Your Everyday Hero

Chapter 2

Hours later...
   I put a movie on for the girls and go to the kitchen to call Kai. Ever since he picked me up, we have become great friends. The phone rings and by the third ring he picks up.
   "Hey you! What's up?"
   I instantly smile and reply, "Hey nothing much, just babysitting the girls."
   "It seems you're always babysitting them when you call me."
   "I know it's just because if I call while my parents are here or at least my mom. She'll listen to my conversation. She's done it before. If they found out I was talking to a guy on the phone, they'd probably kill me. Why do you think I have to keep Tevin a secret?"
   All he says is, "Oh." He gets like that every time I bring Tevin up. I just ignore it and act as if I didn't notice the change in his voice.
   "So what are you doing today?"
   "I'm gonna go fishing with Danny and then go mudding with a few friends. I won't stay out too late though because I have to get up early in the morning to go work with Danny." He loves working with his brother. He'd much rather work than go to school, but his dad won't let him.
   "Since tomorrow is Sunday I'm probably going to just finish my homework and then take Kelsey and Annie to the park."
   "Oh that will be f-" I look at the phone confused and turn around to see my mom pressing the dial button while giving me the dirtiest look. My throat goes instantly dry.
   "Who were you talking to little girl?" She makes sure to emphasize the last two words because she knows just how much I hate her calling me that.
   "I was uh talking to uh Leah." I stutter and I'm sure she will know I'm lying.
   "About what? Tevin?" She says this with an evil grin on her face that sends a cold chill down my spine. I start twirling a piece of my curly brown hair trying to think of a quick lie, but before I could speak she grabs a fistful of my long hair and I can feel her nails digging into the back of my head. She forces me to look up at her into her dark brown eyes, even though she is about half an inch taller than me. "Are you now sleeping around? Huh? Do you want to know what happens to girls that are easy?!" All I could do was cringe because of the strong smell of alcohol on her breathe. I know this won't end well.
   "What is going on here?!" My dad walks in as my mom starts to drag me out the kitchen.
   "I caught her on the phone talking about a boy she's been sleeping around with!"
   I start to tell him, "Daddy tha-" I am then interrupted by my mom backhanding me in my mouth. I think I taste blood.
   "I didn't tell you to talk, little girl!" She yells right in my ear.
   I can do nothing, but look at my dad's distorted figure from the tears I'm trying to hold back. I think he believes her because he doesn't stop her when she drags me to the door and and proceeds to throw me out. All I can hear is Kelsey and Annie asking what was happening and I can hear just how scared they are. I hate for them to see this, they are little and don't understand why their big sister is getting thrown out of the house at nine o'clock at night.
   I sit on the stairs for about five minutes and wait to make sure she wasn't watching me through the window. I get up and walk across the driveway and follow the pathway to the wooden room that was disconnected from the house they called the laundry room. I open the dirty white door with moss growing on it, trying to be as quiet as possible. I moved the dryer a little out of the way to reveal the hole I secretly made to hide my bag.
   The bag contains a toothbrush, some clothes, shoes, couple hundred dollars I got from babysitting my cousin Jessica, and a crappy track phone I bought with the money I earned. I only ever use it when I really need it. It had 300 minutes on it, but now it has 250 minutes. After she kicked me out the first time, I made sure to plan ahead and once even started planning to run away. I quickly gave up that idea after I realized who I would be leaving behind. Kelsey and Annie need me more than anything else.
   I walk a couple blocks before I call up Tevin, to make sure my mom doesn't see me with a phone or my bag. I call him three times and not once did he answer. I decide to just walk to his place since it's not that far, it's about a 10 minute walk. I start to speed walk since it's dark and I'm by myself.
   Tevin and I started dating a few weeks after my mom kicked me out the first time, that was 4 months ago. Kai didn't like it, he knows Tevin because Tevin is friends with his brother, Johnny. He says he's a player and only wants one thing, but Tevin never pushed and waited till I was ready. I kept him a secret because my parents didn't allow me to date, plus he is older. He graduated last year and will be 20 in a few months. I met him last year when Nikki introduced me. She was a sophomore and I knew her because Leah is her little sister and we are in the same grade.
   He lives by himself, but he always has friends over so I wasn't surprised when I saw a grey 2000 Kia in his driveway next to his blue 2014 Ford truck. I walk up the stairs to his door and knocked twice and no answer, which is kind of strange. I grab the key from under the flower pot next to the door and unlock the door. I walk in and call his name loudly.
   "Tevin you here?" I walk through the living room and once I reach the hallway I heard it. Giggling, coming from his room. I hurry to his room and push open the door. I couldn't believe it. I don't know which hurts more, my nails digging into my hand or my heart shattering into a million pieces by seeing Tevin in bed with another girl.
   When Tevin sees me his eyes go wide. "Baby... I can explain."
   I chuckle lightly, "You don't have to explain. YOU'RE CHEATING!" I walk out of the room so I won't punch him in the face. The girl in his bed acted as if she wasn't even bothered! I go to walk out the house, but feel someone's hand on my left arm.
  "Baby, she doesn't mean anything. I don't want her, I want you. Give me another chance." He pull me closer and forces me to look up at him. His 6 ft frame towers over me.
   "No. Let me go now." My voice is void of any emotion.
   "Please just sit and give me another chance. Please!"
   My heart is beating so fast and I'm shaking. "No Tevin, now let me go!"
   "No Cora let me explain!" I'm not having this. I take my right arm and pull it back and punch him as hard as I can in the face. I grimace when I pull back because my hand is in a lot of pain. As he goes down I run out of the house and don't stop until I'm at least 2 blocks away. I pull out the phone and dial Kai's number because I have no one else.
   "Hello?" He sounds like he was sleeping. I should hang up and just let him go back to sleep. "Cora? Is that you?" I gasp, how did he know it was me?
   "Hey Kai."
   "What's wrong? Are you okay?" I can hear the worry in his voice and I couldn't help but cry. "Where are you? I'm coming."
   "I'll be at the end of Tevin's street."
   "Okay. I'll be there in less than 10 minutes." He ends the call and I start walking back to Tevin's.
                               •••
   He got there in 5 minutes and once he saw me he jumped out the car, checking me up and down to make sure I wasn't hurt. I was hurt, but not physically.
   "What happened Cora?" He asked with anger and urgency in his voice.
   With a knot in my throat, I start to explain, "My mom kicked me out again and I called Tevin he didn't answer so I decided to walk to his house. Wasn't a very good idea though because when I got there he was in bed with another girl." I couldn't hold it in anymore and I started sobbing. It hurt so much to talk about this.
   "I'm gonna kill him!" He starts walking towards Tevin's and I instantly turn and grab his hand. I try pulling him towards the truck, but it was a failed attempt. He was too strong for me.
   "No! It'll only make it worse. I don't want you getting in trouble for me." He turns and I can see the anger and concern in his eyes. He pulls me towards him and wraps his arms around me in a protective hug.
   "I'll do anything for you Cora. Whether I get in trouble or not." I can hear just how genuine his promise is and I know he means it. "Come on. It's late and you need to sleep." He grabs my hand and starts walking me to the car. Then, that's when my stomach grumbles and I realize I haven't ate since this afternoon.
   Kai chuckles lightly, "I'll stop and get something to eat."
   "I can pay for it this time. I have money." This is the least I could do for him saving me yet again.
   "No no no Cora. Don't worry about it. I can pay."
   "Kai please just let me pay. I owe it to you."
   "Fine," he sighs. I think he can tell I'm not in the mood to fight with him about paying. We stop at McDonalds because it was the closest, cheapest, and we were both tired.
                               •••
   "Are we going to your brother's place?" I ask shyly.
   "Yeah, you're in luck. My brother is kind of fond of you, so he doesn't mind if you stay again. Also I have to work with him early tomorrow morning so I'll be staying with him." He says with a smile.
   "Why?" I didn't meet his brother last time I was there.
   "Umm no reason.." He chuckles nervously.
   "No, you know! Tell me!"
   He laughs again and pulls the key out if the ignition. "We're here. Home sweet home!" He hops out the truck quickly with the food in hand. He walks up the stairs to his brother's apartment and I follow behind with my bookbag.
   His brother is up watching tv when we get inside and he is definitely not what I imagined. He's a lot shorter than Kai and they don't look alike at all. I never would've thought they were brothers, if Kai hadn't told me.
   He walks up to me with a welcoming smile, "Hey! I'm Danny, you must be Cora." He shakes my hand with a firm grip.
   "Hi! Thank you so much for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it."
   "Of course! Anything for my little brother." He pushes Kai lightly on the shoulder as if he is teasing him.
   "Shut up Danny." Kai says while walking away towards the kitchen. His cheeks look a little pink unlike usual.  He turns to me with a warm smile on his face, "Your food is on the counter and if you want you can shower. You know where the shower is. Just make yourself at home. Me casa es tu casa."
   "Thank you.... very much." I say with much sincerity.
   "Okay enough of that lovebirds. You go eat, it's late." Danny says in a playful tone. Lovebirds? What gives him that idea? Kai's face is full blown red when I look over at him.
   "Okay. Good night Danny." Kai replies in a dry voice.
                              •••
   I take a long hot shower after I eat my Big Mac, my very salty french fries and gulp my medium sized cup of Pepsi. I usually don't drink Pepsi because it's the "adults" drink at home. When I walk out of the bathroom with steam gushing out, I'm startled by Kai leaning against the wall.
   "Goodness, you scared me." I chuckle lightly. "Sorry if I took so long. It's all yours now." I go to walk out the way towards my room for the night, but I'm stopped by Kai's big hand on my shoulder.
   "We need to talk." Kai says seriously. That's never a good thing.