Chapter 2
French
I woke up to a slightly cold whisper in my ear. My eyes popped wide open as I jumped up when the cold air hit my ear. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, I did not mean to startle you," Mr. James was standing in front of the couch now only about two feet away. I looked at him confused. What was he doing here? In my house at, I looked over at the watch that I had on my wrist, 6:30 A.M.
"W-what's going on, "I sat there very confused. I quickly composed my face, "Mr. James, what are you doing here?" I guess he was laughing at my lack of memory. I slowly sat up on the couch trying to recollect the reason for him being in my house. As I stood up from the couch, he was still staring intently at me.
"Do you not remember anything that happened yesterday?" He took a step closer to me. "You must have hit your head harder than I thought," I was still bewildered and his statement just made it worse.
"Am I supposed to remember what you're doing here?" He laughed at my statement. ` `
"I said that I would pick you up at 6:30 today for school." I started to remember what had happened yesterday in the hallway at school. He had offered to give me a ride to school today since I had to leave my car in the school parking lot. As I started to remember hitting my head, the pain of it started to surface from my mind.
"Oh yeah, I forgot all about that." I touched the back of my head slightly and winced sitting quickly back onto the couch.
"Are you okay?" Mr. James walked over to me, and sat down. He was sitting close enough that our knees rubbed against each other's. His lips just inches away from mine. "Here let me see." He put his hand on the top of my head and gently pushed my head down a little bit. He lifted some hair and examined the spot on the back of my head.
"Yeah, I okay." I flinched again.
"Oops, I'm sorry." He gently placed my hair back in its original spot. "Umm," He was about to say something. "Umm, you should go and get ready." I knew that was not what he wanted to say to me, but I just let it slide. I went up stairs to find something to wear.
I quickly threw on some clothes, so that I would not keep Mr. James waiting for to long. It felt extremely weird to have a teacher in my house. Especially since, I liked this one. I rushed into my bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth. I yanked the bush through my hair but made sure that I did not hurt the one spot on the back of my head. I ran down stairs and over to where he was. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yep," I grabbed my messenger bag and we walked out to his car. He opened the door for me and went to the other side. We drove off towards the school.
"Umm, Myra, I was wondering if you would like to learn some French today after school? And you could teach me some Italian." I smiled to myself and looked over at him.
"Sure, that would be fun." I could not wait to spend time with him after school, but I still could not help but think about how wrong this was. He is a teacher, and I am his student. I really did not care about that fact anymore, but I knew this was more than just a childish crush on my teacher.
I was still pondering over some things as we arrived at the school.
"Myra." His voice broke my train of thought. I looked over at him and jumped, because of how close his face was to mine. "Oops sorry," he laughed. "You're not that hard to scare are you?" He pulled his face back and got out of the car. I mimicked him and got out myself. We walked into the school and down the hall to his classroom. I was so thankful that no one was staring at us. The last thing I needed were a rumors going around school about Mr. James and me.
He held opened the door as we walked into his classroom. Almost all of his students were in the room already. He and I took our normal seats. I turned towards the class and notice Ellie glaring at me. I shot her a death glare and she unwillingly looked away.
"Hey Myra," I turned and saw Craig walked up to me. I did not know we had English together.
"Hey Craig," I smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Hey I didn't know we had this class together. Where were you yesterday?"
"Where do you think I was? " He smiled and I could tell by looking at him that he was with Blake. I nodded my head and took my sketchbook out. "Have you drawn anything new?"
"Yep," I flipped my notebook to the last page I drew on and showed him the picture.
"Hey, I thought Blake was supposed to be mine not yours." We both started laughing. We always messed with each other when it came to Blake. Even though Blake really is Craig's boyfriend and not mine. Ha I know it's supposed to be Blake and me fighting over Craig since is the bi one.
"Nope, Blake is mine now," I started to laugh, and Craig made a fake frowny face. "You know how I like to draw you and Blake. Blake just happened to be next to me when I was drawing." I smiled up at him and he smiled back down at me.
"Yeah I know. You so have to make me a copy of this one. I need to add it to the wall in my room." I laughed. Craig had every picture I had ever drawn since we were five. They were all hung up on the biggest wall in his room. It was like his wallpaper, and it made his whole room looked like it was literally turning into a museum dedicated to me and my artwork.
"Yeah, yeah I know the drill," we both laughed.
"So do you want to hang out after school since you, Blake and I didn't get to yesterday"
"Yeah, but it will have to be later after school, because I am staying after with Mr. James." He looked at me and I smiled. But my smile slowly faded into a straight line.
Craig had a quizzical look on his face. "Why are you staying after school with Mr. James alone?"
"Oh, because he and I made a deal yesterday, and who said it was only going to be Mr. James and me?" I was just messing with him, because he was right. It was just going to be Mr. James and me.
Craig gave me that look that said, 'You are not fooling anyone.'
"What was the deal that you two made?" Man this boy could ask a lot of questions, what was this like 20 questions or something.
"He would teach me French and I would teach him Italian."
"That's cool; at least you get kind of a free French lesson. That is if you don't count you teaching him Italian as a payment."
"Go take you seat now, Mr. Adams." Mr. James was standing in front of my desk. Craig smiled at me then sat down at his seat as he was told. I was surprised usually Craig would do some thing to tick off the teacher and give them a hard time. I guess he is just trying to get on the teachers' goods side this year since it is our last year here.
Mr. James picked up his book from his desk and began to read the second chapter of "Romeo and Juliet". As soon as he was done, there was another quiz. I quickly got through it before the rest of the class. I looked over at Mr. James who was staring straight at me. I quickly looked down at my hands on my lap. I could feel his gaze on me and I could tell that my face turn a bright red. The bell rang and I got out of my seat, and walked out the door.
Like always, my classes took their time slugging by. I was so excited for after school. The thought of being alone with Mr. James was exciting.
Finally, the last bell rang and I quickly ran down the flight of stairs. I took about two or three at a time to get down even faster. I made my way to his classroom on the third floor of the school. I waited by the side of the door until I was sure that all of his students were all out of the room. I walked in and saw Mr. James sitting at his desk with a small stack of papers in his hands.
"Hey Mr. James," I said a little timid. I was nervous but excited to be with him. I walked over to my seat.
"Hey Myra," his thick French accent wrapped around his words. I sat down at my normal desk. A few seconds later after ruffling through papers, he walked over and pulled a seat right in front of mine. A sweet smile spread across his face. My heart began to feel like it was throbbing out of my chest. How could anyone look and be so perfect?
"So do you want to teach first or should I?" His deep blues eyes stared into my green ones. His eyes started to trace my skin. It felt like they burned into my pale soft skin. A second passed before he cleared his throat.
"Oh well, I think you should go first. You are a real teacher after all." He laughed and we began. He started out with the basic vowel pronunciations. I put my head on my hand. I smiled as his perfect lips moved. Everything about him just drew me in.
"Did you here me?" I jerked up not realizing that he said something.
"What, I'm sorry."
"Okay, well in French, a is pronounced kind of like the a in father, but it's more of a deeper sound." I started to pronounce it. He took his hand and put it on my lower jaw. He slowly lowered it and made my month formation bigger. I tried pronouncing it again.
"There you go." He continued with all the other vowels.
After learning to pronounce vowels, I taught him how to pronounce them in Italian. After awhile I realized how late it was getting outside. I took out my cell phone and looked at the clock. My eyes widened a little bit. It was already 7:00 P.M.
"Oh, I have to go. It's getting late and I'm supposed to hang out with Craig and Blake." I stood up from my seat, grabbing my stuff off the floor.
"Okay. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow in class." He started to lean in closer to my face. My heart started to flutter. Oh my gosh was he really about to do what I think he is. Once his face was an inch from mine, his face turned to the side. He kissed my left cheek that my right. I was a little happy that he didn't kiss me, but a little disappointed that he didn't.
"I guess you will." I smiled at him as I walked over towards the door. I grab the door knob but hesitated before opening it. I looked back over at Mr. James.
"Buona notte*1 Signora De Luca," I smiled at him for a moment before talking.
"Bonne nuit*2 Monsieur James."
I exited Mr. James and started to walk down the hallway. As I went down the staircase, I could not help but think of his hand on my face. His hand was warm and soft but yet it was rough and left a cold trail on my skin. I put my hand on my face.
When I walked outside the school, I saw Craig sitting on the steps. It was pretty cold and windy. Why was Craig here on a night like this? And he didn't even have a jacket or anything on over him. "Hey Craig, what are you doing here so late. Aren't you really cold out here," He looked up at me. That was when I noticed the tears that were falling from his eyes. "Craig what's wrong?" I closed the distance between us and sat next to him, putting my arms around his shoulders and pulled him tightly against my body.
I could feel his body shake underneath my arm from the sudden burst of warmth radiating off my arms. I leaned his head onto my shoulder and started to run my fingers through his hair. I held him close to me and I could feel the sharp breath he was taking in as he breathed.
"Craig, honey just tell me what happened. Wait; don't tell me that you and Blake break up." This was the only thing that I could think of that would make Craig this upset. Although I knew that this was very unlikely, it just fit with everything else.
"I-I c-can't te-tell you-u," his words were really shaky and I was so worried about him. I did not know whether they were shaky because he was cold or because he was so frightened. The only time I have ever seen Craig actually cry was when his sister died of cancer 2 years ago.
"Craig tell me what happened, please."
"B-but I-I'm to a-afri-ad too," okay now I'm pretty sure that his stuttering is being caused by fear.
"Craig, its okay you safe with me," I made my embrace more secure around him. "Come on, you can tell me anything." He took in a big shaky breath to calm himself down.
"My dad kicked me out of the house." His words were broken up by more tears and sharpened breaths.
"What! Why in hell would he do that?" I took his face in my hands so he would look at me. That is when I noticed dark bruising on his cheeks and neck. I let go of his face replacing my hands with my index finger. I put my finger under his chin and tilted his head up to get a better look at the bruises on his neck. "Oh my god! What did he do to you?" The bruises were so dark and big. I knew his dad did this because the hand marks were way too big it be his mother's and I knew his mother could never do such a thing to him.
I mean knew that his family had a lot of problems after his sister died, but this was far from what I had expected. Know I really understood why he and his mother would stay at my house so often.
"He saw me making out with Blake on the roof." More tears escaped his eyes and ran down his face. I pulled him back into my warm embrace.
-Craig's Flashback -
"I love you so much." I looked up deep into Blake's eyes. His eyes looked more golden in the moon light. I smiles at him and held his hands in my hands, resting them on my lap. I could not imagine myself with anyone else but Blake. He is perfect for me and I hope that I am perfect for him. His black hair dangled over his eyes and a smile played at the corner of his lips.
"I love you too, Blake." I twisted my body around so that I was sitting on his lap. I leaned my back up against his chest and I lifted my head to look up at the stars. "I remember when I was younger. I used to always count the stars at night." I laughed at myself, "I used to fall asleep before I would finish counting. I would get so mad at myself for having to start all over again." Blake nuzzled his chin into my blonde hair.
"I used to do something like that too. I would try to find out how many licks it took to get to the center of a tootsie pop, but I would only get as far as 53 licks before my tongue would get tired." The smile that was playing on the corner of Blake's lips turned into a full on smile and I laughed. Blake knew how make anyone laugh no matter how down that person was.
I started to feel Blake's hands play around in my hair and it sent that tingling feeling down my neck and spine. His touch made me feel so cold but yet I was so cozy in his arms. I cuddled more into my jacket.
"Are you cold Craig," I twisted my head to look at Blake.
"Maybe just a little bit," a shiver vibrated through my body.
"Maybe just a little just a little bit?" Blake cocked his eyebrow at me, and I smiled. He pulled me closer to his warm chest. I was content right here, and I felt like I could just stay in this position for the rest of my life. I twist me head and gently touched Blake's neck with a small part of my bottom lip. I could feel Blake's pulse start to rise underneath my lip and I smiled before pulling my lips away. I did not want to pull away but I had to be so careful when it came to kissing Blake outside.
"Aw why did you stop," Blake said playfully and yet whiny at the same time.
"You know perfectly well the reason why," I had a serious but playful tone to my voice.
Blake put his hand to my face and pulled my face closer to his before I could react. I stared into his golden brown eyes. I could smell his sweet breath on my face. The scent made my mouth water. I wanted him so badly right now. His lingering lips finally touched mine, and I felt the heat from his lips radiate on mine. I hesitated before kissing him back and pulled away slightly, "Blake wait."
"What," He pulled my face back to stare at into my hazel eyes. He started to play with my dirty blond hair around my face. I felt the heat rush under my cheeks. I saw the smile on Blake's lips grow bigger. "I love it when you blush."
He blushed his lips against my bright red cheeks before moving them back to my lips. His lips played on mine for a moment and then made their way down to the sweet spot on my neck. "Blake," I moaned his name as he started to nibble on my sweet spot.
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts and realize what we were doing. "Blake, Blake," I gently pushed him back a little. He let out a frustrated groan.
"What is it," his tone was sweet but hungry.
"What if my dad comes home and sees us?" He face turned sweet and he put on a reassuring smile.
"You worry way too much Babe. He won't see us. We are in the dark, and on top of your roof. Why in the hell would he or anyone else look up here for you?" His hand pulled my face back to his. Once again, our lips pressed against each other's. His other hand trailed up and down my thigh. I wrapped my arms around his neck and intertwined my fingers into his hair on the back of his head.
Everything felt amazing as we sat there on the roof. We were there for a few moments. Then we were interrupted by a familiar drunken voice.
"Craig!" I turned around and looked down at the ground in shock. Oh no, this can not be happened. He can't be home, not now. "Craig, get your damn ass down here!" his speech was slurred. It was worse then usual. This was going to be very bad.
I froze in my spot on the roof. All I could think about was getting Blake to get out of here. There was no telling what my dad will do to me. I could not have Blake see my dad beat me like he did every other time he was drunk.
"Blake," I turned to face him. "Blake go home," I said sternly to him. "You need to get out of here now."
"But Craig, what if you're….."
"Now!" I said interrupting him in the middle of his sentence.
"But your dad's drunk. What would happen if he hurts you? I-I don't want to see you hurt babe." I quickly brushed my lips against his. I look into his eyes pleadingly.
"Please go." I said in an argent but soft voice. A tear fell from his face. "Don't worry about me Blake. I'll be fine," I felt bad about Blake having to even see this much of what my life was really like without him or anyone else around.
"Promise, "his voice took on a pleading tone. Blake was not use to this type of drama.
"I promise Blake, "Without out another word he gently swiped his hand across my cheek then jumped down off the roof and onto a ridge before landing on the ground. I jumped down on the other side so that Blake had the chance to run. My dad was about to chase after him. I quickly ran over to him and tickled him to the ground. He pushed me off and stood up off the ground. I got up swiftly before he was able to kick me while I was down. He punched my in the face and I fell back down to the ground. He leaned all his weight into every punch he ever threw at me.
"Now see if you were a real man, you would get back up and fight. But the only thing you are is a fucking fag. The Same thing goes for that little boyfriend of yours who ran away. You both a nothing but sissies." He spat on the ground in front of my face. Hatred rushed through me. I jumped up and punched him as hard as I could square in the face.
"He ran because I told him too!" I punched him again, this time making him fall to the cold ground. "He and I are more of a man then you will ever be." I kicked him in the stomach and he let out a rush of air.
My dad got back up grabbing the side of his stomach where I kicked. He came closer to me and grabbed me by the throat. He started to lift me off the ground. "Let… Go… Of… Me…" I could hardly breathe and his grip on my throat got tighter and tighter. I was gasping for air as my dad tightened his grip even more. My version started to blur and it felt like everything was spinning.
"Victor! What are you doing! Victor let go of him! You're going to kill him!" My mom came screaming and running out of the car to where we were. "You're choking him! Let him go!" My dad tossed me roughly to the ground. I coughed into the ground holding my neck. Tears ran down my moms face as she ran towards me. She bent over pulling me into a hug. I looked around and saw a few of the neighbors watching the scene from their yards and the sidewalk. My dad noticed what I was looking at.
"Yeah that's right just keep on staring. Hey in fact why don't you just take a picture, it would last a hell of a lot longer." His speech was still slurred because of all the alcohol he drank tonight.
"Craig, honey, are you okay?" She was hugging me so tight, "Victor how could you do that to your own son?" At first she was talking in hushed tones, but when she turned to my father she was screaming at him.
"Don't you dare raise your voice to me," he said pointing his finger at my mom.
"I-I'm sorry," I couldn't believe my mom just said sorry to this asshole. My father turned his attention back to me.
"Get the hell out of here! I never want to see you near this house again! If I ever do see your fagot ass back here, you'll wish this was the worst I've done to you!" He yelled at me and pointed a finger to the road in front of our house.
I slowly stumble up off the ground and kissed my mother goodbye. She sat there on the cold hard ground crying her eyes out as she saw me get up walk away from the house. I couldn't help but think that she deserved better than this. She has had to put up with this for the past 2 years since my sister died. I swear that when I get enough money saved up that she and I will move out of that god forsaken house.
After I walked around the corner from my street, I began to run. I don't know why I started to run, but I ran as fast as I could. I ran the few blocks it took to get to Myra's house. I knocked on the door but there was no answer. I banged my fist harder against the wooden door.
"Myra! Myra are you here?" I yelled up to her window, but I still received no answer. Where could she be?
"…The school," I ran as fast as I could to the school. When I saw the school in sight, I started to slow down. My legs felt like lead and I could hardly move them. I walked to the step and sat down. I was too tired to go up to the third floor. I just sat there waiting for her.
"It's going to be okay Craig. You know you can always stay with me. There's plenty of room for you. Your mom can stay over to if she wants."
"Thank you, Myra. I don't know what I would do without you as my best friend." I got up and held out my hand. He took it in his and we walked to my car in the school parking lot. We got in and drove to my house. It's a good thing that Craig always had cloths at my house. Blake has some cloths here too and I doubt that Blake would mind if Craig used those too. He and Blake came over a lot so that Craig wouldn't get caught by his father. A lot that sure did him. We got into the house and I went straight up stairs to get a room ready for him. I got one ready for his mom too, because I knew she would most likely arrive here soon. If things were has bad as they seemed then I would want to be prepared for his mother to come. "Thank you so much Myra." I turned around and smiled at him.
"You are like a brother to me Craig. I would do anything for you and your mother. You both are like family to me." He smiled back. "Well here you go. I'll get your cloths from the closet and you can get settled in." I walked out the room and down stairs on the 3rd floor where the laundry room was. I grabbed Craig's cloths and made my way back up to his room on the 4th floor. "He you go." I handed him some cloths."
"Thanks." He put them away in the dresser. I heard the door bell go off on the second floor. If you're confused about the door being on the 2nd floor, well don't. I am simply implying that the 'basement' is the first floor.
"I'll get it. It's probably your mother." I went down stairs to the door. I opened the door with a sweet face. When I saw who it was my face went hard and angry. "What the hell are you doing here? Get the fuck off my property right now before I call the cops"
"I'm here to tell my son to get his ass home." I shook my head.
"I am not about to let Craig go home with you after what you did to him. He is going to stay with me, and you can't change that." I heard foot steps coming down the stairs. I turned to looked at Craig's face. "Go back up stairs Craig. I will handle this." I turned back to his father. "Go home Mr. Adams or you're going to wish you had."
Without letting him say another word to me or Craig, I slammed the door in his face. I turned towards the stairs to head up. Right before I hit the stair, I heard soft knock. I went over to open it. "I said go home!" When I realize who was at my door my face quickly softened. "Oh I'm sorry Mrs. Adams. I thought you were your husband. How did you get without your husband knowing?" I let her in.
"I walked here while he was out. I waited behind the tree when I saw that he was here." A soft tear slide down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.
"I have a room already set up for you. It's on the 3rd floor next to the laundry room."
"Thank you so much Myra. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this." I went back to the closet in the laundry room and she followed me. I got her some of my moms extra cloths. It is a good thing that my mom and she were the same size.
"Your room is right here. You can get settled in." She followed me to the room that I sent up for her. "Here you go." She took her cloths and laid them on the bed. She looked at her watch.
"You should be getting to bed. It's almost 10:00 P.M., and you have school tomorrow. Tell Craig that I said to get to bed." I smiled at her and nodded.
"Okay. Good night Mrs. James." She said good night back and I left her room walked up the flight of stairs to the 4th floor. I walked down the hall to Craig's room. "Craig your mother said its time for bed."
"Yeah, yeah I heard her." He had a playful smile on his face. "Good night Myra."
"Goodnight Craig," I walked over to him and gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek. I walked out of his room and down the hall. I went into my room. I opened my closet to get something to change into for bed. I found a t-shirt and short. I quickly changed into them and grabbed my MP3. I slipped under my covers and pushed in my headphones. The first song that some on was 'Untitled' by Simple Plan. I softly sung a long with the song and then I was asleep.
*1. Buona notte - Good night in Italian.
*2. Bonne nuit -Good night in French.