Teenage Crime

Chapter 3

“Okay so you have everything right?” Leighton said, pulling out her wallet to pay the cabbie. “Yeah.” Aspyn said, staring straight ahead. She wasn’t able to focus. The only thing she could focus on is how the meter’s one was halfway cut off and was smaller than the rest of the numbers. She wondered if this was some sign from God. Like maybe she was that smaller one, compared to the rest of the big numbers in the world.

         Bullshit.

         “Do you want me to tell dad to call you when he gets back?” Leighton asked, desperately trying to get Aspyn to look at her.

         Aspyn simply shrugged and said, “Don’t bother. I won’t answer.”

         Leighton’s lower lip started to quiver. She took a deep breath and swallowed down the tears. Aspyn looked up at her and saw the pained look on her face. She sighed and rolled her eyes.     

         “I should go.”

         Leighton nodded solemnly, avoiding eye contact. She let one tear slip softly down her face.

         Aspyn felt a tang of guilt, seeing her sister so upset.

         “Bye, Leighton. I love you.”

         Leighton looked at her, eyes wide. She wiped her eyes.

         “I love you too, Aspyn.” The cab started to drive away.

         “I’ll see you in a few months!” She called out, waving at the car. She stood there for a few minutes, watching the cab disappear into the late afternoon horizon. She stood for a few more moments, silently praying it would come back. She prayed this was all just a dream; that she would wake up and be in seventh grade again, when her and Leighton were best friends. Back when life was a hell of a lot more simple.

         But it wasn’t. And it never would be.

         After an hour, Leighton still stood in the same spot. She wanted to move, but it was like her feet wouldn’t permit her too. She didn’t like the way it felt.

         As she was standing there, she realized this must be what it felt like for Aspyn when their dad drove away, leaving her in the cold rain. All alone, nowhere to go.

         She mentally scolded herself for not realizing this sooner. It finally made sense to her why Aspyn did the things she did.

         She has no way of escaping her own personal hell: her life. The way she escapes is by partying, drinking, doing drugs. And sending her away to North Carolina wasn’t going to stop her from doing these things. She would always be doing them, until she was content with her life.

         She wished she could have realized this earlier. Aspyn will never be content with her life, because she doesn’t believe there is any serenity in the world.

         The more Leighton thought of this, the more she realized how maybe Aspyn was right.

         After all, she’d never experienced serenity, so who’s to say there is such a thing? 

“Harry! You need to pick up Aspyn at the airport now!” Harry O’Strander heard his mother call from the kitchen. His parents had told him this morning that his dad’s college roommate’s daughter was coming to stay with them. They said she’d been having problems at home, and needed to get away from New Orleans for a little while. She was going to be living with them and going to school there for a year. She was in the same grade as Harry.

         All Harry hoped was that she was hot.

         His parents didn’t specify what types of problems she was having, and his parents avoided the question when he asked. He knew her dad was very rich, something about his grandparents finding oil in the 20’s, so she probably had some kind of shopping addiction.

         Harry had grown up the perfect, all-American lifestyle. His parents hardly fought, he was the second oldest of four boys, and played varsity football at East Chapel Hill High School. He’d always been popular at school, all the girls liked him. His dark brown eyes were incredibly easy to get lost in, and his hair was always in that perfect state of being a little messy but still looked good. He drank, but only at parties and not to the point of being hammered. He only did that when they won. He didn’t do hard drugs. He’d only smoked pot once or twice, but c’mon who hasn’t? He was every parents dream. Him and Leighton would’ve been perfect together.

         But he didn’t get Leighton. He got Aspyn. Who was far from a parent’s dream. 

         He saw her from a distance at first. She looked like all the other girls who went to his school, maybe on the higher end of good looking. But then as she got closer, he realized how gorgeous she was. He’d never seen anyone so perfect. Everything about her, the way she walked, the way she held herself. She saw him and raised her eyebrows, as if to say, Are you the stranger I’ll be living with for the next year of my life?

         Harry waved, and smiled. She breathed in deeply and walked towards him.

         “Are you Harry?”

         “Yeah, yeah I am. You must be Aspyn,” he said, putting his hand out.

         She looked at it. Only looked. He pulled it in slowly. She laughed slightly, barely letting out a smile.

         Harry took this as a compliment and proceeded to try to socialize with her.

         “Do you need help with your bags?”

         “I’m fine.”

         Harry nodded slowly, and let her walk in front of him. She stopped and looked back at him. She did a lot of looking. Seemed like all she ever did was look. He was about to say something when he noticed her physique. It was flawless, but there was something about it that was off. He looked at her. After a few moments of just looking at her, he finally noticed it. Bruises, cuts, burns. Her arm had scars all up and down it that looked like they were from injecting heroin. There was a lot of cigarette burns. Her legs were bruised, from what looked like falling. He noticed a slight discoloration on her left cheek. What the hell happened to this girl?

         In that moment of noticing all her flaws, something didn’t click in his mind. He still saw her as perfect, like a rose in a patch of wild flowers. He failed to see all the thorns, the petals missing.

         “Where the fuck is the car?” Harry looked up at her. He’d completely forgotten where they were, and what they were doing. He’d never felt anything like it before. She was exotic, he just wanted to keep looking at her. He felt he could find out all her secrets without even talking to her. It was like a high. He craved more. He needed more.

         “Uh, hello?”

         “What? Oh yeah, the car. It’s uh, this way.” He said, taking the lead. He couldn’t focus when he was looking at her. Everything else became a blur.