Chapter 15
Unsurprisingly, Robin was a wreck at six A.M. the next day (Wednesday.) She hadn't fallen asleep until twelve in the morning because she kept waking up lying in sweat after she'd have the same dream that she was kissing River. Except, this dream was more like a nightmare. She kept envisioning River leaning in to kiss her, and the minute his lips landed on her's, she was transported into an all-too familiar classroom as a circle of white people surrounded her, some of them laughing so hard that they were on the floor. It reminded her too much of the boy that had driven her mother to a ban on contact with white boys.
"Robin, you're going to be late, hurry up! Breakfast is getting cold!" Robin's mother called out from downstairs.
Robin was halfway dressed. Her hair was a mess, and she was wearing a shirt and a blazer, but was missing her pants, staring into her closet in her underwear. The time on her alarm clock read: "6:35" and Robin knew she'd be late if she didn't scarf down all her breakfast by six fifty. So in a rush, she put on her pants and shoes and stuffed her hair into the messiest ponytail you had ever seen. The bags under her eyes were evident as she'd been unable to sleep for practically the entire night, keeping her eyes peeled so that she wouldn't dream that same dream again.
"Christ," she muttered to herself, tying the shoelace on her shoe for the second time.
"Robin!" Her father then called.
Robin groaned, but mustered up enough courage to walk out of her room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. She tread her feet against the kitchen floor and lazily grabbed her plate of food off of the kitchen table. She was uncaring for the pieces of fruit and bacon that fell onto the floor. The first thing her mother asked was,
"Oh my god, Robin, are you high?"
Robin scoffed, nearly slamming the plate of food down on the table,
"No. God mom, I stayed out past curfew, I didn't get caught in a drug dealing ordeal."
"'Didn't get caught' are the key words, Leslie," Robin's father joked, and Robin managed to crack a smile and playfully roll her eyes at him as she stuck a piece of bacon into her mouth and tore a bit off with her teeth.
"You are so helpful, dad," Robin remarked sarcastically.
"It's my specialty."
"Really, Robin. You look sick," Robin's mother put a hand up to Robin's forehead even when she leaned against the kitchen counter.
"Mom, I'm fine, just a little tired," Robin breathed out through her nostrils.
"Well, you need a ride to school, and we've got work in a little while, so hurry on up with that food."
Robin forced a strawberry from off the plate into her mouth and then cringed as she swallowed it. She pushed the plate away,
"I'm not really that hungry, mom. And I can drive myself today with your car. Plus today I have the earliest lunch, I'm sure I'll find something to eat."
But it dawned upon Robin that the Coreys and River wouldn't have lunch with her every day, and that she needed a lot more friends if she didn't want to be lonely at lunch. She was sure that a new friend would be easy to find what with all her newfound recognition for doing what she did to Dennis, but she didn't want to meet another Stacey. However, "Staceys" were pretty rare in the group of high schoolers Robin was shoved into. That's why Stacey was considered one of a kind.
Instead of driving, Robin walked to school and she sort of wished she hadn't been so early. River was one to be situated in the halls during the time the students had before school, and although Robin didn't want to avoid him, she didn't necessarily want to advance things with River either. Of course she liked him, she knew that she did. The self denial had turned into a deep feeling in her gut- that everything was right, but at the same time everything was wrong. She knew River would be disappointed, but it wasn't like he hadn't ever faced disappointment in his entire seventeen years of living.
However, her attempt to avoid seeing River the whole day had failed when she saw that he seemed to be waiting for her at the vending machine in the lower cafeteria as she tried to get a Coke. Instantly, he smiled at her and put his arm around her. She squirmed, but River hadn't noticed how uneasy she felt with his affectionate, borderline romantic arm around her. He thought for once, Robin was okay with him being close to her.
He was all smiles, not noticing how she grimaced as she slipped the dollar into the vending machine, ignoring the pointing from bypassers as they covered their mouth and giggled in secretive whispers to each other about how River had a girlfriend now. Some were interested and some were angry or sad, because River was very apparently one of the most attractive boys in the school.
She bent down to grab the Coke from the deposit and made the wrong decision to turn around in an attempt to walk the other way. However, River still had his arm around her, so all she'd really done was twirled around and gotten closer to him, her body snuggled into his chest. However, she groaned slightly under her breath and managed to squirm away. River finally noticed her secluded attitude and followed her into the hallways, although she would say nothing to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked, shifting his hair that was straightened completely and hung low behind his ear.
Robin beat around the bush and avoided his question,
"Your hair looks different today."
River furrowed his brows confusedly before nodding,
"Yeah, I wanted to just let it relax I guess. Seriously though, why do you look so down? You can talk to me y'know, you can trust me."
Robin guessed her trust issues were showing more than she wanted them to,
"I know that, but everyone thinks we're a couple or something. You see the way they're looking at us!"
"We're not a couple though," River said, his cheeks changing pigment as he blushed because he did wish they were together.
"Yeah, and I don't like people knowing all my business. How'd they even get that idea anyway?" Robin shuddered.
"I didn't tell anyone, honest. But things spread fast at this school- people at the party probably saw me greet you at the door and drive off with you."
"Yeah, and now you're putting your arm around me!" Robin hissed, squirming a little more and causing him to drop his arm.
"Are you having second thoughts about the date and all? Because, it doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to. We were both caught up in the whole ideal of a date and we both got excited, it doesn't have to mean anything though," River rambled on and on until he was just squawking words that Robin wasn't really listening to.
She wasn't upset that they had gone out together, because it was nice and fairly well-timed. She was only upset that she'd broken her own rules- no white boys.
"I just need time to think before we become all buddy buddy and whatnot."
River couldn't help but be his typical goofy self and cracked a smile,
"But we are buds."
Robin glared up at River, who wasn't towering over her in height but wasn't shorter than her either. He laughed and she took in a breath of stuffy air. She deadpanned,
"I'm serious, River."
The bell rang and Robin clutched her Coke close to her chest, walking away swiftly from River as she headed to Italian with Ms. Tigre for her first class.
Italian was a fun language to learn. So far, Robin had been enjoying the class, and Ms. Tigre wasn't as bad as Feldman made her out to be- then again, Feldman thought all teachers were bad. The only setback was that Dennis was in her Italian class, and she hadn't seen him in her class yesterday because he wasn't at school the day after Robin punched him in the face. However, when Robin walked in and heard the whispers and murmurs of kids and saw them shifting anticipatedly in their seats, she wasn't surprised to see Dennis standing at the front of the class as if he was waiting for her.
( This is Dennis if you haven't seen the cast list: )
The second bell hadn't rung yet, so Dennis was allowed to be out of his seat for the next five or so minutes. Robin sighed and rolled her eyes back into her head, trying to find a spot to sit and get away from Dennis. But everywhere she went, he went, and every place she turned, he did too.
"What could you possibly want from me?" Robin finally asked, folding her arms.
"Could I just talk to you?" Dennis asked, almost... pleadingly. It sent a rush of fiendish delight to Robin's head, and the both of them were aware that the eyes of the students were fixated on them.
Ms. Tigre was the only one oblivious to the whole situation. Of course, the people in charge of the classroom had no idea what was going on in the classroom.
"Go ahead," Robin said flatly.
Dennis looked around the room with beady eyes and then stared straight into Robin's eyes as if trying to signal something to her. She gave him a blank stare, only pretending to be oblivious to his begging eyes. He licked his lips nervously, a sheer layer of shiny spit coating his bottom lip by the time he had ceased,
"You know... alone?"
"We are alone," Robin spoke bitterly, the raw rumbling of a growl in her undertones.
Dennis sucked his teeth, knowing that Robin was too smart for her own good, and then pulled her by her arm and outside of the classroom, causing several classmates to jerk their heads up and even move from their seats to see what was going on. Dennis walked halfway down the hallway, pulling a silent Robin (who wanted to scream bloody murder), by her arm until he stopped in front of a locker, his breathing heavy and his nostrils flaring.
"Listen," he let go of her arm finally, which was quite sore from his tight grip, "what I did the other day was real screwed up, and I'm sorry about that. I wasn't thinking when I said what I said, and I wasn't trying to be a dog. I guess I just let my anger get the best of me, and I shouldn't have tried to beat up River because... well, I just shouldn't have done it."
Robin squinted her eyes and spoke again, making sure she didn't accept his apology just yet,
"Why do you hate River so much? What'd he ever do to you?"
"You don't know? I assumed he would've told you by now," he raised his brows.
It was such a shame that Dennis was breathtakingly attractive and yet such an ass. It was a good thing he was no River- we're talking azure blue skies that thunder and lightning honey instead of shocks of electricity, like waking up with the sound of sweet birds singing melancholy tunes in your ears. Robin had written enough about River to think of his outward appearance in that way.
"He did tell me that Heather had a crush on him and that that crush broke the two of you up. Are you two still going?"
"Well, we're on and off. Right now we're on, but we're on in a way that isn't so strong. You know, like we might break up anytime soon. And he didn't do anything to me. I just... I love- loved Heather," he choked the words out like he was swallowing down his least favorite food mixed with expired Benadryl.
"Who would have thought you were even remotely capable of loving?" Robin inquired, teasing him slightly.
He laughed, even though it seemed like more of a forced laugh,
"I hope Heather did think so. I hope she still thinks I love her... loved her."
He kept correcting himself as if he didn't love her anymore.
"It's okay to love somebody you know," Robin told him, managing to put in enough effort to her statement to smile.
He shook his head,
"Not when you're someone like me at this school, ya know? You gotta be on your toes at all times, even if you quit being the star football player."
"You used to play football? I'm not surprised."
"Well, people think I quit but I didn't really. I just wasn't keeping a high enough GPA. I guess that's important... I'm back on the team again, or I hope I am. Tryouts for this year were in August, we just haven't gotten any word back yet. They said if I have the right grade point average by the end of this term, I'll be put back onto the team in October."
"Oh, well good luck. But... you know, just 'cuz you're an ex-football player doesn't mean you're not allowed to have feelings and-and express them freely," Robin stuttered at some points but she managed to stretch her tongue in ways that could flex any mind.
"So? I'm me anyways, and football player or not, I'll be made fun of if I show any feelings other than anger and... what's that word? And uh, and lust," he jabbed a finger in the air once he remembered what the word he was thinking of was.
Robin shook her head,
"But lust isn't a feeling. It's a moment, it doesn't come up every once in awhile. I mean come on, besides romance novel characters, who really ever feels lusty? Lust is just wanting to have sex with somebody, or physical attraction, nothing else. Besides, you must love your parents, I mean, right?"
He merely laughed, but it was dry and Robin could tell how cold it was,
"You'd think my parents gave me every second of their day because of what an ass I am. And I'm only an ass because they don't."
The bell rang, but the two continued to talk to each other,
"Oh... I'm sorry."
He chuckled again, looking to the side as he laughed before facing her again,
"Don't be. My dad stopped drinking and getting violent after my mom finally quit sitting on her ass and did something about it for once."
Robin blinked furiously,
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I don't want my apology to just be an apology. What I did was really buggin', and I feel like I should do more than just tell you I'm sorry. You need to know the reasoning behind what I did."
"There's no reasoning behind trying to grope me."
"I know! I know, and I'm so so sorry for that, genuinely. It was nasty and mean and fucked up, just completely. I don't know what I can do to make you forgive me," Robin didn't answer, and he continued. "We should get to class. Anyway, thanks for giving me the time of day."
He walked away first, and Robin followed only moments after, walking into the classroom. Italian class wasn't as fun that day. Even though Dennis sat in the front of the classroom, he kept making worried glances Robin's way while she was rows down from him. Ms. Tigre occasionally called on him, hoping to surprise him and screw him up, and she succeeded each time, leaving him blubbering as he attempted to bark out an answer. Robin recovered for him each time, instead saying the correct answer before the class got a chance to cackle at his demise.
After class, he patted Robin on the shoulder while students shuffled out,
"Thanks for knowing what the hell you were doing."
She nodded and he left the classroom.
English was eventful as per usual, full of Stacey's remarks about the teacher towards the teacher, and flirting not-so-subtly with him throughout the class. Robin had an ominous feeling that he desperately wanted to flirt back, but each time she went too far, he'd shut her up. While they were supposed to be doing group work, Corey Haim leaned in to everyone at the table and whispered,
"Mr. A sure is some creep, huh?"
"Yeah. The bastard probably is real close with Stacey. You know what I mean," Feldman wiggled his brows.
Robin scoffed, her nose turning up in disgust at the mere thought, but River, always advocating, said something,
"Man, shut up Feldman. You couldn't go a day without making some fucked up sexual remark."
Feldman snorted indignantly, and Robin began to smile to herself,
"You wanna bet, pal?"
"I do, actually. I think I do," River rolled his eyes.
"Fine. You pay me twenty bucks if I don't make any sexual innuendos, and I pay you fifty bucks if I do. That's almost triple your debt."
"Ha! You don't even have that type of money, you dweeb," Corey swept up Feldman's boasting as he giggled.
"Exactly, that's why I'm betting it," Feldman said matter-of-factly.
He folded his hands on the table and waited for River to respond. River, after darting his eyes about the faces of each table mate for a second, finally gave in,
"Sure. But what if you make 'em and I'm not there?"
"It still counts. And I'll be completely honest with you about it too," Feldman responded.
"Jesus H., you're really into this, aren't you?" Robin interrogated him, and he raised a sneaky brow and smiled devilishly at her.
"I am in fact. Hey, what do you say we all go down to the arcade after school? I heard they've got a new game comin' out there, and I don't wanna miss it."
Corey said something under his breath,
"Nerd."
"Hey! I'm in the prime of my youth, and I'll only be young once! Don't fit it, you asswipe."
River just laughed, shaking his short straightened hair,
"You two are wild, just wild."
"I can't go, I'm grounded and I gotta walk home," Robin said.
"I can walk you home."
Robin looked up at River and gave him a death glare, which his face twisted up in confusion towards. He clearly didn't get it, so she kicked him in the shin under the table. He hissed and brought his leg back, shaking his head and murmuring "nevermind." Robin felt a little bad- all that he wanted to do was get closer to her and identify her as a romantic interest, but as far as Robin was concerned, they weren't even supposed to be this close as friends.
Besides, they'd only known each other for nine days, and Robin still had Jesus. Technically, they weren't together, nor did they make plans to maintain a long-distance relationship of any sort, but they liked each other. Robin didn't have any time to feel guilty for liking River, which she didn't want to admit to herself.
Ahh guys this is getting better :-)) I used my mom's laptop to post this since like I said, Wattpad isn't working on my computer. Hopefully it'll work soon enough and I won't have to use my mom's computer for updating. Anyway, how are y'all, it's been a while. Let me know what you thought of this chapter !!! Do you trust Dennis or is he still a pig?