The bad girl and the dork

The world could be so weird sometimes.

You know when you're a kid you'd look at the clouds and see things in it? If you didn't, you obviously had a horrible childhood.

I never stopped looking at the clouds. Right now I was looking at a duck sniffing a dog's hiney. I'm not sure but I feel like the dog's enjoying it. That's what dogs do right? Sniff butts? Does that mean they like to get sniffed too?

The weather seemed nice if you ignored the suggestive clouds. Further in the distance the clouds were grey. I could already smell the rain.

I was hoping for a storm. Storms had always had a relaxing effect on me. Is that weird? Probably.

"What are you thinking about?" Kate asked me. We were in Biology.

"Sniffing butts and thunderstorms." I shrugged.

Kate tried her best not to laugh. "So, the usual then?"

"Exactly. Did your fiance drive you today 'cause I could give you a ride back." I suggested, having the thunderstorm in the back of my mind. I was heading to my dad's place anyway. She rolled her eyes at my fiance comment. Obviously they weren't engaged but they were pretty serious.

"I'm hanging out with friends after school. Not long though, since you're coming over. Oli misses you." Kate had an accusing look on her face. I hadn't seen my dad in a while.

By in a while I mean a little over a week. My dad tends to overreact. He texted me earlier today to ask if his estranged daughter was coming over.

"Aw, I miss Oli too." I cooed. It felt weird calling my dad by his nickname. His name's Oliver and sometimes I'd call him Liver just to bug him. He'd always respond by calling me Jillian, even though that's not even my name.

After the bell rang I said goodbye to Kate and headed towards my car.

"Weekend!" Snake came up to me with a wide grin on his face.

"Dude... it's Thursday." I looked concerned. I had just crushed his dreams by telling him it wasn't Friday. The moment he realised what I just said his face fell. Poor guy.

"I was so sure it was Friday." I almost couldn't cope with the sadness in his eyes.

I patted his shoulder "There there. Tomorrow you can say it again and it will be true!" I tried to cheer him up.

Snake didn't care about that. Right now, he was cursing Thursday to the deepest pits of hell.

"But... but I wanted to make plans for tonight. Because... weekend." Snake pouted. He was as big as a bear with a heart of gold.

"We'll hang out tomorrow, alright?" I was biting my lip so I wouldn't laugh. This situation was just ridiculous.

"You said that last week but you were too 'occupied' all of a sudden." He smiled. Great, he cheered up just so he could make fun of me. Remember what I just said about his golden heart? Yeah, scratch that.

Gwen had asked me on Monday why I couldn't make it. I never got the chance to reply 'cause they'd figured it out by just looking at my face.

Jake was amused, Gwen asked for details and Code had covered his ears with his hands singing 'lalala that's my brother I don't wanna hear it.'. So, in short, Monday was hell.

"Shut up." I slapped Snake. Apparently not hard enough 'cause he had started laughing even louder.

"I'd love to hear you laugh at my expense but I need to get going." My voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Don't want to leave loverboy waiting." He winked.

"If by loverboy you mean my dad then yes." I raised an eyebrow "You've been hanging out with Jake way too much."

"I really have." He said seriously making me snort. 

"Right... See ya tomorrow my little serpent." I cooed.

"Serpent, is that what you call yo-" Snake looked extremely amused so I started opening the car door because I knew something dirty was gonna come out of that mouth of his.

"Can't hear you, driving!" I interrupted him.

The last thing I heard was his booming laughter before I drove away.

Fifteen minutes later I was parking my car in my dad's driveway. I guess he was working at home today since he usually didn't come home this early.

"No I'm not interested in a vacuum cleaner!" Was the first thing my dad said to me. He was still wearing his lawyer-y clothes but his dark brown hair looked disheveled and he wasn't wearing any shoes. His socks were a nice bright red with white polka dots. Very manly.

"What? If I offer you a vacuum cleaner, you'll take it damn it!" I played along with whatever he was doing.

"Don't curse! My daughter tends to curse. I haven't seen her in a while though." He gave me a lopsided grin. Oh yeah, he thinks he's the funniest guy ever. He's probably the only one with that opinion.

"Aren't you funny." I deadpanned.

"I know! Want anything to drink?" He went to the living room, expecting me to follow him.

"I'd love a coke." I told him and plopped myself on the couch.

"Great, grab me a beer while you're at it." He stretched and sat down next to me. He put his feet on the coffee table, making himself extremely comfortable.

I frowned at his comment.

"That annoyed look won't help. You're a teenager, you're always annoyed about something."  I shrugged. He was right.

I groaned while getting up to show him the labor he was putting me through and grabbed the drinks from the kitchen.

When I got back he patted the empty space next to him.

"So how was school?" He took a sip of his beer.

"How was work?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, I get it." He didn't like to talk about work either, unless he had a crazy client.

"How's your mom?" Every once in a while my dad would ask about my mom and vice versa. Their divorce wasn't horrific or anything. They had actually remained friends afterwards, but my guess is that I was the reason for that. They gradually talked less and less with each other.

"She's doing well. She's seeing someone." I told him. My dad looked surprised.

"Really? What's he like?" He was curious. Even though he loved Beth, he was still concerned about my mom.

"He's British and so much better than her last husband. I've heard he's a dick." I whispered the last part as if I was gossiping with a bunch of girls.

"Apparently so is his daughter." He replied calmly.

"Touche." I shrugged. "His name's Hugh and he seems alright. She's happy."

Dad smiled. "Good."

He crossed his arms and looked stern. What had I done this time?

"I hear you have a boyfriend too." Crap.

"How did you- oh. Kate." I frowned. Kate probably told him.

"Yes 'oh Kate'. I had to hear it from someone else." He still looked stern but I could see the amusement in his eyes. He was enjoying watching me squirm.

"I wanted to surprise you on my weddding day?" I was uttering bullshit and he knew it. I didn't even want to get married. Ever.

"Cute. I want to meet him and I want him to meet my shotgun." He said with a creepy grin.

"You don't even have a shotgun, you pork." I couldn't hide my smile when dad started laughing.

"Did you just call your old man pork?" He shook his head.

"Good, your ears still work." I was being extremely cocky because I wanted to change the subject.

"I'm offended! You'd really think you could distract me in such a cheap way? Have you forgotten I'm a lawyer, my dear?" And I had failed.

"Fine, I'll bring him over some time." I rolled my eyes and took my dad's beer but right before I could take a sip he took it from me.

"You can do that in college. Or another time when I'm not sitting in front of you." He raised his eyebrow. My parents never let me drink in front of them but I always kept trying. I guess it was some weird, twisted inside joke.

Suddenly the door burst open and a slightly wet Kate appeared.

"Why did you leave me stranded at school? I was running after your car, begging you to drive me home 'cause it was about to rain. Not cool, Jill!" Kate was playing around but the look on my dad's face was priceless.

"You just looked so cute running after my car. Your hair everywhere. Oh and when you almost fell, man that cracked me up." I laughed. Kate tried to look shocked but it was very exaggerated.

"I'll get you back!" She pointed her finger at me.

"Oh really? 'Cause I've heard you've been talking about me with my dad." I gave her a challenging look. She knew I was talking about me having a boyfriend.

She gulped as soon as she realised what I was referring to.

"Run." I deadpanned. Her eyes went wide and she actually ran upstairs. I was cracking up.

"You left her in the rain?!" My dad yelled. Oops. I'd forgotten he was in the room.

"We were joking dad."

"Oh so that's why Kate looked like she was having a stroke. She's a terrible actress." He laughed. I knew he didn't believe anything that just happened. Kate's acting was probably worse than those kid actors on Disney channel.

After dinner I decided to go visit Chase. I hadn't seen him all week since he had to catch up on schoolwork. A lot apparently. He was probably overdoing it.

I texted him I was there before I stepped out of the car.

As usual, I was greeted by Bus. I told him the new commands and he obeyed like a boss.

"Good boy." Crap! No, not good boy! I fell for my own prank. This had to be a new low for me.

In the kitchen I was greeted by a tired looking Chase.

"Hey Jill." He smiled softly.

"Hi" I muttered after a short kiss.

"Come on, let's do something fun." I told Chase. He'd probably been staring at his books for hours.

"I really can't. I have a lot of catching up to do." He sighed.

"Sure you can. You need to relax every once in a while." He took school way too seriously, this was the proof. There's no way you could concentrate for hours on end. Sometimes you needed to take a break.

"I don't need to relax. I need to revise." He was starting to get irritated. I'd never seen Chase this moody before. Hmm what could one do with all that stress in their system? Oh, I don't know, relax a little maybe?

"Alright, alright. Chill." I raised my hands in surrender, not wanting an argument.

"Not everyone can live like you and chill all the time, Jill." He said. His voice was even but I could tell he was getting fed up.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. 'Live like me'? I couldn't believe he was getting this fed up about it.

"You never study." He put the emphasis on never.

"I study. Sometimes." I told him honestly. My answer seemed to make him angrier for some reason.

"That exactly what I mean! You don't study, you get high grades anyway and you don't understand that some people do need to study to get high grades." His breathing was getting deeper and faster.

I almost snorted. "I don't understand? Sure I do. But sometimes you need to fucking relax." I was getting fed up too. I knew I had to calm down soon. I didn't like fights. Especially about stupid little things.

"No you don't understand! And you know what I don't understand?!" He raised his voice. Chase didn't wait for my answer.

"I don't understand how you can throw away your future like that. Do you really not care at all?" Where the hell was this coming from. Who said anything about throwing away my future?

Who did he think he was, accusing me of this crap.

"Throwing away my future? You're not even making sense right now." My intention of staying calm flew out the window.

"You could go to Yale or Harvard. Any school you want, but you're throwing it away because you don't do anything! You don't even want to talk about school. I thought you were a badass Jill, but you're just a scared little girl, aren't you?" He shouted.

And then all the anger left my body. I felt empty. A cold feeling was wrapped around my body and my heart was beating like crazy.

This wasn't just a little fight anymore. He had hurt me. This wasn't against my behavior anymore, it was against the person I was. This was his way of saying he didn't accept me.

All there was left now was an intense sadness. Disappointment. And an angry Chase.

"I don't need to hear this." I said. If he was taken aback by the dead tone in my voice, he didn't show. His anger remained.

"Yes, run away from this too. I guess that's what you do, right?" He wasn't shouting anymore, even though he was still mad. His icy tone was cutting through me like a knife.

"Fine, I will." I croaked. I hated that I sounded weak but I couldn't bear to be there a second longer.

I walked out of the house. I didn't bother to get in the car, I just kept walking.

I needed to get away.