The basketball diaries - Leonardo DiCaprio fanfic

6

"Shit."

The apartment is a mess when I get home. Dad is as usual sleeping in the sofa with a beer in his hand, saliva trickling down his chin. I thank God that he is not awake because then he would have beaten me for being home late. 

I should really go to sleep but I have a lot to study so I end up by my desk even though I'm too tired to get any work done. Hours later I wake up to the sun shining down on my unfinished worksheets; great. Before I get up I let myself just sit there like a sack of potatoes, glaring out the window with half closed eyes and pouted lips. 

When I board the A-train I'm close to running out of it again. Right there, like a cocky, "I'm the best", freaking idiot, Jim is standing. I want to scream and ask him to get off the train, but instead I calmly take a seat a few feet away from him. He totally ignores me, he doesn't even look my way. Well, I guess this is what I wanted, for him to leave me alone... But come on, can't he even say hi? And why is he standing up? The wagon is pretty much empty!

A gasp escapes me as the tremor of someone's breath lands on my neck. When I look to the side I see an old man who scoots down next to me. My whole body freezes and I'm sure my heart stops beating as I with round eyes look at him. His eyes are glossy as they wander over my body.

"Hey, little sweet girl? What are you doing here alone?" he murmurs so I shiver uncomfortably.

"Leave me alone."

"No-no-no... Why would I?" he purrs and puts his dirty hand on my thigh so my whole view gets dizzy. With tears burning behind my eyes I look over at Jim who doesn't seem to give a damn about what's going on. Why is he not helping?!

"Please, just leave me alone." I hiss and try to escape the man's haunting eyes.

"Oh, come on. You're too valuable to be ignored. Just look at this beautiful hair of yours. So shimmery..."

Faster than a freaking bullet I'm suddenly out of the chair. I don't expect him to follow me up, but when he does I feel the sweat build up in my forehead. Without a doubt I hurry up to Jim and slink behind him so I have him as a shield. Maybe it's rude of me to use him like this, but after all he's a street-kid and I'm not.

I peak over Jim's shoulder, only to see that the hobo is standing only a feet away. To my relief Jim is standing still; I don't know if he just doesn't care or if he's actually completely zoned out. 

"Come on sweetie." the hobo grunts and tries to get through but to my surprise he receives a hard knock in the chest by Jim which sends him stumbling back. Holy shit! As much as I want to throw my arms around Jim's neck and thank him I keep still behind him for the rest of the ride. When we arrive at our station and he quickly leaves I run after:

"Excuse me?!" I yell, panting.

He turns around slowly. "Yah?"

"Thank you for that. Really."

He shrugs and starts walking again. I decide to erase the gap between us and I walk next to him, whistling as if I don't feel awkward at all. From time to time I peek up at him; he looks different now that he is wearing the school uniform. Somewhat he looks older, more mature. I wonder how old he is? He's too tall to be younger than me, that's for sure. 

When we're supposed to turn by a block to get to our schools, Jim surprises me by keeping on walking in the wrong direction.

"Where are you going?!" I yell after him.

He turns around but keeps walking backwards, a luring smirk on his face. "I'm late to my class. And when you're already late you might as well go buy yourself some pretzels, dig?"

I look at him with a baffled expression which sends him laughing.

"Do you wanna' join?"

His invite sends my whole body throbbing with excitement but I still end up shaking my head.

"Fine." he taunts.

"Fine!" I mimic with a rude grimace. He shakes his head before turning around and disappearing down the street. Ugh, I might have just made the biggest mistake of my life...

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