It's Just High School

Chapter 23

Looking at Sam sleep so peaceful puts my mind into a blank bliss. Staring at her forever would never be boring especially when nothing in the world matter in her little world the way she looks like tucked inside her blanket.

That would be the truth if at the back of her front door there is still a job waiting for her, even if it’s at that damn place, my dad isn’t looking for her and someone else other than me cares that she should have a future. None of those are true. The fact is behind that door awaits the hard reality; life. Life doesn’t give Sam a break. Life doesn’t care about Sam. Life doesn’t want to change for Sam.

I tucked stray her behind her ears exposing her soft eyes. I thought she’s going to wake up when she stirred a little, but she just settled back again and continued sleeping. I really did a number on her, and experience wise, tell me that it will keep her knocked out for a few more hours. I on the other hand feel my stomach grumbling out of emptiness and lack of something to burn.

My eyes lingered around the place and made an assessment if there’s anything I can cook or heat up. Sam’s not really big on meals and from the looks of it, is still not from the day we met. Not a single spice is out. Looking inside the fridge didn’t help prove me wrong too. Nothing was there to even heat-up. Exasperation maybe an inappropriate term to quote at what I feel right now but thinking that a lot has happened in the past few days, maybe it is the first thing that I came to feel. I’m sitting here right now, my girlfriend almost arrested because of my father, no means to feed herself, and still not taking care of herself more than she should. The fridge empty at this day is just about the last sign that the day, and maybe life, is screwed. Someone has to fix things.

Life though, is not easy to fix, and I’m not about to do something heroic all of a sudden. I needed to eat first. I took my shirt and went downstairs, taking her keys with me and made my way to the nearest grocery store. It was a good thing I brought cash with me because they’re not accepting credit card for the moment. That and because I didn’t want dad knowing I’m here. I’ve only been able to grab something for tonight, but I started to wonder if I really will be able to support Sam. This meal had caused more than I thought and I’m beginning to wonder if my allowance would cover her meals at least. There are also bills and loads of other things I’m not sure of that she has to pay for.

I was already in front of her building when my phone rang. I looked who could be calling me at this time and saw that it was Bradley. I fished her keys on my pocket first then made my way up the stairs. I then picked the phone up. “Hey Brad.”

“Leo, where are you?” he said with urgency.

“At Sam’s”

“Good. Can you stay there for tonight?” Brad sounded like he was keeping it straight and short. Something’s up.

“Why?” I suddenly felt asking.

“I heard mom and dad talking. Dad mentioned Sam and a strip club and why was she not there then he asked for you. I didn’t hear much after since dad closed the door. But he sounded furious.” He said. He talked fast like he’s in a hurry to say everything, which meant dad was somewhere near.

“Yeah okay” was all that I could say to him.

“If you need cash or anything, call me. Leila’s talking to dad and I’m on my way to mom. We’ll try and find out more. Say hi to Sam for me. And take care of each other.”

“Yeah.”

The line was cut after that. I didn’t notice that I stopped in the middle of the stairs, which might have been best for Sam too. If she were to hear me talking, she would have suspected something was up. There’s a time to say what it is but not when she wakes up.