Un-Ordinary Girl

Chapter 8

          The next morning, I awoke to a heavy knocking at the door. I slowly made my way to the door. I also grabbed the baseball bat from the living room before going to the door. I had put it there last night just in case I would need it. Mostly for if mom tried that hitting s**t again. I was going to swing this at her legs as hard as I can which is pretty hard. And this bat is made of metal so it is really going to hurt. Let her find a date with f****d up legs. I had cried myself to sleep last night after what had happened so I really do not want to see her stupid face. I opened it to see Jackson. Not who I was expecting but I was still surprised none the less.

          "Your grandmother said that you weren't home and that she was really worried about you. I told her that you were safe though to calm her down and keep her from calling the cops and labeling you as a run away. What happened last night?" I felt tears well up in my eyes again. He pushed his way inside, closed the door, and then just hugged me as I cried again. I wasn't sure what to say to him about last night. It was because I invited him that things got ugly in the first place. And then I brought up my dad and things got a whole lot worse. So all I could do was cry.

          After I finally stopped crying, I finally noticed the time. "Crap! We're going to be late for homeroom!" He looked at me like I was a little crazy and I probably was.

          "Are you sure you're up for school today? You don't really seem okay." I nodded at him. I couldn't miss a day since I'm not sick. He sighed. "Okay. Go get dressed. I'll drive you." I smiled at him and quickly went to go get ready. We were out of the house in ten minutes. He drove us to school again in his 'precious car'. His word, not mine. While he was driving, a question struck my mind.

          "How did you get my backpack?"

          "Your grandma gave it to me. Beatrice is a very lovely lady you know. She use to always tell me all about you. How you were such a lovely little girl who was always on honor roll. Then she told me about your mom. That's how I knew who your mother was. I never imagined that I would ever meet you or your mother when I moved here. It was pretty cool to finally get to meet the granddaughter that is so loved by an amazing woman such as Beatrice. She is so kind and understanding."

          "Wow. I never knew she talked about me that much." I felt myself blush a bit.

          "Well, whenever she got any news of you, she always bragged about you." I blushed even more at the fact that he knew so much of the things that I've done. It made me happy. I really wanted him to know more about me. When we got to school, the late bell had just rung.

          "Follow me." I grabbed his hand and took him to the front office. "Hi. Is the principal in?" The lady pointed to the open door. "Mrs. Monroe?" She looked up at me and Jackson.

          "Hello Ms. Moore. What can I do for you this morning?" I smiled my most innocent smile and spoke.

          "I need you to let Mr. Wright know that Jackson and I will not be in homeroom today to go to the library to start on our essay's and get more research done on them for two of our other classes." She smiled at me hearing what we were about to get up to.

          "Okay dear. I expect great things from these essay's as usual Ms. Moore." I smiled brighter and nodded at her and we left to head towards the library. To be truly honest, I already had my essay's outlined. All I had to do was check over them for spelling or grammatical errors and then type it up. They weren't really hard for me to do.

          "How did you do that? I thought you were taking us to get a tardy slip." I shrugged my shoulders. It was fairly simply thing for me to do.

          "Well, as an honor student, I was given special privileges that I worked hard to earn. The teachers and staff trust me since I have never given them a reason not to. Plus it helps that I have high marks in all of my classes so I can always afford to miss class but always choose not to. And as an added plus, with her telling him that you're with me, we get marked as on time instead of late like we actually were. She doesn't know exactly what time we walked in the building since there isn't anybody to monitor that." I was still holding his hand. It made me happy that he hadn't let go but I wonder how long this would last.

          "Well, since we are in the library, let's start on our essay's for real." I looked down shyly and began blushing again.

          "Actually, I'm almost done with mine." I looked over at him through my hair and saw his jaw had dropped. "What?" I asked genuinely surprised by his reaction.

          "Between all the time that I spent with you yesterday, as well as all the things you did after all of that, when did you have time to get 2,000 words written and properly formatted?"

          "I did it at work." I spoke without thinking about what I was saying. I realized it  all too late though.

          "You got a job?" I flinched. He stopped and since he was still holding my hand, I stopped as well. "Why do you have a job? And how do you manage one with school work?" I sighed.

          "I got it when I was 13, I think. Mom had stopped buying groceries as often as she had in the past. So that corner store that you dropped me off at yesterday, that's where I work. Mr. Roberts is like a grandpa to me. He doesn't work me hard. He also let's me take more breaks than the others so I can get some school work done. He is a firm believer in finishing school. He also doesn't fully understand my situation and if he did he would probably call CPS."

          "He sounds pretty okay. I'll have to come meet him sometime. Check him out and make sure he really is looking out for your best interest." I chuckled. He sounded very protective of me. I liked it. But I must remember that I can't get too close so he doesn't get roped in to my family drama.

          "If you want, you can come work there too. I'm sure he'll let you as long as you're a hard worker." He grinned and we finally walked to a table. I helped him get through most of his essay for history. He said he can do the other one himself. The bell rang and we went to first period still holding hands as we left the library. I was happy that he was still holding my hand. It was seriously giving me butterflies.

          But even still, I kept thinking about who the girl he liked could be though. It was mind boggling. He just started yesterday. I mean, the only thing is that I wasn't in homeroom with him yesterday. But then again, if it was someone from homeroom, he would have been pressed to get to school on time. I considered asking him later but soon nixed that idea. If it was someone like Tracy, I don't even want to know. Or what if he met them in the office after I left him there? To many variables. My head was starting to throb. I just shook it all off for now and thought about the present. He was here, walking with me while holding my hand.

          Since we finished the cutting portion of the lab yesterday, all we had to do today was write up the lab report about our findings. We were at our lab table when Penelope Roster, the girl who was suppose to be my lab partner, walked in. She walked over to the lab table and just stared. I wonder what was making her just stare like the i***t she is.

          "Why is a hot guy like you talking to this know it all loser? And why isn't there a pig on this table while everyone else seems to still have one?"

          "Because me and my best friend finished the lab yesterday. And Katelyn is not a know it all loser. She is the most fantastic, smartest person I have ever met." I smiled shyly and blushed at what he said. It was the nicest thing anyone who wasn't my Nana, the Wong's, or Mr. Robert has said about me.

          "I highly doubt that." My smile dropped. "Her mom is this big shot lawyer while she is just a mute, vain girl who thinks that she is better than everyone else. Not once has she ever dressed nicely and yet ignores when we try to give her any constructive criticism about her appearance. Besides, everyone knows that she's as fake as her hair." She looked at me with venom in her eyes. It pissed me off and made me really angry. I finally lost my temper.

          "How is my hair fake huh? At least all I do is dye it. Your hair is made up of mostly extension's due to the bleaching mishap you had in seventh grade you pretentious b***h!" I was furious.

          "At least my mother loves me and doesn't ignore my existence!" That hurt almost as bad as moms slap last night. I saw Ms. Kidman start to say something but I couldn't breath and heard the sound of rushing water in my ears. My world started to fall and turn black. The last thing I saw was Jackson's worried face.