Recovery / / h.s

Chapter Two.

"Styles, you're free to go." The stuck up cop told me as he unlocked the metal door and slid it open. He had a black eye and a busted lip, courtesy of me. I didn't feel the least bit of remorse for the asshole, he shouldn't have snuck up on me like that. But laws are laws, and since I broke a few of them, I spent the night in a cell at the police station.

The man I had beaten led me to the front of the police station. It was completely barren of all life besides a few policemen scattered around... And my mother. I cursed under my breath as her eyes followed me as I moved to the front of the room. She pulled me into a hug, but I didn't return the gesture.

"I was so worried about you. Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened?" She kept going on. Mum always worried about me too much, it was one of the things that drove me away from her in the first place. It was the main reason I didn't want her to come pick me up last night. Actually, I hadn't even called her and told her that I got locked up.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked her.

She looked hurt for a split second, but her face quickly turned back into the smile she always wore. Our smiles were identical, but I never smiled anymore.

"My friend, Rex, from the bar you were at last night called me and told me what happened. He saw the whole thing." She stopped talking for a second to push a stray piece of hair out of her face. "I tried to get you out last night, but they said that I couldn't until the morning."

I rolled my eyes. "You should have just left me in there. I would have found a way out on my own. Don't think that just because you bailed me out, everything is going to be okay between us now."

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. I wasn't in the mood for this right now. "Harold-"

"Harry," I corrected her. It was her who rolled her eyes this time.

"You are my son, I would do anything to make sure that you are safe. I would have done the same thing for your sister."

A scoff escaped my lips. I doubted that and it actually offended me how she was going to try and step up and play the "mother roll".

She reached for my hand but I pulled away. "I had to beg Officer White not to press charges, Harry." She said, her voice cracking, she sounded as if she might cry. She didn't have any reason to cry. I was the one locked in a cell all night, not her.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, sarcastically of course. "And how did that work out for you?"

"He said he'll drop all the charges if you do some work around the police station for him. Paperwork mostly, or just anything he needs done that he can't do himself." She seemed pleased with herself, as if getting the charges dropped was an accomplishment she was proud of.

"Forget it," I said without even considering it. I didn't need to consider it. "If I wanted to be someone's bitch, I'd tell him to take me to jail right now."

"Harold, don't talk like that," she said, shaking her head disapprovingly. Seeing my mom so distraught made me want to laugh, but I figured I'd already hurt her feelings enough.

"I'm not doing it, Anne." I hadn't called my mother "mum" in almost five years. It was her own fault.

I pushed past her and walked out of the door. I thought I had gotten lucky when I didn't hear her footsteps behind me, but when a strong grip grabbed my arm and spun me around, I realized my luck was nonexistent. Anne was strong for a woman of her size, she always had been.

"And how do you plan on getting into a good college?" This is the first time she had raised her voice at me since I was a child. "No college is going to want a felon at their campus. Put your pride away for once and think about your future!"

~~

As much as I hated the idea, I was awake and at the police station by seven a.m. on Monday morning.

"You're not doing this for Anne," I kept telling myself. "You're doing this for Stanford."

I might not have been the greatest kid, but I was pretty bright. I had gotten straight A's since the start of my academic career, I wasn't going to mess up my schooling now. Especially since I had been accepted to Stanford with a pretty great scholarship. I couldn't afford to go just yet, but I was saving so that one day I could. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but I hoped that by the time I saved enough I'd have everything figured out.

Time seemed to tick by slowly as the asshole cop taught me how to file his paperwork. He told me that everything had an order, and if I didn't do it right then I'd have to do it all over again.

"I have to go. They need me to help with an accident on the highway. When Lily gets here she'll teach you what to do."

He made me sit in the front so I wouldn't make a mess of anything, and he left. I wondered what this Lily could teach me that I couldn't teach myself.

I was irritated that Officer White left. I was irritated that I had to sit here alone. And I was irritated by the constant growl of my stomach. I fucking hated it here.