Corny

During lunch, I got to know more about Margaret. She was actually pretty interesting. When she was a kid, her and her best friend would build a huge blanket fort and play pirates to pass the time. Then, they would settle down and watch a movie together with a snack or two. It was pretty cute.

Although it all sounded too familiar.

Oh well. Let's not dwell on it.

When we got back to school, surprisingly, we were still holding hands which was nice. She had thanked me for a great lunch and went back inside. The thing is, she didn't understand my motives. Since I was one hundred percent sure she wouldn't say yes to a date, I tried to think of a way to dodge it and trick her.

Don't get me wrong; I didn't know she was allergic to peanut butter. I was simply eating my breakfast, trying to flirt with her, but all of a sudden she started having symptoms. I felt extremely bad about it so I bought her lunch.

I was glad I did. She interested me and I wanted to know more about her. Was that so bad? I don't know, but I don't care.

After I went to gym, Margaret informed me that she had detention after school and that she might be late for the dinner between our two families. We spent gym together, with me making her laugh and smile and vise versa. She seemed like an amazing girl.

No she was an amazing girl. She was different from other girls.

I decided to follow her to detention. If she was going to be late to the dinner, so was I.

"You know you don't have to follow me, right?" Margaret asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah. I want to, though," I said as if stating the obvious.

She snorted, something she does often. "Why would you want to?"

Was she doubting herself? "Why not follow you?"

She sighed. "Oh, I don't know. Probably because I'm the school's nerd, I have no friends, no one likes me which sucks. I could go on and on..."

"One, I could care less that you're a nerd. Nerds are smart. Two, I'm your friend...I mean, if you count me as a friend, I don't know. Three, I like you. You're really interesting and you're fun you tease."

She snorted once again. Wow, she does do that a lot. It's actually pretty cute. "Gee, thanks."

"You're totally welcome. But it's all true, though," I said.

We kept walking to detention, which I had to follow her because I had no idea where I was going. When we got there shortly after, I was about to go in when she stopped me. "Thank you...for what you said. I don't hear it very often. Or at all. My only friends are my mom and you," she said softly. You could see the gratitude in her bright green eyes.

I smiled and pulled her into a side hug. "I knew you liked me. No one can resist this," I said, gesturing to my body. She pushed me away with a grin that lit up her whole face.

"But seriously. Thank you." She walked into detention, leaving me behind in my thoughts.

Margaret came out of detention two hours later looking bored out of her mind. I guess she wasn't expecting to see me, as her eyes bulged out of her head and she stared at me in shock.

"You're still here," she said, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

I shrugged. "Yeah." I wasn't going to leave because we were in it together. Okay, maybe not together together, but if she was late to the dinner, I was going to be.

"But...why?" she asked.

"Well, if you are late to the dinner, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble. So, I decided to be late also. Problem solved."

Margaret gave a small smile. "You're literally the sweetest guy I know." Since I didn't have anything to say to that, we started walking back to our homes. When we got halfway there, I felt something touch my hand. When I looked down, I saw that Margaret had intertwined our hands. I looked at Margaret, but she wasn't looking at me; she kept staring ahead with flushed cheeks.

I smiled. Part of that smile was because of her boldness and part of the smile was because this felt right.

So right.

***

"Mom, I'm home!" I called. When she didn't answer, I walked further into the house. "Mom?"

A muffled voice came from the kitchen. I went to the kitchen to find Mom crying on the floor, her head resting on her knees. I hurried over to her, checking to see if there was anything wrong.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I said. Mom never cries, so this was a scary thing for me.

"H-he..." she stuttered.

"He what? Who's he?"

"He h-hit m-me..."

"Who?" I asked, anxiety building up in my stomach.

"Y-your father," she said, before breaking down into tears. I hugged her and let her cry on my shoulder. I couldn't believe Dad hit Mom. They always had a perfect relationship.

"What happened?" I asked after she settled down.

She sniffled. "We were unpacking our stuff when I found a picture of a woman in a box. When I confronted him, he said it was his sister. I guess it escalated from there and when I asked him for the truth he hit me." Mom lifted up her shirt a little and I saw that a bruise was forming on her left side.

"Son of a bitch..." I stood up to go bitch at Dad, but Mom stopped me.

"He left right after. I don't think he will be here for the dinner at the Anderson's."

I took deep breaths, trying to calm down. "Fine. Here," I said, offering her my hand. She stood up with some trouble, but she got up either way. While I stood at 6'3, Mom stood at 5'2. Dad was even taller than me. For Dad to hit Mom...He could've broken a rib or two.

"You're a great boy," Mom said.

"You taught me the best."

A couple hours later, all three of us were ready to go to Margaret's house. I was wearing a pair of jeans a t-shirt. Mom was wearing a red dress that went to her knees and some flats. Jace had the same as me. We walked over with the freshly baked apple pie Mom, Jace and I made together.

I decided I would knock on the door, since I was the only one Margaret knew so far. I heard footsteps come down a set of stairs, then a few seconds later the door flew open. "Are we late?" I asked her.

"Only by an hour, so its okay." My eyes drifted from her smile to her body. She was wearing a green dress that complimented her eyes and she was barefoot. Her hair was left down so that her brown curls were framing her face.

We all walked in, but I stopped next to Margaret in the doorway. "You look beautiful," I whispered. Her face flushed; the reaction I wanted. I walked into the dining room, where I heard my mom and Margaret's mom talking. "Hey, Mom."

"Hi, Vincent. This is Mary, Margaret's mom. Mary, this is my son, Vincent."

We shook hands. "It's nice to meet you."

"Ditto," I said.

"Thanks for the pie," Margaret said, walking into the kitchen.

"No problem." Jace walked into the room a couple minutes later. "Ms. Anderson, this is my brother, Jace."

She smiled. "Call me Mary. Nice to meet you Jace."

"You too, Mary," he said, smiling. After our introductions, we sat down for dinner. We were having pork chops and french fries. Pretty odd combination, but it was really good either way.

"Margaret helped me make the food," Mary said, smiling at her daughters embarrassment.

"It's really good," Jace and I said at the same time.

"Thank you," Margaret said in a small voice. I looked at her, only to find her staring at me. She quickly looked away and, if it was possible, her face flushed even more. Throughout the dinner, I caught Margaret staring at me more than once. We weren't really paying attention to anyone except each other. This caused the dinner to pass quickly.

When it was over, both of our mom's and Jace went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Even if he didn't want to admit it, Jace was a momma's boy. He liked doing things with her.

"Follow me, Corny," Margaret said. She started walking to the back door. I followed her, my curiosity turning into surprise when I saw her backyard.

"Wow...I didn't know you liked gardening," I said, looking around at her beautiful garden. There were all different colors of roses on one side and on the other side, there were all types of vegetables.

"It's a small secret I have," she said, picking a red rose and handing it to me. "I'll see you tomorrow." She walked back inside, leaving me alone with brand new thoughts.
***

Hello. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Q: Is their relationship going too fast?

Yes

No

Also, did anyone expect that? His Dad was just pure evil for doing that.

If you enjoyed, don't forget to leave a 'vote' down below.

Thank you!

P.S. Will edit when finished with the book; sorry for any mistakes.