His Girl

What Now

I went back to school, things were different. I was no longer on the outside as far as Breaker was concerned. I no longer felt others knew him better than I did, in any way. In fact, no one else knew his whole story besides a few close friends like Jake, and even they didn't know him like I did.

In home room, I glared at Camila. They could jump me again, I didn't care.

As if by clockwork, the door opened moments into Ms. Suarez's announcements.

"Thank you for deciding to join us, Mr. Breaker," she said.

"Happy to," he winked at me and sat down.

"See me after class. You're falling quite behind."

"Yeah, I know. I'll do a packet." He played drums with his pencil on his desk.

"There are no packets to graduate and you don't want to be in high school when you're thirty." She was visibly frustrated which I understood but it hurt me to see her pointing out that he was behind in front of everyone. The class giggled.

"Ms. Suarez, are you married?" he asked.

"No, I'm not."

"Boyfriend?"

"I don't think that's appropriate."

"Ahh so you don't. That explains a lot." He smirked at her. The class erupted with laughter, gasps, and affirmation for him. She grew red.

"This is a warning!"

He put his hands up as if he didn't want any trouble with her. He didn't need anymore, he'd won.

I put my makeup assignment in my binder. The first time in my academic career that I'd ever had to do extra homework to salvage my grade. I cringed thinking about Mom finding out.

"See you in seventh," he said to me in the hall. He was a little distant.

"Okay," I held his forearm and looked into his eyes, dreamy. "You okay?"

"Fine." He reached over and kissed my head before walking away. I was confused.

I was afraid of the locker room during PE. I kept my back to the wall, my eyes on Camila and crew.

Gasps and and screams got my attention. The girls all responded to a boy invading our privacy. Breaker walked through on his way to Camila. Some girls covered themselves but most didn't care, they wanted him to see them.

"You like jumping people?" He shoved her against her locker. She squealed.

"Don't push a girl," her tall friend came to her defense. He smacked her hand away, the clapping sound echoed.

"Ouch!" She responded with disbelief and anger.

He jammed two of his fingers under Camila's throat sending her back several steps. I ran toward them to intervene.

"Breaker!" I grabbed his arm. "It's not worth it."

"Come near her again and I'll give you an equal opportunity." He held the back of his hand to the side of the tall friend's face. She was cowering in fear. "Say you're sorry." He decided to escalate it.

"I'm sorry," she cried.

"It's okay," I said. "Breaker, you're not going to hit a girl." I wanted to make peace and get him out of there.

"Not with a fist, but if she touches you again, I'll smack the hell out of her."

He had a hair trigger all day. Staring people down, looking for a fight. I knew what was behind his aggression but it wasn't any easier to watch. By math class he was on a short fuse. I could sense it. All I could imagine was him going back to jail.