Prince Charming is my Teacher

Chapter 4

I closed the door quietly behind me, and as I turn around I see the most beautiful sight; my Dad's passed out on the couch. It meant I wasn't getting beat tonight!

"Yo, Cindy, where've you been!?" I heard Trisha's voice shriek, jerking Dad right up. Damn it.

"Yeah, where the hell have you been?" He shot at me, grabbing my arm and jerking me across the floor. "You weren't here to fetch my crap!"

"Trisha can do that!" I countered as he punched me right in the jaw, and the pain surged as I hit the ground. I whined and whimpered as I heard a new set of footsteps enter the room.

"Dad, stop it!" I heard the masculine voice, although his voice was the most manly part about him. "The hell, why do you still hit her like that?"

"Mark?" I cried as he helped me stand up, but I had my hands on my jaw.

"Yeah, I'm here." Mark stated as he turned towards Dad. "I told you to stop this after I left."

"She wasn't here to fetch me beers!" He snapped, and he focused on something for once because he wasn't too drunk.

"You can get off your lazy ass and fetch your own God damn beers!" Mark screamed furiously as he held onto my arm gently but dragged me away from them. "Hey, are you okay?" He whispered, losing the angry side of him.

"No…" I cried as he touched my jaw, and the pain kept surging.

"Ah, I'm sorry." He whispered as he started dabbing a cloth on my jaw. "Why don't you come live with me? Alice won't mind, I think."

"No, I can't do that." I sighed, feeling the coolness of the cloth. "If I wasn't here, it'd probably be Abby next."

"Well, we've all been waiting for Dad to change, but he never has, and probably never will." Mark replied, and he took the cloth away, showing me the blood stained in the fabric. "Do you think your jaw's broken?"

"No, I'm fine…" I answered, but I couldn't lie to him. He could see past my lies.

"Yeah right. Stop lying." He ordered as I backed off, lowering my head. "You should come to my house, I know you haven't seen Alice in a while."

"I haven't seen her since before your wedding." I corrected, and he nodded in agreement. "Why are you here anyway? You never visit."

"Oh, ya know, just came to check up on you guys…" He replied, his voice lowering softer and softer.

"Ha, I bet. Can ya give me the real reason?" I asked, because I could see past his lies too. We were both terrible liars. But his eyes started tearing up, so I stopped trying to be funny.

"Okay, I'm not doing so well." He whispered, and I dragged him into my room to talk.

"Okay, what's up?" I asked as I closed the door to my room and he sat down on my bed, head in his hands.

"We're running out of money fast." He whispered so softly I almost didn't hear him, but I sat next to him on the bed.

"Oh…" I trailed, confused on how to respond to that. "To be honest, I thought someone was dead."

"Ha, no, sorry." He laughed, and he smiled for the first time he's been here. "Well, Alice is pregnant too, so another reason why we're screwed."

"Aw! That's awesome!" I exclaimed, hugging him. "I gonna be an Aunt."

"Yeah, but with the way money's going, we're gonna have to put it up for adoption." He chocked as he had tears in his eyes. "And I can't see Alice go through that."