Page 16 of His to Ruin

“I don’t know yet; we’ll probably just get something later. Okay bye,” I shout closing the door to our house behind me.

I’m instantly hit with Lexy’s sweet perfume when I get into her car, which I love. She said it was a gift from her stepdad, but she preferred the car she had before.

“I think your mom wants you,” she says pointing up to one of the bedroom windows to where my mom is standing waving her hand in a comeback motion.

“Its fine I’ll talk to her later. Let’s just go before were late.”

“You sure? It’s no problem, I can wait.”

“No really. She just wants to make sure I get something to eat later is all.”

“If you’re sure,” she says before stepping on the gas. Lexy doesn’t say much on the way to school. Something feels off kilter with her today. She was so quiet on the drive here and not the chatty bubbly girl that hasn’t failed to make me laugh with her quick-witted jokes and banter. It’s like she’s lost in her own thoughts or something. I kept telling myself not to pry but after I watched her drop her head in a slump when we said our goodbyes going to our separate classes this morning, I knew I had to ask her if everything was okay.

It isn’t till lunch time that I find her sitting in the garden by the cafeteria at our usual spot propped up against the tree. I don’t fail to notice all the weird looks coming our way today from people walking past us. Some even whispering to each other, pointing over in our direction. Did someone put something in everyone’s water over night or something? It doesn’t help that Lexy’s mood is still the same as it was this morning, so I know for sure something is up. I can tell just by her whole demeanour somethings on her mind. It might help her to talk.

“Hey Lex?” I ask taking a sip of my vanilla latte wanting to approach this delicately. “I don’t mean to pry but is everything okay? It’s just that you don’t seem like yourself today.”

She looks up at the school building behind me, her eyes filling up with unshed tears.

“Hey, what is it? You can talk to me you know.”

Her brows furrow as she glances over my shoulder towards the cafeteria then quickly darts her eyes away bowing her head.

“He’s back.”

“Who’s back?” I ask carefully.

“Saint. He came back home last night. For whatever reason he’s being an even bigger dick to me than usual. I wish I knew what I’ve done wrong to deserve all this hate from him. He’s managed to singlehandedly turn this entire school against me and for what? It’s as if he goes out of his way to hurt me. And it’s not just in school. It’s at home as well. Not that it’s my real home anyway, it’s his. He reminds me of that on a daily basis,” she says sadly, her eyes remaining downcast.

“If it was just at school I think maybe I could handle the whole thing between us better, but he’s everywhere I go Jordin. I can’t escape him.”

A single tear falls down her beautiful face at first until more quickly follow.

“I’m sorry for ranting. Look at me. I’m a mess,” she says wiping the tears away from her face.

“You’re not a mess. And feel free to rant to me anytime. The worst thing about trying to stay strong is that no one sees when you’re really hurting. Trust me I should know.”

She swipes away fresh tears with her fingers then reaches into her bag pulling out a Kleenex.

“I just. I feel so alone sometimes, you know?” she says blowing her nose.

I take her hand in mine.

“You’re not alone anymore I promise.”

“You don’t understand Jordin. He’s untouchable. He can say and treat me whatever way he wants and gets away with it. I try my best to give him back as hard as I get but I feel like I’m hitting a brick wall. He runs my home and the three of them run this school.”

“How’d you mean run the school. In what way?” I ask intrigued.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed Mrs Davis hasn’t been in class all week.”

“Yeah, I did notice that. It’s been the number one topic on everyone’s lips all week except no one knows why. I figured she was just sick or something.”

“Sick no, fired yes.”

“Surely, they don’t hold that much power in this school. What seventeen year old could get a teacher fired for no good reason?”

“The son of Eric Garo. That’s who.”

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