Trouble Times Two

Chapter One

Monday

I sit down at the small table at the back of the cafeteria, eating my lunch as I read this assignment in front of me.

This was boring and I wasn't going to spend too much of my own personal time doing this stupid thing so I do it now as I crunch into my apple.

By the time the warning bell goes off, I'm done and hand it in to my maths teacher on my way to english.

I sit down in the class in a neutral row, in the middle where I don't draw as much attention to myself and I'm content with where I am.

We learn about Romeo and Juliet, which bores me as I've done it before but I listen anyway and try not to fall asleep.

The class almost goes by without a hiccup until the teacher gets annoyed with a certain boy in the class.

"Mr. Shepherd, could you please settle down?" Mrs. Talianis says and Donovan Shepherd, who thinks he's bad, laughs... in her face.

"I don't think I will, Miss Talianus, I don't think I will." His tone is extremely condescending and the whole class laughs.

I watch as Mrs. Talianis' face contorts into a face on unimaginable pain and she tries to hide it by just continuing on.

"I'm sorry guys I need to go." She says all of a sudden she leaves the classroom and the whole class hoots and starts laughing apart from a minute few, including myself.

"Oh what's the matter Blackwell, you don't find it funny, was Miss Talianus not annoying you too?" Donovan says as he slips into the seat next to me and the whole class goes silent. No one had really interacted with me before.

I knew this rat had his eye on me though.

I stand up and walk around him, grabbing my stuff from the other side of the desk and leaving the classroom.

Whispers erupt as I leave and I go to my locker and grab all my stuff, including my skateboard, and put it into my bag before slamming it shut.

"You can stop staring at me, it makes you look weird but maybe that's because you are." I say as I turn to look at Donovan who's on the wall behind me.

"Who are you to call me weird? You've never spoken before and here you are, trying to call me weird? Lame." He's butthurt.

"Aw no. Did that hurt your feelings? I wonder how Mrs. Talianis felt when you hurt hers." I walk away and go to Mr. Howlett's office.

"Giana, take a seat. What brings you out of class?" He asks and I shake my head.

"First of all don't call me that and I'm not telling you specifics, I just feel myself getting angry so I'm going home before my behaviour gets any worse." I say and stand up. "Could you email my teachers and ask them to email me my work? I doubt they'll do it but out of courtesy?"

"Sure. Don't do anything stupid on your way home!" He says as I leave and Donovan and his entourage is standing there. Donovan shoos his entourage away.

I shut the door fully.

"Oh what's the matter? Did you think I was going to snitch?" I say as I put my helmet on and when I put my skateboard down one of his friends comes back over, picks it up and snaps it.

"Consider that your warning." Donovan says.

"Consider that your warning." I mock him as I pick up the broken skateboard and stuff it in a bin before calling someone. "I would never consider something as pathetic as that, a warning."

He follows me out to the front of the school where my cousin eventually picks me up in his car.

"Try your luck somewhere else next time Shepherd." I get into my cousins car and greet him before he drives me back to my house.

"I haven't seen Shepherd since I left this stinky school but I've seen his brother, and his sister." He says as he pretends to elbow me.

"Ew Carter, I did not need to know that. His friend snapped my skateboard in half, can you believe that?" I'm not too angry, I have a lot of skateboards.

"I can believe that, when they were younger, they weren't as bad but something changed when they got popular. I think they just like to exploit their so-called power." He pulls into my driveway. "If he starts to harass you, tell me. I know you won't but if I find out, I will be meeting his brother and sister."

"Okay Carter, I will keep that in mind. I'll see you later." I get out and get into my house.

It's weird, being in this house all alone because nothing can fill the emptiness. I tried throwing parties, without anyone knowing it was mine and they were fun while they lasted until my social worker found out and gave me a warning to never do it again.

I'm lucky it wasn't anyone else finding out.

My aunt would take me back into her house and as much as she loved me, she would be disappointed. She already had enough on her plate.

Anybody else and I probably wouldn't be in the community right now.

I go into the kitchen and do some homework and complete the work that was, surprisingly, sent to me.

I submit it all and go to my room and chill when the window opens and I stand up and flush myself against the wall.

Somebody literally falls in.

It's Donovan.

"What the heck are you doing?" I shout as I shut the window and realise that the lock is faulty.

Oh shit. How long has it been like this?

"Well hello there." Donovan says as he smiles at me.

I shake my head. He's drunk. A drunk
boy in my house.

Oh God I'm going back to Juvie.

"What are you doing in my house?!" I shout and he stands up and barely manages to stay up.

I get down off my bed and pick him up. It's 6 o'clock and he's drunk.

I take him to another bedroom which has an en-suite and wash his face and lay him down in the bed and get some water and put it next to the bed he's sleeping on. I had no medication as I didn't use unless strictly necessary and for me, that meant it being prescribed.

I go to my room and shower and get into pyjamas before eating a single slice of bread and I go back to the room he's in and make sure to secure him so that he doesn't roll onto his back.

I do some work in the room at the desk and eventually, he starts to stir awake.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in. Glad to see you're awake now." I say as I turn around in the spinny chair.

"What are you doing in my house?" He asks and I laugh.

"No darling, do you really think you're in your house? Try again." I ask him and he thinks.

His face turns red.

"I'm in... your house?" He let's the sentence out painfully and I nod.

"Yes. You're lucky it's mine as well because I can't imagine your parents would be too happy with you, or your brother, or your sisters." I get back to my work and then turn off my laptop.

He finally speaks up again. "How do you know who my family is?"

"I live next door to you and you don't think I know your family? Be so real. I've been to your house and met your parents and your siblings. They're great." I say as I stand up and help him up. "Please don't come to my house again."

I help him out of the house and then shut it.

My god.