Alex's POV:

The moment she walked into class the following Monday, my eyes were glued on her.

On the outside, her appearance wasn’t out of the ordinary, what with her dark clothes and equally dark makeup contrasting her bright hair, and her virtually ever present scowl was plastered tightly on her lips, looking especially bitter to be in class. I watched carefully as she sat down several seats in front of me, dropping her black shoulder bag onto the ground next to her with a loud thunk as the rest of the students around her happily chatted away about their weekend fun.

I knew I should’ve been mad at her. She ran off from me after we’d made such a breakthrough, and any sane person probably would’ve felt it reasonable to give up on trying such an asinine thing as becoming friends with someone so closed off and angry as Mickey, especially considering how many times she’d made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me.

Thing was, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t give up on her, even if I wanted to.

I couldn’t explain it. There was something special about her. I mean, she was mean, sure. Grumpy. A bitch. But that moment back in the ice cream shop only proved to me that my gut was right. It was an unconventional moment, and out of all my crazy attempts at getting to know her, I honestly wasn’t expecting her to follow me into the brightly colored shop in the first place.

Yet, she did.

She followed me in, let me pay for her cold, sweet treat, and even had an actual conversation with me that didn’t involve her telling me to fuck off--well, until the end when she stormed off and told me just that.

Baby steps.

Jack, who’d been chatting with Rian about possible places we could look to book a gig in the area, turned his attention towards me, following my gaze with a knowing smirk. “Someone’s got it bad...”

I awkwardly cleared my throat, darting my attention away from the girl to shoot my friend a glare. “Come on, Jack. It’s not like that--”

“Dude, yeah, it is.” He persisted with an eye roll.

“No it’s not.” I pressed, nudging Rian with my elbow before adding, “Rian, help me out.”

“I’ve gotta agree with Jack on this one.”

I groaned softly. “Guys, how many times have I gotta repeat myself--”

I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to finish my thought. The teacher, Miss Harper, rose from her seat at the large desk just to the right of the white board and smiled broadly towards her less than enthusiastic crowd. “Morning, everyone. We’ve got a lot to cover today, and we only have until the end of the week for your test, so let’s begin.”

I grumbled to myself, the idea of focusing on today’s lesson less than ideal. Why think about stupid sentence structure and symbolism and shit in assigned reading, Little Women, when I could hone my energy on more important things? You know, like stubborn ass redheads that won’t let me be friends with her.

Ugh.

“Can someone tell me what happened in the last few chapters I assigned over the weekend?” Miss Harper asked as we all took out our books and binders, dropping them on the desks with loud thuds scattering throughout the room.

Naturally, no one was eager to volunteer.

Her eyes scanned the room carefully, landing on Mickey as she hadn’t yet bothered to grab her needed reading material out of her bag on the floor. “How about you, Mickey?” Her smile dimmed slightly, as she knew Mickey’s track record in doing her work was less than stellar. “You have your book, don’t you?”

“I don’t, actually.” The girl replied smoothly, tilting her head slightly as if to dare Miss Harper.

Miss Harper’s brows shot up, having had this battle with Mickey before. “I thought we talked about this.” She sighed, motioning for the girl to follow her to the corner of the class. She then lowered her voice, hoping the exchange would be private, but of course in a small room of thirty kids who are now dead silent thanks to the possibility of someone getting in trouble, that just wasn’t going to happen. If Miss Harper wanted a captive audience now, she’s got one. “I told you last time that from now on you needed to bring your book with you to class before the bell rings. I can’t have you out in the halls on your own during class.” She pressed her lips together before adding, “As it is, you’ve already disappeared on me too many times. You need to be in class and participate.”

“Maybe that’s the point. I don’t want to be in class.” Mickey shot back, not even bothering to keep her voice low. “I don’t want to be in school. I just want to get out of this hell as quickly as possible.”

“And you think skipping class is going to do that for you?” Miss Harper asked, her eyes staring back at Micky in a dumbfounded sort of way. “You’ve already been held back once. If you keep skipping other classes like I know you’re skipping mine, you’ll be held back for a second time.”

Mickey rolled her eyes. “Does it look like I give a fuck?”

“Language!” Miss Harper shushed her. “And I’m only trying to help you so you can graduate and move on, just like you want, but you aren’t making things easy, young lady.”

A chorus of ‘ooo’s’ broke from a few of the guys in the back, loving the dramatic scene playing in front of us. I just frowned, nervous that Mickey might’ve gone too far.

“I don’t need this. I don’t need to learn about goddamn Little Women or Huck Finn or whatever else fucking shit you’re trying to shove down our throats like it’s actually going to do me any good.”

“Yeah, she’s just going to be a stripper, anyway.” One smart ass jock quipped from the back, snickering like children in the back of the room.

“Watch it.” Miss Harper warned, snapping a finger in the direction of the student, but Mickey just shrugged off the comment.

“He’s not wrong.” She told her. “Tell me, reading all this grand literature...what’s it going to do for me as I whip out my tits so guys can fantasize fucking me--”

“THAT’S IT!” The teacher yelled, shaking her head back and forth in fed up fury. “I’ve had it with the language, I’ve had it with you pushing my buttons with every little thing I try to get you to do. You’re going to the principal’s office. Now.”

Mickey dared to smirk, and I had the feeling the outcome was exactly what she wanted from the get go. It was her plan all along. “It’s about time.”

Miss Harper, too angry to say much of anything just kept shaking her head as she scribbled out a note on her desk. “Here.” She gave Mickey a pink slip reserved for bad behavior. “Give that to the secretary. I’ll call the principal to let him know you’re coming.”

“Great.” Mickey smiled, grabbing her bag and ready to bolt out of the room when Miss Harper stopped her.

“WAIT!” Miss Harper called out, causing Mickey to freeze, her hand already on the door.
Mickey just glared at her, and I’m sure it was taking every muscle in her body not to leave.
Miss Harper didn’t continue at first, instead peering back over towards us unsuspecting students. Then, she said a name. “Alex. Why don’t you accompany Mickey to the principal’s office so I know she gets there safe?”

My eyes widened. “Me?”

She nodded. “Yes, you. Didn’t you tell me the other day that you’re already finished with the book?”

I couldn’t argue that. I’d read the book cover to cover in two days. It was my mom’s favorite book and she’d made me watch the movie when I told her the latest assigned reading. So, before falling into a total chick flick for two hours, I wanted to know what I’d gotten myself into. Turns out, I was kind of a sucker for a good story, even if it was a romanc-y story about sisters growing up and finding love.

Back in class, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be the teacher’s selected ‘volunteer’ to escort Mickey. Even from afar Mickey was acting particularly scary. Not that I couldn’t handle her wrath, but it was best avoided if possible. “Well, yeah, but--”

“Great. I’ll write you a pass.”

I nodded numbly, glancing back at an equally befuddled Rian and Jack before rising from my seat and taking the calmer blue colored pass. “Um. Sure.” I gulped. “Let’s go, Mickey...”

She rolled her eyes, slamming her hand against the door handle and shoving the class door open without a glance back. I quickened my pace, taking long, fast strides to catch up with her. As soon as the door was shut, I grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around to face me. “Wanna explain what the fuck happened there?” I hissed, trying hard to keep my voice down as I knew the classrooms surrounding us were hard at work.

She dared to look innocent. “What do you mean?”

I scowled at her.

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she spun back around, her pace quite a bit slower as she took a few casual steps forward. “Look, you saw what happened. I didn’t want to do the stupid lesson and little miss sunshine freaked the fuck out.”

“As she should, Mickey.” I responded carefully. “I mean, I know homework sucks but it’s part of going to school.”

“Which I don’t want either.” She paused for a moment, eying me carefully. “Why do you care? Didn’t I tell you to fuck off the other night?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, the way she stormed out of the store still fresh in my mind. “Yeah, you did, but what else is new?”

She rolled her eyes, unimpressed. “Yet, you’re still here.”

I threw my hands up, showing off the blue pass. “Hey, this time it’s not my fault.” I jabbed my finger at the paper a few times, making it crinkle against the force. “I was assigned a very important task, and dammit if I’m not going to do it.”

“I don’t think your stupid task involves you interrogating me.” She mumbled, quickening her pace once more as we approached the principals office on the other end of the hall.

“Well as your friend I’d just like to kno--”

“You’re not my friend.”

I flinched at her seething tone, but stood my ground none the less, getting the feeling that something had happened between now and the last time I saw her for her to be on bitch mode 3000. “Just...I’m here to talk if you need to, remember?”

She gulped, her face softening for just a second before her gaze fell onto our destination. “Guess you can go back and tell Miss Sunshine I got here safe and sound.”

“As soon as you actually get inside and the principal has you, I can.” I corrected, knowing her tricks too well.

“Dammit.” She cursed, probably hating the fact I was actually not going to let her get away from this. She’d actually have to go through and see the principal and not run off like she’d hoped. Lucky for her though, whatever dreaded waiting that usually accompanied getting in trouble was not going to happen for her. We walked into the office all of two seconds before Principal Adkins motioned for her to come into his office, leaving me awkwardly in front of the secretary.

She smiled at me warmly. “Thank you for helping Mickey get here, Alex. You can return to class now.”

I nodded hesitantly, glancing back at the now shut door that Mickey had walked into. I naturally wanted to stay and listen in like the nosey SOB she’d so often accused me of being, but there was no way that was going to happen without me causing a fuss and getting my ass into trouble as well. And if I got in trouble, I knew the first thing my parents would take away was time with the band, and I just couldn’t afford that. We’d just now were getting some traction in the community and if we didn’t keep the momentum going, we’d be dead in the water before we even started, and I couldn’t do that to the guys.

So instead, I quietly shuffled out of the office and back into the hall, taking my time returning to the English class Mickey had been so hell bent on getting out of for some reason.
The rest of the lesson was uneventful, dragging on with the symbolism for this and the metaphors for that when finally, I was free.

The bell rang and I sprung out of the classroom like a cheetah, knowing my free period meant I could maybe track down Mickey and see what the damage was, if I could find that crack on her tough exterior. I’d found it once. The time in the parlor proved that. Now whatever was going on in her head to cause her to lash out today, I knew it was probably going to be a bitch to get to. But I was willing to try. I knew if she’d open up just a little more, all that snapping which’d gotten her in trouble in the first place would (probably) happen less and who knows, maybe Mickey wasn’t such an Ice Queen. It was just a matter of breaking down the rest of that damn wall to find out.

I b-lined it outside, figuring whatever her punishment, Mickey sure as hell wouldn’t be resuming classes for the day. Sure enough, I spotted Mickey’s bright hair glowing in the sunlight as she leaned against the school’s sign in front of the parking lot. I opened my mouth to shout her name, the curiosity of how things went driving me crazy, but I held back as I watched an old, beat up Toyota pull up in front of her, slamming on the brakes firmly as the car halted with a sharp lunge. My heart beat quickened, worried that it was that ass hat Devon picking her up, but instead an older, plump man with salt and pepper hair stalked out of the car, scowling and seething at Mickey. She took a step back, looking nervous as hell to see this guy. I was too far away to hear anything, but it was obvious he was shouting at her, his face red with anger as he screamed in her face. She cowered back. flinching every time he moved his hands. I paled, never having seen her so scared before. I watched carefully as he pointed towards the car, presumably to tell her to get in, but just as she walked by him, he grabbed her arm and yanked her forward, holding her firmly in his grasp before slapping her hard, the crack of skin hitting skin reverberating into the air. Then he shoved her into the passenger seat of the car, started his car, and drove off.

Notes

I updattttteeeeed. Yaaaay. I'm so happy. I mean, the chapter is super serious and Mickey's in a sucky situation but yay :P

Enjoy, guys. As I won't write the next chapter, it'll come out super fast. All the slow updating is due to me and my sucky work schedule. Until next time

-Rose