Meeting Harvey
1146 Words
I wait patiently for my back to hit the hard concrete floor. Nothing. I open one eye slowly before opening the other one. My eyes meet the gaze of my new saviour. David. Gasping loud in shock, I free myself of his tight grip and start to walk away. My leg stumbles on his feet and that causes me to lean forward again, another unknowing attempt to fall.
He stops me by snaking an arm around my stomach from in front of me and pushing me backwards, helping me maintain supported balance on my feet. I look at him with glassy eyes and his eyes soften.
“Do you always cry?” he asks me. The shame, embarrassment and the number of eyes glued to me makes me want to go crazy. Ignoring them seems to be impossible. Without caring, I dash out of the school on full speed, leaving the students to murmur loudly before the bell rings for the first class.
Drey had the car key hooked around his index finger, spinning it around. I almost bump into him but bring myself to an abrupt halt.
“Anye, where are you going?” He asks me in a worried laced voice. I shake my head and point at the car key, unable to find my sense of speech.
“I want to go home Drey. I want to, please?” I finally manage to say.
“What? Why?” he widens his eyes and then anger overtakes the worry in his eyes as he clenches his fists by his side.
“Did you see Harvey? Why, what did he say to you? Wait till I get a hold of that b***h…” He continues to stay and starts to walk into the school in furious, knowing steps.
I pull him by his sleeve, halting him immediately, “Wait, it's not that… I didn't see Harvey.”
He stops immediately and wraps his arms around me, “Then what's wrong?”
“I just want to go home.” I sob into my brother's chest. He plays with my hair gently and nods. I can feel his nod because he has his chin rested on my head.
On the car ride home, I decide to tell Drey the idea's that's been popping in my hand every second. “Drey?”
“Yeah?” he calls back,his eyes fixed on the road.
“I think I want to be home schooled from now on.” I tell him with a sigh.
“What? Why?” I see him frown as our gazes lock in the rearview mirror. He knows I'll always sit in the backseat just to make him seem like my driver, at first, it was just for the fun of it. But later on I got so used to it.
“Do I really have to answer that?” I sigh. “I just need your help in convincing dad.”
“Have you even considered my conviction? I'm not in support Anye,I’m sorry but I'm not.” he says as he stops the car in obedience to the red in the traffic lights.
“Andrey.” I say in a low voice and he sighs. He knows that I mean serious business when I call him by his full name. “This is not about what you think, it's about what I want.”
He groans as he starts the engine again as the lights go green. “Yeah but…” he starts to say, starting an argument but quickly decides against it with a sigh. “Okay fine, dad's not a problem and you know that.”
I know he's right. My dad tries his best to satisfy us and he's been doing that ever since our mom passed away when we were ten. He's still trying to take care of things, he knows how hard it is to keep up with being a single parent.
I remain silent all through the drive back home.
When Drey pulls the car into our driveway, I start to feel bad for pulling him into my girl teen drama. He has to miss school because of me. He's always so keen on perfect attendance so that even when he doesn't do well in school,the teachers can always give him credit for being early to school.
“Drey I'm sorry for dragging you into this.” I call to him in a low voice. “Now you have to miss school because of me.”
“Who says I'm going to miss school?” he chuckles. “Well maybe just the first class.” He adds with a shrug.
I nod at him and give him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you Drey.”
He acknowledges me with a nod and I hurry out of the car so he can drive back to school. I have always wanted to be home schooled anyways and dad still has no idea what Harvey has done to me since I've not had a chance to talk to him since the breakup yesterday.
I insert my key into keyhole and unlock the main door to the house before going in. The minute I start to hear voices coming from the living room, my heart skips. I quickly look around to see if I'll find something to save myself with incase the house is being burgled.
Gulping, I thank God for Drey's careless attitude when I spot his baseball bat lying around on the floor. Holding my breath, I reach for it and secure it tight with both hands, lifting it just a bit into the air.
Taking slow steps into the living room, the distant voices start to become more audible. If worse comes to worse, then I'll just phone Drey.
I open the door to the living room and I spot my dad sitting comfortably on the couch. Relief washes over me and I lower the baseball bat in my hands. He's talking to another man and they're both laughing. The other man has his back turned to me.
My father is supposed to be at work by now, at least, he'd already left when Drey and I were leaving for school.
Neither of them seem to have acknowledged my presence as they just keep laughing at whatever it is their discussing.
“Dad?” I call with furrowed eyebrows. He snaps his head up to meet my gaze. His shocked expression is replaced with a sweet smile when he sees that it's me.
“Honey you're here?” He says and stands to his feet, stretching his arms out so he can hug me.
The other man seated on the couch turns around too so he can look at me.
My jaw drops and my mouth goes dry, “Harvey?”
- Writer
