Chapter Two

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I spent the rest of the school day in Mr. Batam's office, trying to reason with him, explain to him that I just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, when next thing you know the school bell is going off indicating that school was now over. Mr. Batam of course makes me miss my stupid bus, so therefore I'm now stuck walking all the way home.

I'm making my way out of the schools parking lot, when I hear a car honk behind me but I don't think anything of it. I continue walking when I hear another honk for a second time, and there's now a white Toyota pulling upside me, rolling their windows down.

"Hailey!!"

"Madison? Hey. I didn't know you drove!"

"Yep," she smiles. "Do you live far? I can give you a ride home if you'd like?"

I shake my head, "it's fine, Madison, really, I don't mind walking."

"Oh please," she scoffs, leaning over the passenger seat and opens the door. "Get in, its pretty warm today. Plus, I need deets on what happen with Mr. Batam!"

I giggle softly and shake my head as I make my way into her car. Her cold a.c immediately hits me in the face as I'm buckling up, and it feels amazing.

I take her small little cute car in, it fits her really well. "Your cars so nice, Madison!" I finally tell her as she pulls out onto the main road.

"Thank you!" She replies, "it's not as nearly as fancy as the other kids cars, but she's my baby," she taps on her steering wheel.

"Pft, who needs fancy?" I exclaim. "As long as that bad boy gets me where I need to go, and has a working radio and a.c is fine by me!"

Madison chuckles at what I say, "you're funny, Hailey! Do you drive?"

"I do," I tell her. "I just got my license this summer so now I'm working on getting a car next."

"Do you want anything in particular?" She asks and I shrug my shoulders, directing her to make a left at the light.

"No, not really, but if I did I think I'd probably go towards like a small SUV. We were actually suppose to go car hunting before the school year started, but my dad tends to work a lot so there's hardly anytime."

"Wow, busy man. What does he do, if you don't mind me asking."

"You're gonna make a right then another right at that stop sign," Madison nods to my instructions and I try to mumble my dads job under my breath. "He's a detective.."

Madison turns to look at me so quick that I get whip lash just from watching her. "Holy shit! Like an actual real deal police detective? Like with a gun and badge and stuff?"

"Eyes on the road!!" I shout playfully at her, and she quickly turns back around.

"Your dads the fuzz, Hailey?" She continues to question.

I turn to look at her with a small smile on my face, "yep." I point out towards the window, "it's the third house on your right."

"Holy cow, Hailey, that's like so cool! At least I think so, that's pretty bad ass!"

I'm smile not really acknowledging what Madison thinks about my dad working in the police business. Sure, it was a pretty cool thing growing up and being able to tell all the other kids in grade school that my dad was a cop. I mean, what child didn't want there dad to be a police officer, a firefighter, a hero..

But ever since my dad got promoted to be a detective four years ago, I hardly ever got to see him. He was always out, always working on a case, and my older brother Caleb was away at school, so it really was just me in this big lonely house. Then again I never really did feel lonely because I would spend most of my time at Carmen's, I would even stay the night during the weekdays and we would go to school together, but now, now I really was alone.

Now a days I found myself staying up passed midnight just to tell my dad hi and goodnight. He had days off, but they were mostly during the week and I would spend most of my time in school, and when I did get home he was usually busy with work that he had brought home.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and reached for Madison door handle, "Thanks for the ride, Madison."

"Anytime, boo," she replied and I got out of her car, shutting the door after me, making my way across my lawn. "Hailey, wait!" She shouts.

I turn around to see that Madison had rolled the passenger window down, "you never told me what happened with Mr. Batam! What he say?"

Oh, right.. I smile, shrugging my shoulders as I continue to walk across my grass, backwards. "I have to go to Saturday school tomorrow.."

~~~

I was slouched on our living room sectional, binge watching Netflix, when my dad comes home around seven in the evening with some take out in his hands. I loved when my dad got out of work early or when he came home just to have lunch/dinner with me. Don't get me wrong, the piece and quiet was nice, but it got lonely after awhile. I paused my show, got off the couch, and made my way towards the kitchen where my dad was now at, pulling out little Chinese food containers from a big brown paper bag.

God, I loved Chinese food.

"How was school?" My dad asked me as I reached into the cabinets for two plates. I walked back over to our four seat high table and set the plates down.

I felt myself tense up the instant my father asked me about school. I didn't know whether he was asking because the school had got in contact with him about what happen in the hallway today, or because he was just trying to create small talk. Either way, I decided that I was not going to lie about it, I would get it out in the open while I can.

"Uh, school was okay. I actually need to talk to you about something, dad."

"Hold that thought, sweetheart." My dad says behind him as he walks back over to the kitchen drawers, pulling out his favorite pair of chopsticks. "Sticks or fork?" He asked, picking up a pair of chop sticks in one hand, and a fork in the other.

I point to his right hand, "fork please."

He sets the chopsticks back into the drawer and makes his way back to the table, but he doesn't sit down just yet, something catches his eye. I avert my attention over to what he's looking at, and it's the answering machine on the counter, the little red light is flashing.

"When's the last time you checked the machine, hail?"

"Mm, maybe two days ago when Caleb called, why?"

"There's a new message.." he says and goes to press the little play button.

A robotic telephone voice fills the quietness in the dinning room, "new message. Friday, Oct 21st, 1:48 pm... Detective Summers? Hi. This is Mrs. Preston calling from Hailey's school."

My heart immediately sinks to the bottom of my stomach when I hear Mrs. P's voice on the message, but my dad doesn't think anything of it. He simply continues to serve himself food, a little white container in his hand, as he continues to listen to the message.

"I've tried reaching you multiple times on the cell number we have down here, but unfortunately it says that you are not receiving any calls at the moment, so I'm trying to reach you on your home phone. The reason why I'm calling is to inform you that Miss Summers was in a slight altercation today during school hours, and she is to report to Saturday school tomorrow morning at 8am sharp."

My dad comes to a quick halt at the mention of me being in an altercation. He has a little container in one hand and a spoon in the other, paused mid air, his eyes on me rather than his greasy Chinese.

The message continues, "if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the school, thank you."

The recorded message finally ends and we stay there in complete utter silence, as my dad try's to process what he just heard. He ploops down in the high chair that's behind him, setting the food down.

"Dad,"

"Saturday school?" He scoffs, a little in disbelief, a harsh, stern tone in his voice. "Saturday school, Hailey? What the hell's going on, kiddo? You've never gotten a bad report in your life, and now Saturday school?"

I avert my attention back to my food, twirling up a good amount of noodles onto my fork, trying to avoid my dads eye contact. "It's not a big deal, dad. There was these two guys at school arguing in the hallway by my locker and some how I got dragged into the middle of it. But I already talked to principal Batam! He said he wouldn't give me any type of suspension as long as I went to Saturday school."

"Wait a minute," my dad says holding up a hand, and gets up off of his chair. "So you told him that you had nothing to do with this, and the prick is still making you go to Saturday school?"

I look back down at my food, putting a spoonful of chow mien into my mouth, never talk with your mouth full. "Fuck. That." My dad retorts, he walks back over to the side of kitchen counter grabbing his keys. "Grab your things, we're going to the school."

I swallow my food, placing my fork down but my butt stays glued to my chair. "Dad, the schools probably closed by now!"

"It's Friday, doesn't your school have a home game or some shit tonight?"

Crap, yes.

"Daddy, please," I pleaded. I really didn't want my dad causing a scene at the high school football game, in front of hundreds of other kids over something so small and dumb. "It's really not a big deal. It's only for a couple of hours. It's not gonna affect my grades or anything, dad, its fine, I'll just go."

My dad hesitantly nods his head, places his keys back down and goes to sit back down. He grabs a head of broccoli from his plate that he had served himself and pops it into his mouth, and points his chops sticks at me. "I have Tuesday off," he says placing more food into his mouth, "best believe that Ima go talk to principal Batman then.."

I snort and shake my head at the same time, "Batam, dad. Principal batam. He's not cool enough to be Batman."

After dinner was over I cleared the table and put away whatever food was left in the fridge. I washed some of the dishes that were in the sink, as my dad worked on some paper work in the living room, even when my dad wasn't working, he was still working. After everything was tidied up in the kitchen, I joined my dad in the living room and watched tv for an hour or so, up until I got tired and went up stairs to shower then got into bed. 

The alarm on my phone woke me up early the next morning. I pulled my phone off of the charger, shutting the alarm off. I groaned loudly to myself when I seen the time, it was 7:15 on a Saturday morning. It was way too early to be up on the weekend, but I had trash to pick up.

Slowly but surely I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, but only because I felt like my bladder was going to explode. I walked out into the hallway restroom and did my business. I washed my face afterwards to help me wake up a bit, and then brushed my teeth. I stared at myself through the bathroom mirror and snorted at my own reflection. What the hell am I going to do with this lion hair?

I had fallen asleep while my hair was still semi wet, so now my natural red locks were one big poof. I plugged my straightener in and brushed my hair out a bit as I waited for it to warm up. I walked back out into my room and decided to get out of my pj's while I was at it.

I threw on a pair of faded skinny jeans along with a plain dark royal blue short sleeve shirt. It was chilly now because it was still early, but it would start to warm up in an hour or so, therefore I wouldn't even bother taking a thin sweater with me. I grabbed a pair of some black thin ankle socks from my dresser and threw them on along with my black and white converse.

If I didn't have this crazy book obsession, I had this crazy obsession with shoes. But i wasn't your normal typical girl with hundred and hundred of heels. No, I had a pair of converse in almost every color, followed along with some other shoe brands. What can I say, I loved sneakers. After I was dressed I went back into the bathroom and started working on my hair. I didn't spend to much time on it seeing how it was already 7:30. I only needed my hair to be straight enough to a decent amount so I can put it up in a high ponytail. I unplugged my straightener and noticed that light freckles on my cheeks were a slight more visible today, but it was Saturday and I didn't have the need to cover them up today. I shoved my phone into my back pocket and made my way downstairs.

My dad was of course already up and dressed for work, having his coffee in the kitchen. He was in a pair of dark black slacks with his badge already on his belt, followed along with a tight fancy buttoned up shirt, that hugged his arms and chest. My dad was in his early forties, but could easily be mistaken to be in his thirties because of how well he kept himself.

"Ready to go, dad?"

My dad had an early shift today and was gonna drop me off at school on his way to work.

"Just about, kiddo. You don't want to have breakfast real quick?"

I shake my head, "I'll be fine.."

My dad grabs his coffee cup and starts walking out of the kitchen, " I just gotta grab a tie and my holster and we're good to go. You can go start the car, honey, I'll be out in a second."

I nod my head and go for the front door, grabbing my dad keys and my house keys off of the key holder. I turn the car on and it's running for about two minutes when my dad finally comes out of the house ready to go. He gets into the driver seat and we head off.

Five minutes later we're at my school entrance and my dads giving me some money to eat incase he gets home late, which he will, it's the weekend. He hands me two twenty dollar bills and I shove them into my jeans and climb out of my dads Malibu.

My dad always tends to give me lunch money as if he were feeding a family of four, and I've told him numerous of times that I didn't need so much money and his answer was always the same, he does it just incase I see something I like.

"Call me when you're out, sweetheart. If I'm in the area I'll come pick you up."

"Okay, dad, I will. Be careful!"

"Always am," he smiles and drives off.

I walk over to the school court yard and see about six students sitting around on the table benches, and Coach fisherman. I find an empty table near by and take a seat not really knowing what I'm suppose to do. Ten minutes pass by and another three students show up, Cris Roxwell being one of them.

Coach Fisherman gets up from where he's sitting, and clears his throat. "Alright. When you hear your name come up and grab one of these trash bags and a trash gator."

Coach Fisherman starts reading names off of his clipboard, when he calls Isaac's name out loud. I look around at all the faces that are here, and sure enough the little douche bag that got me into this mess is no where to be around.

"Hailey Summers," coach says next, I get up from my lonely table and make my way over to him. I grab a big black bag like he says to and one of the trash gator thingies.

"Alright," coach says finishing up roll call. "Everyone grab your belongings and head over to the stadium, you are all to pick up trash for the next hour and a half. Depending on how clean my stadium is, maybe just maybe we can all go home early."

Everyone including the coach starts descending through the front school gate and towards the stadium, when a nice, expensive, black BMW pulls up in the drop off zone. The windows all around the car are heavily tinted so there's no way in hell to know who could possibly be inside. A second later the passenger door opens and an angry looking Isaac is stepping out of the nice car, slamming the door shut.

My breath actually hitches at the sight of him from where I'm standing. I didn't think this man could possibly get anymore beautiful, but here he is, dressed all casual, looking like the Greek God himself. He's wearing a black pair of Nike basketball shorts with a plain black T-shirt, along with some black high top Nikes, and oh dear God, he's wearing a hat, backwards.

What the hells wrong with me?

I get a bit nervous and uneasy when Isaac catches me staring at him and flashes a devilish smile my way. I quickly turn around continuing my way to the stadium, when I hear both Coach Fisherman's voice and Isaac's behind me along the way.

"So thoughtful of you to finally join us, Matteo, but you're late."

"Better late than never, Coach." Isaac's says, a hint of a smirk in his smooth voice. I smile to myself and continue walking, entering the grand stadium.

About five to ten minutes later I'm minding my own business, picking up stupid trash when a deep, smooth, voice rumbles from behind me.

"Hey," I turn around and my anxiety immediately spikes. Isaac is standing there with his hands in his basketball shorts. Well his pockets, not his actual shorts, you know what I mean..

"I never got to apologize for what happened yesterday," he continues. "I hope you're okay? I'm I-"

"I know who you are," I cut him off.

He scoffs, "do you now? And who might I'd be?" He asks slightly turning his head to the side.

Aaaand we're shutting down now. "Isaac Matteo," I mumble under my breath. "Carmelo's Son."

Isaac narrows his eyes at me, but then his facial features start to relax, and he begins to smirk. "Why haven't I seen you around?" He crosses his arms along his chest, "I would've noticed a pretty face like yours."

I wanted to tell him because a person like him doesn't hang around in the library, but then again he would know that I probably didn't have any friends, he'd know just how uncool and sad my life was, not that I should care but I didn't want him to stop talking to me just yet, I didn't want him to leave. I wanted to stare at his beautiful tan skin until the morning was over and it was time to go home. Oh God, I sound like a creep. Wait.. did he call me pretty?

"So, can I get your name?"

I immediately shook my head no. He really didn't need to know my name, it's not like we were gonna be friends, we'd probably never talk to each other again after today. Our school was huge, I highly doubt that we would be running into each other at school along the halls, and even then, what? Was he gonna stop and tell me hi? I don't think so. It was probably better like this. 

"Okay. What if I tired guessing it?" He grins. "Would you tell me if I got it right?"

I could feel my cheeks instantly starting to heat up as he continued to stare at me. God why didn't I wear any concealer, at least this way I could hide some of the pink in my cheeks. "Maybe..." I murmured softly.

"What about the first letter? Could I at least know that?" I shook my head again. "You know, that's not really fair. You know my name and I can't even get one little clue?" I bashfully smile and look down at the ground, God I was pathetic. "Fine.." he scoffs. "Is it... Isabelle?"

I scrunch up my nose, trying my hardest not to cheese up and shake my head.

"Okay," he licks his lips, "Samantha?"

I shake my head again, "nope."

"Alison? Kasey? Uh, Olivia? Emily? Sophia?" The anxious feeling soon starts to die down and I start to giggle softly, as I shake my head no after every name he mentions. His left eyebrow arches up, and he takes another wild guess. "Harper?"

"Ew. No!" I say in a overly high pitch playful voice.

He starts to chuckle deeply, and oh dear lord it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard on this earth. "Okay, okay,

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