Tangled Youth
Chapter 8
"You're in the shit," was the first thing Boone heard when he snuck into the house at seven AM the next morning. He looked up, realizing that walking on his tiptoes was no longer necessary if he had already been busted. Shannon sat on the ottoman in the living room, smirking, her hair in a messy bun, and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders over a pair of pajamas. "You are in the shit," she repeated, sneering. "Where the hell were you?"
"I was at Anna's," he blushed visibly, a pained expression on his face.
"That bad?" Shannon's tired face looked positively zealous now.
"What? No, I'm just in the shit, like you said. Is she super pissed?" Boone had hoped that Sabrina wouldn't notice his absence, well, actually, he had hoped that he would actually get home at a reasonable time.
"Why the hell didn't you come back last night?" She asked, rolling her eyes, but Boone sensed undertones of uneasiness in her voice.
"She wouldn't let me leave," Boone whispered hoarsely, as if Anna was standing behind him and might hear.
Shannon laughed, all traces of apprehension present in her voice seconds before completely gone. "That is like, so Anna of her." Boone looked at Shannon, and the lines under her eyes, and how her face was slightly paled under the dimness of the un-lightened room.
"Shan? Did you wait up for me?" He asked nervously, hoping he wasn't responsible for depriving his sister of sleep.
"No," she said, "God, don't flatter yourself!" Shannon looked disgusted, but her eyes widened and she bit her lip. "No!" She repeated, trying to convince herself, and stalked off, her blanket trailing behind her as she started up the stairs.
"What the hell is wrong with you lately?" Boone heard the click-clack of his mother's shoes and the shrill anger in her voice before he even saw her face. Boone suddenly felt extremely inadequate in his wrinkled sweatshirt and yesterday's pants – almost like the rebellious type Boone always wished he could be. But it wasn't looking so fun right now.
As Sabrina yelled, Boone tried to zone out her words, letting his mind wander. He had only seen her face this furious when he was eight and accidentally knocked over a fine china platter that had been on display over the mantle. The way he felt after was similar to the tiny shards of glass that lay on the floor after the bowl shattered – and the red mark across his face hadn't helped matters much either, although his mother had apologized profusely for slapping him. Shannon had seen her face this furious many times before, he knew because she crawled into bed with him afterwards, fresh tears streaming down her face. When she recounted the situation – Sabrina had screamed at her for getting a D in Math, Sabrina had slapped her for insulting her and embarrassing her in front of her clients, something simple like that, always something that made Boone pull Shannon closer against him. He longed to kiss away her tears, his feelings of love towards her always overpowering the significant feelings of anger welling inside of him, blind to Shannon's flaws. But his mother was blind to Shannon's goodness, so in the end, he thought, it all balanced out.
"I swear to god, you get that girl pregnant and I'm disowning you!" Sabrina was currently ranting. Boone nodded obediently, but inside he was rolling his eyes as Sabrina continued talking. He wasn't six anymore, and he also wasn't an idiot. But in situations like these, it was easier to just agree with her. You didn't want to talk back to Sabrina Carlyle – several of her workers had learned this the hard way, forced to pack up all of their belongings into a cardboard box, leaving the office behind. And Boone wasn't especially keen on doing the same to his house. He had no doubt in his mind that Sabrina was confident enough to kick him out of the house if he did enough to trigger her emotions. But sweet little A-student Boone wasn't worried about this. "Answer me!"
"I won't." Boone tried to stifle a yawn unsuccessfully. On top of being exhausted, he was also (shamefully) a little hung over.
"What the – what is wrong with you?" Sabrina stuttered. "What kind of answer is that! I asked
you if you were ever going to sleep over at some whore's house again without having the courtesy to even call me! And you answer, I won't? You would think, that after you've already done this much, you would have the decency to listen to your mother, who has done everything in the world to raise you! You've had every little, tiny thing handed to you on this platter, but no, all you can do is baby your sweet little Shannon – but you know what you're doing, Boone? You are turning her against me, and I don't appreciate that one little bit! Fuck, fuck!" As she spoke, her voice amplified. Sabrina hardly ever swore, but when she did, it was the only clue that she hadn't always been rich and affluent. "And now you're sleeping around." This was so untrue, Boone almost had to bite his tongue to stop from laughing. "I'm serious when I say that I'll disown you if you get someone pregnant. You'd better not become one of those men when you're older, not even having the fucking dignity to pay child support, that imbecile Samuel never lifted an undeserving arm off the couch to pay for – " Boone stared at Sabrina in shock. Sabrina stared back.
"Samuel?" Boone said as soon as he was confident his voice would work.
"You're grounded." Sabrina said, her face stone cold, changing the subject as quickly as possible. "You've been drinking, you're sleeping with this coked out whore, and – god! Don't stare at me with those damn eyes!" Boone was incredibly surprised to see his mother wipe a tear from her cheek. "Those damn eyes, you just had to inherit those damn eyes! He could always seduce anyone and anything with his damn eyes, charm the pants off any girl that walked into the room! Of course, they didn't do him any good when he disappeared the minute I told him!" Sabrina coughed, realizing that she had said far too much. "You're grounded." She said again, "For a week, and you should be on your hands and knees thanking me right now! If it weren't for me, we'd be living in some dump downtown, and – " Sabrina stopped, once again opening up a door that she hadn't wanted to open. "I swear to god, you'd better finish those applications this weekend. You had better start listening to me! You deliberately went behind my back – you know what? I can't talk about this anymore! I can't – " Sabrina suddenly looked at her watch and tucked her hair behind her ear, picking up her briefcase from the ottoman that Shannon had been sitting on before she went upstairs. Boone wondered in fear if she had been listening to Sabrina's entire lecture. "I have a meeting. Get ready for school." Then she disappeared through the front door, and a door slam and an engine revving up later, she was gone.
"Boone?" He heard Shannon's voice from the stairwell and a minute later, she walked down the steps and, walking towards him, suddenly enveloped him in a hug. He patted her back awkwardly. "You didn't deserve that," she pressed her lips into his ear, and he wasn't quite sure if it counted as a kiss or not.
"At least she didn't slap me," Boone said, "I get so mad when she does that to you." He tightened his grip around her, combing back a piece of her hair. He was a little distracted right now – the news of his father had caught him off guard, and now he wasn't so sure if he was so eager to find his father. "Shan? Did you hear the part about – "
"About 'Samuel'?" She asked. "Yeah. You still wanna find him?"
"I don't know," He said slowly, and Shannon let go of him, stepping back.
"So, on a lighter note," she smiled, "How was it?"
"How was what?"
"Uh, gee, I don't know," she played dumb. "The sex?"
"I don't know," Boone shrugged, "I mean, I don't have anything to compare it to." Shannon smirked again.
"I bet you're good in bed," she said, and Boone blushed noticeably. Shannon slapped him on the ass, which was becoming extremely common (she seemed to do it at least once a day now), and brushed past him and into the kitchen. But Boone was preoccupied thinking about everything that his mother had said. Now, he was too tired to wrap his mind around all of it, so he decided that, for now at least, denial would be a good tool to use.
It was first period, and Boone had his head on his desk, half-asleep, before class started. He looked up with a start when Kevin's backpack landed on the ground, causing a large thud. Biology books really were killer.
"Oh my god!" Kevin exclaimed. "Dude, you look horrible!"
Lauren, the smart-aleck who sat in front of Boone, turned around to see if it was true. "Let me guess," she said in a bored tone. "You're either hung over, just pulled an all-nighter, just pulled an all-nighter," she raised her eyebrows. "Or you're in trouble with the parents."
"Uh," Boone put his head back on the desk, but this time he kept his eyes open. "All of the above?"
"Dude!" Kevin said loudly. "You got laid?" Lauren rolled her eyes, turning around, but everyone else stared towards Kevin and Boone. It was times like these, Boone thought, that he didn't have such a big-mouthed best friend.
"No," he said back, just as loud, though his words slurred together a little because he was tired and had a hangover, and hadn't had time to take an aspirin (god, he thought, it sounded like he was a stoner or something!) "I'm grounded." Everyone sort of shrugged and went back to what they were doing.
"Well, it figures," Lauren turned around again. "Wow, you do look bad."
"Aw," Boone smiled, sitting up. "Thanks."
Lauren, surprisingly did not roll her eyes. "Well," she blabbered, "I mean, you don't look bad, you just don't look as good as usual, not that, I mean, that's that bad or anything, I mean you usually look really good, but… no, I mean not, you know that good, but you usually look okay. I mean, you look good, but today you just don't. I mean, you don't look as…" Boone was basically asleep by the time she finished her ramble. "I'm sorry," he heard somewhere distantly. "I'm rambling, aren't I?"
"Yeah," he said, tilting his head to the side on the desk. "Just a little."
"Carlyle," the teacher barked. "Get your head off the desk and take out the homework." Boone stared blankly at the floor. The one time he forgot his homework… damn, it really was a crappy day.
Okay, hello. I have nothing really to say, except please review and tell me what you liked and didn't like! Oh, and thanks, BlackberryStain for writing the longest freaking review I've ever seen! Oh, and sorry if this is like really choppy.
