The School Guidance Counsellor

Chapter Three

Kitty sped down the grass path as Becky's minions called after her with laughs of derision. They roughened her up earlier and she already sustained a nasty scratch on her right elbow, and honestly, she wasn't in the mood for another bruise. Her mother was sending her weird looks every night when she came home from school with a fresh new scratch and she knew that sooner or later, she would have something horrible to say or some new dreadful order that she was going to subject her to.

She rounded the corner of the building quickly and continued brisk walking as she heard them repeating their usual terms of hate towards her. They were fast getting sick of simply pushing her around - she knew they wanted more blood. She rounded another corner and that was when she saw him.

He was leaning against the hood of a white car with sunglasses on, as his hands brought a cigarette up to his lips. He lit up and puffed smoke from his mouth, the jaw of which was lined with light scruff that was dark. He had a leather jacket on with a brown crewneck inside that caused Kitty to do a double take, because it looked as if he had not worn anything under his jacket.

"Hey, Gunner," a professor Kitty knew belonged to the school rounded the vehicle and spoke some words to the man, who threw his head back and laughed, a raspy sound leaving his thin lips.

"Fuck off, you asshat," the man said and he flipped him off as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. The professor erupted into a chorus of laughter at that and Kitty stared agonisingly at the man on the hood of the car, who was now getting off it. She watched a trickle of sweat run down the side of one temple, across his dark throat and the base of her stomach turned in a sharp twist.

"Oh, Kitty, Kitty," someone behind her said and Kitty's head snapped backwards.

Crap, they were right on her tail.

She wanted to send the man another fast look but pangs of guilt stung at her as images of Barry flashed through her mind, so she forced her eyes away and ran down the other side of the building. She escaped into the hallways and tried to look for some room, any room to hide in when she saw something on the other end of the hallway.

Becky, flanked by some boys.

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The video told her that she could either do it manually or rake it. A rake was a tool with ball-like shapes attached to the end which she could insert into the keyhole and push it in, pull it out, push it in roughly until it magically hit all the pins and let the cylinder turn. That would open the thing which was locked and give her access. As the video droned on, she scrolled through the videos underneath and tapped on one that looked interesting.

"What are you doing, Kitty?"

Her head snapped back. It was Barry. It hit her that she had invited him over not too long ago and had completely forgotten about it. She clicked her phone off and slid across her bed to let him onto it. He sat next to her. "It's nothing. Just YouTube."

"It looked like you were having a lot of fun. I don't usually see you with your eyes so alive."

"It's really nothing," she said as she laughed. Lockpicking wasn't thrilling to her - it was a means to an end. But she could confidently say that it was much more enticing than Barry was.

"So, I thought I should let you know. The church has been missing you lately and some students at school told me that you were having a hard time with some mean kids. Have you considered coming back to church? This is exactly why you need to come."

Christ, she only missed some weeks and now every single problem she had was a result of her not attending church.

"Kitty?" Barry said. "I know you think our church leader is leering at you, but he's really not. He's happily married to Regina and you know he wouldn't do anything to let God down."

Sure, that was why he was always trying to get her alone in a room. And when that happened, somehow her legs or arms were always looking cold, enough for a warm rub.

"Barry, I don't know what you want me to say," she said to him. "I don't want to go."

"But why? I don't understand. Church is everything to you. Don't disappoint God by not coming."

"I thought God wasn't angry with me anymore? That's what the Word says. Then why is everyone treating me like I should get what my actions deserve? Aren't you guys all about Grace?"

"Grace has its limits."

She scoffed.

"Kitty, come on."

"I'm not going. You guys have it all backwards."

"They have - "

"Years of experience with the Word. Yes, I get it already. I just find it amusing that you guys are putting the penalty of what my father did on my head."

"We are not."

"Then why are the church leaders forcing me to attend another course on repentance?"

"You - " Barry started but Kitty no longer wanted to hear anything more. She reached over and planted her lips on his. She forced her tongue into his mouth but he drew so sharply back that she muttered a quick apology before she resumed kissing him on the lips chastely, like how he always wanted her to. As they kissed, Kitty's hands fell down his torso and she palmed his groin. He froze and she lifted her hand to slip it inside his pants. "W-Wait." Barry removed her hand from him.

"God damn it, Barry, we've been dating for most of our lives."

"You're not thinking straight, Kitty," Barry said. "You're mad at the church leaders and - "

Kitty dropped her hand towards his groin again. "I'll return to church, please."

He grasped her hand tightly. "Look, Kitty, you're underage, alright?"

"So are you."

"I know, but - "

"Nobody will know."

"That's what your father thought," Barry said with a light scoff. Kitty frowned deeply at that and his features snapped to remorse. "I'm sorry, Kitty - "

"I just don't get why you have to be so fucking chaste all the time."

"Please don't use that word."

"Fuck."

"Look, this is unbecoming of you and when you're like this, nobody wants to be around you, alright?"

"Tell me you don't fucking have fucking wet dreams about fucking me in every fucking night of your fucking life."

Barry's mouth dropped to the ground. Then there were a few minutes of deafening silence.

"Barry, I'm sorry - "

"I think it's time you know, Kitty."

"Know what?"

"It's not that I don't want to have sex with you, Kitty. It's just that - " Barry said, stopping himself.

"What? What are you going to say?"

"It happens to some men, okay? And honestly, it was a blessing that it happened to me."

"Tell me, Barry!"

"I can't have sex with you because I'm impotent."