A/N: Thank you for the continuous support guys and yes SBT, you are indeed correct in your assumptions! LOL
Love is a naked boy
-Ovid
#
"Pick a number, pick a number" Mr Garfield squeezed past the desks, scrambling up the narrow aisles shaking the scraps of paper inside the basket. Slowly, Lacey dug through the pile and plucked out a torn piece. She stretched out the wrinkled cut and read the number scribbled down on it. She was still hung-over from the weekend's alcoholic binge. She was restless with a pounding headache and a sickening taste in her acrid mouth.
"Everybody got their paper?" The teacher continued to bark and Lacey winced as he moved in front of the blinds, the sun hit his reading glasses cutting straight to Lacey's scratchy eyeballs. She had no idea how her mother managed her co-dependency, maybe after a while hangovers learned to more forgiving to drunks.
"If you have a number one, raise your hands" Mr Garfield continued once everyone had fished out a paper from the basket. Lacey groaned when she realized what the exercise intended. She would be paired up with another number seven. She covered her ears against the cackles and screeches as her classmates raised their hands and found their partners.
"Number seven, "the teacher yelled strolling back up toward the front of the classroom not bothering to glance over his shoulder as someone hammered the board with a wet ball of tissue. Hesitantly, Lacey raised her right hand and waited not bothering to look around beyond her line of vision.
"Being a scientist is being an investigator" Mr Garfield hollered scrawling on the big blackboard.
"You know what the chicken said to the weasel?" Danny said from behind her.
"Am I the weasel in this story?" Lacey asked whirling around to glare at him.
He shook his head, sizing her glossy lips up with his eyes.
"Then I don't care" she snapped. Danny held up his scrap of paper with a gleeful glimmer in his eyes.
"Lucky number seven, "he chuckled.
"Cesar and Danny" Mr Garfield said clearing his throat as he wiped his glasses with a white handkerchief, "I want you boys to have front row sits for this"
"Lose the glasses, "the teacher said to Cesar as he flung himself onto his new desk with his hands behind head.
"Why are your eyes so red?"
"I was up last night studying Mr.G"
"That's a nice watch Mr G, "
"Can I have it?"
"I want you to read page twenty three, second paragraph"
"Lacey, give Cesar your text book so he read"
"I aint reading this shit"
"Just read it, homes" Danny said kicking the back of his chair
"Read, Cesar"
"Young's rule…"
"…For…form...formull...la...formulates"
"Settle down people"
"Read, Cesar"
"When was the last time you read a book Cesar?"
"Never, motherfucker"
"Don't do that Mr G; don't treat him like a punk. He's a man just like you" Danny said looking at Mr Garfield.
"The only thing you people respect is stupidity"
"Respect is earned Mr G, I learned that in the pen" Danny snapped back at him.
"You're forgetting yourself, young man. I'm the teacher here"
"Hey, this is just freedom of speech, what this country was built on"
The class crept closer to Mr G;s big desk to watch the experiment. The rat twisted his way between segmented walls dividing out the space inside the box.
"Yo, ese, this looks like your house" Danny chuckled nudging Cesar's ribs.
"Yeah but it smells shitty like your house"
"You need to keep a certain reward at the end of each branch, "the teacher spoke up trying to drown the cheers and jeers with his nasal voice, "this forms an incentive for the rat to complete its task"
"In this case, cheese will be the incentive" he said holding up a gnawed piece of orange cheese.
"This shit is so third grade" Sarita said rolling her eyes, inspecting the swirly patterns of her painted nails.
"You're my cheese" Danny murmured behind Lacey's ear, his warm breath fanning the nape of her heated neck. She bolted up, arms tightening across her chest as she tried to steady herself. She felt him press closer behind her as he peered over her shoulder to get a better look at the adventurous pink rat as it scrambled around the maze chasing the glorious cheese. Lacey narrowed her eyes at the maze willing her mind to concentrate but all she could think about were the tiny goose bumps bursting out across her flesh and Danny's scent burdening the air around her. She could feel his wild heartbeat against her back, rising and falling with her shoulder blade. Her breath caught in her throat when his hands caught her hips, he stumbled closer with his eyes seeking and searching over her shuddering shoulder. Dipping his face into the crook of her neck, his hand immersed in the dark depths of her hair as he swung his arm around her shoulder.
"He looks confused Mr G."
"Kind of how you always look Archie,"
"Yeah, he looks a little lost Mr G, "Cesar said 'someone should tell him that lust for that cheese will kill him faster than rat poison." He sneered, eyes fixed on Danny.
"You people are missing the whole point of this exercise, " the teacher began but the pealing bell cut him off much to the delight of the tattered and tattooed students as they all bonded for the door like a zillion rats trying to escape a tangled maze. Lacey peeled herself off Danny's warm soft hands, her skin briefly touching his fingertips. She could feel his eyes on her, keenly seeking hers under the flutter of her eyelids. She could still feel him, his touch, and his breath, all of him streaming through her veins like an unwanted drug.
"Hey, you get back here!" Mr G barked slapping his hand on the table, "One of you thugs has my watch and I want it back now!" he hissed at them, big eyes flashing behind his glimmering glasses.
"I don't know nothing about no watch, homes" Cesar shrugged his shoulders with a chuckle as he backed toward the door, his passé not far behind. Danny was still walking closely behind Lacey, his nose chasing her hair.
"Danny, empty your pockets!" Mr G made a grab for Danny's arm, jerking and twisting it until Danny stood facing him with flushed cheek and a heaving chest.
"My old man hits harder than you, homes" Danny snarled through gritted teeth as he closed the gap between him and the teacher.
"Fuck you puta madre, you aint no teacher!" Sarita spat back at Mr G, fuelled by the electric tension around all of them "you just a stupid sub" she laughed, arms entwined around Archie's neck.
"I can be the good guy or I can be a mean son of a bitch" Mr G threatened even as he slowly backed away from Danny, his palms raised in front of him.
"Ooh, get your bitch on!" Regina cackled, touching Danny's quivering shoulder "Dumb substitute teacher "she added, her hands seeking his hand and Lacey heartbeat hastened with the blood drained from her cheeks.
"This class is stupid ese, professor de mierda!" Cesar snapped like a beast possessed making a courageous attempt to attack the teacher before Danny stopped him, pulling him back toward the door. They all tumbled out of the door, eyes cast up at the big egg-yellow California sun that feasted on the youth. They grinned, laughed and toyed like the earth belonged to them. Everything was sweet and unfulfilled, the city waiting, trembling. Mr Garfield watched them, heavy lidded as he wiped his glasses again, more a nervous habit than a ritual.
"Lacey, he called gruffly as the student plodded toward the door" don't waste your life around here. You have so much potential" he said blinking back at her owlishly.
"Damn Mr G, this aint high school high" Lacey chuckled dryly, pressing her books firmly against her chest.
xXx
"Hey, Clint Eastwood is the man, ese" Cesar said to Danny as they drove around the tarred neighbourhood, the hot Californian air belching outside of the impala only to swell in growing crests inside the car. Whit hot heat mingled with Cesar's cigarette smoke. Danny was slowly getting used to the stench.
"What are we doing here?" Danny asked dragging the baseball cap over his eyes.
"We're here to meet the chemist"
"Nah, man" Danny stammered "whoever's cooking your shit, I don't care and I don't wanna meet them" he said shoving his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.
"Too bad for you ese, "Cesar shrugged his shoulders leading him toward the big double storey house with a freshly trimmed lawn. He hung back for a while watching Cesar's awkward as he walked toward the hose and then finally he followed with a quick glance over his shoulder as if someone were watching them. They ambled around wild spurting sprinkles, darting around the bursts of water careful not to wet the clothes.
Once at the door, Cesar thumbed the doorbell before he rapped on the giant door. It took a short while for someone to attend to his knock but the door eventually swung open.
"You're late"
Danny was too preoccupied with the dazzling spray of water twinkling in the bright sunlight to pay any attention to the owner of the voice but when he did spin around, his eyes widened. It was Rico, that little faceless geek who used to disappear inside the grimy halls of Quincy Adams high school, Rico was Benny's meth cooker.
"Welcome to my humble abode" Rico said to a shocked Danny as he led the two of them down the stairs to hi basement which he had transformed into a very capable laboratory.
xXx
Sometimes you needed to blame somebody, that's how life worked. Often the ones we blamed were the least deserving of this blame game but they were the closet to us and so they were the victims of our wrath.
"I wish we could get along" Lacey said looking at Clara as her sister packed away her saxophone. She had missed another one of Clara's recitals and so had their mother.
"We're sisters; we're not supposed to get along" Clara scoffed not bothering to look up at her. Lacey hesitated, shifting by the door as she buttoned her shirt.
"You're going out?" Clara asked, her eyes fixed on her task at hand.
"Yeah, some party with Benny and the gang"
Clara rolled her eyes just as Cesar's hooter started down stairs.
xXx
Danny was uncomfortable and the new revelation of Rico as Benny's chemist was making him even more uneasy. He was not enjoying the party, the music was too loud and careless and the Styrofoam cups felt sticky around his hand.
"There's Sarita, God she looks good" Rico said beside him as he guzzled down his beer.
"Don't look" h quickly insisted when Danny thrust his head in Sarita's direction.
"Just watch how she moves, she's so perfect" Rico continued, smiling as though he were in a mindless dream.
"Thought I wasn't supposed to look" Danny scoffed trying to capture some taste in his beer.
"Nice smart mouth tough guy" Rico nudged him.
"What, you like Sarita now?" Danny sniggered glancing across at the scrawny kid.
"I know, I'm such a cliché" Rico retorted with a grunt as he rolled his eyes.
"Yup, you're hopeless"
"That makes two of us then since you're totally hung up on Lacey"
Danny whirled around to glare at him, beads of sweat sprouting from his covered forehead. He swung his baseball cap around to clear his eyes as he stared down at Rico.
"I'm a smart guy remember, although your crush is quite obvious. A blind man can see how hard up you're over Miss Porter"
"Your secret's safe with me" He quickly noted when he noticed Danny's distress.
xXx
Lacey wasn't exactly sure how it had transpired but she found herself alone with Danny in Cesar's reeking impala. The car was cloyed with the strong stench of smoke, old sodden socks and crusted dry stains of beer. It was not exactly the most romantic location in the universe. Yet here she was, listening to the rasping sounds of some smooth ballad on the radio. She had to give the boy an A for his effort. She tore her attention away from the radio to listen to Danny as he finally said something after his long nervous silence.
"You're special" Danny said, his eyes wounding hers with their anguish. Lacey sucked in a blissful breath as his fingers taunted her, softly wound around her hair. He pulled at a lock of hair as if to examine it.
"Yeah, right" she mumbled, a desperate fire flaring inside her strangled chest.
"I wish you could see what I see" Danny smiled, his tipsy eyes slowly macerating every portion of her face in a desperate for something. Her heart beat foolishly as Danny's anguished eyes clung to her trembling lips. She strangled her lower lip between her teeth trying to hide the ripe rawness of the moment. Reclining back against the leather seat, she closed her eyes as Danny's voice charmed the torpid air around the car.
Since Rita's death she was trying to view things differently. Life was far too short to dwell on all the hate and evil around her. She wanted to see the beauty in all the squalor and at that moment Danny was the most beautiful thing amidst the filth.
He cupped her cheek with his warm hand, his lovely fingers tracing her cheek as the air kept on hissing mimicking the spreading heat in her anxious belly. His bashful finger crept across to her lips. Gently and with drunken intent, his soft lips swept over hers blissfully. His breath mingled with hers, his mouth sucking and drinking the life blood from her mouth. His lips pressed languorously, his tongue seeking hers in beautiful conquest. Lacey melted; heart and mouth moulding with his in the steamy heat of Cesar's stinky car with its foggy grimy windows.