The Last Summer

Chapter Five

Chapter 5.... Kayleb

I was walking into the dining room behind Paxton where the wonderful smell of food came from when I realized that Waverly and Jaycob weren't behind me anymore. Moments after I sat down, Waverly strolled in with Jaycob hot on her tail. He kept lowering his eyes down to her rear end. I hated the way he treated girls. He treated them like crap, taking what he wanted and then leaving them in the dust. If I didn't do something soon, I would lose the most beautiful girl in the world, who is also the most important thing in my life, to him. Then he would win.... again. My train of thought was interrupted when my mom bustled through the door with the last couple of sides. My belly rumbled and I couldn't wait to dig in. My mom sat down next to my dad. We said grace and helped ourselves. For once, we actually acted like civilized human beings and passed the food around the table making sure that everyone got some before we started to eat.

"So, how was everyone's first day of summer." My mom said trying to get a conversation going. Jaycob immediately launched into conversation. I barely heard what he said. Between sneaking glances at Waverly's beautiful smile and loading up my burger, I didn't even notice when it was my turn. Everyone was staring at me waiting for me to say something.

"How was your day son?" My dad prompted pretending to care. My dad wasn't what he seemed to be. When he was with my mom and people that know him, he was all family man and good dad, but that was just a cover up. He used to abuse my mom, my brother and I.

One time, when I was eight, I was unloading the dish washer and I dropped a plate. It shattered. He hit me across the face so hard that it left a bruise covering the entire left side of my face. He made me lie and say I got hit with a baseball when child services came to make sure everything was alright. He yelled at me about how much money that plate cost and how much money I wasted.

I also knew for a fact that he cheated on my mom at least once. I saw him with my own eyes, but it was at a bar, so if I would have said anything I would have gotten in trouble just for being there. In fact, he was a lot like Jaycob. Where else would Jaycob have gotten such player like skills from?

"I played video games and was in a pillow fight." I answered telling the truth. I made it sound boring to annoy him. He nodded at me, and I glared back at him. I was pretty sure that he knew that I knew his secret. The rest of dinner flew by with plenty of awkward silences. The Benzes didn't know my dad very well; he was usually 'working' all the time during the summer.

After dinner, I really wanted to go to bed, but I didn't want to leave Waverly alone with my brother because I knew that Paxton wouldn't get the drift of what Jaycob was trying to do. I sat on the couch next to Waverly while Jaycob looked for a movie to watch. He popped in a movie and sat on the other side of her. Now I was squished, but I didn't mind because Waverly's whole left side was pressed up against me, and I shivered as electricity passed through us. She shifted looking kind of uncomfortable. I wished I had the guts to ask her what's wrong. If I hadn't been an idiot and started hanging out with Paxton and my brother, I would know her so much better; maybe she would even be my girlfriend. Paxton went to make popcorn and when he came back he turned the lights off. Once everyone was situated, Jaycob pressed play, and the movie began.