Half a Heart

11. What the Hell is Going On?

When I woke up a few hours later, it occurred to me that I was supposed to be at school, as was Peter. I shook him awake quickly. Hed groaned and brought his hands to rub the sleep from his eyes. Once he opened his eyes and he saw me, he smiled brightly.

"We're late for school," I told him and crawled out of his arms and off his bed.

I rushed over to his dresser and threw him clothes as I picked out something that I could wear. I could wear the leggings that I wore to bed last night, but my shirt was not school appropriate. I picked out a plain gray t-shirt. I changed into it and walked out of his room. I was aware that he had started moving around as I made my way downstairs.

Eliza was sitting at the table working on her computer.

"Good morning," she smiled brightly.

"We're late," I said in response.

I know I'm not the most cheerful person in the morning, add in a very eventful night, and late morning, I get quite cranky.

"Yes, you are," she nodded, "You two had a long night though."

I just gave her a blank look and shouted at Peter. He came down the stairs soon after. We got into my truck. I looked at the time. It was 10:20. I grabbed the bag that I kept in my truck and ran the brush through my hair. I put it in a side braid, and we drove away. Peter was awfully squirmy the whole ride. It was mostly silent, but I did ask him if he was ok. He assured me that he was, so I let the issue go. We were almost to school when I realized I didn't have any coffee. I stopped us at the dollar store and bought a refrigerated Starbucks vanilla Frappuccino. It was fourth hour when we finally went in.

Nobody asked any questions as I walked in and sat down. I began to help the twins and Seth with their math homework, along with Reese and Kendan. They always struggled, and I intended on becoming a math teacher, so it all worked out. They had gotten the hang of it when the bell rang. I headed over to the high school building and to my locker. Jaelynn was there talking to her boyfriend. I grabbed my stuff, and she and I caught up on our way to math class. She agreed to leave school with me for lunch so I could catch her up on all my latest drama. She had been hearing rumors and things, but I wanted to give her my story.

When the tardy bell rang, Peter was still not in the classroom. I was starting to worry as we began the lesson and he still hadn't shown up. He came in ten minutes into the lesson with a blue sticky note. He gave it to Mrs. Laura and walked over to his seat. He hesitated. Everyone was watching him, and I felt bad. I casually brushed my hand over my desk and knocked my notebook off. Everyone's eyes turned to me, and he quickly took his seat. Gavin picked up my book and the pencil that had fallen as well. I was glad the distraction worked. Peter shot me a grateful look as he got his stuff ready to take notes. We began the lesson again and worked until the bell.

At lunch, Jae and I signed out. We would return, but I wanted Subway and to tell her everything. We took her car. Once we had our food and were sitting down, I began to tell her all that transpired over the past few weeks. She was immediately pissed, as I was expecting.

"How the hell could he do that to you? Doesn't he know how beautiful you are? How valuable? And he thought he was going to treat you as if you were average, I don't think so," was her response to him sleeping with another girl.

"That bitch! I hate her," was her response when I told her who the other girl was.

I simply nodded my agreement. I asked Jae not to tell anyone. I knew what would happen if everyone found out what happened. It would not be good.

We had to go back to school, and I suffered through my last classes. I drove home and set out some chicken to thaw. I was in the mood for some Cajun chicken pasta and tonight was the perfect day to have it. Carter should be here by four-thirty, and Dad should be back by five. I started some laundry, watered my flowers, and started a movie when Carter got home.

"Where the hell did you go last night?!?" he yelled at me.

I blinked in shock. I hadn't thought about Carter and Dad being upset with me for leaving.

"Taylen Elouise, I am this close to losing my shit on you. Where were you?" he demanded.

This naturally awoke my attitude, "None of your business."

"Like hell, it isn't. You better fix your attitude before I fix it for you. Just because Dad doesn't bust your ass, doesn't mean I won't," he threatened. "I'm going to ask you one more time; where were you?"

I didn't want to fight with him, but I also didn't want to give in. I was extremely torn, and I guess I took too long to answer. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me over to the couch. I was over his lap within seconds, and he was resting his hand on my bottom.

"Are you ready to tell me yet?" he asked, not smacking me yet but showing that he could.

"Let go of me," I gritted out and continued to wiggle around.

"Alright, I'll just spank it out of you," and with that, he began to land a flurry of spanks all across my butt.

"Stop," I tried, but my attempt was futile.

"Where did you disappear off to in the middle of the night?" he hadn't stopped.

"I was with Peter," I told him, giving up the fight.

He paused, "What?" he asked, shocked.

"Let me up, and I'll tell you what happened, butthead," I said, not happy with him.

He landed another swat, then let me up. I stood and rubbed my bottom while glaring at him. He had no right. I was debating punching him but thought better of it.

"Well?" he urged.

"Peter showed up drunk. I was driving him home. His parents roped me into whipping him, and I fell asleep after."

"Why didn't you tell Dad or me where you were going or what you were doing?" he questioned skeptically.

"I didn't want to wake y'all," I replied honestly.

"You didn't think of shooting one of us a text? Or leave a note?"

"It completely slipped my mind. I had planned on being back by morning."

He huffed and rolled his eyes.

"You're supposed to be more responsible than that. We should know where you're at all times. You're 15. There's no reason for you to be gone in the middle of the night. Were you drinking too?"

His attitude was pissing me off, "How many times have I covered for you when you were drunk or past curfew? How many times have gotten you out of trouble? You attacking me like this is unnecessary, and it's pissing me off. I'm sorry you were worried, but I have had enough of your 'better than' attitude today. I was helping someone I care about. Whether or not you had an issue with it is not my problem."

I had started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm. I was over his legs for the second time in five minutes as he began to rain heavy smacks down. I fought him the best I could, but he was stronger than me, and he was holding me down.

It had been going on a few minutes, and tears had begun to streak down my face. I was close to begging when the door opened.

"What the hell is going on?"