Ch. 4: Thou Shall Not Break the Four Commandments

I have always lived by a certain set of rules since starting high school; simple little things to follow when you start realizing how cruel the world actually is. You see... the imaginary world that Disney puts out for you, like Bambi, or how every princess finds her prince charming and what not, is false. They're lies they sell to get your money through hopeless kids that dream about fairytales coming true.

Well just like any kid who grew up with Disney, I dreamed of my own fairytale. But I woke up abruptly when I landed in a place that is incorrectly called high school when it should be known as prison. In my first year I learned fast that if I wanted to survive to make it out to the real world, I was going to pay my time for an undeserved crime of being smart. If you ask me, this has always been the center of my problems but back to my rules.

Rule number one: stay out of gossip. Don't spread it and don't hear it. Being friends with Trish has shown me how gossip can be deadly. Most times it's just false information anyway. It just leads to people getting angry at you for no reason and leads to fighting. Ask Trish, she's been in at least ten fights. Some are because of her; others are because people have talked about her. Me, first off, I don't believe in violence and second of all, I have nothing to really be involved in.

Rule number 2: don't get involved with drama. It just make things more complicated as sides start to come into play and seeing how you're going to react, etc… It's easier to just stay out of the fire. That way you're guaranteed to not get burned. This one is a really simple. Yet Trish and half of the female population of my school get attracted to drama as lights are to moths.

Rule number 3: Don't Trust. This one seems very obvious. Something that we all have been programmed to do since the beginning. Well let me just say that high school takes this to a whole new level. People here seem to have learned how to lie professionally. You think you know a person until you've actually met the person. There's a big difference in thinking and meeting. If you learn to trust the right people, it makes this a little bit more tolerable.

And rule number 4, my last and most important rule, STAY FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE FROM AUSTIN MOON! I have only heard rumors about him and hadn't really talked to him since the day I told him off in front of our class. Even after that, we have never really shared a conversation. We just bicker a lot and have had five worded conversations before one of us walks out. So I am not even sure exactly what type of person he is, but something tells me I don't really want to find out.

Taking these rules into consideration I yell on top of my lungs to the Coach's request, "Wait what!?"

I don't care if he says I'm over reacting. I don't give a damn if it's a nice thing to do. There is no way that I am spending time after school, ALONE, to help Austin's lazy ass get better grades to stay on the hockey team. I refuse to do so. I will not help him in any way, shape, or form. Not because I want him to suffer or pay for his consequences, rather I don't want to suffer when all he does is make me do his homework.

See this isn't going to work. Who ever thought this out must have not thought out the reason why Austin even has bad grades. If he was responsible, they wouldn't have to make me tutor him. It's like asking a cat to teach a dog how to pretend to be a cat. First off the dog and cat would be bickering all the time. And second of all, you can't teach something to be something it's not.

The Coach doesn't even flinch when Austin gets up from his sit in protest.

"Sorry Coach but there's no way that I am getting tutored by her. In case you haven't noticed, I have something she doesn't and that's a life. And being tutored by her would just make us initiate World War Three. Which I don't think would be too lovely for the world, do you?"

I'm still sitting at the edge of the chair with my mouth wide open. I still can't comprehend the reason why the school faculty would propose this! I am already their team manager! I'll clean the boy's locker, do every stupid thing that Austin tells me to do to get his mind into hockey, including the one where I tell him that he's the best. I'll do anything else as long as I don't get to spend any extra time with him alone!

I don't move as I see Austin bend down to grab his backpack. Coach still has his hands folded and is waiting for Austin to shut up. Personally I couldn't agree more with Austin right now. Under this circumstance I will say for the only time, that Austin is actually making sense about me tutoring him.

Austin's leaving towards the door and is opening it when the coach says in a hushed, dangerous tone, "Take one step outside this room then don't bother showing up tomorrow for practice or the next day."

I know that Austin's going to walk out. He knows how indispensable he is. He has a big head and knows that when coach sees how bad they are, he'll be begging him at his feet to come and play again. He'll have the coach even more in his hands. But he doesn't. And for the first time in my life I was hoping he would use the teacher's pet reputation that he's earned to get out us of this.

Staring at him in confusion I hear him throw his backpack on the ground and sit back down with frustration clearly written across his face. Coach is unfazed by this. He keeps his hands folded and as if our little outburst didn't happened he says, "So tutor is to start immediately and progress will need to be shown for us to know that you haven't been skipping. This shall be done within your own time and at the destination that you chose. Math is the main focus but you will need to help him out in other areas…"

He keeps giving us a list of do's and don'ts but all I am thinking is why the hell do I need to fix the broken dishes Austin made? Why is it that he gets the bad grades and yet it's me who has to set my time aside to help him? Feeling frustrated with everything that has gone wrong with today I stand up abruptly and say, "You might be able to force Austin into this little thing, but I don't play hockey and much less care how our school team does statistically! I will not do it and if you have nothing else to speak of then my time is done!"

I'm leaving. I am not staying to hear anymore suggestions on how I should be teaching him or around what time I should have him ready. If he really cares about hockey he'll teach himself! I'm halfway out the door when the coach says, "Principal thought you might back out. So he told me to tell you on his behalf that he'll just write a simple letter to the Music University of New York to reject the possibility of you joining them in the fall of what would be your senior year. Making it that much more difficult for you to start in the late spring of this year."

My leg is paralyzed in midair, halfway down to step on the ground. My heart rate is increasing and my hold on the handle of the door is gradually getting tighter. I can feel both of their eyes on me. Is the school really capable of blackmailing me? I understand Austin but the principal? Does hockey really mean that freaking much!?... That the intelligence of an innocent person is being overlooked without a second thought?

I turn around and I want to chew on my hair. But I'm too fazed to move anything of my body as I just stand there. Austin's eyes look like they're about to fall out from learning that I am applying for college. The coach is happy that he's got me trapped. And me, well my voice makes it seem like I can't breathe and that I haven't had water for the past days, "He wouldn't do that. The school wouldn't do that. It's blackmailing."

He just shrugs his shoulders as he says, "Well I don't know but that's a risk you need to choose if you want to take. Isn't MUNY that university that you've been working hard for? The reason why you made the faculty fill paper work after paper work? Wouldn't want to risk it… Or am I wrong, Ally?"

As he speaks I know that my answer is obviously going to be that I can't take this risk. He knows that I have no choice. It took so much time, begging for them to let me go. They're trapping me. They want me or Austin and they are making sure that they don't lose both in one year. Even if Austin might not be able to go back into hockey to win games because of his grades next year, at least they'll still have their brainiac. But if I tutor him enough to play, they'll set me free. They can't lose both. They're willing to just lose one of its greatest accomplishments.

"I should have known that you were being too nice during practice," I say bitterly to the coach as I walk back to my seat.

Austin is still staring at me like I'm some kind of alien. Is he really surprised to hear of my early college application? He should have seen it coming. I mean, I only have my name written in the award case like a hundred times! Everyone comes to me during morning to copy off my homework for a reason.

Coming back to his senses, he shakes his head as the coach continues his little speech of rules we have to follow. He finally ends it with, "As soon as his grades are up. The soon the tutoring ends and you, Ally, get to leave the position of being our team management. Unless you want to stay of course."

The room stays quiet as Austin and I are lost in our own thoughts. I can't believe this is happening. Well I just learned something new after being in prison for two long year: LIFE ISN'T FAIR!

Seeing coach being done, I get up and say, "Fine. I'll do it. So unless you want to tell something else you'd like to add on to the punishment, I'll be going now."

The coach gets up too and says, "Leave me a schedule on the desk of what days you'll be meeting before you leave."

He goes to his door and is about to go when he turns around to say, "Break anything in here due to an argument or a fight from both of you, and you guys are dead." With that he leaves me standing there and Austin sitting with his mouth wide open; most likely still trying to figure out what exactly is happening.

Taking out a sheet of paper I say, "Ok what days are good for you?"

He smirks back at me as he raises an eyebrow, "Ally Dawson is smart?"

I shake my head in disapproval at his behavior when I say with more frustration, "What days' work for you?"

He looks at me amused as he realizes that he's annoying me when he says, "Awe. Ally might be leaving soon. How much are you going to be missing me?"

I can tell he's just trying to push my buttons again as I try to bite my lips from continuing his little discussion. I look at the calendar as I try to plan out what days would work for me the most when all of a sudden I find myself caged in by Austin and he's pressing his body against mine as he says, "Don't worry, babe. I'll make sure to make the night before you leave unforgettable as I show you all the places I can take you with just one touch."

My face turns into horror as I hear him say this. It's like a déjà vu of his offer for the janitor's closet. Coming to my senses quickly I push him off of me and shout out loud, "Ew!"

Crossing my arms, in a demanding voice I say, "Look all I have to do is tutor you. I don't need to make sure you pass. I am most definitely not your little toy to play around with for your entertainment. I just need to help you to not get a letter sent to MUNY. So YOU do your homework and sorry for interrupting the romantic moment you were having with that girl in the janitor's closet, but something tells me if you really want to stay in hockey then you'll start leaving Casey or Cassie or whatever her name is to get tutoring. So since you don't really care what days I will be teaching, I'll let you know that I am free only Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays."

He just shrugs his shoulders at me and then huskily whispers, "What a shame. I could have made you forget your name."

I can feel his eyes checking me out but I try to ignore it. I just keep staring at my shoes as they keep swaying in place. I don't have the guts to look at him until I hear him say, "You're every demanding but I have my own conditions."

I roll my eyes at him before he continues to say, "First off, you tell no one about this. I don't need my reputation going bad because of this. Second of all, you're going to do my homework. That way I pass and we get to be done faster. Third of all, don't expect anything from me because I'm not going to try. And I'm busy every night doing things that you'll never experience because you're too much of a tight ass. So if you don't mind. There's a girl named Kassidy that I have to go do since you interrupted the release I was going to get before practice."

He gets his stuff and is starting to walk out when I follow quickly behind and whip him around to face me. In a stern voice I say, "I am not going to do your homework!" Pushing him aside, I start to leave. But just like me, he turns me around and I can tell from his eyes that he's annoyed with me.

"Why can't you just do my homework? And why so many days? I know you're excited by the idea of me spending time with you but you're indispensable. And I'm sorry but I will only go to two days per week; three for tops."

He's crossing his arms and we're both glaring at each other. Why does he have to make things so complicated! I mean this could be real simple if he'd just do things my way. Letting out a sigh, I tell him, "The reason why we are going to study for four days is because I want to stop being you're team manager as soon as possible. And the sooner you get your grades up the less time I have to see you. So it's set. We're meeting those days and if they don't work for you, then make your life work around those days."

I can tell that I'm making him more frustrated but something tells me if I don't set my ground rules that there will be no tutoring and then my university will be thrown out the window. And I just can't have this happen. Not when I am so close to making that dream into a reality. Seeing a hint of mischievous in his eyes I take my chance to warn him, "One more thing, try anything that will ruin my possibility of getting into MUNY and you will never be able to walk again for the rest of your life. This includes anything that may be directly or indirectly. If I don't get in because the principal decided to write a letter that is caused by you, you better hope you can get out of the country within an hour."

Putting a fake smile on my face with a bittersweet tone I say, "See you tomorrow Study Buddy!"

And for the first time in history, Austin doesn't say anything back. He doesn't make a witty comment. He doesn't try to stop me from leaving. He just stands there in the coach's room doing who knows what as I leave. All I know as I take each step is that life is a bitch… A really big annoy bitch.