Violence Begets... Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’ll be
out for a few more days.” Mike pulled his jacket a little tighter around him.
    “What?” I was not catching on.
    “He does this. He takes off and doesn’t
show up for a few days, sometimes a week,” Jeremy offered.
    “Where does he go?”
    “Off partying, shacking up with some
chick, don’t really know. He doesn’t talk about it, and we don’t ask,” Mike continued.
    “Don’t his parents get mad?”
    “His dad,” Brett said shortly.
    “What?” I asked again, trying to catch
up.
    “It’s just him and his dad,” he threw
at me, making me feel like I should’ve known this.
     “Kevin’s dad is pretty strict, but
Kevin never mentions getting grounded or anything, so I guess he just deals with
it.” Jeremy offered as an explanation.
    “My parents would totally freak,” Mike
said.
    I couldn’t help but wonder where Kevin
was. I pictured him someplace with hot girls and alcohol, which immediately reminded
me of the party where I’d picked Jason up. Trying to push thoughts of Jason away,
I focused on the good times Kevin was likely having.
    Several mornings later, he was back
at the corner. As usual, he leaned against the cement wall in dark contrast to the
colors of the leaves changing around us. His dark hair, black long-sleeved shirt,
dark pants, black boots, stance—everything about him screamed back-off to me.
    “You’re back,” I offered hesitantly.
    “Yep.”
    “Where’ve you been?” I couldn’t help
my curiosity.
    “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
    “That’s why I asked.”
    He stared at me without saying anything,
and I wondered if the right thing would ever come out of my mouth at the right time.
It seemed that it didn’t matter if it was Jessica, one of the guys, my dad or Kevin;
I was always saying the wrong thing. I was glad he let it go, and I stood there
awkwardly, waiting for the others to get there. I slipped my hands in my jeans pockets
and listened as the fall leaves tumbled and rustled down the street in the wind.
    After school that day, I didn’t feel
like being left behind again as they all went off to hang out. There was only so
much I could take. If I killed enough time, walking home alone wouldn’t be so bad
because the streets would be empty. I wondered for just a second if I should let
the guys know I had a test or something, but they probably wouldn’t care. I mean,
if they cared, they’d invite me to hang out with them, and they still didn’t.
    I was right; none of them said anything
about it. Over the next week or so, I walked to school with them in the morning,
ate lunch with them, and even got invited to sneak out with them one night but after
school I made myself scarce and avoided walking home with them.
    I was surprised one day when Kevin said,
“So, you too good to walk home with us now?” He was passing out packs of smokes
to the four of us at the corner. I watched curiously, wondering if he’d ask us to
pay for them. He never did.
    “Uh, me?” I asked, stalling. He raised
an eyebrow. He knew I was stalling and wasn’t going to humor me. “No. Why?” Another
stall.
    “Well, it’s been a week since you walked
home with us. Just wondering why.”
    “Got in trouble. Detention. Why? You
miss me?” I swallowed hard, foot in mouth. I just couldn’t help myself. I felt so
defensive around him.
    He paused for several seconds, his irritation
evident, obviously considering his reply. “What’d you do?”
    “Told a teacher to mind his own business.”
I’d already over-stepped, might as well slide in a subtle 'mind-your-own-business'
statement for him. Half of me hoped he’d catch on. The other half wondered what
he’d do to me if he did figure it out.
    Without hesitation he answered back,
“What’s that get ya, a week?”
    “Sure, somethin’ like that.”
    “Well, good. That means you will be
walking home with us again on Monday.”
    He had cornered me, and I had no place
to go with my excuse. The smirk at the corner of his