In Or Out

Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

"As fun as the Renaissance Club sounds, I can't go today, "I explained to Naomi, who had just finished gushing about how fun the club was. "Jake asked me to sit with him at lunch today." Well, that, and the fact that unless it had discussions on the BBC show Merlin, I wasn't very interested. I honestly don't even know if I'm thinking of the same time period...

"Okay Bren, I see how it is. Choosing popularity before us. Fine then. Go have fun with your boyfriend." I grinned, knowing she was just kidding. I also caught how she called me Bren, something that she had been insisting on doing ever since we became friends. Jake used to be the only one who ever called me by anything other than my real name. I was kind of reluctant at the beginning to let Charlie and Naomi call me that, but I think I made the right choice. 

It's been 12 days since the incident with the two of them. But, it's not like I was counting. Thankfully, the awkwardness had almost dissipated by this point. Carson had stuck by his word and threatened Charlie repeatedly, but never followed through with them. Maybe that was due to the fact that I was always with him, for "protection," as I called it. Charlie had only laughed at that. 

"Protection? Please. You couldn't even hurt a fly." He had said. At that point I dragged him up and we walked around until I found an insect of some sort. There was an ant traveling alone on the sidewalk about 20 feet from where we had been sitting. I made a show of stepping on it, proving to him that I could, in fact, protect him. He pretended to look appalled, but then broke down in laughter. 

"You dragged me all the way over here so that you could end a poor bug's life? That's just cruel." He joked. I admit, it wasn't my brightest idea. Looking back on it, I don't have an idea why I even thought it would prove my point in the first place. 

Snapping out of my reverie, I realized that the three of us had reached my homeroom. "I'll see you guys later," I chimed, turning to walk through the door. A hand caught my arm and pulled me back. 

"Just wanted to tell you that I won't be in history today," Charlie sent me a smile, but it seemed to be mixed with another emotion I couldn't put my finger on. "My dad is a police officer and every once in a while, he takes me out on cases. He has this dream that I will follow in his footsteps, but most of the time I don't know what the heck is going on when we're out there." I nodded my head, laughing slightly, as we parted ways. I couldn't imagine Charlie as a police officer, he's too soft spoken. Now that I think of it, I didn't know much about him other than the fact that he likes Naomi, loves to read, and now, that his dad is a policeman. We would have to fix that. 

My first three periods were okay, seeing as we didn't have homework in any of the classes. Fourth period though, that was a different story. Even though it had only been about three and a half weeks since I first started talking to Charlie, I had become accustomed to his laughing voice interrupting the lesson for me every day. 

I bet he was having fun, solving crimes and all that junk... I wonder what he really was doing? Just on patrol or interrogating a criminal? The possibilities were endless. All I know is that I wish he was here. 

Lunch came around, and I remembered the promise I made to Jake. As I sat down next to Jakes empty spot, I heard snickers from the girls on my right. Serena was about to say something, but someone roughly grabbed the back of my hoodie, pulling me from my seat. I was panicking, but what choice did I have? I either went along or got choked. The person started heading outside, and I really started to panic. I suddenly thrashed around, making the person that was hold my hood real ease their grip almost immediately. I turned around, half furious and till half terrified. 

"Why Jake? Why in the world would you do that? You scared me! You couldn't have just tapped me on the shoulder like a normal person? For all I know, you could have been my dad!" I ranted. Jakes grin slowly turned into a straight face. 

"Bren," He said, sounding exasperated. "How many times do I have to tell you that he will never hurt you again? I won't let that happen."

I sighed. It's now or never. "My dad- he's... he's on parole."

Jake took a minute to process this. "Bren... He was supposed to be in until November! It's March, why would they put him on parole after what happened?" 

"His five years are almost up anyways, he must have spat out some crap about good behavior, and besides, even though I'm traumatized, it was only a few DUIs and a broken beer bottle." I tried to reason with him. 

"Those DUIs almost got you killed and that broken beer bottle is the reason that you have that." He said bitterly, pointing towards my stomach. His eyes filled with guilt. Right before I ran out of the house and met Jake when we were 11, my dad had gotten angry and came at me with a broken glass beer bottle. I came back to the house after Jake comforted me, and my dad was even angrier than before. He ran at me, but I had nowhere to run, hence the jagged scar that still remains on my stomach. To this day, Jake still thinks that it's his fault, even though I've told him that it's not. 

I saw the cheerleaders heading in our, well I guess that I should say Jake's, direction. I nudged him on the shoulder, gave him a small smile, and started to walk away. He managed to catch my arm and bring me back. 

"This conversation isn't over, okay? You're gonna come over after school, right?" I nodded. He hugged me and kissed me on the forehead, making the incoming cheerleaders pout. 

I rolled my eyes at Jake and mouthed "Have fun," as I turned to walk to the library.