Breaking the Cycle

Chapter 3

Vincent

I was still in a daze. I was waking back with so many thoughts running through my mind. I didn’t really want to talk to my friends about this. There was only one person I knew I could talk to.

I walked to Claire’s door and noticed there was a dim light in her room. I knocked and didn’t hear anything so I knocked again.

“Claire?”

I opened the door slowly and saw her desk lamp was on. She was sitting there slumped on her desk with her head on my sweater sleeping.

She was a little paler than usual. I brushed a few strands of hair away from her face when my hand grazed her forehead. She had a fever.

“Claire? Claire, let’s get you in bed”

There was no response from her. I scooped her up, placing her in bed. When I went to turn off the lights I felt something snag my sleeve. Her eyes still close.

“Don’t leave me,” she sounded scared.

“I’m not leaving you”

I crawled into bed with her. She scooted in closer. Resting her head on my chest and gripping my shirt. I ran my hand up and down her back.

She was shaking like she was cold, but she was burning up. She started to whimper.

“Shh… you're okay. I’m here,” I cooed.

“Don’t leave me again”

“I never left”

It was some time before I noticed her breathing even out. Telling me she was asleep. I just stared at her as I ran my hand through her hair. It was then that I realized that when I was with her my mind was at ease.

I closed my eyes and took in the slight scent of her perfume. Letting the stress of everything go until tomorrow..

***

I was at school collecting all of her homework. Luckily I went back to the guest room early in the morning. I was woken up by Crystal, telling me Claire was not going to school and that she already called the school to let them know I was going to be picking up Claire’s homework and I’d be leaving early to bring it to her.

“Why can’t she just wait till tomorrow to get her homework like the rest of us?” Alyssa said.

“She might not come back tomorrow. She had a really bad fever”

She rolled her eyes.

“Before I forget,” Wayne pulled out a dvd, “since you weren’t able to watch it with us I brought it for you”

“Thanks man”

“Vincent!” Someone shouted my name.

I tilted my head back and sighed, knowing full well who it was. I turned around to see Levi stalking towards me.

“What?”

“Where’s my girlfriend? She hasn’t been answering my phone calls or texts”

“How should I know? I’m not her keeper”

He looked down at my hands and saw the folders with her name on it. I decided to take this opportunity to get him riled up.

“This is for her after school session. You know…,” I leaned in a bit, “A little one on one time”

“Give me those,” he held out his hand for her folders.

“No can do. You see her mom asked me to get these and her and the teachers are already expecting me to be leaving in about thirty minutes, but hey, I’ll tell her to give you a call,” I grinned, “if I don’t tire her out”

He lost it, launching forward at me. He grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and when he pulled his arm back the track coach, Mr. Sterling had grabbed his arm.

“Easy there tough guy. Unless you want to get benched for the next game”

He yanked his arm out of Mr. Sterling’s hand and stormed off.

“You kids get back to class now”

“Yes Mr. Sterling,” we all answered.

“You like to push him don’t you?” Travis smirked

“What can I say, I have a soft spot for him”

I finished picking up her school work and got mine as well. With how sick she was I doubted she would be well enough by Friday and I still really wanted to talk to her..

***

I unlocked the house and made sure to lock it when I came in. Crystal and Mason were always adamant about us locking the doors. I remember Leon lost one of the keys and they completely rekeyed the house.

“Hello?” I asked loudly.

“In here,” Crystal shouted from the kitchen.

“Hey. How is she?”

“She’s sleeping now. She was up a few hours ago trying to go to school. I told her you were getting her homework and would be back later. Here, maybe you can get her to eat something,” She handed me a plate with two sandwiches on it. “One’s for you,” she set two water bottles on the counter for us.

“Thank you,” I placed her folders under my arm and grabbed the plate and water bottles.

I walked up stairs and knocked on the door. I heard the knob turn as she opened it. Not even looking at me. Her hair was up in a messy bun. The strands falling out perfectly framed her face. She had my sweater back on and a blanket wrapped around her.

“Well good morning sunshine” I chuckled.

She looked back and glared at me as she sat back down on her bed. I handed her a bottle and set the plate on the bed. I gave her the folder of homework and sat next to her. She began to flip through the papers.

“Why is there so much for one day?”

“It’s not for one day,” I picked up a sandwich and started to pick the crust off of it.

“What, why?”

“I figured with how sick you were you’d be out for a while”

“I’m fine,” she pulled the blanket closer to her.

“Sure you are,” I handed her the sandwich without the crust.

“Why are there doubles of some of this homework?” She took it and began to eat

“Some of it’s mine”

She gave me a confused look.

“I figured I might as well stay home too”

“Then why not go home?”

“Well someone is being feisty”

She giggled. We ate our food and watched a little T.V.

We decided to get ahead on our homework. I was trying to think of how to talk to her about everything I found out.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah”

What would she think about me? Would she think I was overreacting or making it up? I started to panic.

“Why do you still have that sweater?”

“Oh no you don’t,” she clutched the front of it.

“What?”

“You’re not getting it back. It’s mine. I won it fair and square”

“Only because I let you win”

“Liar, I beat you. I’ll play you again”

“I’m not playing someone who is sick”

“Sounds like someone is being a chicken”

I looked around the room and saw the wastebasket near her desk. I tore a piece of paper out of my notebook and waded it up, tossing it directly into the basket. She smiled and scooted closer, tearing another piece of paper out of my book.

We played for a while before Crystal came in.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better,” she picked up the plate and smiled “still picky as ever. I take it you pulled the crust off for her?”

“I got her to eat”

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Someone is here to see you,” Crystal smiled at Claire.

“Who?” Claire tossed another paper ball at the basket.

“You suck,” I laughed.

“Shut it!” She pushed me over, landing on top of me.

Levi walked in the room, with his backpack in his hand. She sat up and smiled at him.

“Hey, I heard you were sick,” he came over to give her a kiss, but before his lips touched hers she turned her face, making him kiss her cheek.

He looked angry about this, but played it off well.

“I don’t want to get you sick”

“I’ll leave you to talk,”Crystal smiled.

“Let me get the door for you,” Levi held the door open.

“Thank you,” when Crystal walked out he started closing the door, “oh please leave the door open”

“Mom,” Claire ran her hands over her face.

“Will do Mrs Ashton,” Levi smiled.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. Definitely feel a bit foggy still”

He looked down at her sweater.

“Why are you wearing that old thing?” He got up and went to her closet, grabbing a different one, “Here. This one is definitely warmer”

“That’s ok. I have my blanket,” she pulled the blanket over her shoulders, “so did they ever figure out who did that to your locker?”

We both glared at one another.

“No”

“I’m sorry”

Crystal came back up.

“Hey princess, is your phone on? Pops tried calling you”

She got up and grabbed her phone from the desk.

“I guess I forgot to charge it,” she plugged it in, “is everything okay?”

“Yeah. He heard you were sick and wanted to know if you were going to make it in on Saturday”

“I completely forgot. Can I use your phone?”

They headed downstairs, leaving Levi and I alone. I laid back on the bed and sprawled out.

“Why did you really stop by?” I asked.

“What do you think?”

“Someone is a bit insecure”

“I’m just making sure you’re not touching what is mine. I’ve been waiting for months and I’ll be damned if you’re gonna be the first one to bed her”

“She’s not a toy Levi. You can’t just play with her and toss her when you’re finished”

“Who said I was gonna toss her? I’ll keep her around as a little side piece,” he grinned.

I sat up quickly, but stopped myself from getting up when I saw Claire coming in.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I laid back down.

She placed her hand on Levi’s shoulder and leaned against him. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her neck.

“Levi stop that,” he did it again, “Levi please,” he looked at me as he did it one more time, but I could see her face start to pale, “Levi”

“Let go!” I shot up.

In one swift movement I grabbed the trash bin and pulled her off of him. She grabbed the bin and began to empty her small lunch she ate. I handed her my water bottle. She sat on the bed and swished the water around her mouth, spitting it in the bin.

“What’s going on?” Crystal came in.

I sat on the bed and looked at Levi.

“She started to go pale and then just vomited,” I rubbed her back as she stared into the bin.

“Sorry Levi, but I think it’d be best if you leave”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he leaned in to kiss her forehead, but she held her hand up.

I saw the same look of anger flash across his face as he left.

“Here, I’ll clean the bin and bring it back,” Crystal grabbed it and walked Levi out.

“What happened?”

“I can’t stand the smell of his cologne,” she laid back and rested her legs on my lap.

I ran my fingers around her anklet.

“Why are you with him?”

“Why do you care?” She looked up at me, “honestly?”

“Honestly”

“I don’t know. I thought I liked him, but I think I only like him as a friend. He’s too pushy”

“Then why stay with him?”

“I don’t know… he kind of reminds me of you”

“What the hell? How?”

“Not the way you act or anything. He just kind of looks like you and it felt familiar. I guess I was just scared.

“Scared of what?”

She reached down and pulled the blanket up to her mouth.

“Hey,” I pulled myself up the bed so we were looking each other in the eye, “what are you scared of,” I pulled the blanket down, showing her lips.

I poked her nose, making her smile as her eyes began to sparkle with tears.

“Hey now,” I pulled her into my chest.

I felt her hands tighten on my shirt as she wept. I rubbed her back and let her cry out whatever she was holding on to. Her sobs slowly faded and I could feel her breathing even out. She had finally fallen asleep.

I could smell the light floral scent of her shampoo. As I held her close I couldn’t help but wonder, had she always been this small? Her aroma was so relaxing that I started to drift off to sleep. Thinking about what she was so afraid of and making a promise to myself to protect her from whatever it was.