When Perfect Meets Crazy novel Chapter 17

School was over. People were rushing out and although I hated to admit it, I was rushing out with them. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this eager to get out of school. Oh, the things a bad day can do to a person.

I had woken up feeling tired. More so than when I went to bed. It was a relatively normal occurrence for me every few months or so. It was nothing new but it still sucked. What was the point of sleeping if I was only going to wake up feeling even more tired than I did before going to bed? That, added to the cameo of daddy dearest’s alter ego last night, was doing a great job of making sure I was having a bad day. More accurately, I was having a shitty day. The shittiest.

My mom couldn’t have picked a worse time to travel. My dad was nowhere in the ballpark of a good mood with the city council exerting pressure on him to catch the culprit of the downtown robberies. I was constantly walking on eggshells around him. No matter how drained I was, I had to be extra careful and pay extra attention to him.

On top of that, I had school to worry about. I was becoming increasingly bored by it which, for me, was big and bad. According to the education board adviser, people with my IQ needed to always be challenged academically or things could go really bad for us. The last time I found school boring was back in elementary school and truly, that hadn’t ended well. I had tried to drop out. Granted, I was a kid then but who knew what rationalizations I would feed myself this time.

I needed less on my plate so I could concentrate on figuring out a solution to the school issue. It was a bad time for my mom to not be around to curb my dad’s tendencies although, granted, she was unaware of them. I tried hinting once that she should keep her cases within state and it blew up in my face. She took it so personal that I got lectured on how women should support women and how I was no longer a child and if Olly who was younger was fine with it, then I should be as well.

I ended up crying. That was how bad she made me feel for even suggesting it. I didn’t have the guts to explain that missing her wasn’t the problem. I hardly saw her when she was in town anyways, asides from mandatory family dinners and the occasional breakfast. I couldn’t explain that unlike Olly, I wouldn’t be overlooked by our father. I’d be evaluated, appraised critically and found wanting no matter what. It would be that I didn’t put the keys in the right place. Or heat the food up to his perfect taste. Or most recently, that I had my earphones in. There would always be something that I hadn’t done well enough.

I couldn’t tell her that though. What good would it do? Neither of them believed in divorce. I’d only make things worse for myself. Like when she told him what I said about not taking out-of-state cases, to ask his opinion on the subject. During her next trip, I paid dearly for that.

I sighed wearily, forcing a smile for the benefit of the seemingly endless horde of acquaintances who needed to wave me goodbye. They all thought I was so cool. Freakishly smart yet social and fashionable. Have-it-all Avy.

I snickered under my breath.

“Bye, Avy.” A junior whose name I didn’t even know called out.

“Bye,” I replied, smoothing my features into a bright smile.

The smile featured too much teeth. Anyone who really looked at me would’ve easily figured out that it was fake. Luckily, no one paid attention to things like that anymore. Even if I had tears in my eyes and said I was fine, I was almost sure everyone would believe it. After all, I was Avyanna Johnson, the ‘perfect everything.’ What problems could I possibly have?

I scoffed inwardly.

Ranting, needing people, wallowing and indulging in bouts of self-pity were for the weak, the voice in my head chastised.

I finally made it outside, passing through the wide open double doors that led to the exterior of the school building.

“What the actual f--” I swallowed the rest of my statement, forcing a more believable smile unto my face as the curious eyes of a group of juniors turned my way.

You picked the wrong day, Masked Idiot.

I drew in a deep breath and sent up a quick prayer for patience and self-control before marching over to the idiot leaning casually, basically draped against my car. In a parking lot full of people who could carelessly mention it to my parents. The only redeeming bit about the image in front of me was that his bike was nowhere in sight or he might as well as have just gone directly to my parents and said, “Look me up, there’s something suspicious and bad about me.”

I couldn’t even bring myself to care that this was the first time he was showing up post our dinner turned declaration of war. I came to a stop a foot away from him.

“Sometime between right now and when I last saw you, did you perhaps lose your damn mind?”

My voice was hard, gravelly and low because I couldn’t risk having my not-so-subtly lingering classmates overhear the subject of our conversation. The venom generously lacing my tone, however, made it unmistakably clear that if we had been in a place with less prying eyes and twitching ears, I wouldn’t have shown half as much restraint.

“Good to see you too,” he muttered drily, straightening up.

Clearly, he was here to test my limits.

“Good? When, pray tell, did I give you that impression?” Before he could manage a response, I continued, “If you were to fade from existence right this second, I’d be all the happier for it.”

After our charity ball escapade, he disappeared for a full week. Not a single word. He didn’t so much as drop by the library or sneak into my room which he used to be oh so fond of. The fact that his disappearance coincided with the reappearance of the malicious gaze wasn’t doing him any favors either.

“I didn’t bring my bike.” He said it like that was supposed to make it okay. Like I was supposed to be grateful.

“Good. For. You.” Each word was accompanied by a sharp poke from my finger.

He had a sturdy chest which really shouldn’t have come as a surprise since he was, after all, an underground fighting champion but my brain wasn’t at its finest so it did. My finger hurt as I lowered the hand. I swallowed the pain in favor of protecting my pride.

“Good for me?” Annoyed incredulity coated his tone. His expression made it clear that from where he was standing, he’d done me a favor and I was being ungrateful. Cue my infamous eye roll. Favor my black ass.

“Yes,” I ground out, holding his gaze. “Good for you because otherwise, I’d have killed you.”

“Nothing pleases you, does it?”

“Nothing you do,” I snarled. “But by all means, seize to exist. That should do the trick.”

He started to snap back a reply, his mouth already open to do so but he inexplicably stopped, slowly, almost comically, closing his mouth. A deep crease appeared between his brows as they furrowed.

“That was harsh. Over the top. Even for you.”

A completely irrational impulse to avert my gaze filled my mind as his eyes seared into mine. The resemblance between the color of his irises and a cup of black coffee was uncanny. I loved my coffee black and suddenly wanted some.

“Something’s wrong,” he said. “What is it?”

If this was the universe’s answer to my craving for someone who could instantly read my moods, then I take the complaint back. No thanks, I’d rather go through life alone than with Masked Idiot for a confidant.

“Noth...” I didn’t get to complete my denial. The word died on my lips as three girls closed in on us.

My already ridiculously shitty day was about to take another hit.

“Claire, do you need something?” I demanded as nicely as I could manage.

It was not very nice.

“Not particularly. I just figured we should take care of the problem now before it gets any worse.” She smiled sweetly.