Perfectly Wrong | Grayson Dolan

12

Brooklyn

It was a Friday morning at school when I opened my locker and started gathering my things for my first class of the day.

I used to despise school, but making a few friends and having the twins in my life has made it tolerable for me.

I got to my class early, sitting down in my usual seat in the back, and almost throwing up when I opened my textbook.

There was a note slipped inside in my father's handwriting that said: I hope you know that I can and will find out where you've been. You can't run from me forever, Brooklyn.

"Oh my god," I whispered to myself. This is so fucked up on so many levels.

Whoever my dad sent to give me this note somehow got into my locker, not to mention that he's definitely looking for me and can find out where I've been staying. This is so creepy and scary.

I don't want to ever see my dad again, and this means he has inside connections to someone at school. Maybe another student?

Fuck.

What if he finds my car? What if there's some sort of tracking device in it or something?

I was on edge thinking about it all day, to the point where Grayson asked me what was wrong while we were doing homework at home.

"Brooklyn, what's going on? You're spacing out."

"I'm just really scared that my father's gonna find me. I found a note in my textbook this morning that was in his handwriting, and whoever the messenger was somehow got into my locker. This is frightening and I really don't want him to find me."

Grayson stood up. "Come here," he said, opening his arms. "He's not gonna hurt you. I won't let him. You're safe here."

"But what about the note? He obviously knows that I'm still going to school."

"We could place a restraining order on him."

"He won't care, Grayson," I said, pulling away as tears started streaming down my face. "That's the thing. He's fucked up. He'll do anything to ruin my life as long as he's so much as breathing. He has people in his corner that never believed me when I told them how badly he was hurting me, and they called me a liar and a crybaby, and the only person I told who ever actually believed me just magically disappeared one day. He has friends that are willing to do terrible things for him, which means they all could be trying to find me. What if they're tracking my car or something? Or what if they find me at school? It's like I can't escape from him ever."

"What if you drove a different car?"

"What do you mean drive a different car? I don't have another car."

"We could get you one."

"Are you insane? There's no way I'm letting that happen. That's way too much money," I said, wiping the tears from my face. It was no use, since I still couldn't stop crying.

"No, listen. My uncle runs an auto shop, and he fixes up old used cars to sell. We could get you one of those very cheaply, and even get new license plates and everything. None of them will know it's your car. I don't want you to be scared, because we're gonna keep you safe. I promise. You're gonna be okay. We can park your car in the garage for now, and we'll carpool to school until we get you something else to drive. We're not gonna let him find you. If he does, he'll have to get through me first."

"Grayson—" I said.

He pulled me back into another hug, his hand holding the back of my head. "You're okay. I got you. I'm right here."

"I'm exhausted, Grayson," I said, crying into his chest.

"I know. It's okay. Come on, you should get some rest."

I nodded as Grayson took my hand, leading me upstairs. He gave me one of his t-shirts to wear, and I also changed into a pair of shorts before I laid down.

Grayson laid with me, just holding me and caressing my hair as I cried. He didn't tell me to stop crying. He didn't ask any questions.

He just knew I needed to be held, and that's exactly what he did.

"Hey, Brooklyn, I'm gonna go move your car into the garage real quick. Do you want me to come back, or do you need to be alone?"

"Come back," I said. "And thank you."

Resting his hand on my face, he gave me a long peck on the lips. "I would do anything for you, Brooklyn. Anything."

A tear slipped out of my eye as I reached up and put my hand on top of his. "I know you would," I said. "That's what makes me feel so safe with you."

Grayson gave me a sad smile before kissing my forehead. He left the room for a few minutes, but came back in before I even realized any time had passed.

He laid back down next to me, pulling me into his arms again and giving me innocent kisses on my neck. "You're gonna be okay. I promise."

I turned around to face him, still sniffling from crying earlier.

"Baby, don't cry," Grayson said. "It's okay."

"I'm just worried. That's all."

"I know. It's okay to be worried. But you're safe here. Your car is in the garage, so he wouldn't be able to find you if he was looking for your car. Ethan and I haven't told anyone that you're living with us, and Kylie won't say anything to anyone. She wouldn't do that to you."

"He obviously knows that I've been staying somewhere."

"I know he does, but he's not gonna find you here, okay? I'll make sure of it."

I sniffled again. "Is it bad that this is the safest I've felt in years, even though he's after me?"

"It is bad," Grayson said. "But it's slowly getting better. I won't let it get worse, okay?"

"Okay," I said. "I wanna go to sleep."

"You can sleep, baby. I'll be right here, okay?"

"Okay," I said, closing my eyes and falling into a state of unconsciousness. Not escaping reality, but entering into a realm of my own mind.

I keep having to remind myself that Grayson is here to protect me. If it weren't for him, my father probably would've found me by now.