Chapter One: Mr. Jarvis-Soto

I trudged into pre-cal and slumped into my desk. One more hour of school and then…freedom. I tossed my stick straight black hair out of my face and sighed. This has to be the most boring class. Had to be. Everyone started getting the funk as soon as they walked across the tile floor to their seats.

Mr. Jarvis-Soto shuffled into the room quietly, wiggling his nose to fix his glasses, and then began his lesson in his usual monotone.

I sighed and once again began counting the days until school ended. Thirteen to go. These past two weeks had dragged like a dog without back legs. Two weeks ago had seemed like the final straw, and at this point it was just inhumane.

A snap of the professor’s yardstick against my desk woke me from my counting.

“Nice to have you join us, Mrs. Pomero,” grunted Mr. Jarvis.

I could feel the snickers and laughs stifle themselves in the room, and I glared holes into the back of his head. He continued his lecture, not feeling my subconscious poison eat to his bones. The class dragged on for another fifty minutes. He ended the lesson by passing out homework and then smacking his yardstick on the podium for attention. The class grew coldly silent.

“Class, we are having a new student transferring here from out of state. He will be here tomorrow, and I need someone to show him around. Any volunteers?”

With the mention of the word ‘him’ all the girls’ hands shot up and the clucking of this stranger’s hopeful attractiveness escalated into a roar.

“It’s an A for the next test.” Ugh. He practically sang it.

The guys’ hands rose. All hands were now up but mine. I couldn’t believe this shit. I had good grades. I couldn’t care less about the sexual drive or appearance of some new kid. For all I knew, he could have been some kind of creeper who was expelled for humping a kindergartener from behind. Better yet, what if he did something stupid on the first day, and I was held accountable?

No. But thank you.

Of course Mr. Jarvis glared at me like I continually punched him in the ‘nads for fun for the last two hours. In a wickedly sweet voice, he asked, “How about you, Miss Pomero?”

“Uh, I have…band practice? After school.”

Damn.

He nodded and a grin erupted on his face.

“Alright. You have the exchange student this week. Next time you lie, it’s detention.”

Whatever. Looked like I’d be scraping gum off the sidewalk in no time.

The bell rang, and I stormed out into the hall without any kind of holding back. Quinn waited for me at my locker. Quinn…she was this ditzy blonde haired girl I’d know since we were babies. She was always concerned about me, even if all I ever did was eat a sandwich without taking the crust off first. It was stifling. Now, though, her boyfriend seemed to be her more intense importance. Jake, who I admired not only for his bravery but also for his stupidity, stood beside her. Quinn saw the look of disgust I shot at her macking on my locker, and her smile shrank.

“Here we go again,” she muttered. “What did you do this time, Torin?”

I rolled my eyes, tossing my books into the locker.

“That piece of shit in my pre-cal class volunteered me to babysit some new kid.”

Quinn raised her eyebrow. Jake snickered behind her and covered his eyes.

“Okay…so…” Quinn stared at me blankly.

“I don’t know! I don’t want to watch some stupid kid I don’t know. I don’t really want any more things to deal with. This bullshit on top of it is enough to make me what to kill someone.”

Jake was laughing like a fucking hyena and this was only making me angrier by the minute.

“What is so fucking hilarious, Jake?!” I clapped him on the jaw.

Quinn apparently noticed what he was laughing about, and she covered her eyes and sighed.

“Mr. Jarvis wants to speak to you,” she answered.

I flipped around to see him eyeing me. He had been standing there the whole time listening to me…hadn’t he?

“Miss Pomero, I was just going to give you your homework since you left it in the classroom. I believe you’ll be seeing Mr. Humphrey afterschool for the next week, though. Here’s your detention slip. I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.”

He turned on his heels and walked down the hallway, leaving me with a pink slip in my hand and a dumbfounded expression on my face. When I turned around, Jake was still laughing. I slammed the locker on his fingers, giving him a one-finger salute as I headed for the door to outside.

I walked home quietly thinking about detention and Mr. Jarvis-Soto. My face twisted with each thought of being volunteered for the stupid tour guiding in the first place. This was the cause of all this. It was a sign of bad juju.

As my house appeared on the horizon, I saw a car I’d never seen before in the driveway. Great. Dad had a new ‘friend’. I walked in the door and saw her laughing and carrying on a conversation. Dad peered up at me from his fixation and yelled excitedly as I slammed the door, “Torin! Nice to see you home! I-“

I cut him off with a flash of my hand and butt in, “I had a rough day. I don’t like her. Get her out.” I tossed my hair out of my face and walked upstairs. My dad’s mouth stood agape until I was out of sight. Then, I could hear him say softly, “I’m sorry, Anne. She hasn’t been very social lately. Just ignore her.”

I trudged into my room and peeled my ugly navy blue uniform off and tossed my dress shoes against the wall. They answered with a satisfying thud. I suited up in a pair of jeans and a black fishnet top.

I turned on some mellow tunes and splayed out on the bed. I closed my deep brown eyes and let a sigh escape my lips.

I’m not sure how long I laid there, but just as I was about to fall asleep, a creak on the stairs woke me up. I jerked my eyelids open and watched the shadow stop in from of my room.

Dad tapped the door open, and I could see the anger flash in his auburn eyes. He started the argument with one of his famously lame lines.

“Why can’t you be positive anymore? You can’t smile and say ‘Hi Dad!’ when you walk in the door? No. You say maybe five words and then rudely insult company!”

I threw my hands up. “What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to like every nasty woman you bring in the house and just allow you to marry her because you’re lonely?”

He was flustered. “N-no! But you can say hello and get to know them, huh? You didn’t even talk to her!”

“Dad. I don’t want another mom. Can you get a grip and understand that? I know you want someone around, but you could at least think about me and stay single until I can get over it.”

“I’m always thinking of you.”

“No. You always think about what the next woman looks like at night in bed.”

Dad stood up straighter, slamming the door as he stormed down the stairs. I rolled to my side. Since Mom died in that car crash, I’d been sliding. I couldn’t get over it partially because Dad kept bringing in a new woman every month. My closest friends were ditching me because I just wouldn’t hang out with them anymore. My grades were slipping, my appearance was slipping, everything about me seemed like it was going downhill. I was beginning to hate myself for it. No matter what I did, though, I just couldn’t get her off my mind.

I rubbed my eyes, waning in and out of sleep.

I had that dream of the car accident. The semi bulldozed towards the windshield like it always did. I screamed for someone to get my mother out of the front seat, but the metal had cut through her leg, and I couldn’t even tell what part of her face was what. There was no one, absolutely no one to help me…just the same as always.

I woke up in a cold sweat. My hands shook, my breath shortly pushed between my lips. I turned to the alarm clock to check the time and read midnight. I groaned and rolled over, drifting off again.