No Turning Back - Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Okay, Danny, you can do this. Just walk over there and do it. No hesitating. No stuttering. No freezing. You've got this, I thought to myself as I stood against the lockers near the gym doors. I had just gotten through with football practice and now I'm standing here watching the cheerleaders mingle around the girls' locker room doors. Mia was a cheerleader so she was amongst the chattering group. She was dressed in a pair of cotton shorts that expressed her creamy, toned legs, and a fitted tee that hugged her small torso. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail and bounced freely as she talked. She looked cute for just having finished a two hour practice. I've noticed that she always looks really pretty. Maybe that's what's wrong with me. Mia is a lot prettier than some of the girls I've dated in the past. She's like a little Barbie doll or something. Her flawless looks were probably the reason why I've been stalling with everything that involves her. But, then again, maybe it wasn't. I don't know why but a small part of me didn't want to ask her out. Something about it just didn't feel right. I wasn't sure why but it was still there. That small part of me was starting to annoy me. I've never second-guessed myself in all my seventeen years of living. I should be ashamed at my coward-like behavior. Asking a girl out should be easy. It always was easy for me. So why now was it so difficult?
My attention was averted from Mia to Jayden and Ashley who were walking down the hall towards me. Jayden was holding a notebook, staring down at it with his eyebrows creased together in concentration. Ashley, on the other hand, was chattering rapidly and moving her hands around. As I stared at them, I recalled what Juan had said about his nephew. Brains but no common sense. While I did believe the last part, I was having a little bit of trouble wrapping my head around the first part. Sure, Jayden had never really struck me as the smart type before we formally met. I will admit that he was showing off a bit of his smarts frequently in the AP class that we shared. The other day, we had gotten some math-based worksheet and Jayden practically zipped through it within ten minutes. Mr. Myers actually came over to check the worksheet and was mildly surprised to announce that all the answers were correct. "You are going to do something great in your life with that brain you got," our teacher had told Jayden with an encouraging smile. My partner shrugged.
"I guess. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with my life yet," he said as he tapped his pencil against the table lightly.
"You can be anything that you but your mind to," I heard Mr. Myers say before I finished my paper as well. "Done too, Daniel?" I nodded. "Do you know what you want to study in college?"
"I'm going for pre-med, actually. I've been strongly leaning towards the medical field in career paths. I like helping people and I think science is interesting so I thought that I might like it in the medical field." Mr. Myers practically beamed at the sound of my answer. His eyes filled with excitement as he began to rattle off questions.
"What field of medicine do you want to go into? Do you want to be a doctor or do you want to do research work for diseases? Where are you looking to get your undergrad and your doctorates?" Jayden leaned his head into the palm of his hand, his eyes boring into me. He must have been bored if he was actually interested in my answers. I doubted he even really cared about it.
"Well, I want to be a doctor but my dad wants me to go into the pharmaceutical business. If I do go to be a doctor then I want to be a surgeon or a pediatrician or a cancer specialist or something like that. I haven't exactly decided yet. As for school: my parents are urging me to go to Harvard or Yale but I haven't heard back from either of them yet so yea." Jayden rolled his eyes at the sound of my Ivy League schools. I saw his lips move as he muttered something under his breath but I didn't hear it due to Mr. Myer's congratulations.
"I guess it's a good thing I paired you two together. Maybe Daniel can give you some guidance in regards to the future, Jayden." He had shrugged and looked away. We haven't exactly spoken since. I mean, we didn't speak much anyway but I was just throwing it in there. Besides, sometimes I felt as if he was deliberately ignoring me. It was both peaceful and annoying at the same time – however that worked.
He and my sister stopped walking a couple feet away from me. I was in hearing range so I was fine with that. I had actually been standing here waiting for Ashley anyway. She and Jayden had an after-school tutoring session today. I was supposed to take her home so that we could get ready for the dinner party that my father was taking us to for his job. "Thank you so much for your help," Ashley said as Jayden handed her the notebook.
"It's no problem. Give me a call if you need anything else or if you have any more questions," he told her.
"Yea, you'd better expect that call because I'm sure that I will find something that I won't be able to wrap my head around." Jayden chuckled before raising his eyes in my direction. His jaw immediately tightened as his eyes hardened. He quickly looked away and turned his body away from me. Ashley glanced at me and smiled.
"We should get going, Danny," she said as she began to walk up to me. "We don't need daddy rushing us to get dressed and everything."
"If you don't mind, Ashley," Jayden said, causing her to turn her head. "I'd like to speak with your brother for a moment." I noticed Ashley's eyes brighten at the sound of that. She nodded quickly before turning back to me.
"I'll meet you in the car," she told me before walking off down the hall. Jayden slowly approached me but he didn't speak until the sound of my sister's footsteps vanished. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Look, I know what you want," I told him. Jayden stopped suddenly as his eyes widened. For a moment, it was as if he was a bit scared. It was as if I knew his deep dark secret or something. Or if I knew something I wasn't supposed to.
"You do," he asked as he tilted his head.
"Yup. You want to punch my face in. I get it, really but I'm asking humbly for you not to bruise my face. My dad needs me to look pretty for this party tonight." Jayden rolled his eyes. His frightened look had vanished from his face as he spoke. Now, he was just staring at me with annoyance.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to punch on you... Not yet, anyway." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Ashley just wanted me to attempt to be on good terms with you but I find that virtually impossible."
"How," I asked. "I've done nothing to you. If anything, I'm only trying to be nice. You're the one always trying to pick fights with me."
"Because I don't like you." I laughed dryly.
"Whoa, big shocker. That wasn't supposed to surprise me, was it?" I asked. My answer wasn't exactly the verbal one I had been expecting. Instead, I received a nice slam up against the lockers. Jayden's arm was just below my neck on my chest, his strength pinning me up against the cold metal. His vibrant eyes burned with anger as they stared into mine.
"Now, you listen to me, you little shitball. I don't know how many times I have to tell your ass to stop testing me but just know that this is your last warning. The next time something disrespectful towards me or even if you say something that just pisses me off: I will not hesitant in punching your pretty little face in until you'll need plastic surgery to fix it. Understand?" I wanted to say something then but no words came out. I didn't want to agree to his terms but I also wasn't going to say anything smart either. I would just try to get him off me. But, right now, I couldn't move nor could I think. It was weird. I couldn't focus on anything except his body and his arm and the way he was using so little strength to keep me at bay. While I was paralyzed physically, it seemed that his eyes had paralyzed my mind as well. They were just boring into me so intensely that I thought he was trying to rip out my soul. I will admit that I was intimidated but I wasn't afraid. I knew that he wasn't going to hurt me – not in that moment anyway. He was just threatening me so that I would stop pissing him off. But somehow, I felt as if there was more to this than that.
He backed off due to my silence, thankfully. He shot me a glare before storming off down the hallway though. I barely had time to recollect myself before I felt small hands rubbing my arm. "Oh my gosh, Daniel, are you okay," I heard Mia's soft voice say. I looked down to see the girl looking at me with wide concerned eyes. I glanced towards the groups of cheerleaders she had been with to see that they were all staring with worried looks as well. I guess they thought Jayden was going to pummel me into the lockers right then and there. If I were them, I would have thought the same thing. Jayden was the kind of dude who kicked your ass first and asked questions later. I'm actually a bit surprised that he's given me so many warnings already.
"Yea, Mia, I'm fine," I told her as I smiled. Her pink lips turned up slightly as she began to notice that I didn't have any bruises or anything. "Thanks for asking." She nodded.
"Of course," she said. "We're calculus buddies, remember," she joked softly. I smiled wider at her small tease. She was so cute. She reminded me of a little kitten or something. "Plus, I was just worried about you."
"You don't have to worry about me. There's not going to be any trouble between Jayden and I."
"I wish I could take your word for it but you guys always seem to be pushing each other's buttons. Are you sure you're not worried?" I sighed as I put my hands on her small shoulders.
"Mia, trust me, I will be fine." She nodded before wrapping her slender arms around me. I chuckled softly as I wrapped my arms around her as well. The soft cotton candy smell of her hair filled my nose as I hugged her. It smelled nice but something about it made my stomach lurch. I mean, I liked cotton candy so why did the smell on her make me feel a bit sick? I shook off my weird feeling as I recalled what I had been trying to motivate myself to do the entire time I was standing in the hallway. Guess it was now or never. "So, Mia, is it okay if I take you out Saturday night?" I asked after I swallowed the giant ball of anxiety down my throat. Mia looked up at me, pink blush covering her porcelain cheeks.
"Sure," she said shyly. I smiled.
"Awesome. I'll pick you up at 7. Just text me your address, alright?" Mia nodded, a small smile coming upon her face.
"Okay. I can't wait." I shot her a smile.
"I've got to go. I'll call you later," I told her. She smiled wider and nodded. I bent down to peck a kiss at her cheek before letting her go and walking off down the hall. As soon as my back was to her, my smile dropped. A sudden emptiness filled my stomach as my heart hung heavy. Something didn't feel right. But what? What could possibly be wrong here? I just asked out a gorgeous girl who I was pretty sure liked me. So what was the problem? Why did I feel so empty? Why did it feel as if something was missing? Why do I feel as if it just wasn't right?
X
"Hi Danny, how was your – whoa! Where are you going," my mom asked as she walked into my room on Friday night. I had been getting ready to go on my date with Mia when she walked in. I was fully dressed in a plain blue cotton button up shirt with a pair of jeans and sneakers. I had brushed my hair so that it looked...neat I guess the word could be. I had also sprayed a spritz of cologne. I guess I looked pretty good.
"I'm going out," I said, turning to face her. She was leaning in the doorway with this strange look on her face. Her lips were pulled up into a proud smile but yet her eyes were sad and nostalgic. She was dressed in her normal pencil skirt and blouse attire that she wore to work with her chestnut waves falling over her shoulders.
"Where are you going," she asked softly, tilting her head in curiosity. "Or who are you going with, I should say."
"This girl from school," I replied. My mom's eyes lit up at the sound of that as her smile increased.
"A girl," she repeated. "What's her name? What's she like? Is she pretty? Smart? Athletic?"
"Her name's Mia. She's really sweet and angelic, I guess you could say. She's beautiful and smart and...well, she's a dancer sort of if that counts as athletic." My mom nodded in satisfaction. She absolutely adored talking about my love life for some reason. On the other hand, my dad wasn't really for me dating since he wanted me to focus on school. It was kind of weird talking to my mom about girls though. I mean, when I was trying to explain my first time to her it was just...awkward. Sure she was attentive and supportive of all my decisions when it came to girls but it was just weird. Most guys usually go to their fathers for that sort of thing. I wish I could turn to mine but all he cares about is my success and college choice right now. Hearing a lecture about those topics was starting to get old so I try to avoid it when I talk to him. At the dinner party the other night, college and my career choice was the topic of conversation with him and his colleagues. Apparently, I was the most successful child out of all of them so they all decided to praise me and what not. A part of me did feel proud about my accomplishments but another part of me just felt annoyed. I was tired of hearing my list of accomplishments being rattled off endlessly. Some of those accomplishments didn't really mean much, honestly. I was just a hard worker like my parents and was rewarded for my achievements. I wish people could just see it that way instead of seeing it as if I was some perfect child sent from Heaven or something. If I told my dad about Mia then he'll probably just start talking about how I'm going to start the model of a perfect family and I really was not trying to hear any of that.
"How did you meet her?"
"She's in a couple of my classes. We met in Calculus though."
"Ah, so she's in your advanced classes. That's good." I nodded.
"Sorry mom, but I've got to go pick her up. I'll talk to you later." I pecked my mother on the cheek before heading downstairs. I hopped into the car and plugged Mia's address into my GPS. Within those five minutes, I was cruising down the road. According to my GPS, Mia didn't live far from me. She lived closer to the city in some of the suburb houses. Her house was a reasonably sized blue house with a white roof, white shutters, and a lengthy horizontal porch. The house fit her somewhat. It looked like one of those cute little houses that the Barbie people in those Barbie movies live in. A small porch swing was on their big porch in which Mia's small figure was sitting in it. At the sight of my car, she immediately hopped up and began to make her way to the car. I got out of the front seat to meet her at the passenger side.
"Hey Daniel," she said softly as she got closer to me. She was wearing a fitted burgundy long sleeved cropped shirt that had a diamond cut on her chest to show a peak of her cleavage, a high waist black shirt that had big waves at the ends and a pair of black high heels with buckles around the ankles. Her hair was hanging over her shoulders in curls and her big eyes were outlined in a dark burgundy color. Her lips were frosted in a soft neutral color and bracelets covered her wrists. She looked really cute.
"Hey beautiful," I said as she walked into my arms for a hug. Immediately, I caught the scent of her feisty perfume. It smelled nice but again my stomach slightly twisted. Maybe it was just nerves. I hoped it was just nerves. "You look amazing," I told her as I went to open the door for her. She blushed deeply as she stepped into the car.
"Thank you," she replied before I shut the door. I jogged back over to the driver's side and got in beside her. "So, where are you taking me," she asked with a soft smile.
"Well, see, we've never actually talked about what kind of food you like to eat or any of your favorite restaurants. So, I had no idea where you would want me to take you. And this little rattle is just me basically asking where you'd like to go." Mia giggled at me and shook her head.
"You're cute," she mused. "But I was actually hoping that we could try that new grill that opened downtown. The whole school keeps talking about it and I haven't had the chance to get there yet. I think it's called the Dancing Lights or something but in Spanish." Ah shit. I could not get away from that place, could I?
"Yea, I'll take you there." Mia smiled at me.
"Awesome." I started the ignition and the radio came on. Immediately, country music began to blast from the speakers. Mia raised her eyebrow for a second before turning to me. "A cowboy huh," she teased lightly. I smiled.
"Yea. A part of my mom's family is from Tennessee and we used to visit a lot as kids so I kind of got myself addicted to this stuff. I like it better than pop or rock or anything like that."
"Who's your favorite country singer?"
"Hmm, that's a hard question. I don't think I have a specific favorite, actually. I am a big fan of Carrie Underwood though. I will admit to that." Mia laughed.
"Is she your celebrity girlfriend?"
"Hey, if she were to pop up at my front door and ask me to marry her then I would say yes in a heartbeat. No offense." Mia laughed even more. "What? She has some vocals to her."
"Yes, she does. That girl can sing her behind off."
"Mhmm. So, how about you? What kind of music are you into?"
"I'm actually into a little bit of everything. Literally, my iPod will jump from Ariana Grande to Green Day to Mayday Parade to Chris Brown within 6 or 7 songs. I'm more of a diverse kind of girl." I nodded.
"Hey, I appreciate a good taste in music."
"Good." Mia and I talked more about our interests as we drove to the huge hangout spot. Mia fell into awe when we finally arrived, looking around curiously at everything around her. I led her to the restaurant, holding her small hand in mine. When I had first grabbed her hand, she had looked at me and blushed deeply. It was cute. As we were waiting patiently in the line to get seated, I spotted Jayden cleaning up one of the tables. He seemed focused in doing his job. His mouth was tightened into a line and I could see there was some force in his wipes on the table. His green eyes glanced up and immediately met mine. His gaze lingered over me for a moment before I saw his eyes flick to Mia. I noticed a bit of confusion as the space between his eyebrows crinkled slightly. But then, I noticed a sort of anger, I think. A jaw in his muscle jumped as his eyes hardened a bit. He looked away quickly and resumed doing his job. I looked away as well when Mia began jabbering something about the scenery and how good the food smelled. I entertained her conversation but I kept glancing back at Jayden. For some reason, I wanted to know why he gave me that look. It was if he was angry or envious or something. How the hell do I keep managing to unintentionally piss him off? That's just going to get me killed. Or maybe not. As I glanced at Jayden once more, I felt as if there was something more to Jayden's irritation with me. It wasn't me being a jackass or anything but something more. Something deeper. Personal maybe. But what? What exactly am I doing so absentmindedly? My eyes asked this question as Jayden locked gazes with me again. My question didn't get answered. Instead, Jayden flipped me off bluntly before continuing what he was doing. Great. Just great. I guess I better start counting down how many days I have until he decides to punch my face in. I'd give it about three weeks. Maybe a month if I'm lucky.
Later on when I was in the bathroom, Jayden actually did happen to waltz in. I was at the sinks, washing my hands and minding my own business. He glanced at me but didn't say anything, thank goodness. Or at least he didn't in that first moment. "Pretty girl," he commented. "What happened to the other one you were just here with last week?"
"Oh, so you think I'm a cheater now," I asked. Jayden shrugged.
"Not exactly a cheater. You're more of a blind idiot." I rolled my eyes.
"And what exactly am I being so blind about?"
"The brunette or whatever the hell she is likes you and the blonde chick at the table likes you but yet you don't seem to be very interested in either of them." I scoffed.
"Oh please. First of all, Melanie and I are just friends. We've been friends since kindergarten. Second of all, you don't know anything about me or my inner emotions. If I don't recall, you don't know much about me at all."
"I never said I knew much. I just know what I know from observation." He shrugged again. "Just don't go around breaking hearts, will ya? I also happen to have a girl best friend and I know how those kinds of things can get. Actually, no, go out and break hearts. Then they can hate you for the heartless bastard that you are." I tightened my jaw as I turned to face him.
"You know what, Jayden, I am tired of you! It hasn't even been a full two months of school and I'm already sick of you! I get that you don't like me, alright? I get it! But don't act like you know me because you don't know a damn thing about me!" Jayden raised an eyebrow.
"Whoa. White boy has got a mouth." Without thinking, I lashed out and punched him right in his jaw. I could tell that my hit surprised him but I doubted it hurt. He stumbled back a couple steps before he glared at me. I got the sense that it was time for me to run but I didn't move. Instead I stood there, watching him, waiting for him to pummel me into the ground. He stared back at me, his eyes scanning my body for any sudden movements. It was a bit weird. We were both just standing there, waiting for the other to attack. Neither of us did though. To my surprise, a small smile came upon Jayden's face. "So you're not a little bitch after all," he mused. He stepped closer to me, backing me up against the boulder of the sinks until he was in my face. "Alright, then, brave boy. If you wanna throw any more punches at me, I'll be waiting. Just give me a place and a time and I'll be more than happy to kick your ass."
"Why don't you just do it now? Give me a black eye, break my ribs, get whatever anger you have at me out. I'd rather have it done in privacy than with a crowd watching."
"Well, I would and trust me, I really want to after your feeble attempt at a punch but lucky for you: I need this job. Watch your back, white boy," he lowly before backing off. He sent me one last glare before leaving the restroom. As soon as he was gone, I let out the breath that I had been holding. Even though I was trying not to let my small fear show, I still felt it in my veins. But now, I do have something to be afraid of. I know that he's ruthless and might catch me off guard. But then again, he did tell me to give him a place and a time. Either way, I knew he was going to end up punching my face in. I threw my head back as I groaned mentally. What the hell did I just get myself into?