Princess

two

"Hey! Princess!" I knew the voice. Emerson. I ignored him and kept walking straight home. I managed to avoid him for three full days, and I wasn't gonna break the streak now.

"Ashton! I know you're ignoring me! That's not very nice of you!" He called out, driving alongside me.

"Emerson, go away. I didn't pick up the phone the last two nights for a reason."

"Please? I can take you out somewhere. We can go to the ice cream parlour if you want. I'll pay."

"No thank you." I picked up the pace, pushing my glasses further up my nose and putting the backpack onto both shoulders.

"Please, Ashy? You need to learn to live, and I wanna be the one to teach you."

"Learn to live? I'm doing enough living as it is."

"No. You need to learn to really live. Like parties and late night driving. You need to be rebellious."

"My mum wouldn't appreciate that."

"See? You worry to much about what your parents think of you."

"No, I don't. My mum just would worry too much, and I can't do that to her. Not right now."

"Oh, come on. You can't be serious." He'd stopped the car by now, and was leaning on the open window. I came closer. I knew he wouldn't hurt me, not now at least.

"She's... I just... I can't do that to her right now." I dropped my head, glasses sliding down my nose. I pushed them back up.

"Well, if you won't let me take you out, then at least lemme give you a ride home."

I huffed. "Fine. But just this time." He smiled and leaned over to open up the passenger side door. I got in. The car looked pretty nice to me. The seats were a well-worn leather, and there was a peacefulness about the smell and the whole atmosphere. It kinda smelled like those pine scented car fresheners mixed with old leather soaked in a light scent of cigarette smoke.

"So, princess, where do you live?"

I whipped my head around to him. "Sorry?"

"I'm taking you home. I need to know where you live. Unless you want to go to the ice cream parlour. The offer's still on the table."

"No thanks, I, uh, nevermind. I live on Church Street."

He nodded. I couldn't go get ice cream with him. I didn't have the money right now to pay for anything beyond the necessities.

"Emerson?" He hummed in response. "Why do you want to, like, 'teach me how to live', as you say?"

"I dunno. You seem like the kinda person who doesn't really get to experience life."

"I'm not sure if you're insulting me or giving a statement."

"Statement. I'm good at that. Being honest."

"There's a fine line between being a liar, being honest, and being an arse."

He shrugged and took one hand off the wheel, draping it over the back of my seat. "Not if you do it right. Then there's no lines."

"There's no 'right' way to do it."

"See? You need me to teach you the right ways to live life. You're too innocent, too... I would say immature, but I think that may be crossing into the zone of being an ass." He turned down Church Street. "Tell me which house is yours."

"It's the tan house on the right down here." The car approached the house. "Yeah, this one."

"Well, nice talkin' to you. Maybe I'll call you later. Think you'll pick up this time?"

"Probably not, but you can try." I opened the door and got out of the car, taking my backpack with me. As I walked up to the front door, I noticed that he was waiting there still. I shrugged it off, pulling the chain out of my sweater and off of my neck. He was still there as I unlocked the door. I turned and waved. "Thanks for the ride, Emerson!"

"No problem, princess!" I ignored the pet name and entered the house. Mum was still at work, like always. She worked all the time, but we still lived in this shit hole. I've told her I'll get a job to help pay, since I'm seventeen, and a lot of places love to hire young people in the city. I could have a friend to drive me into the city until I could afford a car for myself, and then I could drive in. But she told me no, I wasn't allowed to get a job because I needed to focus on school and graduate, get a scholarship, and go to a good university. She told me she wants a better life for me than she has.

I did what I always did. I went straight to my bedroom and revised. I revised until my brain couldn't hold any more information, and then revised just a little more. She wanted me to succeed, and I wanted to make her happy.