C H A D

Oh, God.

A crying girl.

What do I do?

I held my breath until my lungs felt like they were about to burst. My original plan was just to come in here and tell her goodnight. Why would she be crying? Was it something I did? It probably is something I did... God, I'm such an idiot! Why did I have to make her eat Dad's inedible burgers? The only reason I was immune to those things was because I grew up having to eat them—they sure gave you a tough stomach.

Even though she was an annoying, self-absorbed, spoiled, whiney, unfortunately hot guest... she was still a guest. And you don't food poison your guests. It's just not common courtesy. We Southerners are known for our good food. Why did I have to freak her out like that? I made her cry. Shit.

I wasn't sure what to say, so I tried, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh... yeah! Yeah, I—I'm fine."

Well, that sounded completely fake. I sighed, running my hand through my hair. I hardly know her... how am I supposed to deal with this? This wasn't part of the job description. "I don't think—are you sure you're okay?"

She just gave me a thumbs-up sign, still not facing me. I felt so awkward just standing there in the doorway. Part of me wanted to help, and part of me wanted no part of the crying girl in my guest bedroom. After a lot of thought, I asked what I thought would be best. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she mumbled so quietly that I almost wasn't sure if she actually said it or not.

Slowly, surely, I stepped closer to Allison's bed. I was really silent, almost afraid that if I breathed too loud it would make her cry harder. She looked so... fragile. Which was really weird, because a first impression of her tends to come off as—well, she has a strong personality. I guess that I should apologize.

"I don't... I don't know exactly what you want me to tell you. But, uh... I—I'm sorry about the whole thing at supper. I didn't think it'd upset you..."

I mean, sure, I knew it'd get on her nerves, but that was the whole point. I never meant to hurt her feelings. Almost in slow motion, I heard the sheets rustle and she rolled around to face me. I was hit by a pang of awkwardness and regret at the sight of her. Her eyes were red, her cheeks blotchy, tear trails rolling down her face and all the way to her neck. I tried not to shut my eyes and just look away. I felt like a total asshole!

"It's not anything you did," she suddenly said in a raspy whisper.

It was like 500 pound weights had been lifted from my shoulders. I couldn't hold in my sigh of relief. Can you say phew?

"I don't know if I can... but... if there's anything I can do for you... like I said earlier... don't hesitate to ask," I muttered, trying to smile at her. She really wasn't that pleasant of a person, but she didn't deserve to cry like this. I suddenly felt anger towards the person who caused her this pain. What sort of a person makes a girl cry?

Allison looked at me for a while, but my eyes shot straight to my feet. I couldn't handle looking at her face anymore. She stopped talking all together, and so did I. I was starting to think that the waves of awkwardness radiating around the room was supposed to be a sign or something for me. I cleared my throat and began backing towards the door.

"Alright," I nodded at her. "Um, I just came to say goodnight. So... uh... goodnight."

I tried to grin encouragingly at her. Maybe she was homesick, and being in what she referred to as a 'shack' in the middle of Louisiana probably didn't make things any better for her. I shut the door behind me, and exhaled deeply, letting out all of the tension I'd felt in the room. So if Dad's cooking wasn't the problem, my behavior wasn't the problem, and if perhaps homesickness wasn't the problem, then what could it be? She has everything. A fact that she never seems to forget to remind me of.

I felt bad just leaving her in there, but I did. I turned to my left and went into my bedroom, changing into my sweats and t-shirt. I set my alarm clock for five in the morning, the time I needed to be up so we could get down the one of the cabins by five-thirty. Oh, while I was in her room, I'd meant to tell her what time we'd be getting up... but I figured that it wasn't the best time. I just suppose she'll be in for an ugly little surprise tomorrow morning.

A peircing blaring in my ear woke me. I shot up in bed, thinking I was about to be late for school, then I realized that it was summer. Wow, Chad, nice. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and tried not to just bury myself back into my warm and soft covers. Don't you just hate that feeling when you're so warm, so comfortable, so sleepy, and you have to get up? Trust me, no one hates it more than me, because I have to do this almost every morning. FIVE O'CLOCK A.M. Sounds fun, huh?

Notice the sarcasm in my voice.

I opened my blinds and welcomed the sun, trying to shed the light over my dark room. I pulled on a pair of ripped jeans and one of my, what I call, 'work shirts'. It had a few holes in it and some stains, but it was technically clean. I'd probably end up taking it off anyway, so who really cared? It didn't stink or anything... that much. I could dress in a tuxedo to work and Allison would probably still find something to complain about.

Speaking of Allison, I wonder if she's okay. She looked pretty torn up last night. I hope she slept alright. Why? Because nothing feels better after crying a lot than a nap. That, and she'll need plenty of rest if she wants to be able to get through my job! Heck, I need a lot of sleep if I want to be able to get through my job. Heavy lifting, hot sun, high humidity, maintenance... she'll totally croak. This should be fun to watch.

I stretched again and yawned, walking out of my bedroom door and approaching hers. I smirked, rose my fist, and waited for a few seconds.

BAM BAM BAM!

I banged on her door as loudly as I could without breaking it. My dad was already up and had left for work, so there was no one to worry about awakening. Just her. This was so much fun.

"Hey, Allison!" I called loudly, tilting my head towards the closed white door. "It's time to wake up! Work!"

I heard a frustrated groan and some mumbling. Then, a raspy voice shrieked, "Good God, Chad... it's five in the freaking morning!"

"Exactly. That's the time we wake up."

It was hilarious. Our voices were like night and day. Mine was chipper and well-warmed up already, and hers sounded like half of it was gone.

"Go screw yourself!" she groaned, and I heard her bed creak, like she'd slammed back into it. I could picture her covering her head with her pillow and locking herself in her sheets stubbornly. She was gonna make me do it, wasn't she?

"Now, that ain't very nice," I shook my head, unable to keep the smugness out of my voice. "You know what we do to people in this house who can't mind their manners?"

"No one freaking cares!" she shouted, and it was muffled most likely by her puffy pillow.

"You don't care? You sure?"

She couldn't say I didn't warn her...

"Hell yes! Now go away so I can sleep!"

I took that as my signal to go outside and grab an aluminum bucket. It was muddy from a recent rain, but I didn't care, because apparently she didn't! I brought it inside, walked to the kitchen, filled it with ice cubes from the freezer, followed with water from the faucet, and marched excitedly towards her room. Let's see how much she would care about this.

I swung open the door, nearly laughing with joy, and in one swift movement, dumped the icy cold water all over Allison and her bed. It was almost in slow motion. I had braced the pail against my arm, twisted my body backwards for momentum, and threw the liquid. It spread and shined in the air, twisting and hurtling towards it's target. The moment it splashed around her, the pillow covering her face was thrown across the room, followed by a screaming and shrieking Allison jumping out of bed. Her face was red with anger and her eyes stung as she glared incredulously at me.

It very quickly came to my attention at how the way her pajamas clinged to her skin... and then how much more they did when they were wet. I try to be a gentleman to women and be courteous... that's just the way I was brought up. So, I felt really... I don't know... dirty as my eyes glued themselves to her. And what didn't help was that it only seemed to be making her madder. Well, at least, I think it was. Her face had been pale because of the cold water, but now her face was red and heating up.

"What are you staring at?" she demanded of me, her voice a deadly whisper. I would guess her eyes were dark and clouded with anger... but I wouldn't know. I wasn't looking at her eyes.

I just stuttered and stumbled over my words like an illiterate child staring at a delicious brownie. Okay, yeah, I know it's perverted, but I mean, good lord. Just look at her!

"Get out!" she yelled, turning me around and shoving me towards the door with her wet hands. I could feel her sharply manicured fingernails digging into my shoulderblades. "Get out now!"

Before I knew it, I was stumbling out into the hallway with a slamming door meeting me as soon as I turned around. It was only a fraction of a second before I heard the lock on the knob twist and click! She was screaming something at me angrily through the door... but I honestly can't remember what it was... I was saving the image of her in my hormonal-college-guy mind.

I did catch the end of one of her sentences, though. "...Unbelievable!" she was saying. "Who in their right mind does that? Dumping ice water on people? Is that how you ignoramous hicks subsitute for an alarm clock down here? Ridiculous!"

"Well, maybe if you would have just woken up when I told you to, I wouldn't have had to get the water bucket," I said through gritted teeth through the door. I was started to get sick of her constantly insulting my intelligence. What do you want to bet that my aptitude test scores are higher than hers? I bet that if she took the ACT, she'd be screwed. I kept these thoughts to myself, though. I've learned over time that spitting back insulting comments usually just fueled the fire that I was so desperately trying to put out.

I heard her huff. "I didn't know you would invade my privacy and dump freaking ice on me!" she whined loudly.

"You may think it's unorthadox, but you're never gonna try sleeping in again, are you?" I smirked, crossing my arms. My answer was silence with the occasional mumbling that I couldn't understand... and it was probably for the best that I didn't.

I sighed as I locked the house door behind us, escorting the girl that I was 'babysitting' to my truck. She stood on the porch for a while, sulking I guess, as I walked ahead and unlocked the pickup. I climbed in and cleaned off the passenger seat for her, turning on the air conditioning as soon as the air coolant was warmed up. Having my seatbelt buckled and everything, I was surprised and slightly annoyed when I looked up to find that she hadn't moved. There she stood in her designer jeans and high heels, arms crossed indignantly, a defiant scowl staining her features, her large sunglasses hiding her eyes.

I groaned and rolled down my window, leaning out and calling to her. God is really testing my patience now, I guess. "What are you doing over there? We need to get going!"

"I'm not going," she answered, stomping her heeled foot and planting it there.

I rose my eyebrows and almost laughed. That's funny, she seemed to think that she had a choice in the matter. "You're... not going," I restated. She stuck out a hip in response. I tried not to stare at it. I cleared my head and took a deep breath, begging the Lord to grant me patience, and a lot of it. "Sorry to break it to you, Allison, but you don't really have a choice. You have to go."

"I don't 'have' to go anywhere with you," she spat back out at me. "I don't even want to be here! Since I'm already here and I can't change that, at least I'm gonna try and enjoy myself while I'm in the backwoods of America. If I am going anywhere, it's shopping."

"Alright," I nodded slowly, my tone amazingly calm for the aggravated fire that was raging inside of me, "we can go shopping. For paint brushes and paint. And new fishing rods and baits. Plus, we need to get some lines for the gators."

She just stared at me incredulously. At least, I think it was incredulous. It was hard to tell behind those dark lenses.

"No way, not that kind of shopping," she seethed at me. My grip on the steerling wheel involuntarily tightened. God, she is such a brat! "I know that... your kind... probably isn't used to this, but I want to go clothes shopping. You know, like Belk? JCPenny? Hollister?"

An angry shiver ran down my spine. I need to control myself. I have to remember that I'm the adult here, not her. If she wants to act like a spoiled six year-old, let her. The way I'm getting paid for this makes it well worth it, right? Just be nice and calm and positive when you respond to her, Chad.

"The closest you are getting to Belk is their TV commercials," I snapped. "Look, Allison, I'm sick and tired of you talking to me like I'm some uneducated hick and that can't read or write. Whether you like it or not, I'm your boss, I'm your only ride home, my house is the only house you can live in, and I am your only link to the outside world. So I'd suggest that you pick your friends wisely and be a little nicer to the guy who is in charge of how much work you do. It's as simple as that. You got it?"

She just stood there, mouth slightly agape, unable to believe that I finally gave her a little taste of her own medicine. It's about time she was put in her place. Even though she didn't respond, she still didn't budge a step towards the truck, so I couldn't help but to continue.

"What?" I asked, feigned concern on my face. "Do you understand? Am I talking slow enough for you?" My tone was demeaning, much like hers. "Let me put this in a way that you spoiled, uneducated-on-reality, preppy California people might understand: YOU. GET. IN. TRUCK." Her chin visibly dropped further, but she still didn't move. "Allison, don't even think about going back in your room and locking the door behind you, because all of the doorknobs in that house are the same. If you wiggle them a certain way, they unlock, so there is no possible way that you could keep me from coming into your room early every morning and dumping a bucketful of ice water on your head."

She almost looked slightly taken aback. Hmm, I must have read her mind. Good, because this chick seriously needs to be set straight—something I'm sure that her parents never try to do back home. "And, for your information, there is a Belk not too far from here." I could almost feel her eyes light up behind her sunglasses. "And if you don't do work, there is no way under this big blue sky that I'm telling you where it is or how to get there. Around here, you can't just whine and get whatever you want. We have to work for it."

The only thing that she did to make me smile was the way she slipped in the mud on the way running to my truck.

A/N: OKAY, I know that I haven't updated in over a month. I am SO unbelievably sorry, you guys. My life has been so busy lately you wouldn't have any idea. Plus, my grandfather passed away recently... and that's sort of been keeping me down in the dumps lately, keeping me sort of out of a writing-type mood. I also have either choir or play rehearsal every day after school, and that has been eating up a lot of my time. Again, I apologize so much. I totally don't blame you if you decide not to review.

But... then again... I'd really like it if you did :) Since you all are so awesome and all. Tell me, are you liking the story so far? Do you think Chad's attitude is the right one? Review!