Different Sides (On Hold)

I Need To Work On My Reflexes

School is normal, the only part different is that our table is now the popular one. Tons of people crowd around it, talking and laughing loudly.

Tris doesn't mind, all she needs is her boyfriends. Michelle is really happy to be with the popular people. She always wanted to be in that crowd but didn't want to leave me. She practices flirting with the guys there anyway.

I take the bus home, chatting to Michelle the whole way. When I get home, the lights are on and both of our two cars were in our parking space. Great, my parents were home to give me a nice pep talk.

I open the door quietly, hoping they wouldn't notice me coming in but just my luck, they were sitting at the dining table, waiting for me.

"Come sit, Crystal," Dad says, "We would like to talk to you."

I sit down in my chair, looking at both my parents, "Yes?"

Mom looks at me, "We are very concerned about what has happened to you these past few days. Skipping school, coming home late, and your screen on you bedroom window is cut off!"

I wince, they found out. Maybe I could ask Cooper to replace that with his extra cash.

Dad leans forward a bit, "We want to know what's going on, Crystal. It has to be something, are you upset, angry at us, what's wrong?"

I swallow, I'll have to be careful, and "It's nothing, Dad".

"It's something, Crystal. What is it? We will support you for anything," Dad presses.

Don't make false promises, Dad. You would never agree to Cooper's visits.

Mom sighs, "Crystal, whenever you can trust us with this information, please tell us."

Dad looks at Mom, "But Hannah-"

"We are done for tonight," Mom interrupts.

Mom gets up from her chair and starts to walk up stairs. She stops midway and shouts down, "There's leftovers in the fridge, I'm going to bed early."

I finish my homework as Dad just watches TV for the rest of the day. We eat leftover meatloaf and after Dad goes to bed. I go to my room and change into my pajamas. After I just fall on my bed, going quickly to sleep.

I hear a knocking sound and wake up with a start. I roll my eyes and open my window. Cooper was up on the roof, knocking on my window.

I open it and jump off my bed as he crawls through. He's grinning at me, holding a giant wad of cash.

"And you didn't believe me," Cooper says smugly.

I cross my arms and look at my clock, "It's 2:00 in the morning. Isn't a little early?"

He shrugs, "It took me a while."

We sit down on the floor like last time and talk. While I talk, Cooper plays with one of my pillows.

"Hey, Crystal," he says.

"Yeah?" I stand up to stretch my legs.

"Think fast!" Cooper says and throws the pillow at me.

I scream and duck. The pillow hits my bookshelf causing an expensive vase to fall. My bedroom's floor is covered with a very thin carpet layering that has absolutely no cushion. When a china vase falls from a six feet height, well you know what happens. It falls with a thundering crash.

Cooper looks at me with horror, "Oh, crap!"

"Crystal!" Both of my parents come running to my room.

Cooper is already crawling through the window when my parents run into my room. I'm just stand in the same spot, in shock.

"Stop!" Dad roars, making me jump because I've never heard him so loud.

Cooper jumps down from the roof without the rope (that's going to hurt later) and keeps running to his car. I run to the window and watch him jump in his car and speed away.

Dad's face is chili pepper red and Mom just walks back to their room, mumbling about how this must be a dream. I stare at the vase then at Dad.

"Who was that?!" Dad shouts at me.

I wince, "No one important."

Dad stomps his foot on the floor in frustration, "Bullshit! I'm freaking tired of all these secrets! Why are you doing this?!"

He only cusses when he's really mad.

"It's not because of you guys," I say, hoping to calm him down a little.

"Then what is it?!" Dad yells.

"You wouldn't understand," I finally shout back.

He winces, he's not use to me talking back, "Then tell us when you're ready. Let's stop having night visits with random boys, okay?"

I nod. He sighs then starts to head back to his room. Suddenly, Dad stops and turns around.

"You didn't do anything, right Crystal?" he says nervously.

"No, Dad," I say rolling my eyes.

He lets out a relieved sigh and finally walks to his room and shuts the door. I gather the shattered vase together and push it into a corner. I lay down in my bed, pulling the covers high, and fall into a tired sleep.

I wake up to the sound of my alarm. I take a shower and get dressed. When I head downstairs, Mom was making breakfast and Dad was reading the newspaper. Mom hands me my breakfast with no word and Dad just reads the newspaper. The silence from Mom is killing me but I can't tell if Dad is ignoring me or if he's into his newspaper like always.

Mom sits down with us and focuses on her food. Not even looking at me.

I finally have enough, "Mom?"

She looks at me, startled, "Yes, honey?"

"Are you upset at me for last night?" I ask her.

"Yes and all those things from before. I know we can't force you to talk but it would be nice for a daughter's own mother to know what she's been doing with a boy," she says.

"Yeah," I say, not sure what to answer back with.

We're all quiet after that. I just eat slowly and stare at my food. I few months ago I never thought we would become distant from each other. I guess it's mainly because of Cooper.

I leave the house, glad to get away from family problems. Cooper isn't out here today. I'm kind of worried about him. I mean, what about his leg? He jumped off our roof last night and that can't be good.

I suddenly face palm myself, why am I thinking like this? I shouldn't be worried. I walk to the bus stop and boarded the bus. I sit next to Michelle as she smiles at me, "Hi, Crystal!"

I stare at the ground, "Hey, Michelle."

She looks at me, "What's wrong?"

I look at her, "Last night, Cooper came. You know when people test your reflexes and suddenly throw something at you?"

Michelle nods as I continue, "So he threw a pillow at me and broke a vase."

"That's bad," Michelle says as I nod.

When we reach school, Cooper is there. He's talking to a group of girls. When I jump off the bus, all their glares turn to me. Cooper turns around and looks at me. I walk up to him and look him over. He seems okay, just putting almost all his weight on his right leg.

"Is your leg, okay?" I ask.

Cooper looks down at it and then at me, "Yeah, it's fine."

I nod as the bell rings. I look at those blue and brown eyes again and then run off to my locker. When I reach my locker, I see those blue and brown eyes in my mind. I face palm myself, hard. I can't think like this. He's a criminal, and it could ruin my chances with everything.