Am I in Love With a Criminal

Chapter 2 - Jesse

It's five past ten and I just finished getting ready to meet with Holly. I'm nervous but excited. She seems like such a nice person and I hope we become great friends. I pull on a jersey because it seems like a cold night. It's been like that lately even though it's the end of May. I step out my front door and pull on my sandals. I head to the footpath and walk a few steps to the playground. I walk in and sit on one of the swings. I see Holly coming out of the streetlamp gloom.

"Hi," I say, not really sure if that was the right word. She smiles "hey". I smile back with butterflies in my stomach. I hated that feeling as it reminded me of my old love. She sits down next to me and I watch her gaze into the sky. She looks so free and herself unlike how I saw her at school today. "The stars are beautiful" I say quietly. "I know," she says. She almost sounds sad so I shut my mouth.

So we just sit here looking at the black sky. It's almost like we're covered in something and someone has poked holes for us to breathe. I love theories like that. It lets my imagination be free and come up with anything it wants. "Jesse," Holly says. "Please don't tell anyone about this, it's my private freedom and I don't want people like Vanessa to ruin it." I smile at her "I promise." A faint smile crosses her lips and I can't help but stare at her. Her wavy brown hair frames her face and it falls below her shoulders. Her freckles make her green eyes stand out so much. Her hands look so delicate as her hands hold the swings' chain. I blush as she looks at me.

We stay here for at least another ten minutes. She looks at me again "I probably should go. She points at a car pulling into a driveway. "That's my signal to go home," she says. I watch her slowly stand up and slowly walk away. I watch her until the darkness consumes her and I'm alone. I think of our promise and wonder why she'd hide such an amazing passion. I laugh to myself quietly and get up to head home.

When I awake the next morning. I realised that I was dreaming all about Holly last night. Shit! Loving her could put her into unnecessary danger. I will just be friends with her. I swore to myself that I'd never put anyone else in danger. I walked out into the kitchen half asleep to see that mom had already gone. She had put a note on the bench that read, Sorry, I had to leave early. Things at the hospital have been very busy and they needed extra staff. I packed your lunch, it's in the fridge.

Love you, mom

I sigh knowing my mom was working her ass off to pay for us, and here I am doing nothing but going to school. I headed out the door to go to school and saw Holly walking as well. I caught up with her and we headed to school just dawdling along the footpath chatting about our passions. "I love theories about the universe," I said, "but I don't tell anyone because of the society we live in nowadays. "Me too!" she said happily.

We walked in the front gates together but after we entered Holly whispered to me with her head down "sorry, I have to go." I was confused and looked around for a reason for her to leave so suddenly. I see a popular looking girl glaring at her with rage. From what I saw I guess that's Vanessa. When she saw me looking at her she smiled warmly. Fake bitch! She waltzed right up to me and introduced herself. "I'm Vanessa, and you must be Jesse, nice to meet you." I was disgusted so I just gave her a nod. Her expression dropped and she cut to the chase. "So I couldn't help but notice you hanging out with that weirdo Holly." she looked annoyed saying her name. "You do know that there are better people to hang out with at this school," she looked me up and down as she said this. "I'm guessing you're implying yourself, Vanessa," I said, not really interested. She looked offended at my tone so she walked away as I rolled my eyes.

I couldn't find Holly all day So I guessed that she was skipping classes. At lunch break I went to the tree she likes and when I rounded the corner of the building I saw her being pinned up against the tree by Vanessa and her so-called friends. I hid behind the corner to listen in on the situation. "What's your problem Vanessa?" I heard Holly say, her tone was angry. "I want you to stay away from Jesse, because by the end of this semester he's going to be my date to the summer break dance." "Or what" Holly replied clearly pissed off. "I have the power to make your life miserable with one button on my phone, you know how many Tik Tok followers I have, so if you don't back down I will create terrible rumours about you and your family." "Fine okay" Holly said, a little scared and shaky.

Vanessa and the other girls left and Holly fell to her knees crying. I rushed up to her when I heard her breathing getting raspy. "Hey, hey, you're okay" I said, rubbing her back to calm her down. "You have to leave," she said between shaky breaths. "She...she, Vanessa will kill me if she catches me with you again." "I don't care about that bitch she's heartless and will do anything for her happiness. "Are you okay though?" I asked, a little concerned about her sudden panic attack. "I'm okay" she said, her breathing sounded a little better. I looked around to see if anyone was near. "Here come with me," I said as I slowly helped her up.

I took her to the nurse yet again and it reminded me of when I first met her in the hallway. When the nurse saw us she took Holly into a room "sorry Holly but your boyfriend has to stay out here while I open the medicine cabinet, for safety reasons. "Oh I'm not her boyfriend" I rushed to say. Holly laughed a little as the nurse took her into the room. I waited outside for her to come out. She smiled at me and thanked me for waiting for her before leaving.

I walked home alone but with Holly ahead of me. I guessed she didn't want me around in case Vanessa had people spying on us. That night I went to the playground hoping to talk to her there. But she never showed up. Over the next few days at school she wasn't there and Vanessa was hunting me like a wolf. I was concerned about Holly, but I didn't have her number or email to contact her. The only option was to ask Lee where she lived.

As I walked into school the next day alone I searched for Lee in the hallway. I found her standing beside her locker talking to Damien, the boy I sat next to on the first day. I looked at her and she excused herself from Damien. "Hey Lee" I started to say before she cut me off. "I know what you want," she said. "Her mom's sick and she's looking after her," Lee said. "Thanks, could you tell me where she lives please" I asked carefully so I didn't piss her off. "Ugh fine, two two Five Hayward Street,"thank you" I said gratefully.

I wrote Holly's address down on a piece of paper and waited for school to end constantly looking at the time longing for the end of day bell to ring. At lunch however I hid from Vanessa in the tree Holly and I hung out in. Finally the bell rang and I ran to her house to find out It was only a few streets away from mine. When I reached her front door I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. After a minute with no one coming I went to walk away when I heard the door creak open. A woman stood in the doorway. She looked tired as she smiled at me. "You must be Mrs Smith" I said politely. "Indeed, but please call me Kate," she said weakly as she smiled. "How may I help you young man?" "May I talk to Holly if she's here please?" I asked. At that moment Holly appeared in the doorway to hold her mom up. She was shocked to see me talking to her mom. " Just a minute," she said to me. I watched her help her mom to a couch.

When she returned she invited me inside. I took off my shoes and followed her in. We went up to her room where she gestured to a chair for me to sit on. "Thanks" I said awkwardly. She nodded, "why are you here?" she asked, sounding a little confused. "I just wanted to see if you were alright, since you haven't been at school." "Yeah well mom got sick and Ace, my brother is away with a friend doing god knows what." "sorry" I said, a little pitiful. She smiled at me as if she was saying it's fine. "I should go since you're busy "I said, standing up to leave. "No, it's okay," she said. "I sat back down and looked around her room. It had plants everywhere and what I'm guessing were her star charts mapped out on her walls. I wondered what was going to happen next.