His Savior ✔️

11

"Good practice today," Justin said as I tried to get inside my car. I nodded my head, his car was parked next to mine. For some odd reason, his car was always parked next to mine. He was not bothering me today, he did not seem in the mood. I was not in the mood either after what Ms. Brun told me about CJ. Today was Wednesday so I knew he was off, I wanted to go see if he was okay. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said entering his car.

I nodded my head again and entered my car. I watched as Justin drove away in a hurry, I started my car and made my way home. These were the moments I enjoyed not living far from the school. Within five minutes I was home. I parked my car and got out, I stared across the street at CJ's house. My mom's car was not home yet so I had some time to kill. I sighed and walked across the street with determination. 

When I reached the front porch I stood at the door for a while. I have never been to his house before, every time we had studied together he has always come to my house or we just studied at the school. I was sweating like crazy from practice and tired, maybe I should just go home. No, I was not talking myself out of this thing. I rung the doorbell twice and waited for an answer. 

I stood for a while before I heard the door unlocking. I wondered what I would do if his mom opened the door. The one time I had met her, she seemed really good, I guess she was taking her medicine. The door opened and I looked up to see CJ; he was dressed differently from when he was in school. He was wearing a tank top and some basketball shorts. I never knew he even had muscles until I saw his arm in that shirt, his dark hair was messy which was hot. "Hey, was I supposed to tutor you, today?" He questioned.

"Um... I-I"

"Can we reschedule?" He asked, "I don't have my glasses and I have a lot of homework."

"No, we did not," I finally answered him.

"Oh," he said, "is everything okay?" He asked. 

"Yes, can we talk?" I asked him. 

"About?" He inquired, I didn't answer him. He licked his lips and sighed. He walked out the door and closed it quietly. "What's up?" He asked. "Did Justin do something stupid?" 

"What makes you think this is about Justin?" I asked, "what do you guys have against each other anyway?"

"When we were in kindergarten, our teacher brought us candy canes for Christmas and I stole his," he said. I laughed not knowing if he was serious they were mad about something that happened in kindergarten. They were children, "yep, I tried to buy him another one, but the one I bought was red and white while the one the teacher bought was green and white," he added.

"You guys are crazy," I said. 

"Probably," he said. "Plus he's stupid and he thinks he is all that," he said. "And since you are new around here, I'll give you a tip; he is the last guy you want to be messing around with," he said. He seemed determined to let me know that. He had mentioned this twice already and had made it clear by his expression. I was used to guys like Justin, they were playboys who thought they could get in any girl's pants they wanted. "Anyways, I'm sure Justin wasn't who you wanted to talk about," he leaned on the wall of the porch.

"Your face," I told him, it was still bruised like it was this morning. 

"What about it?" He questioned.

"How'd it get bruised?" I asked, I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it for himself. I was hoping it was not true. I was hoping his mom hadn't done that to him. 

"I got in a fight," he said. 

"You and I both know that's not true," I said. He put his head down trying to get me to drop the conversation. "Did your mom really do it?" I asked. He did not answer me, "I'll take that as a yes," I said. We went to a moment of silence. I had the truth, but I did not know what I wanted to say to him. "Her medicine," I said, "why isn't she taking it?" I asked him.

"She hates taking it; I usually make sure that she does, but I was working late last night and I had to close so I stayed out an extra hour. It's nothing," he said. 

"I'm sorry," I said. "Don't you have any other family members that could look after her while you work?"

"I don't know," he answered, "both my parents are from New York, they moved here after they got married so I'm pretty estranged to any other family. Listen, just please keep this to yourself, I have to go. I had a test to study for," he said. I nodded my head, I watched as he walked to the door and entered the house. 

I let out a deep breath and walked back to my house. As I am walking to the porch, my mom comes. I wait outside for her as she walks out her car. "Hey honey, how was practice?" She asked as we entered the house.

'''''''

Ms. Brun's classroom was open this morning which was weird. "So, you think you can just-" Justin started. When I opened the door to walk in, he stopped. He turned around and looked at me. He sighed then walked to his seat. I wonder what type of conversation I just interrupted between him and Ms. Brun.

"Good morning, Bianca," Ms. Brun said taking a  seat at her desk. 

"Morning," I said looking at both their tense faces. "I can come back," I said pointing at the door. They both shook their head no, "okay," I said taking a seat. Just then CJ walked in the room also, he still had no glasses. He exchanged good morning with Ms. Brun and took his seat. Just like that, the class started getting filled with students.