More Smiles than Tears *One Direction AU*

Chapter 2

“Hey, Jenny!” I heard Stephanie call out from behind me. I groaned internally but forced a smile on her face. It wasn’t her fault that I’d gotten such bad conduct grades on my report card.

I put my physics book in my locker just as she approached me. “Hey, Steph.” I knew that I sounded dejected, but I didn’t care. I was not looking forward to going home. “How’s your report card?”

“Really good!” She practically screeched. “I’m so excited, I got all A’s! That’s never happened before.” She was so excited that I didn’t want to ruin it. She only got good grades because she took the easy classes. I took all College Preparatory and Advanced classes; and though my grades were awesome, three of my seven teachers wrote terrible comments about my behavior. I simply liked to talk, when did that become a problem?

“That’s great! I bet that your parents will be so excited for you!” I tried to push the sarcastic tone out of my voice, but I hadn’t gotten a bad whipping in over a month. I did, however, have a feeling that I’d be getting one pretty soon. At least it was the day before winter break, so I wouldn’t have to wiggle around in the hard seats here at school.

She sighed and closed my locker once I got all the books that I’d need for the break. “Let me guess, bad report?”

Tears stung my eyes. “Disastrous, actually.” She smiled weakly and patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jen. You’ll be fine. Can I walk you home?”

I quickly nodded. “Yes, please. Please do.”

“Alright.” She tugged my elbow gently and led me outside of the school. She lived a few streets down from me anyways, so it’s not like she’d be going out of her way to make sure that I was alright. At least I’d have some company to keep the butt-tingling thoughts out of my head.

My house was only a little over a mile away from the school. I used to take the way that cut around through the back of the school/a park, but after the whole homeless man shit, I decided to walk in plain view. At least then, if someone attacked me, then there’d be about a hundred more witnesses to help me out.

I pulled my phone out and texted Kevin that I wouldn’t be able to meet up with him tonight. A few weekends ago, I snuck out and went to see him. I didn’t get caught, of course (I am alive, so clearly none of my fathers caught me) but I told him that I’d sneak out again tonight. All we did was go to some 24/7 coffee shop to talk. Kevin was a really hot football player, but he proved to me that he was more than wicked thick calf muscles and varsity jackets. He was really sweet, and he had a very hard home life. I loved how strong he was (mentally and physically) and we both told each other that we wanted to start seeing each other. The only probably was that I wasn’t sure how my dads would take the news. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to date.

It’s not like they’ve given me the sex talk. They tried, when I was twelve, but I stopped them and told them that I already got ‘the birds and the bees’ talk at school. The only awkward talk after that was when I had to tell them that I needed tampons. Other than that, I’ve had a practically endless supply of feminine items. They literally show up in my bedroom at the most random times.

“What’s got you thinking so hard?” Stephanie interrupted my thoughts.

I bit my lip and blushed a little bit. “Nothing, really. I just don’t think that my parents will be too happy with this report.”

She rolled her eyes and nudged me with her elbow. “Jen, c’mon. They adopted you. They literally chose you out of the millions of orphans in the world. They love you, and that’s really obvious. They might be a bit frustrated at whatever your report says, but they’ll always love you. Don’t forget that, yeah?”