Biker Class (21 page)

Then it all happened so fast.

She saw a shadow dart out from behind one of the wooden columns. Her
heart raced in her chest as a hand clapped over her mouth, almost choking her
with surprise.
A muscular arms
wrapped around her
waist and bounded her. She screamed against the hand, but almost no sound
escaped. She tried to fight the guy off, kicking, biting, yanking, elbowing,
but to no avail. A voice whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

"Calm down! Shut up and stop screaming, they'll hear you!"
it hissed angrily, dangerously. But that's when Melanie froze. Why would her
captor be hanging around this group of guys if he was trying to kidnap her and
he didn't want them to hear? Melanie whimpered, a hot tear streaming down her
cheek and onto the hand covering her mouth. Her kidnapper dragged her,
struggling, a little further out of earshot. She was nearly crying now, almost
too shocked to do much else. Her heart had never been beating so hard in her
life. Her chest was cold and aching.

She almost fell to the ground when, for some reason, he released her.
She spun
around,
the tall figure's silhouette almost
all she could see. He was breathing heavily as well, but then he spoke, making Melanie's
heart stop.

"God, you wore me out!" he complained. He ran a hand through
his blonde hair.

"
Jake
?" Melanie asked, a great deal of fear coming
right back to her. Every muscle in her body told her to run, but fear kept her
frozen. Her mind flashed to his eyes: the death look. She could almost see the
dark blue swimming, bulging out for her. She whimpered and she heard him
snicker. "W-what… what are you d-doing here?"

"No, the better question is what
you
are doing here!"
he whispered angrily. His tone made her cower even more. He sounded extremely
mad.
At her
.
It was her nightmares come to
life. "What
are you thinking
?"

"I– I was at a party… and I g-got lost," she stuttered
out. "I was going to ask f-for directions…"

"You can't ask
them
for directions!" he yelled
loudly. He drew in a sharp breath and his head whipped towards the fire, but no
one seemed to be looking their way. He let out a sigh in relief. Melanie bit
her lip. She had been through so much the past month, especially the past hour
alone. And he was standing here telling her that she wasn't allowed to ask for
a way back home? That made her a little ticked.

"Jake, I need to find a way back to the party!" she managed
to whisper-yell without stuttering, shocking herself. Her confidence swelled
larger than it should have. "You can't tell me that I can't go talk to
human beings when I haven't seen people for the past hour. I need to find my
way back."

Jake growled, her confidence gone immediately and replaced by panic.
"
Leave
. Now." It was an eerie whisper. Melanie huffed, having
to let out her frustration in some way but was almost scared to make the
violent guy more confrontational.

"I need directions," she said quietly, but determined. Melanie
turned on her heel and began to walk towards the group again.

"
No
!" Jake yelled, lunging forward and grabbing her,
picking her up. She struggled, afraid again. "Melanie, stop whimpering
like I'm about to murder you!" She bit her lip as her eyes stung.
"Look at me." Melanie refused to, his eyes what scared her the most.
He grabbed her shoulders roughly, shaking her. She winced. He knew he couldn't
force her to look at him, so he just tried to get the point across to her
anyway. "I'm not telling you not to talk to them because I don't want you
to, I'm telling you not to because you
can't
."

"What? Jake, stop, I need directions," she tried to tell
him, turning back towards the fire. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him
and enveloping her. She couldn't even move.

"Let me go, please!" She was starting to fear him again,
knowing that she was making him frustrated.

"Melanie, I can't get across to you how dangerous it is for you
to go talk to them!" he hissed, trying to be more quiet when he heard the
talking die down a bit.

"Why–?" Suddenly, it hit her and she understood. Her
heart stopped for a moment, then pounded. Her voice was gone for a minute.
"A-are… are those your f-friends down there, Ja-Jake?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly. She almost couldn't hear him. Melanie
remembered:

"And keep in mind what I said," Rachel said quietly, almost
like she was afraid if she spoke loud enough they'd show up. "He's the
nicest out of that group. So never ever go near his friends, Melanie. Jake is a
dangerous, crazed, temperamental dog only bound to a wall by a thin rope. His
friends are rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth dogs running around free and you don't
have a gun."

Melanie stepped back from him, her head down. She was breathing
heavily, quickly. She whispered to him.

"Would… would they hurt me, Jake?"

Silence.
A long silence.
Deathly quiet.

"Yeah."

Melanie was silent.

"Oh," she breathed, stepping further and further away from
the fire. She was wondering something, trying to get the
could-have-been-graphics out of her head. "Why did you see me?"

He looked away from her, scratching his head uncomfortably. He looked
aggravated. "I'm on watch."

"For?"

"Cops," he muttered.

"Oh," Melanie let out another breath. She couldn't believe
she was talking to someone who was doing stuff like that. He was on
patrol
.
For police.
No telling what they were doing.

He looked back towards the fire, the talking not as frequent as it had
been. Melanie saw a puff of white smoke come from one of the men. "You
need to leave. Just keep walking," he said, pointing behind her.

"Okay," she said, anxious to get away to actual safety. She
turned, started to walk away,
then
stopped. She felt
like eyes were on her, like in her nightmares. Melanie turned around, and in
the faint light, Jake was still standing there. In the distant firelight she
could see his eyes. They were dark, malicious.

"You need to go, Melanie," he said, more forcefully.

She didn't have to be told twice.

That next Tuesday

"Where's Rage?" Lawson wondered aloud, throwing his empty
beer bottle into the fire like always. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket
and cupped his hand around it as he lit it. His eyes flickered from Rod to Jake
suspiciously. Rod shrugged, oblivious also, kicking around the cigarette butt
he'd just dropped to the ground. Lawson looked to the blonde, sitting there
silently, like usual.

Jake smirked, "he told me he hadn't made his run by the strip
club this week. Probably where he is."

"Hope he brings back some ladies," Rod grinned broadly. His
dark hand scratched his chin as he fantasized hopefully.

"Yeah, man," Lawson chuckled, raising his small white
nicotine stick into the air in a kind of toast. They both laughed, but as they
quieted down, they noticed that the youngest hadn't joined them. "Jake,
dude, what's up?"

He looked away from the dark waves and to his comrade across the fire.
His eyes were clueless and his brows were raised. "Huh?"

"It's like you ain't here," Rod commented, turning his big
body toward him. "You high or somethin'?"

"Yeah. Did you get filled up before you came?" Lawson asked.
He smirked and wagged his finger like a disapproving father. "No driving
when
your
high. You could get in a wreck." He
clicked his tongue jokingly.

"Na, I'm not on anything, guys," he shook his head, staring
at the fire in an infatuated, yet bored way.

"Then what's goin' on?" the oldest asked, taking a drag and
letting it out through his nose slowly. "What you thinking about?"

"Nothing important."

"C'mon, it can't be that unimportant if it's making you stare at
the ocean for no reason," he countered. Jake just shrugged dismissively,
mouth staying shut as he rested his chin in his hand and looked out at the sea
again, mind racing. Lawson's eyes narrowed into slits as he watched the oddly
quiet protégé of his sit there, staring at nothing, thinking. Jake never talked
a lot
, but he was especially quiet tonight.
Abnormally
so.
"So, how's things goin' with your nice little virgin, huh, Jake?"

His eyes snapped away from the ocean and to Lawson so quickly that the
object of Jake's thoughts became clear.

"Yeah, how's that goin', man?" Rod added.

"Uh, it's going," he replied, lifting and dropping his
shoulders in a shrug.

"What do ya mean 'its going'?" Lawson repeated. "That
doesn't tell me anythin'. Is it 'goin'
good
? Is it
'goin' bad? What?"

"I, uh, I'm getting there," he answered. "Trying to
work up to it, you know. Get her comfortable with me. I mean, come on," he
said, opening his arms and smiling smugly, "do I look like the cuddliest
guy out there?"

"Hell no," Lawson shook his head, but his beady eyes were
glued to the blonde still. "But why are you wasting your time with all of
this 'letting her get comfortable' crap? Why don't you just do it and get it
over with? Sooner it's over, sooner you're in."

"She's not
gonna
let me just 'do it and
get it over with'," Jake replied, leaning forward slightly. "She's
not that kind of girl."

"Sure as hell she ain't that kind of girl," Rod chuckled.
"That's the whole reason she got picked, man!"

Jake rolled his eyes, uncomfortable with where this conversation was
heading. The subject that he wasn't comfortable with practically forcing her
to... do
it
was about to come up, and they would make fun of him for it.
Rod, Rage, and
especially
Lawson wouldn't think twice before forcing Melanie
against a wall and
..
.
well
...
getting the job done.

But for some reason that he didn't know, he just... just
couldn't
do that. It was a level of invasion and horror that was despicable. His friends
could do what they wanted with women, that was their business and not his, but
when it came to what
he
did... sorry, no. There were a lot illegal
things he'd do and already done, but rape was not one of them. And it would
never be.

"Who said she had to have a say in it?" Lawson snorted,
smoke puffing out of his nose because of it.

"I'm sure she would," Jake countered, trying to keep his
voice from rising. He couldn't let Lawson know how much talking like that
disgusted him and
..
.
infuriated
him. And he didn't know why. He'd never liked the idea, but now, he disliked it
even more than he would have, say, two weeks ago.

"That's funny, man," the dirty leader laughed. His laughter
faded when he saw that Jake wasn't laughing along. "In all seriousness,
though, when are you gonna do it?"

He decided to just go along instead of resisting what
Lawson
's morals were, pulling out a fake, but very
real-looking, smug look. It was his signature one. Could not be replicated.
"I don't know..." he grinned, crossing his eyes mockingly, "I'm
pretty 'stupid'... she might have to tutor me for the rest of
Senior
year."

Rod clapped Jake on the back, smiling proudly, and Lawson chuckled
along, but it was a little forced.

Suddenly, a rumbling was heard, and their heads snapped towards sound
and the lights of the bike driving up. They heard it cut short, and before they
knew it, Rage was walking towards them with a tall, slim blonde by his side.
She, predictably, was wearing stiletto heels and a short skirt, a tight-fitting
yellow tank as her top and covering all but her belly button.

"Hey, bitches!" he shouted, words slurred, indicating he was
obviously extremely drunk.

"Hey, dude!" Lawson smirked. "We were wondering where
you were. So who's this?" He grinned, yellow teeth showing, at the blonde
girl. She just nodded at him but kept her arm tightly wound around Rage's.

"This is Katy," the red-head smiled, winding an arm around
her waist and pulling her to him until they couldn't be closer, making her
giggle. Jake rolled his eyes as Rage took a seat on a log and Katy sat in his
lap, whispering things in his ear and kissing him. Jake usually didn't care,
considering bringing girls back from the strip club happened sometimes, but for
some reason, watching them all over one another tonight made him sick to his
stomach.

In fact, come to think of it, this wasn't much fun tonight. He
was kind of wanting
to leave. He lived with Rage now... he
would never go back with his father. Not if his life depended on it. But he was
fine with going home to an empty, small little house if it meant getting away
from this yuck-fest.

"Hey, uh, guys," Jake said suddenly, throwing his beer
bottle into the fire and standing up, brushing off his leather jacket and
stretching, "I'm gonna go ahead and leave."

"Where you going?" Rage asked, having to pause for a second
after speaking to hiccup. "The party just started, m-man!"

"Uh," he muttered, running a hand through his hair and
looking out at the sea once again. The waves almost seemed to help him think.
"I just... had one of those days. Um, I... uh, I'm probably gonna go turn
in."

"You're thinking about a girl, aren't you?" came a sudden,
unfamiliar voice. Jake looked over to see that the girl, Katy, who had until
now talked to no one but occasional whispers to Rage, had been the one who'd
spoken. Her voice was high and sweet, not rough and scratchy like most girls
they encounter, who smoke constantly. If it wasn't for what she was wearing,
you wouldn't think she'd fit in with, well, strippers.

"What?" Jake asked, disbelievingly. All of his friends
seemed to be thinking the same thing. First of all, it was shocking and weird
for anyone to accuse
Jake
, one of the group's youngest young players,
would be thinking about a girl in a non-sexual way. And added onto that, the
person who accused him of it was a stripper he'd met less than a few minutes
ago. Was it really bad enough to where a complete stranger would take notice?

"How old are you?" she asked, eying him in a curious way.

"Uh, eighteen... about to be nineteen," he answered, unsure,
thinking this was odd and unrelated.

"You're young," she commented, looking him up and down.
"What're you doing out here?"

Was she questioning his worthiness to be hanging out with his friends?
He quickly set her straight. "I've been out here since I was
sixteen," he smiled proudly. "Just hanging out. Don't care about
anything."

"Really?" she asked eagerly, curious eyes lighting up.
"Because it doesn't seem like that to me. Looks to me like you're thinking
about someone."

"Babe, w-what are you doing?" Rage asked, chuckling
drunkenly, but he seemed to be sane enough to realize the oddness of her sudden
questioning as well.

"Hold on," she told him as he started trying to kiss her.
She pushed him away and he frowned and sighed, looking at Jake in a
'hurry-up-and-get-done-talking-so-I-can-get-back-to-business' way. "So
you're saying that you're eighteen, you've been hanging out here for years with
these guys, and you just... don't care?"

"Uh... yeah," he nodded, almost a little curtly. Well, this
girl sure was nosy.

"Why are you out here?" she asked, eyes narrowed in a
confused way.

"I already—"

"
No
, I mean, think about it: why are you out here? You're
so young and you've got your life ahead of you, kid."

"I am
not
a
kid—
"

"Yeah, you are. You haven't even graduated high school yet. You
shouldn't be out here. This place is for people who are throwing their lives
away... and you're too young for that."

"Hey!" the others said defensively. Well, as defensively as
they could with so much alcohol in their systems. She ignored them.

"I know that I've given up on my life, you shouldn't on
yours," she told him. "And whoever that girl is that you're thinking
about, keep thinking about 'er. Don't take her for granted, kid."

"Katy, w-what are you now? Some... c-counselor or
somethin'?" Rage chuckled, trying to kiss her neck, but unsuccessful when
she pulled away.

"In a sec, baby," she told him, holding up a finger.
"What's your name?"

"Uh, Jake," he answered, looking back and forth between his
friends and the odd stripper. Rod shrugged, obviously as lost as Jake was.
Lawson, however, was watching him almost like Katy, except in a...
less
friendly
way.

"
Jake
," she tested the name out on her tongue,
looking at him intently, "go."
But clearly, there
was more to that than she said aloud.
She was really saying, '
Go see
her
'.

Jake glanced down at his watch, which read
10:30
. It was a
little late... and Melanie was probably in bed by now or about to go to bed.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, WAIT! Was he actually
thinking
about this? He didn't
need to see Melanie... no, he
shouldn't
see Melanie. Well, the more he
saw her, the more she would get used to him, and the more likely it was that
she might allow... more intimacy. But earlier, he wasn't thinking about having
sexual relations with Melanie.

He was thinking about his future. He had been watching his friends
that night, and saw them in an almost completely new light. Sure, they were
still like his older brothers that he looked up to, but they looked less...
smart. As he watched them drink, burp, smoke cigarettes and a little marijuana,
he asked himself, '
Is this going to be me in four years?
' Would he have
nothing better to do, nothing more prospering to do, than to hang out with your
friends and someone in high school and get drunk and high? Would that be all
there was to life?

He had been thinking about the SAT workshop. He had gone to it Monday
(well, half of it before he ditched), and the way they explained things
actually, for once,
did
clear things up a bit. It made it feel less
pointless when he wasn't sitting there so frustrated, trying to figure it out.
It made more sense. Sure, he hadn't been planning to aim for a college, and he
still didn't think he was... but it seemed like a
slightly
less stupid
idea. It still seemed like a lot of hard work (groan!) and effort and money,
but it made a little more sense.

And if Melanie did it... maybe it had a purpose in life that wasn't
completely useless. She was smart when it came to making good choices, right?
And she was very pretty.

Okay, that was random.

He needed to clear his mind. Badly. And when he had to do that, Jake
only did one thing.

He went for a ride.

Where he was going, he didn't know, but when he kicked the Harley to
life, he felt his confusion rushing through him like the fuel through the
pipes. He would let the machine take him where it would... where was unknown.