a dick that way, and there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for me. Not to mention the small fact that he was all kinds of crazy.
I hadn’t seen Chucky since because I hadn’t been back to school since then. And now he was here, at my house of all places. My house he’d never been to before, and he certainly hadn’t been invited to now. At least not by me he hadn’t. I didn’t see Mr. Cole inviting him over to shoot the breeze with him either.
Chucky lowered his hand and continued to grin at me. I was not smiling. In fact, I imagined my face looked downright scary, all covered in red splotches from crying. My nose was probably bright red, and I’d bet anything my eyes were bloodshot and puffy. I’m sure the scowl on my face didn’t help much either.
Chucky, on the other hand, looked his usual chipper, smug self.
His light, brown eyes twinkled at me, full of a secret I did not want to know. His short brown hair had grown a little bit longer since I’d seen him last, not enough to warrant a haircut because it had been so short to begin with.
His large, broad shoulders were incased in a tight, white short-sleeved t-shirt. The front said something about football and Devils in red, cracked and faded lettering. His dark blue jeans were faded in places and frayed at the right knee.
I never realized before how Chucky’s clothing did not match the quality of clothing his friends wore. Chucky’s clothes were worn and clearly had been laundered a great deal. The Pretty Princess, Ken and the minion had all been dressed in expensive clothing. Chucky’s weren’t expensive. What they were was absolutely normal.
I wondered how he fit in with the rest of those snobs.
Must have been his winning personality.
When he continued to grin at me while saying nothing, I mumbled, “Uh, Chuck, what are you doing here?”
Way to go, Ariel Kimber. Rather brilliant. I was surprised I’d managed to get even that out past my shock.
His dimples went away as he frowned at me. His eyes turned calculating, watchful, and I was suddenly reminded of just who it was I was dealing with here. Chucky was not my friend and likely never would be. Not because he hadn’t tried, but because I did not want him as a friend. Frankly, I did not want him as anything in my life.
Apparently, I could hold a mean grudge. Something I hadn’t known until just then. I’d never held on to anything like anger or resentment before. I’d always chosen to let it go in order to maintain my own sanity and version of happiness. But times had changed for me and I did not like Chucky in the least bit.
On the first day of school Chucky had tripped me in class, causing me to fall to my hands and knees before an entire classroom of people. I’d been hurt and humiliated while they’d all laughed at my expense. A few days later Chucky had called me a freak show and asked me to go out on a date with him, all in the same conversation.
Yeah, I didn’t like him. Not at all. It was a wonder anyone did.
Thanks to Quint and his magic, Chucky and his not so nice friends had ended up puking up their own blood all over themselves during lunch one day. It hadn’t been their finest hour and had scared the crap out of a whole lot of people, myself included.
The sickness had only lasted for a few days then it had miraculously gone away. It was after that when he’d gotten weird on me in school and I hadn’t seen him since. Heck, I hadn’t even thought of him since he’d walked away from me in the hallway at school.
His smile slipped a little when I called him Chuck. I remembered him telling me before how much he didn’t like being called Chuck, which is why I kept on doing it. He preferred to be called Chucky because there was clearly something wrong with him. I preferred Chuck because he didn’t.
“It’s Chucky,” he reminded me like I figured he would. “We already went over this before.”
I wanted to roll my eyes but somehow managed to refrain from doing so.
I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at him. “What… Are… You… Doing… Here?” I asked him slowly, enunciating each word so he wouldn’t miss anything. He wasn’t the smartest person I’d ever met and repeating myself was starting to grow tedious.
He tucked his hands in the front pocket of his jeans and shrugged his shoulders casually. “I missed you at school so I thought I’d stop on by to check on you, make sure everything’s okay. So, is it?”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Now, why did these things have to keep happening to me?
If I wasn’t so ashamed of my own behavior, I would have marched across the grass and the driveway so I could smack Quinton upside the head for putting me in this position. After the whole bloody fiasco, he should have left Chuck alone. Instead, he had to go and mess with his head and I was the one who had to deal with it.
I didn’t want to deal with anything.
“Listen, Chuck,” I said as I took a step back so I could shut the door on him. “Thanks for stopping by, but everything is fine.” It wasn’t actually, but no way were we going there. “It was very kind of you to stop by and check on me. Now that you know I’m fine, you should probably be on your way. I’ll see you at school. I plan on going back next week.”
That last part was a complete lie. I had no intention of ever going back to that school. I’d rather take the test to get my GED and find something better to do with my time.
I stepped back into the house, intent on shutting the door but he didn’t let me. Quickly, he placed his shoulder in the door and pushed his way inside. I gaped at him as he moved past me.
“Wha… what are you doing?” I stammered out past my suddenly dry lips.
I didn’t want him in my house and I absolutely did not want to be alone with him.