Teen Angel

The Mistep

"I don't understand why I have to watch Ryan" I complained to my mom.

"Because he's your assignment...."

"I get that!" I said infuriated, "but why me? Why not someone else?" she didn't have an answer for me and I remembered something.

"Mom, something really weird happened the other day in the forest" She looked at me as if telling me to go on.

"Well, there was this..cat and I followed him and then the trees were really weird and I had a shortage of breath. But it want like an asthma attack or anything" She looked concerned, but didn't know what to say. She looked as confused as I was. Which meant I would never really understand what happened.

"Love you" I said and walked to the car.

"Hey Olson!" I heard my name being called and I turned around. It was Ryan.

"Ya?" he came up beside me and leaned against my locker.

"We need to have the study session at my house today. I don't want to be seen at the library anymore"

"Ok" I said highly offended. What was so wrong with the library? "How do I get there?" I asked. He handed me a slip of paper with his address and then walked away. I sighed and slipped it into my pocket. I closed my locker door and almost screamed. 

"Stuart! You scared me half to death!"

"Sorry Melanie. Honestly! I didn't mean to."

"It's fine, Stuart. What is it?"

"I...um....nothing. Sorry to get in your way" and he slinked off down the hall.

        In class, my head was spinning. I had way too much to focus on besides writing an essay over the weekend for English Honors. I had to find out a way to make Ryan Ludwick less of a jerk. Which is no easy task, I can assure you. With that in mind, I tried to take down notes in class, but found myself thinking about the black cat again. How dread had overcame me and how I felt so trapped, like there was no air. The bell rang and I hurried on to the next class, not wanting to linger on my thoughts. 

        After school, I went back to my car and took the slip of paper out of my pocket. Problem was, it wasn't there. I cursed under my breath and checked my backpack, but it still hadn't turned up. In my line of vision, I could see Alec Ludwick exiting the school and a surge of hope flowed through me. I left my car and ran across the grass to where Alec was. 

"Hey Alec."

"Hey Melanie"

"Um...where do you live?"

"Isn't that kind of personal?"

"Oh my god no! It's just I have to tutor your brother and..."

"It's ok. I was just joking. I know he told you to come over to our house tonight," I breathed a sigh of relief, still feeling like an idiot, but grateful that Alec wasn't creeped out. "Here", he said handing me another slip of paper. 

"Great! Thanks!" I hurried back to my car and slipped behind the steering wheel. I couldn't clear my face of the blush that had just emerged on my cheeks, try as I might.

        When I pulled into the driveway, I tried my best not to crash into anything. I didn't want Ryan to hate me even more than he already did. I lugged out my backpack and walked up the steps. Double checking the address, I glanced briefly at the slip of paper and rang the doorbell. 

"Hello there! You must be Melanie! Come in, come in!" A middle-aged woman who must have been their mom ushered me inside and I sat down at the kitchen counter. 

"Can I get you anything?" 

"No thank you, I just ate a while ago", I told her, completely lying. I couldn't understand how a woman so nice could be the mother of a person so awful like Ryan Ludwick. She nodded her head and called up the stairs for Ryan. He came down the stairs, looking sullen and moody. I didn't want to be there. His glare cut right through me, and I tried to remain pleasant. He mumbled to him Mom and she walked away, leaving us alone. 

"So what do you want to work on today?", I asked, hesitantly. "Polynomial division? Factoring?"

"Whatever," he mumbled. He crashed at the table and slumped into his chair.

"Okay," I said, taking out my math book. I couldn't wait untill senior year when I could drop math and all the stress that came with it. He also brought his out, and we worked for a while. I could tell he was getting frustrated, so I stopped for a while. He went back up to his room and I waited at the table,pulling out my homework.

"How's the session going?" Alec appeared around the corner, smiling holding a can of soda and a sandwich. "Thought you might be hungry"

"Thanks" I grabbed the sandwich and soda and set it down beside my homework.

"Is he giving you trouble? Because if he is, just tell me. I'll sort him out."

"No. Everything's okay, really" he nodded as if he didn't believe me but went on, anyway. He sat down and we talked for a while about nonsensical things that it was nice to have a break.  Getting caught up in all of it, I didn't realize when he was holding my hand, convincing me that he could reald palms, that I didn't even realize we were having physical contact. It just felt so completely natural, that it wasn't a big deal. There was no spark or anything. It just felt real. 

"What are you doing here?" Ryan had come back into the room and I hadn't even noticed. Alec abruptly dropped my hand and I held it under the table. "Let me guess, you're showing her that psychic crap aren't you? Convincing her you can see her future and all that?" Alec bowed his head, looking ashamed but then met his brother's eyes. 

"Maybe I was. And how do you know it's not true? Your skull is too thick to even see past your own dreadfullness," Ryan smiled menacingly at Alec, saying.

"Trying to impress the lady, Alec? Good luck with that! She's as tough as a nut to crack. I don't even think there's anything in there to see" Now it was my turn to bow my head. Ryan looked triumphant as he took a swig from his beer bottle, wiping the residue slobbingly on his hands. 

"You're a real jerk, you know? In fact, I don't think you could exert one ounce of kindness if you tried," Alec looked apologetically at me and got up from his chair, pushing past his brother into the other room.

"Alright, where were we?" Ryan slumped back down in his chair, like a slobbingly King who had just tortured someone for a good laugh. He picked up where we left off as if nothing happened.