?WINGLESS AND BEAUTIFUL?
?EPISODE 28 ?
I closed up at ten. We all headed to Chaise’s pickup.
“Where’s your Porsche?” Denise asked as she slipped
into the backseat.
“Ahh… garage,” Chaise replied. His voice told me he
didn’t want to talk about it. And I knew why. I didn’t want to talk about that night too.
I smiled at him, my eyes telling him how thankful I was
for the sacrifice he made.
“I’m starving,” Chaise said. “Can we all grab a bite
before we go?”
“Best thing you ever said all night,” Denise agreed.
We went to Burger Inn. As the waitress served our
orders, I thought about the times I spent in this place being made fun of by the kids at school.
I could say that it was
only a couple of weeks since the day Don Winston poured
ketchup all over me, but my life was undeniably better now.
I not only had a better job, I also gained a new friend.
We dropped Denise off her house. It was the first time I
saw where she lived.
Dmn! She was rich!
Her house was at least three floors high with a huge
garden in front.
“Goodnight, guys,” she said chirpily. Then she turned to
Chaise. “If you ever lay a finger on her, I swear I will call a hit on you and your body will be found lifeless in the
dumpster.”
“I might do that just to call your bluff, you know,” Chaise
said in a challenging tone.
“If I’m bluffing, that is,” she said. Then she turned to
me. “Call me as soon as you’re home.”
Chaise and I drove in silence for a couple of minutes.
Then he asked, “You okay?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Thank you for doing driver duties.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replied.
“I never asked you where you came from before you
came here.”
Chaise told me that he was born and raised in Germany.
His father took a job in town, thus they all had to relocate.
“I didn’t know if I was going to fit in,” he said. “I told my
mother I’ll give it a year. If I don’t like it, I’ll go back to Germany. How about you? Any college plans?”
I nodded. “I was hoping to get a scholarship in a
university.”
“Why do you have to work after school, if you don’t
mind me asking?”
“I don’t have parents who would work for me,” I replied
curtly.
“Who do you stay with?”
“My aunt,” I replied. “But I can’t really make her work
for everything. She has her own life too. Like me… she was
also forced into this… setup.”
He fell silent for a moment. “I’m sorry. I heard about
what happened to you.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m sure the kids in school didn’t
waste time before filling you in with the gory details of my
life.”
“I’m glad they did, though.”
I stared at him and raised a brow.
“Well… when I first saw you, I thought you were pretty.
And you have this mystery that envelops you. Kids may
make fun of you or insult you every minute they get, but I
saw how you never let that bother you. You looked tough
and I admired your spirit.
I heard about what happened to
you and I thought I’ve never known anyone stronger than
you are.” He paused for a while and then he added, “One
day, I went to Strung with my uncle to pick up a gift for my
sister.
I saw you there. You were playing the guitar like a
rock star and you sang too. I thought… dmn! What a girl!”
“That was why you were calling me ‘Rock Princess’?” I
asked. “You heard me play before?”
He nodded. “I liked you from that day. And I like you
even more whenever I see you stand up for yourself and
never let the kids at school get to you.”
“People at school can be so mean sometimes. They
make me their target because they know I could not
retaliate. Or I would not have the means to fight back.”
“The guys were just jerks,” he said. “The girls were just
plain jealous.”
“Jealous?” I echoed.
He stared at me for a moment. “I’m not the only one
charmed by you, you know.”
That struck me as a joke, I actually laughed.
Chaise shook his head. “Your scars are not that bad,
Alice. When boys talk about you in the locker rooms, they
don’t mention your scars at all. And this is inside
information. Believe me.”
“Even if I believe you… I don’t care, Chaise,” I said. “I
just want to be out of this place. Go to a university in a city where no one has read the headlines about me.”
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