Right Now

Chapter 6- Another Beating?

Chapter 6- Another Beating

"Where ya goin' man?" Tony asked.

"To find Candace," Chris replied.

"You're not gonna go visit Rhea in the library?"

Chris stopped in his his tracks. "How'd you know Rhea's in the library?"

"Ya go there almost every day at lunch and I haven't seen that girl in the cafeteria at all."

"Ok, I guess that make sense."

A group of girls nearby started to squeal, catching Chris and Tony's attention. "Look! It's Leon, oh my god he's so cute!"

Chris looked ahead to see a tall boy, probably only two inches taller than him, with side swept dark brown hair and dark purple highlights. As he walked past Chris, they made eye contact, puce clashing with hazel. It was only a glance, but it carried many warnings. Chris and Leon were not enemies but they were not friends, they were acquaintances.

Girls swarmed around Leon as he walked down the hall.

"Dang, Leon has a lot fans," said Tony.

"Good thing that's not me," said Chris.

"Well, I'll see ya later, couple of my dudes are callin' me." Tony pointed to couple of boys by the lockers.

"Alright then, see ya."

Chris walked down the hall to the cafeteria. He walked past some people through the cafeteria to Candace's table. Candace was talking her friends and giggling.

"Candace!" Chris called.

"Well look who it is," Candace said.

"I need to talk to you in the hallway," said Chris. "Alone."

"Fine," said Candace, getting up. "I'll see ya later, girls." Candace waved to her friends. Chris and Candace walked out into the empty halls. "Ok, what do you want to talk about?" Asked Candace.

"You made Rhea do all your homework," said Chris. "You didn't learn anything from her."

"Well that's the plan. If I'm gonna get that kiss on my forehead, I need to fail."

"You tricked me!"

"What ever do you mean." Candace smiled. "All I did was make a deal and you took it."

Chris clenched his fist. "Alright then, I'll make a new deal with you. I'll kiss you on the cheek if you let Rhea tutor you and help you pass the big biology test."

"Isn't that the same deal that I made?"

"Similar, yes, but not same. If you get at least a 90 or higher on the test I'll give you a kiss on your cheek in front of Krista, and if you get a grade lower than 90 you get no kiss from me, but you're gonna help Rhea make friends either way. Deal?" Chris held out his hand.

She took some time to think about and shrugged. "Fine." Candace shook his hand.

"Great. The test is on Tuesday, and you wasted yesterday hanging out with your friends while Rhea did all your homework."

"Wait, how did you know that?"

Chris ignored her question. "Today's Friday, so you only have three days left. Use them wisely. Rhea's in the library, you might want to ask again. She told me she's going home after school today."

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Rhea clenched onto the book she was reading. She bit her lower lip and sighed. Rhea put the book down when she read the same line over five times. Her mind kept wandering back to last night. To think her dad did something like that. He'd never done that before, and now Rhea was afraid of what else her dad would do to her. Rhea lightly touched her cheek, making sure not to rub off the makeup that was hiding her bruises. She then lifted up her shirt to see her bruised stomach. She ran her fingers over the red and purple streaks.
Last night, her dad had began to use his belt to whip her, and if she said anything about last night to anyone, she would get punished more. She shivered at the thought of her dad tying her up again. While she was deep in thought, Rhea didn't notice Candace walking up to her.