Josh and I sat under my thinking tree for over an hour talking about his life before coming to Chilton, my life since the death of Mom and Dad, poetry, and favorite authors. I was surprised to find that he and I were really very much alike and he was not at all the bad boy his reputation dictated.

“Favorite kind of music?” Josh questioned hopping down from the sprawling branch he had been walking like a tight rope to take a seat beside me again on the grass. I bit my lower lip squinting my eye deep in thought for a moment.

“I don’t know,I like different genres of music it just depends on my mood I guess. I’m not really fond of rap…mostly because I can’t rap and if I can’t sing to it I won’t listen.” Josh’s shoulders bounced as he chuckled.

“Fair enough,” He said simply.

“What about you? What is your favorite type of music?”

He paused for a minute before speaking. “Rock . . . Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen...the classic old stuff." I smiled and nodded, thank God he had good taste in music.  "Now my turn, do you smoke, drink, have any tattoos?”

I looked at him amazed that he would even pose that question, “No, and if I ever got a tattoo I’m fairly certain I would never see the light of day again. My brothers are pretty strict.”

“What they don’t know won’t kill them,” Josh mused.

I chuckled loudly, “Apparently you have a lot to learn young grasshopper, my brothers know EVERYTHING.”

A comfortable silence fell between us as the autumn breeze blew off the Atlantic Ocean and over the cemetery.  The crunching of leaves caught our attention as my eyes widened with realization of who was interrupting our alone time.

“What do you think you’re doing Cecelia?”  What the hell was he doing here?

Hopping up, I looked at Matt with fiery eyes. “What do you think you’re doing here? You’re supposed to be in school.”

“That’s rich, so are you. Your brothers are beyond pissed, it’s all around school that you’re out skipping with the bad boy.” Matt sneered looking over at Josh.

“What I do doesn’t concern you. In case you forgot, we broke up so I’m not your charge anymore.”

Matt shook his head. “I still have no idea why you broke up with me, you are acting erratic and stupid, skipping school…being with him.”

“What is stupid is that you’re here hoping to get her back after she broke up with you.” Josh threw in his two cents as Matt took a step toward him.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Matt said before turning his attention back to me, “your brothers are beyond pissed.”

“You said that, twice, and I’ve heard you both times,” I said, “but thanks for the update.”

Matt looked me up and down as if he were meeting me for the first time. “This isn’t like you CeCe, you are acting like a completely different person, one I don’t really care for and it’s because of him, I don’t like you hanging out with him.”

 “Well, I don’t need your approval Matt, we broke up.” I repeated. “Now you can go back to school and tell my brothers what you saw like a good boy.”

“Actually you’re coming back with me,” Matt said with a smirk, “I’ve been sent on retrieval duty.”

“The hell I am!” I crossed my arms over my chest, “for the last time, we broke up and stop bossing me around like a child. Who I see, talk to, or hang out with is none of your business.”

“Sooner or later, you’re going to realize what a mistake you made and want me back.” Matt said before smirking in my direction.

“In your dreams, Thomas.” Josh smirked. “Don’t make too much of a mess when you’re dreaming of her tonight.”

 “Shut it Davis.” That was Matt’s big comeback? I had seriously expected fists to go flying after that comment.

This whole scene felt very anticlimactic…where’s the big finish?

“Cecelia Marie Jonas . . . get your butt in the car right now.” I heard Nick’s seething tone from the drive and turned to see my youngest brother standing in front his ‘68 Mustang.

Shit, enter the big finish. Fuck my life.

Picking up my back pack and slinging it over my shoulder, I glanced back to see Josh and Matt standing nearly nose to nose.

 “Boys get back to campus and stay away from each other,” Nick instructed before glaring his brown eyes in my direction, “get in the car.”

I quickly obeyed sliding into the passenger seat and putting on my seatbelt before turning my eyes back toward where both boys still stood, nose to nose, heated words clearly being exchanged. Nick seemed to pay no mind that they had clearly ignored his instruction, his focus was solely on giving me a glare that nearly burned a hole in my skin. The ride was a quiet one with only the sound of Nick’s angry labored breathing as he noticeably attempted to bring himself down from his colossal level of pissed off. When we pulled into the drive I quickly escaped the car, running up the stairs to my bedroom and changing out of my uniform, I was no dummy, I was in deep shit and now was not the time to be wearing a skirt. I rummaged through my drawers deciding on the most padded pair of sweats I could find. Not Five minutes later there was a short knock on the door before it opened to reveal not one, but both my brothers, classes shouldn’t even be over yet, didn’t anyone stay in school anymore?

Again…fuck my life.

“What the hell were you thinking skipping school?” Nick got right to business by asking the question that was clearly on both their minds.

I looked up from fidgeting with my ring to answer, knowing it was better to answer him right away than to make him repeat himself. “I was pissed off at Matt and generally every other male at Chilton, I knew the longer I stayed the more pissed I’d get.”

“Did you ever think that we would be worried about you?” Joe asked staring in my direction.

“Truthfully, I didn’t think. I was just so angry that I wanted to get out of there before I did something I’d regret.” I said looking at both of them.

“You mean like break up with your boyfriend in a heated public spectacle or skipping classes?”

I froze at Joe’s words, I’m seriously concerned about the rate at which gossip circulates at Chilton. “It was Matt that made the public spectacle, I was simply the one who ended it, and I didn’t plan to skip. I was just so sick of being teased all day, I practically missed my entire second block because Charlie Wilson couldn’t keep his perverted comments to himself, and then I get to my locker and Matt publicly berates me in front of practically half the school like some child. He didn’t even ask me about the rumors, he just started yelling. I broke up with him and was in the courtyard crying when Josh came over and asked what was wrong; I told him what had happened and how sick I was of Chilton and its immature boys, he suggested I leave if I was so sick of it…so I did.”

“So it’s his fault you skipped school,” Nick accused.

That question pissed me off. “It was my decision to leave, it was no one’s fault but my own. You are so hell bent on believing this bad boy reputation that you aren’t even giving him a chance…its unfair. Josh isn’t as bad as you think, you would know that if you would get to know him, if anything it was MY FAULT that he skipped, not the other way around.”

“Joshua has been enrolled at Chilton for all of three days and already he has skipped classes. Don’t you dare sit there and try to convince me that he is a good kid.” Nick seethed.

I rolled my eyes. It was clear that Nick had already made up his mind about Josh and had no intention of liking him. “So tell me Nick, what is it that bothers you more, the fact that I skipped or the fact that I skipped WITH JOSH.”

I seriously thought Nick just might charge across the room and smack me in the mouth as his face contorted in anger at my words. “You are HARDLY in the position to be speaking to me that way, you better watch your mouth.”

“Or what?” I challenged, I figured at this point I had nothing to lose, I was already in trouble, might as well get all my teen angst out now. I watched Nick’s nostrils flare and knew I had pushed him to his limit.

“EXCUSE ME?” he bellowed, his tone menacing as he took a step toward me, Joe immediately blocking his advance as he put a hand to his chest.

“Cecelia, that is enough, not another word.” Joe’s voice was calm and firm as he looked in my direction, staring me down, I dropped my head and zipped my lip as he turned back to Nick, “Go cool off, I will handle her.”

Chapter End Notes:

Rut Roh, scrappy is in big trouble