my hands at his fast pacing about.

"How much trouble am I in?"

"Let's see here. Underage drinking, truancy..."

I groaned.

"Giving me attitude...Harley," He held a hand up, cutting his list short. He dusted his coat, giving me a stern look. "I mean, Ms. Smith, you've done enough over the years to get expelled."

"Am I really that bad?"

"You bet." He responded, placing extra emphasis on the 't' as he took a seat. The chair creaked like a dying mule, one of the tires rolling from under it. Luckily, he had shot up from it in time or the silence as we watched the tire roll under the file compartment would have been extremely louder and a whole lot more awkward with him watching from the floor.

Principal Hemsher sighed.

"I'll let you off with a week of detention if you fix that."

Thus, an earnest interest in Principal Hemsher's spontaneous bargains was formed which would later blossom into a beautiful partnership, one that would work wholly in my favor.

"Deal." I mumbled, my gaze fixed on the other three wheels still spinning on the upturned office chair as a spark of relief ignited from within my otherwise darkened mind.

And that, miraculously, is how I weaseled my way out of expulsion.

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I was at my usual lunch spot, swatting away at the bug army flying around, buzzing their dislike for me whenever they flew too close to my ear and hauling away the crumbs of food I had tossed down as a peace offering.

"Hey."

Company was the least thing I had expected so you can probably guess my reaction to hearing Hero's voice from above me.

The back of my head kissed the tree I was under and I winced, rubbing at the spot while simultaneously uncrossing my legs to stand. Hero's head tilt of confusion didn't do much to calm my nerves.

"What are you doing here?"

I eat here

"Oh, um," I held my book of the week up to him, my words having already forsaken me. He squinted at the cover, mumbling the title before taking it from my hand.

He met some resistance from my end—my hand had gone rogue, refusing to let go of the hardcover— but his intense stare, a reflection of the forest, turned my brain to mush, allowing him to effortlessly steal the book.

He flipped it, letting out a low hum as he read the back before giving it back, nodding as if he understood perfectly what it was about. I was sweating up a storm.

With Riley's words and the end credits of our peers out of the way— existing only in my mind as a dulled whisper— I was now aware of Hero's full attention on me.

It should have made me happy. I now had the boy of my dreams showering me with his attention just like I had wanted but my anxiety had other plans.

He said he'd shoo the bullies away, but I didn't think he'd actually want to talk to me at school. Last time he told me we could be friends, it was with the condition that my brother never finds out and I took that as him implying that all our conversations would remain in my phone and mind, away from the eyes of our peers and, especially, my twin brother.

But now he's here. At the grassy fields behind the school building where any one of his friends could come for a smoke, a drink, or a makeout session that, usually, I'd draw the line at before it escalated into something more by announcing my more than unwelcomed presence.

Huh.

Now that I think about it, that could be one major reason people hate me so much. How did it take me this long to realize how much of a third wheel I've been to every couple at school.

I groaned into my palms, inhaled as much of Hero's sweet scent as I could without him noticing, and looked down to where he was now seated, facing his angelic beauty head-on.

Hero was on my yard-sale picnic blanket, doing well to hide his amusement at the whole set up I had going for me while I openly gaped at his more than welcomed intrusion on my lunch.

Until life came swinging in with the bat of reality, whacking me upside the head with a dose of what my ignorance had hidden from me.

He could get some serious hate for being seen with the girl that got his girlfriend expelled.

I drew into my shell once I realized how close we were in broad daylight and discreetly tugged the hood of my jacket back on over my head to hide my identity just in case someone ended up running into us back here. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about being seen with me.

Hero mimicked my actions, confusing me further. He crossed his arms and leaned his head back on the tree, looking as unbothered as he always did. Now there were two faceless teens under a tree.

It seemed like time had stretched on for the longest when, in reality, only a few minutes had gone by.

"Are you feeling any better?" Hero asked, his attention on the ant colony dragging bits of food crumbs to their base. I sagged at his question, slumping like a cooked noodle. "I take it that's a no?"

A groan was all he got from me.

"Harley..."

"The sky is pretty today, isn't it?" I faked enthusiasm, pointing for emphasis at the bright, blue bowl above us. It hurt to look directly at the clear sky but not more than having Hero recount our run-in yesterday. "Not a cloud in sight."

"You don't want to talk about it." He noted, nodding as he spoke. "We don't have to."

"Oh great," I let out a breathless chuckle that faded out into awkward silence. The voices in my head couldn't take it anymore. They expressed their curiousity through me. "Hero, why are you here?"

"Am I not allowed to be?"

"No! No, of course not!" I rushed out, my hands flying all around in a nervous whirlwind. "I mean, yes,  you can be here! You can be anywhere you want. Why wouldn't I want you here? Not like my opinion matters or anything..."

My rambles carried out through the quiet space and I found myself wishing for some duct tape to shut myself up. Hero, on the other hand, let out a breathy chuckle, shaking his head at me playfully.

"Good," He clapped once I had blocked out my words with my fist, a smile blooming on his face. "Because I'm here to help you get back at Riley."

My mouth dropped open, the voices in my head quieting down to make sense of what Hero had just said.

"But she's your girlfriend."

"Really? I had no idea." Forget my brother. Sarcasm was now Hero's  best friend. "Then again, I'm not exactly popular for my brains so..."

I should have used a rope instead of a lousy, old pill bottle.

I cringed, pulling on the strings of my hoodie in an attempt to hide my shame, a date already set in mind for my burial.

Hero carried on, unbothered by my behavior. I nodded along, pretending to be listening when all that was on my mess of a mind was the best way to store this picnic blanket away, somewhere that time would never touch it.

Later on that night, I'd stow it away next to my black boots. Two things I'd be taking out of this town. Two things that tied me to The Populars.

I think I'm slowly starting to understand their world.

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If I had a dollar for every time someone interrupted us to talk to my best friend in the hallway throughout the rest of the week, I'd be a millionaire. If I had a penny for every time Melissa stole his attention, I'd double that.

It didn't help that he was a social butterfly and kept fluttering around, gladly entertaining conversations from just about everyone. I wanted to clip his pretty little wings off and pin it to my locker so that they'd all back off and he wouldn't get the chance to fly away every ten seconds.

I feel like I'm draining him. Does he also feel that way? Is that the reason he keeps trying to get me to interact with his nerdy friends? So that I'd lay off my irritating presence in his life and get one of my own?

I shook the thought out of my head, my curls bouncing every which way.

Donovan isn't like that. He wouldn't think that about me. But, if that's really the case, if what I'm desperately trying to convince myself of is true, why is he over there with her? And why am I standing here all alone like I used to?

I kept a close watch on them as I walked on over to my locker which Syllas was leaning on. He's been doing this since my public humiliation. He probably thought he was making my life harder but in reality, his presence at my locker was driving the marker crew away.

I haven't had to wipe a single rude comment off of my locker this entire week. Which blows my mind since Riley had marked me as a target for them this entire year.

I cleared my throat and he came out of whatever daydream he had been having, turning his sharp glare on me. I had decided to return the locker favor, a bright grin on my face to ensure him I didn't bite. I did but details shmeetails, amirite?

"Get out of my way." He greeted, shoving me out of the way and going about his business.

"Morning to you too, Syllas." I tried to hide my smile as I organized my things beside him. We had something in common; our messy lockers that we always pretended to organize.

"I never said you could talk to me." He muttered, slamming his locker shut in warning.

"You never said I couldn't talk to you." Was my smart response as I followed him to our next class. Turns out, Syllas and I don't just share two classes together. I've just been too occupied to notice.

I was being strategic, putting my disorganized mind to good use, and following Hero's advice to the letter. I noticed that almost everyone goes out of their way to avoid Syllas. Almost as much as they did with Justin. To me, this was quite a feat and if I, his locker buddy and the target of everyone's hatred, kept around him whenever Hero wasn't around, I'd be as safe as a safe.

Or, better yet, what's in it.

My plan was simple. Use Syllas as my impenetrable barrier. It was working pretty well until he realized what I was doing and started trying his hardest to get rid of me.

"Can you not follow me?" He stopped and turned to me in irritation. "Go read a book or something."

"I am." I held the sweet horror I was reading up for him to see. "You should read this too. It's about..."

"Oh my God." He groaned and started walking even faster. I'm a tall girl so you can guess how well that worked out for him. "Why me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Well, for starters, maybe if you weren't so mean to everyone and actually smiled once in a while then I wouldn't be here right now.

I wasn't crazy enough to voice that out, though.

Syllas, realizing that there was no escaping my presence, slowed his pace, his grunts of displeasure falling on deaf ears.

"You're annoying. Hope you know that."

"I get told on a daily." I blew his harsh words away with a chuckle. "So, where are we heading, buddy?"

"Restroom." He quipped with satisfaction, abandoning me in the halls. He sent a mock wave my way as the door slowly shut, leaving me to the mercy of the public.

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck as I contemplated some other form of escape that didn't include meeting my dad. Nothing else came to mind. I guess I have no choice but to go through the day alone.

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"Can we talk about it now?"

Donovan's question came as he tossed the keyfob over the car to me. This time, I almost caught it. It slipped through my fingers and fell at my feet unceremoniously, and we both stared at it in awe of my amazing catching skills. Forget being a stripper, I could definitely pull off catcher in baseball. Is that even what it's called?

I got in and started the engine, my passenger princess taking his own precious time to join me. Just when I had decided to pull a Hero and usher him in like I was starting to suspect he wanted, he got in. I didn't miss his moody demeanor as he slammed the door shut.

Great, now we're both angry.

"Rip it off next time, why don't you?" I muttered as I turned out of the parking lot. It was friday and we had finally crawled out of the building—him from basketball practice and detention for me. This was the only alone time we had gotten all week.

Melissa accompanied us home nowadays. He'd drop me off and head over to her place without a single explanation. But today she's not here, leaving him in the company of his backup friend.

"You're being unreasonable." He muttered. "If you're going to avoid me the whole day, at least let me know why."

How the tables have turned. It's not so fun being ignored, now, is it?

"I wasn't ignoring you, Donovan." Anyone could hear the lie in my voice from a continent away. "You had other people to talk to."

"Yeah, it seems like everyone wants to talk to me but you." He answered. "You're the one who said we should leave it but now you're being all moody again for no reason."

"So now you're saying I don't have the right to feel bad about it?" The red light was convenient. I stopped and turned to him. "I can feel whatever way I want Donovan. It's not up to you to decide when I get angry or not."

"But why are you angry?"

Because you didn't ask about it again. You didn't check up on me to see if I was okay and you literally just told me that for the entirety of next week, you're going to be preoccupied with your picture-perfect Mel.

"Forget it." I muttered, looking back on the road. "It's stupid anyway."

"Yeah, your reasoning is pretty stupid." He responded, slicing through the silence that had enveloped us. My bad mood lifted at his jab. He grinned, his honey browns glimmering with humor. "You owe me an apology."

"You'll get one when I'm dead." I chuckled. "Can we not argue anymore? I'd love to graduate high school without a murder charge."

"I give that one a four." He laughed dryly and poked me in the ribs.

"Donovan!" I yelped, slapping his hand away. "I'm driving here!"

"This is not driving." He laughed, gesturing at the free road. "Do I have to go through this slow torture every day? Turtles could get us home faster."

We took a moment to acknowledge my driving. It took me ten seconds to pass the mailbox up ahead. Last time, it took way more than that. I was doing pretty well. He's just always hating for no reason.

"That one deserves a two." My head shake of disappointment was countered with a roll of his eyes. "And would you rather I drive like the first time? When you were clutching onto your seat and begging me to slow down."

"Your driving deserves a two." He mumbled. "And for your information, I was only begging you to hold the brakes because I didn't want to die."

He always has a response. Always. I guess I have to invent a mouth stapler now. I grinned at that as he reached to turn on the audio, all thoughts of my problems tossed to the back of my mind.

"I miss baking with you." He voiced out as we bobbed our heads to a classic. I turned down the music just as he said, "Let's do that."

"Today?" I asked, my confusion clearer than water.

"What? You got plans or something?"

"Like I couldn't?" I shot a hard glare his way, offended that he thought he was my only friend. I have tons of friends. Take mom for example. We could have planned a dinner tonight. We didn't but he doesn't know that. The audacity of him to assume that my schedule wouldn't be full!

He slowly turned my head towards the road.

"You can do that when I'm not in the car." He teased even though I was driving at the speed of frozen honey. "With your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Yet." Donovan finished as we turned into my driveway. He unlocked his seatbelt. "Maybe if you weren't such a bad driver that would have changed by now. Then again, you're just a girl."

I clicked the lock button on the wheel.

"Come again?"

Our twenty minutes long debate on equality must have added extra gray hairs on Mrs. Nosyton's head. The poor old lady had been standing at her window for almost the entirety of our argument, probably wondering why the car was still on and no one had gotten down yet.

I'm certain if she could hear us, she'd be on my side. Donovan was just being a man.

"It's that Smith's blood that's in you, I swear." He signed his death sentence. "A little hammer here, a blaze there, and all of a sudden you guys start thinking you don't need a man. You know, you'd actually have a man by now if you..."

"Wow, Donovan, wow." I applauded his stupidity, cutting off his little speech. "You must have a girlfriend since you know so much about women."

His jaw dropped.

I helped him pick it back up, tapping his chin out of pure pettiness and using his moment of shock and offense to slip away from the wrath that was still loading in his mind. In doing so, I spared Mrs Nosyton a heart attack by finally making an appearance.

My blatant stare at her window was followed up by Donovan's friendly wave from the car. She shut the blinds.

He was at the door with me in a blink, an argument at the tip of his tongue when I whirled around and put a finger to my lips, shushing him.

"Don't you shush me." He sized me up and my back hit the door. He placed an arm above me and leaned in so close our noses were almost touching. "I can get any girl I want...Potato."

It was my turn to be offended.

He pushed pass me, entering the house with a sigh of satisfaction at my reaction, and tossed both our bags on the couch before heading to the kitchen. I followed him, my mind racing for a quick enough response.

"Don't call me that." I finally said, my breathing uneven.

He noticed my moment of weakness and mocked it with his whole chest.

I grunted my displeasure, shoving him out of my way since he wouldn't stop hovering around me.

"See, I even had you falling for a second there." He rested his upper body on the isle, his gaze tracking my every move as I pulled open the fridge. He went on listing his good qualities— every single one of them being never ending torture to my ears and full on lies— while I set up everything we needed.

He went upstairs, leaving me mixing the batter all by my lonesome. When he came back down, one of my hairbands was in his hand. He held it out to me. I made a dramatic gesture of showing my messy hands.

"At least say please." He rolled his eyes as he went behind me and tied my hair up, exposing my wide map of mountains for all the world to see. "Your hands are tied, not your mouth."

"Be a good house husband and get to work." Was my response to that. As if I'd ever ask anyone to have my shiny forehead broadcasted. It was right up there under Revealing I used To Be My High School's Mascot on my list of Things To Be Buried With Me.

"I give that one a six." He snorted and I rebutted it with a,

"I think you should watch your six."

This time, we both cringed.

"Solid ten, Harley." He chuckled. "You win this round."

"I win every round." I said, hiding the smile that was fighting it's way onto my face.

This is what I've been missing. Our old selves. Harley and Donovan. I'd never admit it to him but, these little moments were what kept me going most days. I really am lucky to have him in my life and I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost him for real.

Sure, him being with Melissa irked my soul but at least I got to have him for a bit too. I don't know what I'll do when he leaves and, frankly, I don't think I ever want to find out. But that's a problem for future me to worry about.

Right now, I'll just enjoy our time together.

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