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Chapter Eleven

October 1968

At the time it seemed appropriate to give Michael some space to process the break-up and cool off, but it had been a week and he had avoided all her recent attempts to talk to him. All she wanted to do was apologise, maybe even explain herself, but every time she called his house he was unavailable. She'd considered going to his house, but had thought better of it. She deserved his resentment, she knew she did, all she wanted was a chance to make things right.

Even at school he had taken to avoiding her, and not in an inconspicuous way either. Though, she supposed with their very public break-up she couldn't expect him to act any other way. She'd resolved to dead the issue, leave him to get over it himself, but this resolution fell rather flat when she caught him in the hallway. She was running late for class and there was no one else around, making it a good a time as any.

"Michael." She called out, trying not to be hurt when he gave her a cold look. "Can we talk?"

He narrowed his eyes, but nodded, and she walked closer. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to apologise,"

"What for?" He interrupted. "The way I see it, you did me a favour."

"How so?" She asked, cautiously, not liking how this conversation was going. She'd wanted to apologise and leave, but he had other ideas.

Michael shrugged, nonchalantly. "Don't want a girlfriend who's two-timing with some hood."

"It wasn't like that and you know it." Peggy said. "Curly had nothing to do with me wanting to break up with you."

"So, you two ain't together now?"

"Of course not." She said. "I know you have every right to be pissed at me for how I broke up with you, but I didn't think you were this insecure."

"Insecure?" He asked, indignantly. "At least I didn't half-ass our relationship to try and please my mother."

"Yes you did." Peggy spat back. "And now you're embarrassed so you're trying to blame this on Curly, because it's easier to think some other guy took me away than to admit you didn't make me happy."

It was a direct assertion, perhaps too pointed in its delivery but she hardly cared. If he wanted to go around throwing false accusation then she was going to drop some truths on him. She'd spent the past week beating herself up about it, but all he'd done was dig himself deeper into these illusions he'd created.

"Well, I didn't realize you were such a slut." He said, venomously. "Of course you're not with Shepard, probably just jumped into bed with him."

Peggy clenched her fists at her side, jutting out her chin at him. If she were more reckless she might've punched him for saying such a thing. There was no truth to his claims and they both knew it, but it's accuracy didn't matter. The very fact that he would use such a word to describe her, to her face no less, was enough confirmation for her that whatever relationship they had was unsalvageable.

"You're an asshole." She growled, shoving a pointed finger in his face. "And you can take that apology I was going to give you and shove it up your ass."

Stalking past him, she headed in the opposite direction of her classroom. Going to class was the right thing to do, but then she'd have to act like everything was fine and there was a possibility that she couldn't do that. Breaking out into tears in the middle of Math was hardly an appealing prospect. Of course having never skipped class before she wasn't exactly sure where to go where she wouldn't be caught, but outside seemed the safer bet.

Curly hadn't come to school intending to skip class, he never did, but smoking under the bleachers was more appealing than sitting in class with a bunch of teachers that couldn't give less of a shit about him. The feeling was mutual, of course. So far he'd been pretty consistent in his attendance, for him at least. It wasn't like he was going to every class, just more than usual.

He hadn't skipped with any of his friends this time, wasn't with any of them when he decided not to go to class and couldn't be bothered to find them. He was regretting it now, though, it was pretty boring smoking by yourself. He thought about skipping the rest of the day and heading downtown to see if Tim needed anything, but the Brumly Gang had been quiet ever since they'd agreed to the rumble on Saturday.

When he'd heard the door to the building open he instinctively dropped the cigarette onto the ground, pressing it down with his foot, looking up expecting to see a teacher planning on dragging him back to class. Instead he saw Peggy. She had to be the last person he would've expected to skip, she was too damn well behaved for that. He would've thought it would piss him off, but he kind of liked it.

Stepping out from behind the bleachers, they locked eyes. Peggy looked surprised to see him, not that he knew why. There were a few moments of staring before she started walking towards him. He was glad she hadn't waited any longer, that would've been embarrassing.

She looked pissed as all hell, and if he wasn't sure that the anger was directed at him he might've found it attractive. Hell, he still found it attractive. He liked seeing her riled up, liked it even more when he was the reason.

"Whatcha doing?" He asked.

"Don't know. I guess I'm skipping." She said. "You too?"

Curly nodded. "Still mad 'bout last week."

"No. Yes. Maybe." Peggy replied. "For someone that makes skipping class a habit this isn't the best hiding spot."

"You only saw me cause I wanted ya to." Curly smirked at her. "Sides, I usually hide out behind that shed over there."

Not waiting for her to reply, he started striding towards the chain link fence. Peggy didn't immediately follow, but she was at his side sooner then he'd expected.

"I shouldn't be doing this." She said. "We could get in trouble."

"C'mon, Jones, live a little." He said. "'Sides, I ain't gonna get ya in trouble."

He'd laid down the challenge and there was no way she wouldn't take it, she couldn't help herself. It was almost endearing.

"I doubt that." Peggy muttered, pulling at her sleeves, glancing over her shoulder every so often.

"That's a fence." She pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him, looking between it and him like she expected him to remove the obstacle.

"Yes it is."

"I'm wearing a skirt."

"Yeah, I noticed." Curly said. "Can't climb a small fence in a skirt?"

"It's not ideal." She replied, her face twisting in concentration as she eyed up the fence. By now he knew her well enough to know she'd climb the fence, just to prove to him she could.

"I promise I won't look up your skirt." Curly said, before hauling himself over the fence, landing on the other side.

"Gee, what a gentleman."

Peggy was more graceful than him, took longer too. She kept making sure her skirt hadn't flown up, glancing suspiciously at him. Of course, he was checking her out and wasn't trying to hide it, but what did she expect, that he wouldn't take the opportunity to stare at her ass.

By the time she climbed over to the other side he was sick of waiting. Reaching out he placed his hands around her waist, lifting her down to the ground. She glanced up at him with wide eyes and what looked like a blush. Maybe that was why he kept his hands there for a few seconds longer then necessary. He liked it when she blushed, made her look all innocent or something.

"Thanks." She said, sheepishly, inching away from him slightly. "What do you do when you hide out here?"

"Smoke, drink," Curly shrugged, leading her behind the building. "Anything but go to class."

"Oh, the horror." Peggy teased, grinning at him.

"So," Curly said, sitting down against the wall. "If you ain't still pissed at me then what are ya pissed about?"

Peggy was careful in making her way to the ground, tucking her legs underneath her in as ladylike a manner as she could manage. Curly smirked at that, his eyes flicking over her legs and she involuntarily started blushing. She could've kicked herself for acting like some giddy schoolgirl, especially after what Michael said to her. She shouldn't be skipping class at all, let alone skipping with Curly. But she was in too deep to turn back now.

"I never said I wasn't still mad at you." She clarified. "But I'm currently more mad at Michael."

"What'd he do?"

"I've been trying to apologise and he's been ignoring me." She explained. "Then he finally agrees to talk to me and he acts like an absolute ass."

"It's been a week," Curly scoffed. "Shit, I wouldn't be talking to ya either."

"Whose side are you on?" She muttered bitterly.

"Yours, o'course." He said. "What'd he say?"

Peggy shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Why you pissed if it don't matter?" Curly asked.

He was trying to goad her into spilling but she wouldn't fall for it. Telling Curly would only make things worse. She wasn't sure what he would do, but she knew that beating Michael up was a distinct possibility, and she couldn't be responsible for the repercussions of that.

Peggy shrugged. "I don't care what he thinks anyway."

It was a lie. She cared very much about what Michael thought, she didn't want him to think less of her, though he clearly already did. It was bad enough that he was thinking these things but if other people started thinking it too, well, she couldn't very well get Curly to beat up the whole school.

"What do you do if there're people on the field?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"If people are using the field, how do you get here?" She asked. "They'd see you wouldn't they?"

"Just skip the whole day." Curly replied. "Not many people using the field now anyway."

"Yeah, too cold for sport." She agreed. "S'pose you'll be skipping more once track starts up in Spring."

"Nah, they're all too busy running 'round, they don't notice much of anything."

"Excuse me, I run track." She said in mock annoyance.

"That explains it." Curly teased, and she playfully smacked his arm. "You really run track?"

"Yes!"

"You any good?"

"I'd like to think so. I do win on occasion." Peggy said. "There aren't many competitions for girls though. They're all male only."

"Well, that's just fair." Curly said.

"Oh, I'm absolutely certain I could beat you in a race." She said. "You'd be coughing up your lungs half way through with the amount of cigarettes you smoke."

"I run plenty fast from the cops."

"So you just need the right motivation." She said. "And winning's not enough of a motivation for you. Just not being arrested."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Duly noted." She laughed. "Do you often find yourself running from the police?"

"Only every other day."

"So it's a scheduled law-breaking?"

"Oh yeah, it's all planned out."

Peggy very much doubted that anyone planned to get arrested. She also doubted that Curly ever planned anything out, thinking ahead wasn't in his nature. His impulsivity was probably the main cause of most of his arrests.

"What's it like, being arrested?"

Curly cocked his head, frowning slightly before smirking. "It ain't nothin I can't handle." He assured her, puffing his chest out proudly.

"You know you don't have to do that with me, the tough act." She said. "I won't think less of you."

The smirk faded from his face to be replaced by a grimace. As much as she intended the words to be comforting they clearly hadn't hit their mark. She might've regretted making him uncomfortable if she didn't think it was something he needed to hear.

Shifting closer to him, she kept her gaze levelled with his, trying to maintain a soft expression when she innately wanted to meet his ill-temper with her own righteous anger. Curly watched her with suspicion, as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to take it back and call him a pussy for not taking it like a man. Maybe that was what he was used to.

"What was your longest stint?" Peggy asked.

"Six months in the reformatory three years ago." Curly smirked bitterly. "Got caught robbing a liquor store."

"You were drinking when you were fifteen?" She asked, wide-eyed.

Curly let out a curt laugh. "I've been drinking since I was fourteen." He said. "Bet you've never drunk before."

"I told you, I'm an athlete, that requires a healthy lifestyle." She said. "Which doesn't involve drinking."

"Sounds batshit boring." Curly said, leaning his head back against the wall, tilting his head towards her.

This wasn't the first time she saw his eyes but it was the first time she really looked at them, a darker blue than her own but still light. It would be cliche to say they looked like the sky, and terribly vague given the changing colour of said sky.

"Are you calling me boring, Curly Shepard?"

"Just your lifestyle."

Peggy rolled her eyes, her cheeks warming when he kept watching her.

"You're hair's out." He said, as if just noticing.

"Yeah, I couldn't find a hair tie and I was running late." She explained.

Curly reached out his hand, taking a strand of her hair and wrapping it around his finger. "I like it."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." She said, quietly. "Thanks."

Curly leaned back, grinning devilishly like her response was exactly what he'd planned to elicit. It probably was. He was more experienced then her in flirtation, he knew what to say or do to make girls fall over themselves for him. She hadn't expected him to put those moves on her, and she didn't like him thinking he could make her act like a lovesick fool.

It was bad enough that he'd checked out her ass, because there was no way he hadn't looked. Not that she could entirely be annoyed at him for that. After all, she'd looked at his enough times to have noticed it wasn't bad to look at.

"You know, I was planning to keep treating you with cool civility." Peggy said. "I even managed it for our last tutoring session."

"Why not now?"

"Guess I'm just too nice a person to be mean to anyone." She suggested.

"You ain't that nice." He said, his voice low and playful.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think you got a little mean in you."

"So you just don't bring out the mean in me?" She asked.

"Baby, I don't bring out the mean in anyone."

"Ha." She snorted. "Whatever you say."

There he went again, slathering on the charm, trying to push the conversation back into safer territory, somewhere that he could control. It should've annoyed her, the first time someone flirts with her and he's only doing it to avoid feeling vulnerable. But she understood it, and she couldn't find it in herself to be angry.

Peggy glanced down at her watch. "We should head back." She suggested, getting to her feet. "The bell's about to go."

"I don't think I wanna go to class." Curly mused.

"You're going. There's no use in me tutoring you if you can't graduate because of poor attendance." She said, grabbing onto his hand and pulling him up. "C'mon."

Curly's resolve must've have been very strong since there was no way she could've gotten him to his feet without his compliance. He looked amused by her insistence, and probably only agreed because he thought it was entertaining.

"I guess I'll see you around." Peggy said, as they pushed through the doors, stepping into the now crowded hallway.

"Maybe." He shrugged, with an air of forced nonchalance.

"I'll see you later." She repeated, more firmly.

Curly shot her a grin, backing away into the crowd.

"Asshole." She muttered to herself, but smiled anyway.