Disorders

I walked into the classroom without looking any other way. Joseph was sitting with Wendy. That girl took my spot.

She was leaning on the desk, staring at Joseph with a sickly sweet smile on her lips. Joseph was staring down at her, curling a lock of her hair around his finger. I'd never seen him acting so sweet.

He raised his head and offered me an indifferent look. "Hey." He was calm, as if he hadn't nearly killed me the day before.

Wendy sat up and gave me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Jess. I had no idea they would go so far. I just said I thought Jackie Chan's movies were cool, and then…"

She started tearing up. I gave her no response. Joseph frowned and pulled me aside. "Hey, she already said she's sorry. What more do you want?" Impatience laced his voice. "It was just a prank. Stop looking at us like we owe you something. Fine, I know you sprained something because the drones' batteries died. I'll pay for the meds."

He took out hundreds of dollars from his pockets and tried to stuff them into my hands. I moved away, and the bills fluttered down to the ground. His face fell.

"Don't push it, Jessica. I'm only saying sorry because we're childhood friends. It's not like I can't live without you."

The class was staring at us, engaged in whispered discussion.

"I can't believe she's pushing away money."

"Yeah, if it were me, I'd do the same thing a hundred times."

I bent down, picked up the money, and approached Wendy. Then I slammed the cash into her face right in front of the whole class. "I don't give a flying fuck about your apology or money. And woman, this is my spot. Get your ass off."

Silence choked the classroom. Everyone was staring at me in shock, including Joseph. He never thought the usually gentle me would do something so outrageous.

Wendy's face turned into a sickly shade of greenish-white. Tears were swirling in her eyes, and she looked at Joseph like a hurt kitten. "Joseph…"

Joseph snapped out of it and shoved me off. "Are you out of your goddamn mind, Jessica?"

That threw me off balance, and my back slammed into the corner of a desk. The pain nearly took me out, but I kept my eyes locked on Wendy. Slowly, I repeated, "I'll say this one last time. Get. Your. Ass. Off. My. Seat."

The look in my eyes scared her, and she stood up without thinking. Then I started packing my stuff. I did not care what everyone else was doing. I put my books, my notebooks, and a pen into my bag. All my stuff, I took all of them.

Joseph was still standing, but his chest was heaving. "What are you doing? Trying to fuck off now?" He was still mad.

I ignored him.

Then he grabbed my hand with enough force to crush my bones. "I'm talking to you, Jessica! I've known you for ten years! You're overreacting!"

This again. Finally, I looked into his eyes. His eyes used to be as bright as stars. Now they were only filled with fury and confusion.

"Have you ever wondered what it felt like to be hung three hundred feet in the sky, Joseph? Ever wondered what it felt like to be watched like a chimpanzee doing unnatural tricks in a circus? Ever wondered what it felt like when the girl you like laughed at you for wetting your pants?"

Every question drained more color out of his face. "I…"

Not a sentence came out of his mouth.

"You think I'm overreacting. I call this an appropriate response." I flung his hand away, zipped my backpack, and stormed off. What followed me was the classroom's silence.

Instead of going home, I went to the hospital. My aunt was a department head here. She noticed the bruise on my hand and the deathly pale look on my face, but she said nothing.

She put me through a series of tests and checkups. When the report came to her and she went through it, her face fell.

"Acute stress disorder, severe anxiety, and depression tendency." She slammed the report down on her desk with enough force to crush a boulder. The fury in her eyes threatened to burn everything around her.

"That son of a whore! I'm going to drag his ass for this!"

"Auntie!" I pulled her back. "I don't want to make this mess bigger than it already is."

Transfer

"It's not big enough!" My aunt was shivering in rage. "Not when he nearly got you killed! What about your parents? They're just going to watch while these crotch goblins bully you?"

I hung my head low. My father was the Pinschers' chauffeur, while my mother was one of their servants. They would never demand an answer from their employer's son. Whatever Joseph did was right, at least to them. They thought I deserved to suffer a little. After all, we needed the Pinschers to survive.

Quietly, I said, "I want to go to a new school."

This was why I came to my father's sister. My aunt was stunned, but then she realized what I was trying to say. "Yes, of course. You're leaving that hellhole this instant! So where do you want to go? I'll handle everything! How about Clementia? I can help you out if you attend a college there."

Clementia was a big city and took four hours to arrive by car. It was far enough to stay away from all the things and people I refused to see again.

My aunt did things fast. She tapped into her connections and contacted someone from Clementia's best high school. The admin took one look at my grades and the report that said I had ASD, and they agreed to give me a spot.

"It'll be done next week if everything goes well," my aunt said.

"Thank you, Auntie."

"Don't mention it, my girl." She patted my head. I could see the worry in her eyes. "Just stay with me for now, okay?"

I changed my SIM card that very night and tossed my old one into a trash bin at the hospital. As I lay on the bed in my aunt's house, my eyes set on the moon outside.

For the first time in ten years, I did not say good night to Joseph. No longer will I get any messages from him again. No longer would he order me around like I was some sort of servant.

I had a hole in my heart, but I also felt relief. Then my phone buzzed. My aunt.

'That Pinscher kid nearly made my phone explode. He wants to know where you are. I ignored him. You did well, Jess. Some people aren't worth it.'

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I read that message. Yes, he wasn't worth it. I spent ten years giving all my love to him, and all I gained in return was humiliation. A premeditated crime. What a joke. I was at the center of it, too.

…

The transfer process was done a week later. My parents had no idea at all. I told them my school organized a training camp for an upcoming competition. That training camp would run for two weeks.

They bought that story, and they were pleased. To them, I was making them proud. My mother gave me 150 before I left.

"Don't try to scrimp out there. Get yourself whatever you want. And don't spend all your time buried in books. Go out with your friends sometimes."

My father said, "Take care of yourself. Don't cause any trouble for Mr. Pinscher."

My blood ran cold. So he thought Joseph was the reason I went to that camp. But I said nothing. Instead, I took the money and nodded.

My aunt picked me up. As she drove me away from the city that raised me, I did not turn back even once.

…

Clementia High was better than I thought. The campus was huge, and trees covered nearly every inch. The air was thick with academia.

My new homeroom was a soft-spoken, middle-aged woman. She went through my file and patted my shoulder, but she said nothing about it. "Welcome, Jessica. This will be your new home."

My seat was in the fourth row near the window. A girl called Kaylee Simpson sat on my right. She was a lively one, that girl. "Hi, I'm Kaylee. Kaylee Simpson! My friends call me Kaylee!" She smiled, and she had dimples.

"Jessica Chase."

"Nice name. I don't hear a lot of Chases in my life."

The girl was overly friendly, and she told me all about the school and my new classroom, like which teacher was the stricter one and which days sold the better food.

"Howard Saffron's the de facto leader of this gang. He's super great with his studies, and he's really nice. You can go to him if you have any questions about this subject."

She pointed at the boy in the first row. He was quietly going through his book. The boy was slender, and he had a clean look. Then he turned his head around. Our stares caught his attention.

Trouble Haunts Her

He gave us a friendly nod. A little nervous, I smiled at him.

I was in a new place, and all around me were new people. Things were looking nice for a chance. No one was looking at me like I was an oddity. No one knew about my humiliating past.

I had a second chance at life. Here I thought my story with Joseph had come to an end, but I'd forgotten that Joseph was not someone who would let go that easily. Not especially when he thought the things that were his were coveted by someone else.

…

One afternoon, after school, I saw someone familiar outside the gate. Joseph was leaning on his gaudy motorcycle, a cigarette hanging from his lips.

He lost a lot of weight. Dark circles hung under his eyes. He looked dejected and furious. The moment he saw me, he tossed his cigarette away and strode up to me.

"Had enough fun, Jessica?" His voice was hoarse, and there was fury lying underneath. "You're coming home with me."

The intense situation scared Kaylee. She grabbed my arm. "Who's this guy, Jessica?"

"“A total lunatic," I said coldly.

"Lunatic?" Joseph sounded like he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. He laughed, but his eyes were icily cold. "Yes! A lunatic—the lunatic you made me into! You ran all the way here without saying a word to me, and you made sure I couldn't get in touch with you! I nearly went crazy looking for you!"

"So?" I looked at him calmly. "We're already done."

"Done?" He squeezed my hand with enough power to break something. "It's not done! We had ten years between us! Your father is still my dad's chauffeur, and your mother is still one of my family's servants! If you don't do as I say, I'll fire them tomorrow!"

I had never seen him lose control this much before. This was also his first time using my parents against me. My blood ran cold.

"Let her go," someone said icily.

It was Howard. He was already standing beside me before I knew it. One by one, he pulled Joseph's fingers off my arm. He was not moving fast, but he was not holding back either.

Joseph narrowed his eyes. He was sizing up Howard like he wanted to figure out how to destroy him.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Howard pulled me behind him. Coolly, he looked at Joseph. "Her classmate."

"You're her boyfriend, aren't you?" Joseph sneered. The disdain and mockery in his eyes were palpable. He turned to me. "You've only been gone for days, and you've already hooked up with a new guy? Bad taste. He's a broke nerd. I can smell the poverty from over here."

That did not faze Howard. He remained calm. "Who I am does not matter. What matters is Jessica doesn't want to go with you."

"You don't get to decide that!" Furious, Joseph raised his fist and swung it at Howard.

I screamed, but Howard turned to his side and evaded that punch easily. Kaylee was right behind him, however, and she was not lucky. The punch grazed her, and she fell to the ground.

Then chaos followed. The guards showed up a moment later and pulled the boys away from each other.

I, Howard, and Joseph were taken to the principal's office. Ms. Zimmerman and my aunt arrived shortly thereafter.

Joseph's parents showed up as well. Tom, Joseph's father, launched into a tirade against me right away. He jabbed a finger at my face. "How dare you, Jessica! You told us you were going to a training camp! But here you are, hooking up with some random bastard!"

Susan, Joseph's mother, grabbed her son. Worried, she checked his wounds. "My boy, are you hurt? That peasant! How dare he hit you! That filthy, lowly peasant!"

My aunt was shaking with rage. She hurled my checkup report into their faces. "You're accusing my niece? Look at this! This is what your son did! He tortured my niece so hard, she has severe depression now! How dare you twist the story and make your son out to be the victim! How dare you!"