Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“You don’t want to date?”
“No. I hated dating even when I was younger.”
“I’ve never been on a date,” she said.
“I know. When you do, and someone will ask you one day, it can be the most amazing experience of your life. When your father asked me out, I was on such a high from being around him. He had a way of making me believe I was his entire world.”
“You don’t feel that anymore?” Chloe asked.
“Only when he’s trying. After we’ve had a fight. You’re not supposed to feel those things when the other person feels guilty. It’s the kind of feeling that lasts forever.” She sighed and shrugged. “You’ll get what I mean.”
“I do.” She rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too. This doesn’t mean I’ll be upset with you for hanging out with your father. I want you to have a good relationship with him. It’s important for the two of you.”
“Okay.” Chloe doubted her father would come around to spend time with her. She knew he’d gladly be around Lily, but that was a given.
He’d lost the one woman who loved him, and now he’d fight to get her back.
Did she want to help bring her parents back together, or would she only be hurting her mother more?
****
Monday at school wasn’t any different from any other day. Chloe walked in to find someone had spray painted “fat ass” across her locker, again. It wasn’t original.
When she saw it, there were plenty of people to bear witness. She did nothing more than go and grab the necessary supplies from the janitor’s closet, and start to scrub off the mess.
The janitor got so tired of his morning coffee being interrupted that he told her where to find the supplies and where the spare key was.
Returning to the locker, she began to scrub. The cold, disinfected water slid down her arms, and it was a struggle for her to reach high above her head, but she tried to, and absolutely failed.
“Here, let me help.”
She jerked back as someone put a hand on her back. She turned to see none other than Alfie himself, helping her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m helping you.”
“Didn’t you do this?” she asked.
“Not this time. Besides, I have learned the error of my ways.”
“The error of your ways? Your dad told you not to bully me anymore.”
“And look at me, I’m listening to him. There must be something in the water.” He winked at her.
She shook her head, a little dazed. “There’s no other cloth.”
“Then hand me yours, shorty.”
“I can do this.”
“And I’m saying you don’t have to. Stop being such a dork. Let me help.”
Chloe looked at him. “I don’t need help.”
“And you’re going to be incredibly difficult about this, why?”
“Hello.” She lifted up the cuff of her shirt. “You think I don’t remember getting a banana thrown at me, and you pinning me down?”
Alfie looked at the bruise, and she saw his frown. “I didn’t hold you that hard.”
“Yeah, well, it hurt, and now look. I don’t want to get into this argument with you. Just leave it alone, okay? I can scrub the insults off my locker every single day of the week.” It was one of the many reasons she came to school earlier than she needed to.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you, or leave marks. Did you show your mom?”
“No. Of course not. She doesn’t need to know about them.” It was a bad enough weekend without adding to it with her own problems.
“Can we start over here?”
“Alfie, I don’t trust you. Let me clean up my mess and move along. Join the rest of them who enjoy watching this.” She turned her back to him, expecting him to go and do whatever it was he did when she cleaned her locker.
Instead, he reached over her, pressing her against the hard metal, and took the cloth right out of her hands.
“Hey.”
He then pressed one hand in her face to keep her back from him.
“Stop it. I mean it. I can clean my own locker.”
“And I can do this for you. Consider it a penance for all the bad shit I’ve done to you over the years.”
“Alfie, stop it.”
She grabbed his arm and tried to move it out of her way, but he wasn’t having any of it. Alfie was by far stronger than she was.
He only let her go when he finished scrubbing the words off her locker. It sucked, and she hated he was able to do it without her.
“There, all done. It looks awesome.”
“You didn’t need to do that.” Did she now owe him a favor or something? This was one of the reasons why she didn’t want him near her stuff. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?”
“Yes. Don’t for a second think I don’t know you do a good deed, you want payment.”