Losing Control

Chapter Seven

Unsurprisingly, I didn't get any sleep that night. I sat up for hours, just looking through the box of things Harrison had saved for me.
I was overwhelmed. What the hell had happened? How did he know that I hadn't killed Billy? How did he know it was Cooper? How did he get my things back? None of it made sense.
Nobody had looked out for me. Not since my Mom had died. It had to be a joke. White was mocking me or something. He had to be. Nobody knew the truth. Nobody knew that Cooper had done the crime. Only me.

I had to find out what the hell he was playing at. I needed to know why he was screwing with me. Was I some sort of pet project or something? I didn't like it. I pushed the box away from me and sat staring at the ceiling for the next hour or two.

I had to hand it to White, he had played me pretty good. For just a moment, I thought he cared. But that was a big mistake. I had learnt many years ago that nobody in this world cared. Everyone was out for themselves.
I groaned, realising that I wouldn't be able to have it out with him until Friday. It was Wednesday and in an hours time I had to make my way to the shitty mechanics course. Every Wednesday and Thursday I had to go and mess around with cars. I had reasoned at the time that it was the only practical I wanted to do and as we all had to pick one, it might as well be that. But now I was regretting it. I didn't want to do any of these courses.

I showered, still groggy from the lack of sleep, ate some cereal and got changed, ready for my day of hell. I didn't even have Whites ass to look at today. I frowned, shaking the disturbing thoughts out of my head. I didn't want to think about him. I wanted to deal with him. But I had to put him out of my mind until Friday.

I made my way to the garage which was just off campus where the college was where I would be spending the next Wednesdays and Thursdays for at least a year. When I came to the garage, I stopped, staring at the sign in shock.

Why did it say White and Son? This had to be a joke. I stormed in, joining the other three ex convicts who were here for their first day. I recognised one of them. He had given me a beating once around six years ago, but after that, he had left me alone. People like him didn't scare me anymore. I had been through too much in jail to be scared by anyone or anything now.

I sighed in relief as an older, plump guy with a baseball cap came over to us. I was expecting to see White after reading the sign. No doubt I was just being paranoid. He couldn't teach every class at once. Nobody had that much time on their hands and White was a common surname. The man in the baseball cap clapped loudly.

"Right guys, let's get this going. You are here to learn. If any of you give me any crap, I won't hesitate to run you out of this place with a tyre jack. I expect you all to be grateful for this opportunity at learning a trade. I'm a fair guy. I believe in second chances. But I don't believe in third or fourths, and as this is the second chance for each one of you, treat it wisely. I'm Reggie White."

I frowned as he said his name. Something about the way he spoke....his mannerisms....reminded me of Harrison. But no. I was over thinking it. The man in front of me was short, plump, rugged. Harrison was tall and slender. Delicate. But yet.... I tried to stop staring at the familiar icy blue eyes, convincing myself I was paranoid. Reggie reached out to shake our hands. When he came to me last of all, I shook his timidly.

"What's your name son?"

It felt weird that he had just called me son. He didn't do that with anyone else. I tried not to gasp as I really looked into his eyes, I realised they were the mirror of Harrisons. I wasn't imagining it. This had to be his father. I gulped.

"Woods."

I muttered, looking down at the floor, trying to recover from my shock.

He slapped me on the shoulder in a friendly manner.