Redeeming Heart

Brandon Hills

“Rise and shine, lazybones!” My father badgered whipping my bedroom door open without a care in the world and one of the main reasons why I don’t have friends over or have a single interest in boys.

“It’s too early,” I grumbled beneath my breath grabbing a pillow and wrapping it around my head, hoping he will go away when he realizes I have no intention of getting up and obeying his silly rules.

“Don’t make me dump ice water all over you.” He threatened but I just ignored him, not believing that he would actually do it.

“Fine,” I heard him sigh. “You are giving me no choice.” He muttered and I had no idea what that meant.

I just smiled when I heard his footsteps fading away but let my guard down when I’ve fallen back asleep. My body jerked and I almost screamed when ice-cold water got dumped all over me.

“What the?!” I yelped, scrambling up and narrowing my eyes at my father who didn’t give a damn about my outburst.

“You’ve got ten minutes or Jonah is going to be late for school.” He said, tapping his wristwatch emphasizing that he would do it again.

“I didn’t agree to this.” I clarified.

“I don’t see that you have got a choice since you are still staying under my roof and that makes me in charge.” Now he wants to act like a father instead when I truly needed him.

“This is utter bullshit,” I muttered getting up from my bed.

“I am only doing this because I care about you.”

“Don’t you think it is too late for that?”

He didn’t say anything as he shut my bedroom door to give me some privacy but not before telling me to hurry up.

Jonah was Meredith’s thirteen-year-old son and a pain in the butt because he is excited about our parents getting married. He doesn’t understand how life works or the pain that was caused when I lost my mother and having to watch my father move on when I am still stuck in past.

Meredith was in the kitchen when I finally decided to show up while feeling hungover when I didn’t even have any experience to having a real hangover.

“You are late,” Jonah remarked not looking up from his PSP.

“I can always let you walk on your own.” I retorted reaching for a mug when Meredith pushed one towards me across the counter.

“Are you sure about this?” She asked looking at me. Thinking her question was directed at me and ready to answer but my father’s voice cut in.

“Yes, it will do her good and it will give them some time to bond.” He said like I wasn’t in the room.

Thinking I want to bond with some woman’s kid who thinks she can replace my mother. All I ever wanted was for my father to create a bond with me after mom passed away but instead, his loneliness bothered him.

“You are unbelievable,” I muttered into my mug.

“Do you want to share something with us, Sasha?” My father questioned arching an eyebrow, challenging me to say something so that he can punish me even further.

It was on the tip of my tongue but I didn’t want to ruin the morning for the rest of the people living in this house.

“No,” I mumbled, deciding to swallow my pride and wash the words down with my coffee.

Meredith gave me a knowing look and I could see she wanted to say something but decided against it as she mumbled something under her breath when placing a kiss on my father’s cheek before saying her goodbyes to the rest of us.

I placed my coffee mug in the sink and ordered Jonah to get his things so that we can head out.

My father gave me a questioning look when he observed I was taking my skateboard along.

“What?” I asked when I noticed the look on his face.

He shook his head at me and excused himself.

That wasn’t awkward at all.

Jonah was already waiting for me outside sharing the same disapproving expression as me.

“Come on,” I said, picking up his ice hockey bag with all his gear inside and gesturing for him to follow me.

None of us spoke but I caught him staring at my skateboard with longing while I was skating beside him on the sidewalk over to his school.

We’ve barely spoken a word to each other since they moved in with us two years ago. I was still mad at my father for what he has done and I hated Meredith for seducing my father.

Nothing about this was Jonah’s fault. He also had a tough upbringing as his father tried to kill his mother and he witnessed everything. They have also been on the run for years and this is the first time they have settled down.

He could finally be a kid who goes to school, join school activities after class and make a friend without having to be worried about moving away again. Thanks to my father who put the bad man behind bars.

“You want to try it out?” I offered, stepping off the board and gesturing for him to take it for a ride.

I stifled a chuckle when he almost threw me with his school bag from excitement to get on the skateboard. I showed him what to do and how to place his weight correctly on the board without tipping backwards or sideways.

At first, he was a bit sloppy and almost met the ground a few times but soon got the hang of it. He wasn’t confident enough to place both feet on the board and was only pushing himself with one foot while concentrating on not bumping into anyone that’s until we reached the downhill and he tried to be tough when he placed both his feet on the board.

“Jonah, slow down,” I warned when I realized he was picking up speed and usually it doesn’t end well if you don’t have control of the board. Especially when he was heading downhill without having proper training.

“I’m fine.” He assured me but I knew better.

I tried grabbing him but he evaded my hand making the mistake of skating down the hill without even knowing how to bring the board to a stop.

I ran after him, screaming for everyone to get out of the way and started to panic when then there were three guys ahead of us who didn’t hear us coming. I threw Jonah’s bags to the side, threw an arm around him and picked him up without a care in the world that he protested.

The momentum knocked me off my feet and we went down. My back hit the hard cement while Jonah landed on top of me with his full weight squashing every bit of my lady parts.

I laid there for a moment trying to catch my breath when Jonah scrambled to get off of me. “s**t, Sasha. Why did you do that?” Jonah asked with big, round eyes.

This kid was really starting to test my patience.

I quirked an eyebrow. “Where did you learn to swear like that?” I asked, my chest wheezing when I pushed myself up into a sitting position and ignored all of the onlookers passing us by.

“I am thirteen.” He said it like it was no big deal.

“Yeah, so?” I started looking around for my board. I was going to kill Jonah if he lost or broke my board. I used up all my allowance to buy that board and it wasn’t one of the cheap kind either.

“This yours?” I raised my gaze at the amused, masculine voice only to be greeted by familiar smoky-grey eyes that were smothered by humour.

I not only recognized him because of him being the town’s golden boy but we used to attend the same high school. He was popular while I wasn’t.

“You, okay? That seemed like quite a fall.” I wasn’t sure if he was nice or secretly have a laugh about my situation, either way, I wasn’t much thrilled with Jonah.

I nodded pushing myself to my feet taking my board from his outstretched hand and making sure it wasn’t broken.

“You are Brandon Hills,” Jonah exclaimed drawing Brandon’s focus away from me. “I’ve been to every single one of your games and hope to become half as good as you someday.”

I caught a glint in Brandon’s eyes when he smiled at Jonah.

“You play?” Brandon asked Jonah, who only realized now that I threw his bags aside to save his butt.

“That looks painful.” I shifted my eyes towards him and away from Jonah, catching him gazing at my arm.

I followed his stare and shrugged when I saw the fresh scrap on my elbow.

“It’s nothing.” I wouldn’t have even noticed if he didn’t point it out.

“I remember you now.” He noted, his eyes shielded and not giving anything away. “You were that hockey player who punched my ex-girlfriend in the face.”

I bit back a smirk when I remembered. “Yeah well, she deserved it.”

His girlfriend of that time was a bully and she got up all in my face right after I found out my mother was very ill and there was a chance, she wasn’t going to make it.

“You broke her nose and had her crying for weeks.” He pointed out and I still didn’t feel bad about what I did.

“She still deserved it.” I insisted.

He chuckled and nodded his head in agreement.

I looked at my watch and noticed that if Jonah and I didn’t leave this instant he was going to be late for school, and I will have Meredith breathing down my neck.

“We have to go.” I then said, pulling Jonah with me even if he protested.

“I’ll see you around,” Brandon said with a smile.

“Do you have any idea who that was?” Jonah exclaimed, following me down the path that was leading towards his school.

“Brandon is almost legendary,” Jonah added and suddenly had an exciting hop in his walk.

“What did he mean by you broke someone’s nose?” He asked.

“I punched his girlfriend who he was dating at that time,” I answered, curtly.

“s**t, Sasha…” I pinched the bridge of my nose when he swore again.

“We need to have a talk about your swearing,” I noted.

“Why? Everyone is doing it including you. Overheard you last night.”

Shit.

“It doesn’t automatically make it right for you to do it as well. I am nineteen.” Meredith was going to have my head if she has to learn I was the reason for the foul words coming out of his mouth.

“You can’t really make me stop.” He commented.

I arched an eyebrow. “Is that so? You want to play that game?” I watched his eyes widen slightly.

“Do you want me to tell your mother what kind of magazines you are hiding underneath your bed?” Two can play this game.

“How… how do you even know?” He asked.

“Your friends brought them over forgetting that I was home that day and watched them hide the magazines underneath your bed when your mom showed up.”

His jaw went slack and dropped open from surprise. “You wouldn’t.”

“Then stop with the swearing,” I suggested.

“No.” He insisted.

“Then you give me no choice.” I shrugged.

His eyes rounded and he started to panic at the thought of his mother finding what bad boy he has been. “Sasha, wait. Fine, I will stop with the bad words if you promise not to tell.”

I concealed a smile. “Good, now go and annoy your teachers.”