Husbands But Not

24: Another Throwback

Kent

A/N: If anyone's confused, it'll make sense later on.

*1 Year Earlier*

I'm walking down the hallway when someone shoves me out of the way. I don't need to guess who it is. I'm way too familiar with the anatomy of his upper arm.

Casper Dean.

"Watch where you're going, bastard." he spits in my direction. He always spits when he's in Bully Mode. Like some twisted robot, he follows the same computerised patterns of inhumane behaviours.

"Hey! Have some respect." I yell after him. He turns around and gives me a menacing glance. It's one of those 'Are you talking to me?' glances.

"Are you talking to me?" he says like the robot he is.

"Yes. You need to have respect. He may be a bastard but he's still your father." I uncontrollably, regretfully talk back.

He misses the punch because when Kent Sinclair runs from bullies, he runs fast.

What I don't expect, though, is running into the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Her books go flying like they are in slow motion.

However, it's not a movie, and we don't fall in love at first sight. I help her pick up her stuff, anyway. We just don't discover our hidden feelings and decide to become lovers.

"When the principal said I'll soar academically in this school, I didn't expect my books to actually fly." She chuckles as she picks the rest of her notebooks.

I can tell she's a new student. I've never seen her at school before.

"I'm sorry." I apologise and I mean it for once. "I can't see properly when I'm running away from my problems."

She laughs harder but I wasn't trying to be funny. "It's cool..." she waits for my name.

"Kent, Kent Sinclair."

"It's cool, Kent." she swipes her hair to the side, which was unlike me, straight. "I'm Valerie, Val for short."

"Well, welcome to Rivertown High, where-" I glimpse Casper Dean rounding the corner, which is my cue to leave. "Where we run." I dart across and duck into History class ten minutes early. This is what happens when you can't keep your mouth shut.

History is interesting. We're learning about World War II, where it's like a global talent competition. Except it's only one talent, and Germany takes the spotlight in an outstanding performance.

Next is English. I do not come into contact with Casper. I share the class with Noah Grayson, which makes every class a little more interesting.

"Sinclair." The teacher snaps. I was not paying attention. "What's the difference between the mood and the tone?"

"Mood is what I'm in right now. Tone is the way you're scolding me."

Mr. Whitman doesn't like me. He's the only teacher I disrespect, and that too only sometimes. "And you know the structure of a storyline?"

I choose to be polite and quietly say no.

"I'll give you an example. This class is the introduction. You're the main character; the protagonist. I'm the villain of the story; the antagonist." I don't like where his story is going. "The body of the story is the hallway. The protagonist takes a journey across the hallway to the climax of the events; the principal's office. The epilogue? Detention, Sinclair."

I didn't expect the story to be a tragedy.

Plot twist: the principal lets me off with a warning for generally good behaviour.

The cafeteria is crowded when I enter it. It doesn't take me long to find a place to sit.

I take a seat in front of Valerie. "Hello Val for short."

"Hello to you too Kent, Kent Sinclair." I like Val. It takes me a good second to realise someone else is also sitting at the table.

By the way he looks, and the size of his body, he would make a good replacement for Casper.
A clover necklace decorates his neck, and when he notices I'm looking at it, he immediately tucks it in and scowls in my face.

She elbows him, hard. "This is my lovely brother, Gavin."

He just nods.

"Nice to meet you." It's not nice to meet him, to be honest.

"I'm sorry. He's a little grumpy. He's having some hormonal issues."

"Val!" he huffs and leaves the table while she laughs hysterically. She's a maniac.

"You'd think he'd stop being dramatic." She shakes her head.

"Is he older than you?"

"One year and 3 months. He wouldn't let me live it down." I think about how less lonely it would feel if I had a brother or a sister. But then again Gavin looked like he wanted to kill his sister, so maybe it isn't that fun.

Suddenly she picks up her tray and stands up. For a second I think that she's going after her brother, or just bored of me. Surprisingly, she turns around and sits next to me. "I'm tired of seeing the garbage behind you."

I instinctively look behind me expecting trash, but I see a bunch of girls in cheerleading uniforms. We laugh, hard.

"Wow." she gasps. "The view from here is magnificent." she says, looking straight at the table beyond us. "Do you know them?" she asks me.

Of course I know them. "The guy in a blue sweater is Noah Grayson. On his left is who I call Curly. Next to Curly is Spider With a Y. On his right is Ruby Red, not to be confused with Ruby Rose, the actress. Next to Ruby is Sawyer Scott." I finish listing Noah Grayson's table. Sometimes I wish I could sit with them. Not that they wouldn't let me, but I just don't know them and I don't think I will be a significant addition to the group.

"I don't know if I should be jealous of Ruby for sitting next to Noah, or jealous of Noah for sitting next to Ruby." Val says.

I'm focused on Noah's shirt and at how much I wanna be in it.

"They're a very attractive clique."

"Hey, don't underestimate yourself Kent, Kent Sinclair. You're very attractive yourself." I highly doubt it.

"Says you." says me.

"I don't think I'm attractive, though I know I'm ethereal." her words sit for a long time in my head, and I know that they will sit for a lot longer.

The rest of the school day ends as quickly as it starts.

I don't know if some misalignment in the starts happened at the end of the day, or if its my karma tipping scales, or just the universe carrying one of Mr. Whitman's tragedies on me.

When I go home, I find dad drunk on the couch, which usually happens after 8 p.m. Something must've bothered him really hard to trigger day drinking.

I can tell he was craving a fight. His toxic tendencies were overwhelmingly obvious.

If I try to act normal he will be mad. If I try be caring he will be mad. And if I ignore him, he will be mad.

I go with the latter and head straight to my room.

Bile rises up my stomach when I hear his footsteps climbing the stairs.

When he opens my bedroom door, I immediately know that the peace sign tattoo decorating his hand isn't going to be peaceful.

A/N: This chapter took me less than an hour to finish and I'm honestly shook. I hope you guys like it.

Thanks for your thoughtful wishes regarding my deteriorating mental health. I feel better today but I don't have hopes because hope can lead to disappointment (my opinion).

Don't forget to vote and comment and as always:
More soon x.