The Bad Boy's Snowflake

Chapter 3: Drunk Step Dads, Horrible Mothers, and Sleepovers

*There is a little bit of language in the coming up chapters. Sorry if it offends you. Please just skip over it*

After soccer practice, I head home. I am sitting at my desk working on my ten page essay on the Revolutionary War, when I hear something hit my window. At first, I ignore it, but it happens three more times, and it sounds quite urgent. I walk over and open it. Tommy is leaning out the window with rocks in his hands and fear in his eyes.

"Back up!" he whispers.

I confusedly do as I am told. A couple seconds later, Tommy flies through the window. As soon as he's on the ground, he's up again and over at the light switch. He flicks it off and dives onto the ground below my window.

"Tommy, what-?" I start.

He shushes me and yanks me onto the ground before I can say another word. After a minute or two, I'm fed up with this and about to stand, when a door slams. I hear glass break on something, and I gasp softly. Tommy motions for me to be quiet again. Someone stomps around his room.

"God damn it!" the person, a man, yells. "That f****** boy went out the window!"

I look at Tommy just as his eyes widen in fear. Stomping is heard once more before the door slams again. Neither Tommy nor I move for a couple moments. I don't move out of shock and fear. He doesn't move because he is making sure the person is gone. Tommy is the first to stand and sigh. I stand as well.

"Can I stay the night?" he asks me shakily.

Still in shock, all I can do is nod. After a moment, I regain myself and go downstairs to get Tommy a pillow and some blankets. The only pillow I can find that would be remotely comfortable has a Buzz Lightyear pillow case. I bring it and the blanket back up to my room and set up a bed on the floor for Tommy. When I am finished, we both lie in our beds.

"Tommy?" I whisper after a while.

"Yeah?" he whispers back.

"What the hell was that?"

He sighs and sits up. I do the same.

"My step dad," he answers.

"Step dad?" I ask in shock. I knew there must be something off in Tommy's life since he's such a bad boy, but I never expected this.

He nods. "My real father died when I was ten. He was the best. He taught me to play baseball, soccer, basketball, and football. He was always there for me. He was at every soccer, baseball, football, and basketball game I had. He even came to games when he was sick. Of course, spending that time with him usually ended up getting me sick, but I didn't care because if I was sick he would take off work and spend all day with me. I loved my dad more than anything in the world.

"Then, he died. He died in a restaurant shooting on a business trip for work. I was devastated. My mother's reaction was quite the opposite. Apparently, she had been cheating on him and had become pregnant. She had planned on divorcing my dad, but his death cleared up that problem. Her and her boyfriend, Steve, got married a month after my dad died. One month! After their marriage, they had kids together and forgot all about my dad."

I wait for him to explain further. Quickly realizing he's not going to, I begin to ask questions.

"Why did you jump into my room?"

"Steve is an alcoholic. Every time he gets drunk he beats me up. So I ran away," he answers letting his head fall in shame.

"And you left your other siblings in there?" I ask incredulously. Even if he doesn't like them, I wouldn't expect him to just leave them in there.

"My mother won't let him touch them," he answers. "Whenever he gets drunk she takes them into the basement and locks the door or takes them somewhere else. She doesn't care about me, though. She leaves me to be beaten and die."

"Why don't you call the police?" I state the obvious.

"Because my mother said that she loves him and that if I call the police she would kick me out of the house," is his reply.

"Why don't you risk it?" I ask, growing a bit annoyed.

"Because I want a good life," he replies shortly. "I want a to go to college, I want a job, I want to be successful one day!"

I shrink back a little in fear.

"Being kicked out of the house and living on the streets would not help me achieve that!" he rages at me. "Not everyone has a perfect life like you, Catherine!"

This ticks me off.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bad Boy," I start. "My life is not perfect! I have had to work hard to get where I am. Everything is not given to me. Being captain of the varsity soccer team is hard work. Getting straight A's in all honors classes is hard work. Being a mother at the age of seventeen because mine is never home is hard work! My father left us! Now, I never see my mother, and Sam has to grow up with me as his mother and with no father. You're not the only one with family issues, Tommy!"

Neither of us says anything for a long while. I begin to grow afraid that nobody will. The silence scares me because it speaks the truth and I have too many secrets to hide. Thankfully, Tommy starts a conversation.

"Catherine," he starts.

I hold up my hand to stop him. "It's fine. I'm sorry, too. It just bugs me that people think my life is easy and that everything is handed to me. People can be so mean when they get the wrong impression, so I want them to have the right impression."

"I get it," he replies. "Everyone has the wrong impression of me. I'm not a bad boy. What happened to make me one? What did I do that was so...bad?"

I stifle a laugh. "It's probably because you skip class, drive a motorcycle, bring home a different girl every night, and get at least three detentions a week."

He gives me a small smile. "Ok, I guess that could maybe qualify as being bad boy material."

"Probably," I agree with a smile.

We sit in silence for a while. It's a comfortable silence, though. Not one that gives away your secrets. Neither of us minds it. Until I happen to look at the clock. It reads 11:04.

"We should probably get to bed," I suggest to him. "It's pretty late."

Tommy looks at the clock and nods. We both lie down. I begin to fall asleep right away. I'm a sucker for sleep. Before I fall asleep, I hear Tommy whisper something.

"Thank you, Catherine."

I am too far gone to reply.

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Hey, guys!

Sorry again for the language. What did you think about this chapter? I had a little fun writing it. It's probably one of my favorites because it is the chapter that insinuates drama!

If you like it, please comment and vote!

Thanks, guys!