Befriending a "Criminal"

Despite having insomnia the night before, Nerissa woke up earlier than usual to get ready for school. She got into the shower, dried her hair and curled it as she rarely did, then she carefully choose her outfit. It was her favorite black blouse and grey jeans with black medium length boots. Then she did her makeup meticulously and sprayed her favorite perfume on her neck, hair and wrists. After looking at herself on the mirror one last time before she headed down to the kitchen where her mother was drinking coffee.               

“My goodness what day is it today?”.  Tess reacted surprised to see her daughter dressed different than usual just to go to school.

“Why you say that mom?”. Nerissa replied with a smile on her face as she poured herself some milk.

“Well honey because you look like you are going to a party not to school. Is there any special reason for that?”. Tess wondered.

“Mom there is no special reason; I just felt like wearing this today that’s all”. Nerissa said.

She looked at her watch, it was 7:30.

“Can you take me to school now mom?”. Nerissa asked.

“Are you sure? I mean it’s barely 7:30 what are you going to do the next thirty minutes?”. Tess asked her she was very confused and surprised about her daughter’s sudden urge to get to  school that early.

“I really need to get there early today mom, please?”. Nerissa said.

“All right, let me go get my keys”.

As they walked out of the house Nerissa briefly looked at Robert’s house and noticed his car was gone, which meant he was already at school and she smiled.

“Well here we are miss important business”. Tess playfully said to her daughter as she pulled over in front of the school.

“Thanks mom, see you in the afternoon”. Nerissa said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and getting out of the car.

There weren’t too many students at that hour yet, it was mostly teachers and school staff, but Nerissa knew that Robert was already there and she needed to talk to him so she walked down the hallway looking for him but he didn’t seem to be anywhere. Then she looked at her watch again and it was 7:45, fifteen minutes away from the bell to ring. Suddenly she heard the band rehearsing at the gym and she knew that Robert was there and so she walked down there. When she got to the gym she saw the guys playing on the stage and there he was, Robert tuning his guitar. She just stand at the entrance quiet and still because she wanted to hear them play.

“All right guys one more time we just got a couple minutes left”.- Said Kevin the singer of the band.

They rehearsed the same song one last time before getting off the stage to go to their class. Nerissa was amazed about how good they sounded , especially how Robert played his guitar. As soon as they stopped she took a deep breath and started walking towards them.

“Ok you can do this you really need to talk to him and he is just a guy is not like he is from another planet or something”.- Nerissa whispered to herself trying to calm herself down and relax.

Before she even got closer to the stage Jason noticed her.

“Hello there, I’m sorry but you are late for our little concert”. Jason told her making all the guys to look at her including Robert who was surprised to see her there.

“I know but actually I’m here to talk to Robert”. Nerissa said. All the guys looked at Robert and gave him a mischievous smile.

“All right guys let’s give them some privacy ok?”. Kevin said to the rest of the guys and they got off the stage leaving them alone, Nerissa was just standing down just in front of him. But despite her being there asking for him he continued putting his guitar on the case without looking at her.

“Hi Robert, so how was the rehearsal?”. Nerissa asked nervously as she placed her hands together.

“It was good, but why you ask I mean weren’t you standing there listening?”. Robert said briefly looking at her and continued to unplug the rest of the cables.

Nerissa’s nervousness just kept getting stronger as he was ignoring her.

“Yes I was but I was wondering if you guys are doing a concert or something like that?”. She asked

Robert stopped what he was doing and looked at her.

“All right, so what do you need?”. He asked her.

“Nothing, I’m just trying to make a conversation with you”. Nerissa said

“A conversation, it’s just five minutes before we have to be in class and you want to have a conversation right now?”. Robert said.

“I know, but Robert I really feel like we should be friendlier with each other, we are not just classmates, we are neighbors and it feels very uncomfortable not to talk to you when I see you outside of your house, I think we could be great friends”. Nerissa said smiling at him.

Robert smiled, closed his guitar case and got down the stage. He walked towards Nerissa and as he was standing right in front of her, he looked directly into her eyes, looked at her from upside down and quickly caressed her hair. Something that made Nerissa feel intimidated.

“You really want to be friends with me?”. He asked her.

“Yes, don’t you?”. Nerissa asked.

“That’s why you dressed so nicely and tried to look and smell so good as you do, just to ask me to be your friend?”.

“What?” Nerissa was not going to tell him the truth even when he knew it.

“You never dressed like this before, just now that you come and talk to me. Are you trying to impress me, or to make me want to be your friend because you look beautiful?”. Robert told her.

Nerissa was speechless, she didn’t expect him to notice her outfit or her perfume, but he did and now she had no idea what to do or say. Robert then walked towards her making her slam her back into the stage wall, she had nowhere to go, she couldn’t move, just like that time he had done the same at the park. He looked deeply into her eyes and her lips like if he was trying to kiss her, but then the bell rang and as Robert looked to the hall, Nerissa quickly walked away from him. Robert just looked at her walking away without saying anything and he then walked out of the gym to his classroom.

At the classroom Nerissa felt so humiliated and upset about how Robert had been mean to her. She knew he was sitting behind her but she didn’t want to look back, while Robert acted as normal as always.

“All right class now I need you to work this exercise with a partner so the person behind you will be your partner”. The teacher said.

As Nerissa heard that she knew that Robert would be her partner for class, and she surely didn’t want to look at him, so she just stand from her chair and walked out of the classroom.

“Miss Benton wait what are you doing?”. The teacher said as he saw her walking out of the classroom just like that.

Hazel went after her.

“Let me see if she is ok”- Hazel said to the teacher.

Hazel went after Nerissa and she found her in the bathroom.

“Nerissa I’m Hazel, hey what’s wrong?”. She asked.

Nerissa was sitting on the floor crying, so Hazel sat next to her.

“I can’t believe I did that, what was I thinking?”. Nerissa said.

“Wait, what are you talking about, what did you do?”. Hazel asked.

“I tried talking to Robert just before class”

“What? Wait who is Robert?”

“The guy who moved next to my house”.

“The British guy?”.

“Yes, him”

“But what did he told you, why are you crying?”.

“Because I was just trying to be friends with him and I actually asked him if he wanted to be friends and he was so mean to me, now I feel so stupid”. Nerissa said before starting to cry again.

“Why you say it? What did he do?”. Hazel asked as she hugged her.

“He told me that I was trying to impress him or to look beautiful for him and…”. Nerissa stopped and she wiped out her tears.

“What is it?” Hazel asked confused.

Nerissa stood up from the floor and looked at herself on the mirror. She placed her hands over her mouth as she was surprised to see her reflection. Hazel felt very confused.

“Nerissa what’s happening, you are scaring me”.

“He was right. Why did I put so much effort on looking good today?. Hazel don’t you realize?”.

“Realize what?”.

“I did it for him!”

“What you like him?” Hazel replied.

“I don’t think so, but why did I tried to look good for him then?”. Nerissa asked Hazel.

“I think now I’m more confused than you are ”. Hazel responded.

“Just forget it Hazel, just forget what I just said, I’m just upset that’s all”. Nerissa said as she wiped out the tears from her eyes.

“But we have to return to class and you know you will have to work with him, what are you gonna do?”

“It’s ok, I can handle it. I’m not afraid of him”.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Let’s go back to class”

They returned to the classroom and Robert was already working on the team project when Nerissa just sat next to him.

“So what do we have to do?” She asked him.

“Just copy this and solve it”. Robert replied without looking at her.

“Why is it that you never look at me whenever you talk to me?”. Nerissa whispered to him with a serious tone of voice as if she was offended by him ignoring her. Which immediately caught Robert’s attention making him look at her? “Yeah just tell me”. Nerissa demanded looking him directly in the eyes just as he did to her.

“I just don’t feel like it”. Robert answered and carried on with the work, but Nerissa placed her hand over his notebook. Robert looked at her again with an angry look on his eyes.

“Please quit playing and finish the work Miss Benton, one more incident and I will send you to the principal’s office”. The teacher told her as he noticed she kept talking to Robert.

She grabbed her notebook and started working on the assignment. She felt so upset at Robert that now she didn’t mind behaving that way and giving him a little taste of his own medicine. They didn’t speak to each other at all for the rest of the class, which was really uncomfortable.

When they got the break to change classrooms, Nerissa went to her locker and Hazel came to talk to her.

“Hey are you ok?” Hazel asked her.

“Yes I’m fine, why?”. Nerissa replied as she grabbed a book from inside her locker.

“Just checking, you had a mental breakdown earlier today, is that guy bothering you again?”.

“No, I’m fine Hazel!”

“Geez, sorry!”

“Look, we can talk about it later ok. I got to get to the next class”

“Ok, see you at lunch”.

Nerissa closed her locker and walked to the classroom. As the bell rang she walked down the hallway and walking among all the students she crossed paths with Robert who was walking in the opposite direction, but when they were walking right next to each other Robert slightly put a folded note on Nerissa’s hand without stopping and without looking at her. She continued walking and as she was surprised she opened the note that read: “You want to be my girlfriend?. C’mon You know you do”. As she read it she felt even more upset at him and she just folded it on her hands, but she was so concentrated at her anger that she didn’t noticed Devin coming her way until they collided.

“I’m sorry. Devin” Nerissa said surprised to see Devin and afraid of him to see the note.

“Hey no problem babe. What is that?” Devin asked her referring to the note.

“This? Is nothing really, just a little note I wrote in class but now I don’t need it anymore” She said putting the note on her jeans pocket. “So what class you have now?”. She asked him.

“No class, right now I have football practice”. Devin said. “But hey you look so beautiful today, did you do something new?”

“No, just the same as always. Well I have to walk to class now, see you at lunch”. Nerissa nervously said.

“Ok, love you” Devin told her grabbing her waist and leaning to kiss her on the lips, but she pulled away.

“Devin I really need to go, see you later”. She told him and then walked away.

Devin didn’t like her attitude at all and he suspected something was weird with her. When Nerissa walked down the stairs to the other hallway she saw Robert closing his locker and even she was late to her class she walked towards him.

“Can you tell me what this means?”. Nerissa told him showing him note.

Robert looked at it and then looked at her.

“It means that you cannot take a joke” He said and then turned to walk away, but Nerissa grabbed his hand and stopped him.

“Quit playing games with me, you think you are so mean because you hide yourself behind your weird and tough attitude?. I know it must be hard for you to come to live in a new place and see new people, but is not my fault!. And I don’t even know why I keep trying so hard to be your friend”

“You are trying because you like me”. Robert dared to say, smiling at her to make her even more upset. He liked her for sure, but he wasn’t sure if she liked him back, and he was using his mixed signals to see her reaction.

Nerissa sarcastically laughed and looked at him.

“Me? I like you?.” She nodded. “ I can’t believe it, you are quite a character, you are not just weird and mean  but you are arrogant too”. Nerissa said.

But then Robert looked firmly into her eyes and cornered her between the lockers and him, this time he grabbed her face and leaned to kiss her lips. The closer his lips got to her, the more Nerissa’s heart was racing inside her. Her breathing changed from fast to almost stop. Their lips slightly touched when they heard someone coming.

“I can’t believe this”.

The person who was coming their way was no one other than Devin, and he saw them almost kiss. Nerissa quickly pulled away from Robert and walked towards Devin.

“Devin is not what it seems, we were just”.

“I’m not an idiot Nerissa, I think there’s no need to explain anything, I just saw you with my own eyes. So this is why you refused to kiss me before huh, because now you are dating this freak?”. Devin said raising his voice to her.

Robert put both hands inside his sweater and looked at Devin.

“I don’t think that’s the proper way to talk to your girlfriend man”.

Devin took his sweater off and walked towards Robert. Nerissa was scared they’d fight each other because obviously Devin was much stronger than Robert.

“Please stop it! Come on Devin it was nothing”. Nerissa said holding Devin’s arm.

“Let go off my arm Nerissa, and don’t you dare to defend this freak, you and me will settle this later. But now I have to show this jerk why no one gets close to my girlfriend”. Devin said stepping in front of Robert.

Some of the students gathered around to see the fight, but Nerissa stepped between them trying to avoid the fight.

“So British boy wants to fight? Let’s fight and see if you really are as mean as you try to look”. Devin said pushing Robert back.

“Devin please stop it!” Nerissa begged him

“You stay away from this!”. Devin yelled at her.

When he looked back, Robert punched him in the face and Devin responded hitting Robert in the chest and so they started to hit each other. Nerissa was very scared and no one around seemed to help her separate them from the fight.

“Stop it!” She yelled at them crying in desperation.

Neither of them listened to her, so she tried grabbing Devin from the back.

“Devin please stop it!”. Nerissa said as she tried to pull him away from Robert. But he was so angry that he didn’t notice it was her grabbing him. He quickly turned around and pushed her away really hard that he made her fall to the floor.

Nerissa was so scared and she was touching her cheek that had hit the floor, she was crying and shaking. One of the students who were near helped her getting up. Devin just looked at her not saying anything; he couldn’t believe what he had just done. But Robert felt so angry at him for pushing her that he took a small knife out of his pocket and threatened Devin with it. Everyone was just looking at Robert now including Nerissa who just looked at him and her eyes reflected fear, the fear of seeing him with a weapon. She looked at him as she touched her hurt cheek with her hand and then she looked at Devin and just walked away.

One of the teachers got there and saw Robert holding the pocket knife on his hand, then looked at Devin and he thought that Robert was trying to stab him.

“Throw that to the floor now!” He yelled at Robert.

Robert immediately threw the knife to the floor.

“You come with me this instant!. And everyone go to your class, show is over”. The teacher yelled at Robert as he picked up the knife from the floor and as he walked towards him, the teacher grabbed him by the arm as if he was a criminal.

No one dared to say anything about it and they just spread out. Robert was taken to the principal’s office and after he talked to him he got suspended for a week.

“You should consider yourself lucky I’m letting you stay in the school, but another incident like this and you will not only be expelled but you could end up in jail, you understand?”. The principal told Robert.

“Yes sir” Robert simply replied.

Later that day Nerissa was at home and her mother haven’t got there yet. She was in her room looking at the bruise on her cheek, and remembering all that had happened that morning brought tears to her eyes again.

“Nerissa, I’m home honey!”. Her mother said as she entered the house.

She quickly wiped out her tears and went downstairs to see her mom.

“Hi mom, how was your day?”. She asked her.

“It was ok. And yours? You are going to tell me now about that important thing you had to do this morning?” Tess asked, but she stopped talking as she noticed the bruise on her daughter’s cheek.

“My god, what happened honey?” She asked her as she got closer and put her hand on her cheek.

“Nothing mom, I hit myself with..”

“Don’t lie to me Nerissa, these bruises don’t happen just because. Somebody hit you? Did you fight at school?”. Tess asked worried.

“Mom, I-“

Then the phone rang and Tess went to answer it. Nerissa just went to the couch and quietly sat there.

“What?”. Tess said on the phone. “Oh my god, is he ok?”

Nerissa was just thinking about the whole incident and she just couldn’t get over how much Robert has scared her with the knife on his hand.

“I’m glad nothing more happened, I will talk to her. Thanks for calling”. Tess said and then she hang up.

She walked to the living room and sat next to Nerissa.

“It was Devin’s mother. She told me what happened at school today. I knew there was something wrong with that Graham’s boy, he just looks like trouble himself. But I never thought he could be a criminal”.

“He’s not a criminal mom!” Nerissa protested.

“Why are you defending him?, Alice just told me he tried to stab Devin with a blade, isn’t that what a criminal would do?”. Tess replied.

“He didn’t try to stab him he was  just trying to…”.

“You were there? So that’s why you have that bruise?”.

“Yes I was there but...”

“Please don’t tell me you were trying to make friends with that boy again, he’s just”

“Stop calling him names mom! He didn’t do anything wrong!”.

“He tried to kill Devin, why else would he threaten him with a knife?”.

“Didn’t Devin’s mom tell you that?”

“What?”

“Why he took out the knife?”

“And you know?”

“Because Devin pushed me to the floor, Robert was just trying to defend me!”.

“Defend you? Oh please!”.

“You don’t believe me, you never believe me!. You can believe the entire world but you can’t believe your own daughter, that’s why I never tell you anything!”. Nerissa said before running to her room.

Tess felt very angry at her for trying to be friends with Robert. And she followed her to her room, but Nerissa had locked the door behind her.

“Open up the door now”. Tess said.

“Leave me alone, I don’t need you!”.Nerissa said between sobs.

“Fine don’t open it, but I must warn you that if I ever see that boy  anywhere near you I will call the cops, I don’t want him near you, he’s crazy. Do you hear me?, I don’t want you to even talk to him”. Tess told Nerissa with a loud voice.

Nerissa was in her bed hugging her pillow, she heard what her mother said but she didn’t really care.

“I’m not going to school tomorrow; I can’t go with this bruise on my face”. Nerissa said.

“Do whatever you want, but the day after tomorrow you have to go you hear me?”. Tess said before walking to her room.

Of course Nerissa didn’t like the idea of having to cut off all contact with Robert. Despite his mean behavior towards her, for some reason she still liking him and she still wanted to be friends with him after all he had try to defend her from Devin.