FicWad

I was lying on my back on a bed with a figure looming over me. I know instantly that I was completely naked and that for some strange reason, that didn't seem to bother me. I wasn't the least bit self-conscious, I just lay there and stared up at the figure above me. The figure leaned down closer towards me and I lifted my head slightly to see who the person was. Shocked, I found myself looking right up into James' bright blue eyes. With a smile on my face, I reached out a hand as if I planned to touch his cheek. But before I had a chance to do so, James' face twisted and contorted. Before I knew it, I found myself looking into the face of Ray, not James. Ray smirked at me and pulled a glistening knife out of his pocket. He raised the knife in his left hand and brought it down against my throat with a scream of triumph. Pain ran through waves through me, my whole body trembling with agony. I screamed and howled, trying to find a way to get away from the Ray and the knife that was now dripping with blood...

"Wake the fuck up, Olivia!" a voice screeched into my ear, yanking me away from the scene with Ray and the knife. Blinking, I found myself sitting at the kitchen table in my living room, not on an unfamiliar bed. I must have been dreaming. Thank god that it had only been a dream. I already had Ray to haunt me during the day, the last thing I needed was him to continue and haunt my nights as well.
Nighttime was the only time I was able to escape from him.

"You scream in your sleep, you know that?" my mom stated grouchily. I had completely forgot that she was even in the room. I looked up at her and saw that she was standing over me with an odd expression on her face. I was really regretting that I had fallen asleep at the kitchen table now. Waking my mom up when she was in the middle of a hangover was never a good idea!

Hoping she wouldn't be too angry at me, I hung my head and apologized genuinely, "I'm so sorry, mom. I didn't mean to wake you up. I accidentally fell asleep down here last night. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." My mom peered at me through bloodshot eyes and responded, "A promise from you doesn't do me again good. Nothing can put me back to sleep now." She turned away from me and stalked over to the kitchen to look for something to eat.

Through eyes still bleary from sleep, I glanced down at my watch to see what time it was. It was only five in the morning. If I hurried, I would be able to get ready and then head over to the drug store to see if I could secure a job there as a cashier. If all went well, I would have a job in less than four hours. Knowing that I had no time to lose if I wanted that job, I stood up and was about to head up to my bedroom. I never made it upstairs that morning.

At that moment, my mom flung open the cabinet where we usually stored our food and rooted around inside it. After only a few seconds, she turned to me with a pinched face and said, "Why the hell don't we have any food in this entire house, girl?" I froze where I was standing and reluctantly turned to face her. It didn't look like I was going to escape her anger after all.

"Um, I don't know why we don't have any food," I admitted honestly. "Maybe it's because you haven't sent me to the grocery store lately. If you'd give me some money and a list of items that we need, I can stop at the grocery store after school." I didn't really want to stop at the grocery store after school, but I didn't really have a choice. My mother and I both needed food to survive. Nobody could survive without eating. Besides, my stomach was growling hungrily right now.

"That's not the reason why we don't have food," my mom whispered in a tone dangerously low. She started stalking towards me with eyes that shone like daggers. She was getting more angry by the moment. This wasn't going too well. Nervously, I backed away from her and towards the door in case I needed to make a sudden escape.

My mom followed me all the way to the door, pinning me against it. I could smell alcohol on her breath as she leaned close to me and screeched, "The reason we don't have food is because we don't have money. And why don't we have money? Because of you! It's all your fault. You've taken all my money and you've never repaid me for it. How many times have I asked you to find a job, Olivia? You still haven't done it, have you? Let me get this clear with you, you're no welcome in my home unless you get a job. Do you understand you little good-for-nothing bitch?"

I flinched at my mom's words and nodded slightly, not really sure how else to respond. My mom jerked the door open behind me, causing me to tumble backwards and landed outside on the my back. Stunned, I lay there for a few seconds while my mom kicked my school bag out after me and slammed the door behind her. Once my breath returned to me, I stumbled to my feet and clutched my school bag to my chest as I started down the road.

It was obvious that I needed to get a job this morning. If I didn't get that job at the drug store, I wouldn't have a place to stay tonight. I walked down the street to the end of the road where the drug store was located. As I stood hesitating at the entrance of the building, I thought about how terrible I must look. After all, I hadn't had a chance to change clothes from yesterday and my hair and makeup were probably all messed up. Oh well, there wasn't time to worry about that now. I just had to cross my fingers and pray that I would get the job. There was nothing left to do.

Pushing the door open bravely, I stepped inside and walked straight to the woman at the cashier without looking around me. As I approached her, I tried to put a friendly smile on my face, "Hello there. I'm Olivia Black. I live just around the corner and I was really hoping to get a job here. I saw a sign a few weeks ago that said you needed another cashier. Is that true?"

The woman looked me up and down. I could tell she was sizing me up. After scrutinizing me for a long time, she frowned and asked, "Just how old are you exactly? But yes, we do still need a cashier. I need to know your age first though." I flushed light pink with embarrassment. Because of my small size, people easily mistook me for a young fourteen-year-old. Most people would never guess that I was really sixteen and a half.

"I'm sixteen," I replied honestly. The woman looked suspicious, but nodded. She seemed to be debating hiring me as she continued to stare at me for a few moments. Finally, she leaned across the counter towards me and said, "Let's see if we can make a bargain. I'll give you the job if you can be here from six to eleven every night. You'll get paid seven dollars for every hour you work. How does that sound, honey? Do we have a deal?"

My heart sank when I heard the hours. I had hoped beyond hoped that I would be able to work in the morning. Trying not to sound too depressed, I asked, "There isn't any way I could work in the morning, is there? I'm a little busy after school and all." The woman just narrowed her eyes and shook her head. If I wanted the job, I was going to have to work her hours with no questions asked. As much as I didn't want to work after school, I knew I had to. I needed a job by the end of the day.

So pasting a fake smile on my lips, I replied, "I'll take the job. When do you want me to start?" Looking startled that I had decided to take the job, the woman answered, "Why, tonight of course! Be here sharply at six. I can't sit around and wait for you." I nodded and then trudged back towards the door. Somehow, I was going to learn how to survive school, Ray's torture, and then five hours at a job. I learned to survive it physically, but mentally I began to fade away.

~ ~ ~ ~

Trying to ignore the gym teacher's rapping, I glanced at my watch for probably the fifteenth time today. Having to work at my job tonight was really making me paranoid about the time. I shifted from foot to foot as the gym teacher droned on and on about what we were going to do today. I really didn't like gym. I found it pretty pointlessly if you were already in good shape. For someone slim like me who didn't even get enough to eat, gym was like hell.

"Today, you're going to have a partner who you're going to run the mile with. The two of you are suppose to pace yourselves so you are running at about the same speeds. Today's goal will be to learn how to pace yourself with a partner, does that make sense?" Mrs. Smith, the gym teacher explained to us. I felt like cussing when I heard her directions. Doing gym by myself was bad enough! It would be really hard to have to run the mile with someone from the gym class especially since I was the worst runner at the school. It wasn't exactly my fault that I was the worst runner though. Maybe if I got enough to eat, I would've been a good runner. Who knows? I guess I'll never find out at this point.

"Can we choose our partners?" a voice rang out from the class. I immediately started scanning the people in my class to see who would be the next slowest runner next to me. That would definitely be the person I would chose to race with. Unfortunately, Mrs. Smith seemed to have different ideas.

Shaking her curly head, Mrs. Smith replied, "Nope, I have already chosen partners for you." A loud groan went through the class. I couldn't help but groan along with them. Considering the fact that I always had bad luck, I would probably end up having to partner with the fastest runner in the school. Biting my lip, I waited for Mrs. Smith to announce my partner.

"Olivia?" she called only a second later. I raised my head and looked up at her nervously, tension filling my whole body. Mrs. Smith went on, "I'm pairing you with James today. You two can start the run whenever you want." I stared at Mrs. Smith with wide, incredulous eyes. How the hell could she do this to me? I couldn't be paired with James!

Mrs. Smith just smiled back calmly at me, apparently oblivious to my horror. I thought about pretending to be sick or something to get out of the mile run, but that would be a coward's way out. I may be scared of guys, but I most certainly wasn't a coward. Stiffening my back, I took a few steps towards James and nodded towards the running track, "Um, should we start?"

James nodded, "Yeah, might as well." The two of us walked side by side to the edge of the indoor running track. As we walked along, I couldn't help but look James over. He was tall and had long, skinny legs. There was no doubt that he would be a fast runner. I was going to end up struggling to keep up with him.

When we finally reached the start of the track, the two of us looked at each other and then began a slow jog. To my surprise, James didn't start out fast. Instead, he looked at me to set the pace. Thankful for his consideration, I started to think that maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all. Maybe I would be able to get through this run within fifteen minutes and without having to talk to James! That would be a miracle, but he hadn't talked to me yet, so it was a possibility!

However, James chose that exact moment to look over at me and ask, "Olivia? Can I ask you something personal?" I frowned at him and shook my head, "No, you can't." James' face fell and I could see the sadness in his warm, brown eyes. Feeling bad, I relented, "Okay, fine, you can ask me the question." The question couldn't be all that bad, could it? James probably just wanted to know what my grade in geometry was or something like that.

"Are you and Ray pretty close?" James asked. The question caught me off guard and I skidded to a stop in the middle of our run. James, who also stopped, seemed to regret asking the question because he added, "It's just that I see you two together a lot. That's all. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

Embarrassed about my reaction to his question, I started running again. But instead of the nice, easy jog like before, this time I ran hard. It was as if I was trying to run away from my fears and from the thoughts of Ray that were going through my head. James seemed surprised that I had chosen to speed up, but he matched his pace to mine easily.

Finally, I replied through puffs of air, "Ray and I most certainly are not close. We're acquaintances, yes, but that's it." James nodded, looking thoughtful. I couldn't help but wonder why he wanted to know if Ray and I were together or not. It wasn't any of his business, but again, James didn't really care if things were part of his business or not. He liked to butt into other people's lives for no good reason. That was just the way he was.

As I ran harder and thought about these things all the while, I forgot where I was going and ran right into a student in front of me. The two of us collided and I was thrown onto my back from the impact. My loose tank top slid slightly to the right, revealing lots of my neck and chest. As I tried to sit up, James dropped to the ground besides me and tossed his curly blonde hair over his shoulder as he asked, "Are you okay, Olivia?"

I nodded, too embarrassed about the whole situation to speak. Then I noticed James' eyes roaming to a spot on my neck. I tugged my tank top back over to where it was suppose to be, but it was too late. I had a large red splotch on the base of my neck. I didn't think anyone would notice it, but apparently James had. The red blotch was from a night or two ago when Ray had bitten down on my neck so hard that it had bled. Sadly, this mark could easily be mistaken for a hickey.

Looking nervously up at James, I could see him looking at me with a new expression. This expression held suspicion and distrust. He obviously didn't believe me now about Ray. He would automatically assume that Ray and I were lovers. Shit. Is that what the whole school thought? I tried to shake James' expression out of my head. Who cared what James thought of me? Did it matter if he thought I had lied to him or not? Of course it didn't matter! It wasn't like I even liked James. He was my enemy. All guys were my enemies. But why did I seem to care so much about him?