He stood on the porch watching the drama unfold. He felt nothing, he was numb. He didn't feel, he forgot how to.

"He impregnated me," The first girl said standing her ground with tears in her eyes, "he told me we'll run away together, he said if we get caught or were not allowed to get married, we'll be the 21st-century version of Romeo and Juliet." She continued, he knew she was lying, he never said more than two sentences to any of the girls he slept with.  The first sentence was always, "are you sure you want to do this." It was all about consent.

"He said we'll go round the world together." Another girl said, immediately she said this multiple girls started talking.

"He said-"
"He said- "
"Said- said- said- said-"

Everything around him was spinning, he rested on the wall close to him to keep his sanity. He glanced at his mother, she was pale, mortified was the right word with a hint of disappointment. He glanced at his father, his own father was on his knees begging the girls and their families to calm down. He wanted to say he didn't know them, he wanted to deny them but then the hard truth hit him.
No one would ever believe a guy who had sex with other girls for fun and dares.

The voices were getting louder, he was trying to keep him self calm,  they were screaming at him, telling him to-

"Wake up, Dre! I'm really not in the mood for games this morning, my teacher said--"

As he kept his hands over his fourteen years old sister mouth, he realized it was a dream, the same dream that taunted him for about a month now, a dream that was bound to come true soon.
He tried to stop, believe him, it was hard, hard to stop, it was too much of an addiction to stop.

According to Freud, your dreams repressed wishes to you. Perhaps that was why this dream was persistent, like a haunting memory telling him karma was about to catch up with him. Telling to let go of this costume he was wearing to hide his pain. 

As much as he wanted to, it was like the costume was glued to his body or possibly his soul. What scared him was the thought of shedding it off his skin, he was too afraid of the excruciating pain that comes after the costume is gone. 

"I'm up." He said as he smiled at his sister, her dark brown hair matched his along with her hazel eyes, one would think they were twins if Andre wasn't so hefty.

"Good cause my teacher said that too much sleep causes laziness and weakness."

"Hmmm..." His full brows were raised as his fingers brushed through his hairy scalp before he got up from his bed and headed towards the door.

"True, I don't want you to be weak, I need you to beat Nick sometimes." She followed his motion, he had the door wide open for her using a finger to point her out.

His face turned a little bit hard as he asked, "who's Nick?"

"Oops, I've said too much," she said as she kept her right hand over her mouth as she walked out of his room.

"Wait, you never say things accidentally, Sophie! Soph!"

"That's my name, get dressed!" She yelled back with a smile dancing on her face.

He slammed the door, his eyes automatically found the mirror. He recognized the face but not the person, he was not the same person from two years ago the body had gone through stages in the past two years, first crush, first relationship, first love, first heartbreak and finally first stage as a player.

He was supposed to be emotionless, he had no idea how to feel anymore, the pain was too much to bear. A player with a broken or healing heart is like a joke that deserves a Grammy or two.
Home was the only place he could breakdown and let his emotions out, particularly his toilet and room. No one to hear or laugh at him.

•°•

During math class, he looked at the new student, her complexion was dark, he could tell she didn't grow up there in Los Angeles like he and most kids did. She sat on her seat as comfortable as ever, she rested her back on the seat with her arms folded. As a new kid and also African, from the rumors he heard, he couldn't imagine how she'd deal with the stares and people who'll avoid her.

She picked her pen up and held it with her left hand probably contemplating on writing the subtle hints Mr. Malik was dropping, he could tell she was left-handed by how she held it comfortably. She turned her head slowly like a movie where the main character meets his partner, revealing her dark brown eyes and her full heart face, he definitely couldn't deny the fact that she was beautiful, her face was gentle and as calm as ever.

She raised her right brow at him, using her head to point at the board, he raised his brow like she did earlier and looked at the board.

Lo and behold, the whole class plus the teacher was staring at him like an Alien that just dropped into planet earth.
He stared at his book, trying to form words but nothing came out. He looked at his watch, praying the bell would ring very soon. Of course five more minutes.

He smiled sheepishly at the teacher and glared at the students. The staring stopped except two, his prey and his ex. He looked at his ex first, she shook her head disappointedly and faced the board then his prey, she smiled as she shook her head. He returned the smile but she eyed him dismissively as she faced the board.

No one said dares were meant to be easy.

~•~

After the class, not surprisingly he got the detention. His last period was free, he used the opportunity to see Mrs. Adams. 

"Good afternoon," he poked his head through the door before stepping into the class. Mrs. Adams was his favorite teacher not because she taught one of his favorite subjects but the fact that he has never seen her gossiping with other teachers was when he gave her the real respect and probably because she was a bit old.

"Come in." Her face lit up the moment she saw him. The class was empty except for one seat, maybe faith liked the idea of him dating her. Why else would they cross paths?

"It's a good thing you are here," he hid a smile under his straight and hard face. He sat three seats away from her, which was still close enough to see the frown playing on her face.

"Andre you're one of my best students and this student here, Jade, is not catching up in most classes. I know you hate tutoring students," She tried to calm him down when she saw his furrowed brows, "but Rachel's schedule is packed and I think Max Is avoiding me because of this." She sighed, dapping her face slightly with her handkerchief.

He picked his from the floor before standing in exasperation, "I mean I would love to but--"

"Just two weeks," She moved closer to face, "I'll find another tutor in two weeks."

"Can't she just wait till you get one?" All games aside, there was no way he was going to sacrifice his spare hours to tutor people, no matter how pretty the person was.

"Ok, you know what?" Jade finally voiced out after sitting there and watching them argue about her like she wasn't in the room. "I don't need a tutor, yes I admit I'm a few topics but I'll catch up before exams, I promise. We've had this conversation over and over again!" She picked her bag from the floor before attempting to storm out of the class.

"You know what? I'll do it but just for two weeks." He smiled at Jade whilst she threw him a furious glare.

𝔄𝔲𝔱𝔥𝔭𝔯'𝔰 𝔑𝔬𝔱𝔢:

What do you think of this chapter and Jade?

Don't forget to vote and comment 🖤... Constructive criticism is allowed

Song of the chapter: Put me out by Devinity Perkins (That's for when Dre was at home, I was listening to it and it just goes well with that bit.)