Trouble Times Two

Chapter Twelve

Monday

I'm watering my lawn in the morning when two of Donovan's dickhead friends walk into my driveway. They don't have a single right to be in here and I knew this would end in someone being metaphorically or literally kicked in the ass.

"You don't have permission to enter, get out." I say but they don't stop.

"We have a proposal." They say and they smirk their cocky little smirk.

"Okay, I'll get over the fact that you don't want to listen to me to hear a stupid proposal. The answer is no. Next time don't be so disrespectful." I move onto my flowers.

"We just need you to get to know him, string him along a little, the usual." I don't know these guys but I know they're Donovan's friends.

I get my hose and aim it at them and then spray up onto the balcony that Donovan is standing on.

"Scram and Donovan, don't be so stupid next time." I say as I look up at him, sopping wet. "You've got school, get changed."

"Hey you two, stay here, I'll chuck you some clothes." They're shivering but they nod.

I run upstairs and grab some clothes that used to belong to someone. I can't really remember now.

It could've belonged to Felix, Rhett, Clark or Ellis but when they left the house, they left their stuff in boxes in storage and loads more in the in their rooms.

I couldn't go into their rooms though. Looking through their rooms would hurt more than the boxes.

All my siblings left their stuff here, just packed up and left with only the basics. I'm sure if they could have left me here, they would have. But alas, I was a minor.

There were an insane amount of towels left in the house too.

We used to be a family of eleven. We argued and we fought, we laughed and we cried. It was absolute fucking chaos and mayhem, every single day, but my God, we were a family.

How does a family get poisoned by one bitch of an Aunt? I'll tell you how.

You manipulate the teenagers whose mother and father just died. You tell them, I know you're going through a hard time but you need to get rid of the evil people in your life and that includes your little sister.

I was ten. I'm the youngest on one very small technicality.

I mean fuck, I was a child. Watching my siblings shut me out when we already had such a small relationship by the time my parents died, was confusing.

Then suddenly I was in wilderness, then I was drinking and taking drugs and I was checked out, just during life.

Then I was fighting, I nearly killed a rapist with my bare hands, and even though I shouldn't be, according to Marie who had no real position in my life in the real scheme of things, I was proud that I did that and I was proud that I decided to tough it out. If I could back in life, that's one thing that would never change.

I take two towels and throw the clothes at them from my balcony, then they go over to the Shepherd's to get changed.

I sit on my chair and think.

My life was changing again but the minute Donovan entered my life, it had been.

He was a catalyst for change and I know that. I knew that from the minute I met him.

I didn't want to think about that now.

"How did you know I was up here?" Donovan asks and I shrug.

"I just do I guess." He underestimates me, a whole lot.

"When did you first start at J.V High?" He asks and I laugh.

"J.V. High. You are funny Shepherd, I'll give you that much. Why do you want me to seduce you, string you a long a little?" I giggle again at that. My god, he was stupid.

"You see, when you do these little bets amongst your friends, it doesn't stay that way. Sometime I'll just hear them happen and sometimes, a little whisper will emerge amongst the school. It happened with Estefani Grias, the last girl who you set your sights on." That was a crazy situation, which ended up with a grown man pounding on the Shepherd's door in the very early hours of the morning.

"The last week you've been trying to get into my pants, the whisper was less secretive because people don't know who I am, they were less careful and I found out pretty quickly."

I think carefully about my records because I want to be very clear. Not kind, not mindful, just clear. "I don't want to know you, I don't want to have sex with you, I'd much rather have nothing to do with you but now, I'm going to spending a lot of time with people around you. I enjoy spending time with your siblings. What I don't enjoy is spending time with you."

"How rude that you think I want to have sex with you, you're very presumptuous for someone who has no clue how I work." That elicits an eye roll.

He still continues, clearly getting a kick out of potentially getting a rise out of me. "Why would it be an issue if I'm attracted to you? If you're a virgin just say so, I can be your first time. I'm pretty good at using my hands and my body's nice, isn't it? I'm sure you find me hot because let's be real here, all girls dig it. Including you. So what if I want to have sex with you? You're fairly decent looking, I've seen better but you'll do."

You'll do. As if I'm ugly. I'm many things, but I am not ugly.

"If I see you more often, that means you see me more often and that means the more that you do, the more that my charm will wear off onto you and the more you'll start to like me. I know you're already pretty tempted and once you're fully into it, don't hesitate to tell me, you know where to find me. I should warn you though, I'm pretty hard to resist, the girls can never stop coming back." He is conceited.

"You're confident, I give you that but I have no interest in you. I mean your issue is that you think you're better than you are. You don't know me and that's your biggest problem. You think you're some big bad wolf, when really? You're just a scared little boy who likes to play with girls feelings. I don't understand why but it's not my issue and I'm not going to pry, because I simply do not give a singular fuck. Let's make one thing clear, if I wanted to have sex with you, I would have by now but these days, you're not my type, so I think I'll pass."

I sit back in triumph as he goes a bright shade of red. I don't think he was embarrassed about the sex thing but at the fact that I was seeing through his façade.

"If people get a whiff of that personality of yours, your life will become hall." I laugh again. He's not wrong, like at all. I was intentionally off putting for a reason.

"Can't be worse than it has been Shepherd." I lounge for the rest of the day, doing my work and sipping on a sprite.

Donovan was overstepping but I didn't care. I'll step on his toes back.