Teenage Crime

Chapter 8

Aspyn was still on the bench when Harry spotted her from the other side of the park. He was with Jake and the rest of the East Chapel Hill High’s perfect pack. She was alone, with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

         He couldn’t help but stare at her. What made her so interesting? He got so emotional when she was around. He shouldn’t care that she was skipping school and getting high in abandoned barns. But he did. He couldn’t not care. He didn’t like caring. She clearly didn’t care.

         He’d only ever seen her looking disheveled and hopeless. He often thought about what she would look like happy. That night at the party was a drunken front; there was no real happiness under the surface. She was charming, could make anyone believe she was having the time of her life when in reality she was living her own personal hell. The way she spoke made you want to hear more. It was like she was a book full of poems and metaphors and opulence and beauty and glittering sadness.  

         He’d had sex with plenty of girls, but having sex with Aspyn was different. He didn’t do it to later go and brag about it to his friends. He didn’t do it to see her naked. Hell, he couldn’t even see in that damn barn. He’d had sex with her to get closer to her. She was like a precious jewel unknown to man that he’d discovered.

         She acted as though she was no better than a streetwalker, but still seemed unreachable. She was beautifully confusing. She was chaos in the calm in the center of a quiet bay.

         Harry didn’t want anyone else to have her. He didn’t want anyone else to touch her. She was his precious jewel.

         “Hey man what are you looking at?” Jake said, shaking Harry’s shoulder.

         He didn’t want Jake to know Aspyn was around. Then he’d try to talk to her and probably hit on her.

         “What? Nothing. Just the ducks,” he said, pointing towards the ducks floating around the pond.

         “Oh you were looking at the ducks? Yeah right, dude. Where’s the girl?”

         He glanced over at Aspyn, who was now lighting another cigarette. That girl smoked more cigarettes than anyone he knew.

         “No girl. Just the ducks. They’re fucking interesting to watch.”

         “C’mon man, you’re practically getting a boner. Where is she?”

         “There’s no-”

         “Oh shit, there’s that new girl Aspyn. That must be who you were staring at. Damn, she is hot. I bet she’s fucking awesome in bed. I would pay good money to fuck her. You might have to get through me to hook up with her. I got my eye on her.”

         “I think she has a boyfriend.” Harry lied, keeping his eyes on Aspyn.

         “That’s never stopped me before,” Jake laughed. Harry cracked a smile. Jake got up.

         “Where are you going?”

         “To talk to Aspyn. Get her to go to Danny’s party with me.”

         Harry was going to stop him, but it wasn’t worth it. Aspyn wouldn’t agree to go out with him anyway.

         Harry pulled his phone out. He listened in to the conversation the girls behind him were having.

         “I mean like, yeah she’s pretty but so am I. What’s the big deal with her?” Samantha Hafferly said. Samantha was arguably the best looking girl in school. Until Aspyn came.