𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐒𝐭. 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭. She hated everything to do with the small town she lived in, and the population only made her dislike grow with each passing day. The people here were either stupid or arrogant, not exactly Andrea's preferred cup of tea. She did not even like tea in the first place. Andrea dealt with that too much in her personal life to tolerate that type of stuff at school. The mere thought of it gave the young girl an instant migraine.
A rippling scream that echoed throughout the whole entire house stung Andrea's ears. At this point, she was surprised her eardrums didn't explode with all of this damn yelling. It wasn't uncommon for her father to be screeching like a maniac, but it's only one o'clock in the morning. Andrea deducted this fact after glancing over at her alarm clock briefly.
"Ugh." She moaned outloud to herself with annoyance.
The young girl rang her fingers through her long brown hair irritably. She's getting rather tired of her stupid father disturbing her sleep. Not that Andrea had the power to do anything about it. Whenever her father got plastered, there's no stopping the things that man would do. There was no boundary he wouldn't cross. Which was why she tried to avoid him the best she could whenever he had these mindsets.
Clearly, I haven't been doing a good job with that. Andrea thought solemnly, glancing down towards her arms and legs. The teenage girls skin's coated with bruises with multiple shades, some were older, and some were way too recent. Regardless, at times it was a physical strain for her just to simply move. Sighing, she sat up in her bed, knowing there's no way she was going to fall back asleep again after this. Of course, her drunk father was screaming at her mother about something irrelevant. Andrea heard the conversation tuning in and out.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS IT? YOU STUPID BITCH-" Uh oh. His alcohol probably went missing again.
"I don't know, Lucas!" Came her mother's response. "Why don't we both just calm down and go to bed..."
"Are you stupid woman?" Lucas practically roared at her. Andrea felt her anger slowly beginning to boil up. The girl could not understand for the life of her why her mother would marry someone as crazy as him. Then again, her mother never stepped in to defend her anytime Lucas randomly decided to beat the shit out of Andrea. She'd just stand there, watching with tear-filled eyes; wondering how her once happy family could've turned into something as horrific as this.
Running her fingers through her hair again, Andrea stood up to fetch her phone and headphones. Music was always the only thing that could help her escape her harsh reality, even if it was for a limited time period. But sometimes, not even her favorite tunes could diminish the sound of her parents fighting. Especially whenever Lucas got angrier enough to start using his fists.
"Give me my fucking alcohol, woman!" Then she heard the crashing of pans and the all too familiar sounds of thumping and the light sob sounds. Andrea fought every urge in her body to go out there and beat the shit out of the man that was supposed to be her father. She did learn how to defend herself from him in some ways, but Lucas commonly found her weak spot; hitting and pounding until Andrea's hollering at him to stop. He never normally did.
Because of this though, Andrea knew how to take a hit to the face very well. She didn't stumble to the ground anymore. The teenage girl could fight practically anyone at her high school, and she had a couple of times. Actually, it was more than a couple of times considering she's been suspended more times than she can count. The people Andrea beat up deserved it though, at least in her opinion. They'd act all high and mighty until the teenage girl slammed her fist into their nose, causing all of the bones to shatter. Of course they'd run home and wail to their mother's and father's, who reported it to the school if they weren't caught red-handed during the fight that is.
Lucas St. James would act casual when he went up to the school to pick up Andrea for her suspensions, smiling and nodding at the principal. The facade was so obnoxiously fake, but no one else in her school was able to see through it except for Andrea and her mother, Julia. Everyone thought he was a good man that'd do anything but hurt his family. Well, spoiler alert; Lucas is exactly the opposite. The only people who knew that Lucas wasn't a good person was Andrea's friends, but she never told them what he did to her and her mother. She figured they were better off not knowing, and she didn't want to risk them not looking at her the same way again.
Andrea turned up her music, hoping it'd drown out all of her burdening thoughts. She hopped back into her bed and pulled the comfortable covers over herself as her chestnut eyes glowered up tiredly at the ceiling. She just wanted a way out of this lifestyle, or just this life in general. But also, Andrea didn't want to die. She didn't know how good her future was going to be considering all of the suspensions and threatened explusions.... Someday, whenever she was older, Andrea was confident things would turn around and get better for her.
When it was finally time to get ready for her day, Andrea removed the earplugs from her ears to set them onto her nightstand. Much to her relief, the house was dead silent. This meant her mother had already left for work, and her father was passed out drunk somewhere. She wished he'd be anywhere but here, but Lucas is quite similar to an annoying cockroach. He never wants to leave, instead he's just an infestation. An infestation no one wants.
Andrea took a quick shower, got dressed, and quickly walked downstairs. She typically didn't like to stay in this house any longer than necessary just in case her father popped out of nowhere. Her eyes went over to the couch, and just as she'd figured, there was Lucas, her father Sprawled out across the whole thing, snoring obnoxiously as his mouth hung open. Andrea felt the incredible urge coming over her to either get on top of him and choke the terrible man to death, or, go into the kitchen to grab a knife to stab it into his heart.
She shook her head madly, trying to do anything to shake off those violent thoughts. Andrea didn't care about punching someone in the face, but killing a person? That's a whole different story entirely. She didn't think she'd ever have the courage to actually kill her father, but Andrea immediately thought of a person who would. Wayne, her beautifully twisted Wayne.
She smiled slightly at the mere thought of the boy she called her best friend. If anyone could stop Lucas, it would always be him. Inverting her chestnut eyes away from her father's sleeping figure, Andrea bounded out into the kitchen to grab a poptart for school. She had really terrible breakfast habits, either she'd barely eat anything, or she'd skip the whole meal entirely. Her other friend, Gage, had practically shoved food down her throat after he'd found out about it.
The teenager gathered the rest of her belongings before going out the door for the day. Luckily, Andrea wasn't planning on being home anytime after school anyways. She reflected briefly on the weed she'd snuck into her backpack. Andrea would rather smoke than get drunk because a huge part of the girl was scared she'd turn into her father whenever she gets too intoxicated. At least whenever she's high, she knows she's not going to start beating the shit out of people. It helped clear her head, making her brain feel numb from all of the overburdening feelings that consumed it. That's the only reason she did it, but if Lucas ever found out... Andrea certainly would never see daylight again.
She began the walk towards her high school. Thankfully, Andrea didn't live too far away. If she did, that'd be quite unfortunate for her because either way, she's responsible for getting her own persona to and from school. She enjoyed walking though, it never actually bothered her. Andrea would just put her earbuds in and blare music all of the way to school. Although, the walking was typically funner whenever you had people with you. On the way home from school, Andrea usually had her best friend and her favorite female, Delilah, also called Del, that came with her. The benefit of the three of them all coming from questionable families she supposed.
"Andi!" A new but familiar voice rang out from behind her. "Are you trying to speed-walk away from me or something?"
Andrea glanced behind her to see Wayne McCullough striding towards her, wearing that same outfit he always wore. A pair of tighter black jeans, along with a dark red hoodie, and his jean jacket on top of it. He appeared completely out of nowhere, not that it surprised Andrea in the slightest bit. His jet black hair was already an utter mess, some of it going in front of his eyes. Even when Wayne rang his fingers through it, his hair would just go back to the way it was. She secretly loved how messy his hair was, not that she'd ever voice that to him.
"Finally," Andrea snorted whenever the teenage boy caught up to her.
"Oh, shut up," He rolled his eyes, but she already knew he wasn't actually irritated. "Shortie."
Wayne towered over Andrea, flashing her a soft smile. He wasn't that tall of a guy, but he's taller than her, which he'd never stop teasing her about. She slapped him right in the middle of the chest for that one.
"Ouch, that hurt!" Wayne placed his hand over his heart mockingly. "I think you've finally done it, Andi."
"I don't think anyone has the power to actually make you hurt," Andrea commented as the two of them continued their walk to school together.
"Probably," The teenage boy next to her shrugged his shoulders.
"Except for me of course," She added jokingly.
"In your dreams sweetheart," Was Wayne's response.
Her face flushed a tiny bit, but Andrea blamed it on the cold. She always blushed anytime it was cooler outside, especially on her cheeks, nose, and even on her ears. Anytime this happened, which was only typically whenever she was around Wayne; he'd say she looked like a tomato. Andrea would slap him upside the head for that one.
She glanced at Wayne without saying a word, noticing she was tall enough to place her head onto his shoulder if she really wanted to. Not that she'd ever want to. Andrea had known Wayne since the second grade, they literally grew up together. She'd even been by his side whenever he accidentally cut all of his luscious black locks off. Andrea told him Wayne looked better whenever his hair was slightly longer, not buzzed. The funny thing was that he'd never gotten a buzz cut again since the teenage girl told him that.
There's a lot of things Wayne and Andrea knew about each other, but they also had their secret's. She knew that his father was slowly dying from his cancer, so half the time, Wayne refused to ever be home. Even whenever he was suspended. He didn't just want to sit around in his house, watching his father die. Wayne barely ever talked about how he was feeling about this whole situation, but Andrea didn't want to push him to talk about it if he didn't want to. She was just glad he trusted her enough to tell her. That also meant they got to hangout a lot more, also Del and Gage would tag along. It was great. The four of them would usually go sit under a bridge and just smoke the weed that Andrea snuck from her house.
Wayne was never the best at opening up though. That's one of the many things he had in common with Andrea. Which is why she learned how to read him over the years. Today, he didn't seem to be that annoyed, just more in a teasing mood. Sometimes, Andrea wanted to cave and tell him the truth of what was happening at her house with the hope's he'd "rescue" her. If she ever miraculously got kicked out, Wayne's probably the only person Andrea would set off to find. But she knew he had enough problems on his plate and didn't want to burden Wayne with his personal problems.
But little did Andrea know that Wayne was already aware of everything to do with Lucas St. James. He always knew. But he expected he never told his daughter whenever he got beaten up by a sixteen year old, because let's just be honest... that's embarrassing. Anytime Wayne saw her father in public, he'd always get his hammer out and start pounding on him with it. So, you see, they both have their own secrets. The one they both shared however, it hadn't fully come out to the light yet. Maybe it was because they didn't understand what it meant, or they were afraid so they both keep it bottled inside.
"You're staring," Wayne's voice jolted Andrea out of her thoughts.
She shook her head, regaining her focus back. "Was not. I zoned out because I'm thinking."
"About what?" He inquired curiously. "It's like seven in the morning."
"You can start thinking at anytime of the day, dumbass," She rebutted, crossing her arms. "Just stuff, I suppose."
Wayne nodded his head slowly, his icy blue eyes flickering over to meet my chestnut ones. "Hopefully it wasn't about me."
"It'll never be about you, Wayne." She scoffed. But at the back of her mind, Andrea knew she was being a pathological liar.
They'd finally gotten to the school. Wayne stepped in front of Andrea, grabbing the door, and holding it open for her. She nodded at him appreciatively before bounding inside. Other people were following behind Andrea, but whenever Wayne saw them coming, he got back into the school and shut the door. The teenage boy said nothing as Andrea watched him lock it, leaving all of the other students stranded outside in the cold. She couldn't help but laugh at that.
"Hey asshole! Let us in!" A few of them shouted at Wayne, who waved at them with an innocent smile.
Then he turned around, going after Andrea, who was still laughing her ass off. Wayne secretly enjoyed hearing her laugh, it sounded so angelic and innocent, despite him knowing she's the complete opposite.
"You're finally done being suspended," Andrea said happily. She glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow. "What's the plan?"
"To get suspended again." Wayne chuckled.
The two of them started laughing their asses off whenever a crowd of people practically ran away from Wayne and Andrea whenever they saw them both coming. Let's just say both of them had quite the reputation here. Neither of them said another word to one another as Wayne wrapped his larger arm around Andrea's shoulder. He dragged them both over to Del and Gage, who were already awaiting their arrivals.
a/n: them <3 i have no clue how long this story is going to be...