The Price of Blood

Chapter 10

The homeroom is dead silent as I enter.  People are scribbling on a rough piece of paper ideas for the article on homeroom life for the school newspaper.  I think of Ellie Cork as I swiftly walk over to Mrs Leigh, trying to ignore Harriet's dagger gaze at me and all the other people's stares.  Mrs Leigh is pretty messed up, to put it mildly.  Apparently, according to Kelly, she got divorced from her fifth husband two months ago after he forgot to buy two pints of milk from Trader Joe's.  You can probably see why she has now gone through five husbands.   Mrs Leigh is an art teacher, and seems to love naked artwork.  Her wall are adorned with "art" that just seems like pedophilia  as she doesn't seem to understand that art is not just about naked bodies.  Mrs Leigh passes me a small envelope with my name on and a piece of paper.  She indicates me to my usual seat next to Jamie, but I completely ignore him, hitch up my skirt more (which gets  few wolf whistles from the boys) and sink into a seat that has been left for me by Jamie.  I show him the brown envelope I had been given.  I was really confused about the whole affair.  Jake just shrugs and goes back to writing his "article",  which is actually just a page of random doodles.  Hearts flood the page and my name appears to appear on almost everything.  He just keeps drawing and drawing.  What an idiot.  I'm sitting right next to him.    "Hey," I grab the piece of paper off him, which causes him to give me a pissed off look, "You may be my boyfriend but..." I trail off.   I just called him my boyfriend.  Oh my god, what do I do.  I feel clammy and begin to shake.  I blush furiously.  He just winks at me, indicates at the paper, pushes back his sexy brown ruffled hair and starts doodling again.  I can never quite avoid his piercing gaze.  His voice, his smile, everything appeals to me.  He's like some kind of Hugh Grant sex god.

The envelope lies on the table, unopened, unspoken about.  It seems to be like a death warrant, lying in front of me, waiting, watching.  Though I have no idea about what is in it, it still gives me that dread that hung over me in a dark cloud yesterday.  I gulp and open it.  An official letter from the school's governing body comes out, with all 12 signatures of the school's pompous and exceedingly pretentious governors, who care more about their pocket than their position.  It reads the following:     Miss L. Groves, 

We have been informed of your vacation in a couple of months due to a wine festival.  PARTY HARD!     

The Rocky Green High School Governors                                                                                                                               

I laugh out loud.  What is this!  Mrs Leigh gives me a slightly irritated look and I fall silent, not before I show Jake the letter.  He guffaws, and I giggle.  I giggled!  Is that flirtatious?  Stupid? Sassy? Childish?  I look over at Brad for some support.  He just grins at me, gives me a thumbs up and indicates me to keep talking to Jake.  I casually mention that he might like to come over to my house after school.         "To meet Kenny," I explain quickly, "He's been wanting to meet you for ages.  He says that he is annoyed at you because you took me away from him.  He wants to punch you in the face!"                         "How old is Kenny?" Jake laughs, and I tell him.  7 years, 4 months, 32 days.  I know all of my mum's "kids" birthday's off by heart, so it is easy for me.  Luckily, he agrees.  Mind you, Lady Luck seems to be shining down on me at this current moment.

The school day goes by, almost in a dream.  I meet Jake by the lockers near the labs.  He smiles when he sees me and I try to ignore the stares of other people as I walk towards him.  Me, plain old no-boo-to-a-goose me!  It almost seems unreal.  I pinch myself.  Just to check.  But I'm not lying to myself.          "Hey," he says, when he sees me, "So, are you ready to go and..." he pauses quickly, "Well first, to see little Kenny.  I will take you there in my luxury automobile, you're travelling fiver star all fees paid."       "Well," I reply, "He has a dentist appointment at 3 but he should be back.  Kenny is so cute but he has terrible problems with eating too many sweets and not enough vegetables.  It is destroying his teeth." We walk to the student parking lot, which is situated near the student block. I see Ellie waving leaflets about the upcoming school dance under everyone's noses.  The exasperation on some of their faces is quite a picture to paint.  When Ellie gets to Jake, she suddenly becomes shy and suggests it to him.  He waves her away, I wave goodbye to her perplexed look and get into Jake's sparkling i8.  My dream, I think,had finally come true.  This was of course only a trip to meet Kenny... but hey!  Make the most of it.  

I didn't think Jake could drive any worse, but when he is reading a map, he does.  We swerve between all of the cars, trying not to bang into anyone, bu it is hard.  Jake, at least, has full attention on the road.  I am just eyeing the bin just in case I throw up.  Luckily, I do not convulse.  Jake appears to have remembered that there is something in a car called a brake, an d slams in on when we reach my house.  I hear the laughter and Kenny's telltale shriek of excitement.  I laugh and undo my seat-belt.  "So," Jake says, and I giggle, "Is little Kenny in there?"                                                                                                     "Yep," I reply, "My mum took him off his parents hands.  They were alcoholics you know, and had to go to rehab.  When they came out, they were unstable and not fit to look after a family.  Kenny was fostered by Mr and Mrs Mason, who live just down the road, but mainly comes to us for care.  His sister Andrea came to us too, though she's a little bit older than him"                                                                                 "Oh," Jake seems to wish he never asked, "That poor boy, no-one to care for him at all.  Reminds me just how lucky I am to have living parents, siblings and..." he pauses, "Well you."                                             I just smile and walk up the front steps to the door of the house.  Jake looks a little nervous.  I kiss him on the cheek, squeeze his hand and open the door, to yells of celebration.                                                         "Lauren!" shrieks Kenny and he runs towards me for a hug, "Look at my teeth."                                              Kenny has had three teeth filled in and is now beaming.  He points at Jake, like he is an impostor.          "Who are you?" he says, still pointing,  "Are you Jake? I'm Kenny, I'm 7 years old."                                         "Kenny," I hiss, "It's rude to point.  This is Jake, he is my friend from school.  He wanted to come and meet you.  I told him what you said to me the other day."                                                                                             "Hi," Kenny greets him, not pointing this time, "It's nice to meet you."                                                                   Kenny can become very shy sometimes and I share a smile with Jake.  Kenny leads Jake into the family room and introduces him to all the others.  Kyle, the chubby ten year old douche, Andrea, his sister and Telia, his friend from Huckleberry Nursery when he was younger.  Jake listens patiently, however he rolls his eyes at me a few times.  Kenny shows him his compound sentences work, his project on the Great Fire Of London and his sock puppet from Tech.  Jake smiles and even laughs when Kenny reads out a limerick they had to write in Literacy about the school day.

Eventually, Jake is allowed to be excused and I take him up to my bedroom.  He has already seen it of course, but him, being invited in there, was too strange for me to imagine.  He surveys the room, looking at every detail, every nook and cranny of it.  He casts his eyes over my bookshelves, which are nearly broken due to the sheer amount of politics, science, engineering, classical music and Victorian fiction I have.  He picks up my copy of Romeo and Juliet, full of notes from my last school.  He reads:      "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep, the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."                                                                                                                                                                              And then we are kissing and I don't know whether I have ever felt any better in my life.  His mouth is warm against my chapped, raw lips.  He holds me, just in the right place.  I pause and breathe.  I pinch myself again before kissing him.  I think of us, how happy we could be, what a partnership we could be.  Jake and I, Me and Jake.  It explodes in my head like a firework gone wrong, except it feels so right.  Everything feels right.  We stop and Jake touches my cheek.  His hands are so soft, he feels so vulnerable.  Everything in him seems to flood through me, like a river of emotion.                                            "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" he recites, "Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon."                    

I am the sun.