The monday following the night at the Bronze, when Buffy walked into to
school the halls were buzzing with gossip on her and Spike's newfound
relationship. People stared at her as she passed them in the hall. Gave her
strange looks. Some girls simply glared. Buffy wasn't sure if she should be
offended, or glad. She didn't like the looks girls were giving her, but
they were doing it because she had someone they wanted but couldn't have.
She almost felt the need to gloat as she passed Ginger in the hall, but
simply held her head high and didn't give her a second glance.
She noticed first thing that Spike wasn't in class first period. At first, she just guessed that he was cutting class for fun. She was mad, but decided she would lecture him at lunch. She didn't see him second or third. He wasn't in the halls, or in his classrooms. She started to get worried. When lunch came, she started to get worried.
"He's fine, Buffy," assured Willow. "He's probably sick or something. Me and you get sick all the time and have to stay home."
"I just think he would have called me," said Buffy quietly.
"We know you're worried," said Xander, "but, don't let it get to you. I'm sure he's fine."
Oz raised his hand and pointed to the lunch entrance. "Hey. There he is."
Buffy's head snapped up. She watched him make his way to the table. He didn't seem like himself. His walk was different. His hands were deep in his pockets and he looked at the ground as he walked over.
"Hey, Spike," greeted Willow.
"Hey, Red," he replied, never raising his head as he took a seat. He laid his head on the table, using his arms as a cushion.
Buffy put her hand on his back. "Are you okay? Where were you this morning?"
"I'm fine, luv. Just over slept."
"You look exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Not really. Maybe 'bout an hour before my mum woke me up and made me come here."
"Did you drive like this?"
"No. My mum drove me."
"Why were you up all night?" her voice was genuine concern.
"Cause I felt like it," he snapped.
Buffy was about to open her mouth to say something, but he seemed so tired she didn't want to agitate him, so the words died on her lips.
She looked over at Willow, who just shrugged.
The rest of the day, she watched him trudge through every class. When they were in computers, Willow decided she would give the class a free day, and cover up by saying it was so they could relieve some of the stress caused by coming back to school, but it was really so that Spike could get some rest.
Every class that Buffy had with Spike, she noticed he paid little, or no, attention to the teachers. Since he had had some rest, he didn't fall asleep, but she could tell he was tired.
At the end of the day, she met him at his locker.
"Since you don't have a car to drive home, do you want some company? I could walk with you to your house?"
"S'okay, pet. I'm fine. I don't mind walking by myself. Wouldn't want to make Red lonely."
"She's walking with Xander. And, you're not fine. You look like you're about to pass out, and I want to make sure you get home before that happens."
He looked at her. She had her hands on her hips and a determined look on her face. She wasn't going to give in. So he did.
"Fine. But, I'm probably going to go to sleep when I get home so you can't stay."
"I don't care. I just want to walk."
He shut his locker and they headed out the door. His house wasn't that far from the school. She also discovered it wasn't that far from her house, maybe a little over five blocks.
When they reached his house, Spike turned to her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay, luv?"
She nodded. "Okay. I would suggest you don't stay up all night, tonight. Willow can't give out free days left and right just because you feel like not sleeping when you're suppose to."
"Tell Red thanks, for that. I really needed it."
Suddenly, the front door to his house burst open and a young boy with brown hair, and a thin frame walked onto the porch. "Spike, Dad said to get your ass in her right now!"
"If you don't watch your mouth I'm going to have yours," Spike retorted. He turned back to Buffy. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay, bye." He bent down and gave her a small kiss before fleeing to the house, slamming the door behind him, leaving Buffy in a daze.
As she walked home, it dawned on her that she hadn't even told Willow about their first kiss. She hadn't told anybody. Dawn hadn't even seen because it was too dark. Buffy picked up her pace as she made her way across the road and onto her lawn. She rushed to her door and went inside. She was about to pick up the phone to call Willow when Joyce's voice stopped her.
"Where were you?"
She turned to face her. "I was walking Spike home. He was really tired and I wanted to make sure he made it home since he had to walk."
"You could have called me. I was worried. You should have told Willow to tell me. Something."
"I was only a few minutes late than I usually get here. It's not that big a deal."
"Yes it is, Buffy. You were ten minutes late. You know you're suppose to call me when you're going to be late."
Buffy sighed. "Look. I'm sorry. I didn't think I would be that late. I really didn't think it would matter so much."
"Well, maybe you should think more about your actions."
"Mom, I said I was sorry. I made a mistake. I'll remember to call you next time."
"I just want you to know that I worry."
"Well, don't worry."
"Buffy, I'm a mother, that's what I do."
"Then, don't worry so much."
Joyce paused for a minute. Buffy was about to pick up the phone again.
"What happened?" asked Joyce, making Buffy stop dialing and hang up that phone.
"What do you mean? Nothing happened. I just wanted to call Willow."
"Buffy. I have known you all your life, and I have learned over these past sixteen years that when you come home after school and you go straight to the phone, something happened. So what is it?"
Buffy considered her options. She didn't know if her mother would like the idea that they had already kissed when they had only been going out less than a week, but if she lied, she might get into more trouble if she got caught. Then again, Joyce might not be mad. She might be happy for Buffy. Either way, if she was going to get into trouble, she'll get into less trouble if she just tells the truth.
"I wanted to tell Willow that," she dropped her voice to a whisper, "Spike kissed me."
"Spike?" Joyce said, confused.
"I mean William," said Buffy quickly. "I meant William. My mistake."
"Buffy kissed a boy," said Dawn, walking in. She had been listening to Buffy get chewed out and couldn't help but make her presence known.
"Buffy....." said Joyce. She looked like she was trying to figure if she should be mad or happy. She opened her mouth several times and nothing came out. Dawn and Buffy both waited anxiously to see if she would get in trouble. Finally, Joyce stopped and sighed.
Then, she looked up at Buffy and said, "How?"
Buffy's eyes widened, then, by a look from Joyce, understood what she meant. Again, she wondered if she should tell her about their "almost" make- out session in his car, but decided, what she doesn't know, can't hurt her. "Short and sweet. Just before he went into his house."
Joyce nodded her head, then, with a motion from her hand, said, "Go call Willow."
Buffy smiles brightly and picked up the phone and ran up the stairs.
Dawn starred at Joyce openmouthed.
"What?" said Joyce.
"You let her get away with that?" she said in disbelief.
"Honey, when you get older, you can kiss boys too." With that, Joyce walked off, leaving a still-gawking Dawn.
Upstairs, Buffy was talking to Willow on the phone.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me the first time!" exclaimed Willow.
"I'm sorry, Will. I meant to. I just.....forgot."
"How could you forget that a guy, that makes Ginger jealous, kissed you?"
"I just did. I'm really sorry. Forgive me?"
"Of course. Give me details."
"The first time, it was in his car, he was dropping me off at my house after the night at the Bronze, and he kissed me, and I was starting to kiss him back when Dawn had to come out and ruin everything."
"But she didn't see?"
"She did not see."
"Was their any tough?"
"Willow!"
"I'm curious! Was there?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"What about the second time?"
"That time, it was just a short kiss goodbye."
"Oh."
"Don't sound so disappointed."
"Anything else, I need to know about?"
"Well, sorta. When we were there, near his house, his brother comes out and says Spike needs to get his ass in the house because his dad said so."
"Maybe he was in trouble."
"I don't know."
"It's nothing to worry about, Buffy. Everybody gets in trouble."
"Yeah.....Okay, change the subject. What about you and Oz? Haven't heard you talk about him in awhile."
"He's great. Since my parents aren't around so much, I go to gigs with him. He goes everywhere in California. We're going to LA this weekend."
"That sounds great, Willow. I'm glad your doing so good."
"Yeah....But, I'm starting to get the feeling he's getting tired of me."
"Why?"
"Cause I won't....."
"Oh. Oh! How could you think that? Oz does not seem like the guy to push."
"He doesn't. He really doesn't. I just....don't want him to see me as a shy schoolgirl. I don't want to be what I used to be."
"You're not, Will. Trust me. If Oz really loves you, he'll wait."
"What if he doesn't love me that much?" she said quietly.
"Are we going to have to have an intervention, here? He loves you. More than anything in the world. He would do anything for you. Even wait. Besides, we're just sophomores. You shouldn't even be thinking about that for another year or so."
"It's just that he's older and stuff."
"He's in the same grade," Buffy pointed out.
"Because he got held back."
"It doesn't matter. God, why does every conversation we have have to do with love?"
"It does tend to come up every once in awhile."
"Then, let's talk about something else. How's your teaching?"
"Great. Everyone's cooperating. I haven't had anyone come up to me about changing grades. I get to go to teacher conferences and miss class."
"You're glad about missing class? Are you okay?"
Willow laughed. "I'm fine. I'm just glad that I get to get out of reading class. It's the only class that bores me. I mean, I know how to read. I read in three different languages, for God's sake! And, what will book reports help us with in the future? If they are just to get us to read, I don't need those either. The library is like my second home. Me and the librarian, Giles, are like.....this!"
"Willow, calm down! I'm never heard you get so worked up over this kind of stuff. Actually, you've never gotten worked up, period, over this kind of stuff. You've always been 'Go school. It's your birthday!'. This is the first time I've seen you repel against school."
"Uh uh. In seventh grade health class, I refused to watch that stupid movie on how your body works."
"Okay, one time. Still."
"See, we can have a conversation without bringing up our love-life."
"And we were doing a pretty good job until you just brought it up."
"Whoops."
"That's okay. It's not even a real conversation, because I have to go. Homework calls me."
"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
((((((((((~Spike's House~))))))))))
"Chris! What'd you do with my duster?" hollered Spike. "I left it on my bed this morning and now it's not there!"
"I didn't touch your stupid duster?" retorted Chris, showing up at Spike's bedroom doorway.
"Someone took it."
"Wasn't me." Chris walked away. "Maybe you left it in your car."
Spike thought for a minute. Maybe is mother had put it there. He got to his feet and walked out of the room. His father was asleep in his room. Spike slowly walked by, careful not to wake him. His mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands.
"You okay, Mum?" he asked.
She looked up at him and gave him a half-smile. "I'm fine, William. Just trying to sort through bills." She gestured to the stack of envelopes on the table.
"Have you seen my duster?"
"I think it's in your car."
"S'what I thought."
He walked outside and opened the car door. He crawled in and looked around. The duster was laying in the back seat. He noticed two beer bottles in the passenger seat.
"Great," he muttered. "He wrecked his car cause of his drunken ass, now he's gonna wreck mine." He held his duster to his nose. It smelled of whiskey. "Dammit. He could at least keeps his paws of my stuff."
He slammed the car door shut and walked back inside.
"Something wrong?" his mother asked.
He stopped. "No."
She nodded and he went to his room.
He staid in his room most of the day. He did his homework and wrote an essay that a teacher told him to write because he had fallen asleep in class.
"I wouldn't have fallen asleep if my damn Dad hadn't been up all night ranting and raving and.." His sentence trailed off as he remembered what had happened last night.
His father had come home late, drunk, and in a bad mood. He was complaining that his car had broken down.....
"Damn piece of junk," he hollered, kicking it and making a dent in the door.
"I don't think that will help, John," his wife, Lila, said.
"What do you know? You're a woman. You don't know nothing about no damn cars. 'Sides, if we had money, I wouldn't have this problem. But you don't want to get off your lazy ass and get a job."
"I have to take care of the house and bills. You're the one with a job."
They started to make their way inside the house. Chris was in the living room watching TV and Spike was in his room.
"You're right. I have a job and I bring in money, but that doesn't mean you can't help contribute to it. We got a seventeen year-old in this house. Why can't he get a job?"
"Because I won't make him get a job. It's not his responsibility to support this family."
"The boys could at least do something around here. They sit around doin' nothing. Chris watches TV every chance he gets."
Chris looked down at the floor and turned off the TV.
"He's a young boy, John. He shouldn't have to worry about our problems. He should be living the life of a twelve year-old. Watching TV, playing with friends, and everything else Chris does."
"Well, that's going to change soon. If the reason you're not going to work is because of the house, then we'll get the boys to clean house. Chris," he turned to his son, "go do the dishes from last night."
Chris started to get up from his spot.
"Chris, you stay there," his mother ordered.
Chris stopped. He looked between his father and his mother.
"Dammit, boy, I told you to get in there," John yelled.
Chris looked at his mother, waiting for her to say whether he should go or not.
Suddenly, John's hand snatched out and grabbed Chris's arm, dragging him to the kitchen.
"I told you to do something and you will do what I say."
Chris cried out in pain from his father's grip.
Spike heard Chris and ran from his room to see his mother pull Chris away from John.
"Don't you ever," said Lila coldly, "ever, grab him like that again."
"I'll grab him however I want. He's my son."
"He's my son, too. And I won't let you abuse him like that!"
John's hand came across Lila face to smack her. Lila cried out, holding her face.
Before John knew what had happened, Spike had him pinned against the wall.
"William, let go of me!" John hollered, but because he was drunk, he didn't have his full strength and couldn't make Spike release his grip.
"Don't you ever hit her like that again or I promise I will kill you," snarled Spike.
John looked at his son with a tinge of fear.
"Get out," said Spike, releasing the hold he had on John's wrists and throat.
John stood in front of him, rubbing the place where Spike had been holding his throat. He gave one last look before turning and walking out of the house.
Spike turned back to his mom, who was now crying and holding Chris. Spike walked over and put an arm on her shoulder. After she had stopped crying, he helped her to her room.
"Thanks, William," she said.
"No problem," he said, helping her to bed.
"Will you make him go away? If he comes back? Just for tonight?" she asked. He looked at her. The grown woman in front of his looked like a scared, lost child.
He nodded. She sighed and closed her eyes.
Spike stayed up all night watching for his father. John never came home that night. That's why Spike had been up all night. He had fallen asleep sometime after nine, then his mother woke him up about eleven and made him go to school.
Spike looked down at the piece of paper in front of him. "Life is Hell."
She noticed first thing that Spike wasn't in class first period. At first, she just guessed that he was cutting class for fun. She was mad, but decided she would lecture him at lunch. She didn't see him second or third. He wasn't in the halls, or in his classrooms. She started to get worried. When lunch came, she started to get worried.
"He's fine, Buffy," assured Willow. "He's probably sick or something. Me and you get sick all the time and have to stay home."
"I just think he would have called me," said Buffy quietly.
"We know you're worried," said Xander, "but, don't let it get to you. I'm sure he's fine."
Oz raised his hand and pointed to the lunch entrance. "Hey. There he is."
Buffy's head snapped up. She watched him make his way to the table. He didn't seem like himself. His walk was different. His hands were deep in his pockets and he looked at the ground as he walked over.
"Hey, Spike," greeted Willow.
"Hey, Red," he replied, never raising his head as he took a seat. He laid his head on the table, using his arms as a cushion.
Buffy put her hand on his back. "Are you okay? Where were you this morning?"
"I'm fine, luv. Just over slept."
"You look exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Not really. Maybe 'bout an hour before my mum woke me up and made me come here."
"Did you drive like this?"
"No. My mum drove me."
"Why were you up all night?" her voice was genuine concern.
"Cause I felt like it," he snapped.
Buffy was about to open her mouth to say something, but he seemed so tired she didn't want to agitate him, so the words died on her lips.
She looked over at Willow, who just shrugged.
The rest of the day, she watched him trudge through every class. When they were in computers, Willow decided she would give the class a free day, and cover up by saying it was so they could relieve some of the stress caused by coming back to school, but it was really so that Spike could get some rest.
Every class that Buffy had with Spike, she noticed he paid little, or no, attention to the teachers. Since he had had some rest, he didn't fall asleep, but she could tell he was tired.
At the end of the day, she met him at his locker.
"Since you don't have a car to drive home, do you want some company? I could walk with you to your house?"
"S'okay, pet. I'm fine. I don't mind walking by myself. Wouldn't want to make Red lonely."
"She's walking with Xander. And, you're not fine. You look like you're about to pass out, and I want to make sure you get home before that happens."
He looked at her. She had her hands on her hips and a determined look on her face. She wasn't going to give in. So he did.
"Fine. But, I'm probably going to go to sleep when I get home so you can't stay."
"I don't care. I just want to walk."
He shut his locker and they headed out the door. His house wasn't that far from the school. She also discovered it wasn't that far from her house, maybe a little over five blocks.
When they reached his house, Spike turned to her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay, luv?"
She nodded. "Okay. I would suggest you don't stay up all night, tonight. Willow can't give out free days left and right just because you feel like not sleeping when you're suppose to."
"Tell Red thanks, for that. I really needed it."
Suddenly, the front door to his house burst open and a young boy with brown hair, and a thin frame walked onto the porch. "Spike, Dad said to get your ass in her right now!"
"If you don't watch your mouth I'm going to have yours," Spike retorted. He turned back to Buffy. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay, bye." He bent down and gave her a small kiss before fleeing to the house, slamming the door behind him, leaving Buffy in a daze.
As she walked home, it dawned on her that she hadn't even told Willow about their first kiss. She hadn't told anybody. Dawn hadn't even seen because it was too dark. Buffy picked up her pace as she made her way across the road and onto her lawn. She rushed to her door and went inside. She was about to pick up the phone to call Willow when Joyce's voice stopped her.
"Where were you?"
She turned to face her. "I was walking Spike home. He was really tired and I wanted to make sure he made it home since he had to walk."
"You could have called me. I was worried. You should have told Willow to tell me. Something."
"I was only a few minutes late than I usually get here. It's not that big a deal."
"Yes it is, Buffy. You were ten minutes late. You know you're suppose to call me when you're going to be late."
Buffy sighed. "Look. I'm sorry. I didn't think I would be that late. I really didn't think it would matter so much."
"Well, maybe you should think more about your actions."
"Mom, I said I was sorry. I made a mistake. I'll remember to call you next time."
"I just want you to know that I worry."
"Well, don't worry."
"Buffy, I'm a mother, that's what I do."
"Then, don't worry so much."
Joyce paused for a minute. Buffy was about to pick up the phone again.
"What happened?" asked Joyce, making Buffy stop dialing and hang up that phone.
"What do you mean? Nothing happened. I just wanted to call Willow."
"Buffy. I have known you all your life, and I have learned over these past sixteen years that when you come home after school and you go straight to the phone, something happened. So what is it?"
Buffy considered her options. She didn't know if her mother would like the idea that they had already kissed when they had only been going out less than a week, but if she lied, she might get into more trouble if she got caught. Then again, Joyce might not be mad. She might be happy for Buffy. Either way, if she was going to get into trouble, she'll get into less trouble if she just tells the truth.
"I wanted to tell Willow that," she dropped her voice to a whisper, "Spike kissed me."
"Spike?" Joyce said, confused.
"I mean William," said Buffy quickly. "I meant William. My mistake."
"Buffy kissed a boy," said Dawn, walking in. She had been listening to Buffy get chewed out and couldn't help but make her presence known.
"Buffy....." said Joyce. She looked like she was trying to figure if she should be mad or happy. She opened her mouth several times and nothing came out. Dawn and Buffy both waited anxiously to see if she would get in trouble. Finally, Joyce stopped and sighed.
Then, she looked up at Buffy and said, "How?"
Buffy's eyes widened, then, by a look from Joyce, understood what she meant. Again, she wondered if she should tell her about their "almost" make- out session in his car, but decided, what she doesn't know, can't hurt her. "Short and sweet. Just before he went into his house."
Joyce nodded her head, then, with a motion from her hand, said, "Go call Willow."
Buffy smiles brightly and picked up the phone and ran up the stairs.
Dawn starred at Joyce openmouthed.
"What?" said Joyce.
"You let her get away with that?" she said in disbelief.
"Honey, when you get older, you can kiss boys too." With that, Joyce walked off, leaving a still-gawking Dawn.
Upstairs, Buffy was talking to Willow on the phone.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me the first time!" exclaimed Willow.
"I'm sorry, Will. I meant to. I just.....forgot."
"How could you forget that a guy, that makes Ginger jealous, kissed you?"
"I just did. I'm really sorry. Forgive me?"
"Of course. Give me details."
"The first time, it was in his car, he was dropping me off at my house after the night at the Bronze, and he kissed me, and I was starting to kiss him back when Dawn had to come out and ruin everything."
"But she didn't see?"
"She did not see."
"Was their any tough?"
"Willow!"
"I'm curious! Was there?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"What about the second time?"
"That time, it was just a short kiss goodbye."
"Oh."
"Don't sound so disappointed."
"Anything else, I need to know about?"
"Well, sorta. When we were there, near his house, his brother comes out and says Spike needs to get his ass in the house because his dad said so."
"Maybe he was in trouble."
"I don't know."
"It's nothing to worry about, Buffy. Everybody gets in trouble."
"Yeah.....Okay, change the subject. What about you and Oz? Haven't heard you talk about him in awhile."
"He's great. Since my parents aren't around so much, I go to gigs with him. He goes everywhere in California. We're going to LA this weekend."
"That sounds great, Willow. I'm glad your doing so good."
"Yeah....But, I'm starting to get the feeling he's getting tired of me."
"Why?"
"Cause I won't....."
"Oh. Oh! How could you think that? Oz does not seem like the guy to push."
"He doesn't. He really doesn't. I just....don't want him to see me as a shy schoolgirl. I don't want to be what I used to be."
"You're not, Will. Trust me. If Oz really loves you, he'll wait."
"What if he doesn't love me that much?" she said quietly.
"Are we going to have to have an intervention, here? He loves you. More than anything in the world. He would do anything for you. Even wait. Besides, we're just sophomores. You shouldn't even be thinking about that for another year or so."
"It's just that he's older and stuff."
"He's in the same grade," Buffy pointed out.
"Because he got held back."
"It doesn't matter. God, why does every conversation we have have to do with love?"
"It does tend to come up every once in awhile."
"Then, let's talk about something else. How's your teaching?"
"Great. Everyone's cooperating. I haven't had anyone come up to me about changing grades. I get to go to teacher conferences and miss class."
"You're glad about missing class? Are you okay?"
Willow laughed. "I'm fine. I'm just glad that I get to get out of reading class. It's the only class that bores me. I mean, I know how to read. I read in three different languages, for God's sake! And, what will book reports help us with in the future? If they are just to get us to read, I don't need those either. The library is like my second home. Me and the librarian, Giles, are like.....this!"
"Willow, calm down! I'm never heard you get so worked up over this kind of stuff. Actually, you've never gotten worked up, period, over this kind of stuff. You've always been 'Go school. It's your birthday!'. This is the first time I've seen you repel against school."
"Uh uh. In seventh grade health class, I refused to watch that stupid movie on how your body works."
"Okay, one time. Still."
"See, we can have a conversation without bringing up our love-life."
"And we were doing a pretty good job until you just brought it up."
"Whoops."
"That's okay. It's not even a real conversation, because I have to go. Homework calls me."
"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
((((((((((~Spike's House~))))))))))
"Chris! What'd you do with my duster?" hollered Spike. "I left it on my bed this morning and now it's not there!"
"I didn't touch your stupid duster?" retorted Chris, showing up at Spike's bedroom doorway.
"Someone took it."
"Wasn't me." Chris walked away. "Maybe you left it in your car."
Spike thought for a minute. Maybe is mother had put it there. He got to his feet and walked out of the room. His father was asleep in his room. Spike slowly walked by, careful not to wake him. His mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands.
"You okay, Mum?" he asked.
She looked up at him and gave him a half-smile. "I'm fine, William. Just trying to sort through bills." She gestured to the stack of envelopes on the table.
"Have you seen my duster?"
"I think it's in your car."
"S'what I thought."
He walked outside and opened the car door. He crawled in and looked around. The duster was laying in the back seat. He noticed two beer bottles in the passenger seat.
"Great," he muttered. "He wrecked his car cause of his drunken ass, now he's gonna wreck mine." He held his duster to his nose. It smelled of whiskey. "Dammit. He could at least keeps his paws of my stuff."
He slammed the car door shut and walked back inside.
"Something wrong?" his mother asked.
He stopped. "No."
She nodded and he went to his room.
He staid in his room most of the day. He did his homework and wrote an essay that a teacher told him to write because he had fallen asleep in class.
"I wouldn't have fallen asleep if my damn Dad hadn't been up all night ranting and raving and.." His sentence trailed off as he remembered what had happened last night.
His father had come home late, drunk, and in a bad mood. He was complaining that his car had broken down.....
"Damn piece of junk," he hollered, kicking it and making a dent in the door.
"I don't think that will help, John," his wife, Lila, said.
"What do you know? You're a woman. You don't know nothing about no damn cars. 'Sides, if we had money, I wouldn't have this problem. But you don't want to get off your lazy ass and get a job."
"I have to take care of the house and bills. You're the one with a job."
They started to make their way inside the house. Chris was in the living room watching TV and Spike was in his room.
"You're right. I have a job and I bring in money, but that doesn't mean you can't help contribute to it. We got a seventeen year-old in this house. Why can't he get a job?"
"Because I won't make him get a job. It's not his responsibility to support this family."
"The boys could at least do something around here. They sit around doin' nothing. Chris watches TV every chance he gets."
Chris looked down at the floor and turned off the TV.
"He's a young boy, John. He shouldn't have to worry about our problems. He should be living the life of a twelve year-old. Watching TV, playing with friends, and everything else Chris does."
"Well, that's going to change soon. If the reason you're not going to work is because of the house, then we'll get the boys to clean house. Chris," he turned to his son, "go do the dishes from last night."
Chris started to get up from his spot.
"Chris, you stay there," his mother ordered.
Chris stopped. He looked between his father and his mother.
"Dammit, boy, I told you to get in there," John yelled.
Chris looked at his mother, waiting for her to say whether he should go or not.
Suddenly, John's hand snatched out and grabbed Chris's arm, dragging him to the kitchen.
"I told you to do something and you will do what I say."
Chris cried out in pain from his father's grip.
Spike heard Chris and ran from his room to see his mother pull Chris away from John.
"Don't you ever," said Lila coldly, "ever, grab him like that again."
"I'll grab him however I want. He's my son."
"He's my son, too. And I won't let you abuse him like that!"
John's hand came across Lila face to smack her. Lila cried out, holding her face.
Before John knew what had happened, Spike had him pinned against the wall.
"William, let go of me!" John hollered, but because he was drunk, he didn't have his full strength and couldn't make Spike release his grip.
"Don't you ever hit her like that again or I promise I will kill you," snarled Spike.
John looked at his son with a tinge of fear.
"Get out," said Spike, releasing the hold he had on John's wrists and throat.
John stood in front of him, rubbing the place where Spike had been holding his throat. He gave one last look before turning and walking out of the house.
Spike turned back to his mom, who was now crying and holding Chris. Spike walked over and put an arm on her shoulder. After she had stopped crying, he helped her to her room.
"Thanks, William," she said.
"No problem," he said, helping her to bed.
"Will you make him go away? If he comes back? Just for tonight?" she asked. He looked at her. The grown woman in front of his looked like a scared, lost child.
He nodded. She sighed and closed her eyes.
Spike stayed up all night watching for his father. John never came home that night. That's why Spike had been up all night. He had fallen asleep sometime after nine, then his mother woke him up about eleven and made him go to school.
Spike looked down at the piece of paper in front of him. "Life is Hell."