This guy is off his fucking rocker. “You’re seriously delusional if you think I or anyone will believe that.”
He takes a menacing step toward me, and I stand my ground. “Try me. You think because you got to screw that little slut you’re going to avenge her virtue? Let me break it to you. Girls like Catalina are all the same. Flirtatious. Don’t take no for an answer. It’s normal to become infatuated with a teacher. And with her record, who would believe a promiscuous slut over a respectable teacher?”
I rear my fist back and slam it into his chin. He stumbles back, catching the corner of his desk before almost falling over. “You watch what you say about her, pedophile.”
He stands and wipes the blood from his lip, an evil sneer forming. “Kiss your future goodbye.”
“Your empty threats don’t scare me. But mine should scare you. Consider yourself fucking done. The second I walk out of here, I’m going straight to the principal. When I tell him what I know, it’s damn well not gonna be my future on the line. Hope you enjoy wearing orange for a long, long time, asshole.”
I turn to leave, done with him. As I reach the door, something slams against the back of my head, making my vision blurry and my body go limp. Falling to the ground, I’m left with the image of his sinister smile.
Chapter 16
Catalina
As soon as the snow calms down, I walk into town and find an open bench in the park. I unwrap the warm donut from the local bakery and watch as the city workers climb up and down ladders, removing the festive lights from trees. I never enjoyed the holidays. Christmas was never how they made it seem in the movies growing up. Warm, loving. It was always ruined by fighting and too much alcohol. I try to remember the last time I had a Christmas with a tree. Mom and Dad sucked at holidays when they were together, and my dad alone was even worse. I spent most of them alone while he flitted off with his current girlfriend. Not that it matters. Solitude has become my closest friend.
My thoughts fall on this past Christmas. Dad handed me twenty bucks and told me to get myself a gift, so I used it on a small tree. I spent the entire day making homemade ornaments, only for him and Janette to come home and find out she’s allergic to pine and Dad made me throw the tree out.
Across the street, a mother and daughter walk out of a gift shop, and the little girl giggles while the mother grabs her hand. I try to imagine what it would feel like to have a mother touch me like that, her warm hand wrapped around mine.
When I was seven, Mom took me shopping at the local department store and told me to get whatever I wanted. She would be just around the corner. Her and dad's argument later led me to believe she was on another promiscuous rendezvous and forgot about me. The security guard who found me in tears had to call my dad because my mom was nowhere to be found. My mom claimed she was feeling too much stress from work. She blamed me and said I had run off. I never got a gift that day, let alone that Christmas.
My thoughts lead to Kenneth. That night. If I never made a pass at him, would he and my mom still be together? She never allowed me to explain. She assumed the worst and threw me out. But what was there to tell? I acted out in the worst way. He was an attractive older man. Funny and smart. He had this mysterious aura about him that caused my tummy to tighten whenever I was near him. When Mom would work late, he kept me company and watched movies with me. We laughed and innocently flirted. He helped me cook, and we enjoyed each other’s company. Until one night, I took it too far.
I bite the inside of my cheek, remembering the way his hand felt. Wrong. Warm. Thick. Inviting. He gave me an out. He gave me time to tell him to stop if I didn’t want it. But I just opened my thighs wider. Sometimes at night, I can still feel the press of his warm palm against my thigh, the slickness of my sex. This is the kind of person you become when you grow up in a house surrounded by infidelity and lies. Daddy and his younger toys. Mommy and her revolving door of older, attractive men. All men who, no matter how hard they fight it, always lose their way and look.
Even now, I don’t know why I did it. Maybe it was because I resented my parents, my mom, especially. For not caring enough to get her shit together for me. For not seeing that their wrongs were affecting me. Maybe it was because I had daddy issues, and her boyfriends gave me the attention I desperately ached for.
Shame floods my system when I think about how far I would have allowed Kenneth to go.
Too far…
My thoughts get away from me. When I look at the time, it’s well past school hours. Uncertainty rumbles in my stomach. Why haven’t I heard from Hunter? I shoot him a text asking for an update, and it goes unread.
As I stare at my phone, it begins to ring. My mom’s name pops up on my screen. Here we go. I take a deep breath, knowing what’s coming. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Get home this instant.” Her voice is cold and void of emotion. I open my mouth to ask what the emergency is, but she’s already hung up.
I can only imagine she got a call from the school and knows I didn’t show up today. I gather my garbage from lunch, toss it, and head home. When I make it to the driveway, there’s an unfamiliar car parked next to William’s. I walk inside, finding William and Mom sitting on the couch across from Mr. Gibson.
My stomach bottoms out. I search the room for Hunter. “What’s going on?” I ask my mom. I take a quick glance at William. He looks distraught, while my mom looks straight-up murderous. Then I glance over at Mr. Gibson. He’s staring at me with pity. His smile appears gentle and caring for his audience. My eyes fall to his lap, where his right hand is covered in a cast.
“Sit down,” Mom barks.
“Olivia, just relax.”
“For the love, I am not going to relax, William! Catalina, this is the last straw. You have finally disgusted me beyond belief.”
My eyes widen at her hatred. It’s not like I haven’t seen it from her before, but this time seems different, more intense. “It’s just school, Mom.”
“School? Do you think this is about school? You ditching is the least of my concerns.”
I look back and forth between William, my mom, and Mr. Gibson. “What the hell is going on?”
My mom shoots up from her seat, but William coerces her to sit. “How dare you?” she hisses at me.
Something’s not right. “You have me at a disadvantage. If it’s not about me ditching, then I don’t know what else is making you so upset.” There’s no way Mr. Gibson came here and told them about us. “Why is he here?” I ask, the question sour off my tongue.
Mr. Gibson finally speaks up. “Catalina, I’m only here to help. I had to do what was right for you.”
“Do what for me?” I snap at him.
“Kiddo, that is no way to talk to your teacher. Please sit.”
“I will not sit! What the fuck is going on?”
Mom shoots out of her seat again. “You disgust me. Your stepbrother? Seriously, Catalina? You’re so pathetic, you had to seduce your stepbrother?”
There’s a shift in the air, and I sway at her accusation.
“What? Why would you think—?” I turn my seething attention to him. “Did you tell my parents this?”