Love and Hate (9 page)

It also didn’t help that I have
two classes and lunch with her. All day I had to see her. Our lockers are even
freaking by each other.

                        “Hey.”
I look up to see my mother at my door.

                        “Hey.”
I say lying in my bed.

“You okay? You were quiet during
dinner.”

“Yeah I’m cool. I’m just really
tired. I think I’m going to bed early.”

“Okay, well goodnight.”

“Goodnight”

“I love you.” 

“Love you too.”

I watch her leave out. I know she
probably wants to talk and stuff, but I just can’t. Too much is going on in my
brain and I’m scared to tell her everything that is bothering me.

I grab my IPOD off my night stand
and insert my headphones. I press the play button. All I want to do is get lost
in the music. I don’t want to think about her anymore. I don’t want to be sad
or angry anymore. This has awakened in me, all the emotions that I have been
trying to keep away. I was happy when I saw her then I was sad when I lost her.
Now I’m angry because I can’t have her. Another problem is if I don’t think
about her I think about my brother. Thinking about my brother leads to
numbness.

Claudia

“Dad?” I say standing in his
office doorway. He’s sitting at his desk reading over paperwork.

“Yeah sweetie, what’s up?”

I walk in further and sit in the
first seat in front of his desk.

“Can I ask you something?”  

“Yes, whatever you want.” He
grins at me.

So how do I go about this? I have
to go about it the smart way. I can’t just say “Hey dad, I kind of have a crush
on a Pierce. Are they really that bad?” Yeah that would make an interesting
conversation.

“What do you know about the
Pierce family?” I ask.

“I know a lot. Why? Did something
happen at school today? Did they do something to you?” He asks angrily.

“No dad, I mean, Donovan Pierce,
that’s his name right?” Wow Claudia, really smooth.

“Yes.” He confirms.

“Well, he started at our school
today and he’s in two of my classes.”

“Really? So how was he?”

I immediately think back to our
kiss and how he was really good at that. I suddenly start to think about how he
is probably good at a lot of things.  Snap out of it Claudia!  Keep your mind
out of the gutter.

“Um, what do you mean?” I ask
nervously.

“Was he good in school? Bad? I
know his sister has a reputation.”

“No, he was fine. He pretty much
stayed to himself.”

“Then why are you asking me about
them?”

“I was just curious about the
enemy, I guess.” At this point I’m saying anything for my dad to believe that I
don’t have an ulterior motive.

“Well good. You should be. All
you need to know is that Roman Pierce is nothing, but filth, Claudia. He is a
man who knows nothing about honor, his whole life he has gotten away with
murder and stealing. Roman Pierce was raised in an environment being taught
only one thing and that was that he was invisible. That’s one of the reasons
why I chose to go after organized crime. I wanted to go after the men who
thought they were untouchable. They think the more money they have, the less we
can find on them. For years I have brought down over twenty organized crime
families.”

“And Roman Pierce will be next?”

My father gives a smile. “Yes, he
will. There is always a way, Claudia. Remember that.”

“Well dad, just for curiosity,
what if Roman Pierce has retired. I mean what if he has given it all up.”

“Sweetie, Roman Pierce is just
like his father. Crime is in the Pierce blood. For years they have all turned
out the same. I’m pretty sure Donovan Pierce will have the same future.” Wow.
That’s pretty harsh. “This is the reason why I’m completely dedicated to
putting Roman Pierce away for good. So don’t you worry.”

Oh dad, I have more to worry
about than you know.

Donovan

Mrs. Hairston made us move our
desks in a circle for class discussion. Sitting across from Claudia, all I
could concentrate on was not looking at her. She ignored me, I must say. She
avoids any type of eye contact with me. It makes me question if it’s easy for
her to forget it all. The real question is why do I care? She is a Stonem. I
should hate her but to me she is not only the daughter of Henry Stonem, she is
this extraordinary girl I met at a party. She made me smile, nervous, and laugh,
all in one hour. I’ve tried to fight it, but I can’t. She will always be that
for me.

“So, the greatest love stories in
literature people, name some.” Mrs. Hairston says while sitting on the edge of
a desk. Our topic today is romantic literature and it seems nobody is eager to
participate in the class discussion. It is second period on a Monday.

“Okay people so I guess I’m going
have to call on a victim.” She bit her lip and glanced around the classroom.
“Gretchen.”

Gretchen jerked up at the sound
of her name being called. I’m glad she called on her because she was just
twirling her blonde hair around staring at me. I’m not saying the girl isn’t
cute, but the way she stares is kind of creepy.

“Titanic?”

Everyone lets out a laugh while
Mrs. Hairston shakes her head.

“No, Gretchen give me the name of
a book.”

“Um, well Mrs. Hairston I don’t
really read books.”

“Clearly.” Says the guy across
from me, sitting two seats away from Claudia.

This guy’s name is Eric Anderson.
He is a real ass. Emilie and Jason hate him. They told me he use to date
Claudia. As soon as they told me that I didn’t like him. When they said he
cheated on her all the time, I really didn’t like him. Every time he acts an
ass it gives me more of a reason not to like him. Most of all the fact that he
got to be with Claudia is unfair and for that I will never like him.

“Shut up Eric.” Gretchen says
with an attitude while everyone else continues laughing and agreeing.

“Eric that’s enough.” Mrs.
Hairston says to him. “Anyone else?”

A girl raises her hand.

“Yes, Anna.”

“Romeo and Juliet.”

“Aw yes, not only a love story,
but also a tragedy, one of Shakespeare’s greatest at that.”

Romeo and Juliet, what a perfect
topic for my life right now.

“That was lame.” Eric says. His
little side commentary is very annoying.

“Why was it lame Eric?”

“Two people who fall in love
without knowing each other? That’s stupid. Then they go off themselves because
they can’t be with eachother?”

“Well Shakespeare thought
differently”

“Yeah, he fell in love with
Gwyneth.” Gretchen says. Everyone pauses at her sentence because she is
referring to a fictional film. God this girl is a piece of work. Still hot
though.

“Anyway, Mr. Anderson, don’t you
think it is possible to love someone so much that you will be willing to do
anything to be with them? I mean Romeo and Juliet were considered rebels in
their society weren’t they?”

“I don’t know.” Says Jade,
sitting on the other side of Claudia.

She is Claudia’s best friend. I
always see them together.  I had been observing her a lot to not only notice
the people in her life, but also I might actually know all her mannerisms. For
example, she does this thing where she twitches her nose. It’s kind of cute
because her nose is small. I think she has allergies. Every time it’s sunny
outside she sits right next to the window. She loves the sun. The sun shows how
perfect her skin is when it reflects on her face. She always has this look like
she’s not sure about stuff, like she is always worried. One day I noticed how
all her friends were around her gossiping but she wasn’t listening to any of
them. She was in her own world. At lunch she has this goofy smile when she
eats. She loves food and can down a burger in a minute but she still has a
great body. There’s one look I have yet to see, her really happy face. I’ve
seen it twice, when we first met and when we met again at school. I wish she
would smile more. It’s probably awkward for her. I wish I could leave this
school, not only for me, but for her. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable.

“You agree with Eric, Jade?” Mrs.
Hairston asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I mean only about them killing
themselves. It’s like it started so sweet and romantic than it became too
extreme.”

“Okay, what about you Ms. Stonem?
What do you think?”

Claudia raises her head to look
at Mrs. Hairston. She was clearly not ready to be called on. She looks nervous.
I can tell by the way she looks at everyone who are waiting for her answer.

“Um, yeah totally they were too
extreme, and in reality people can’t really love that hard, thats insane. At
least not after they just met.” She says, nervously.

“Why do I get the feeling you
don’t truly mean that?” Mrs. Hairston says, staring at her intuitively.

I know for a fact she’s lying. Why
does she care what these people think of her opinions?

“Come on people be open minded. Were
they stupid or were they heroes? Does love at first sight exist? Hell what is
love?”

I don’t usually speak in class,
but fuck it.

“Both” God these people are dramatic.
I say one thing and they all look at me in shock, like I’m a mute speaking for
the first time. I glance around the room to see everyone facing me wondering
what I will say next, including her. This is the first time she has looked at
me in two weeks. Or at least the first time I’ve caught her staring at me.

“Mr. Pierce this is a pleasant
surprise. Go on.”  Mrs. Hairston smiles at me.

“Romeo and Juliet were in love.
They didn’t mean to fall in love. That’s just what happened. It was like they
were soul mates or something. They decided to look past their names and
families. Personally love to me is something so powerful you can’t help what
you do. When you love someone, you can’t make it go away. You can’t help the
chemistry, the passion, and that spark people like to call it. Sometimes it
slowly comes, but sometimes it comes in an instant. Romeo and Juliet had it in
an instant and they said screw it. They decided not to commit to society, but
to each other. I personally think it is possible to love someone so much that
it eats you up inside especially when you love someone you can’t have. Now yes
the killing yourself part is stupid, but in the end it was the parents that
really suffered. They lost their children due to a petty war. Also Romeo and
Juliet should have fought harder.”

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Hairston
continues focusing on me along with everyone else.

“They shouldn’t have given up.
They should have fought harder to be together. They should have avoided all the
unnecessary drama, but of course it is an unrealistic situation. I mean it’s a
book, of course it’s dramatic. In real life when you’re with someone your
parents don’t approve of you just continue seeing them secretly until
graduation.”  I laugh a little at my last sentence and so does everyone else.

“Well put Mr. Pierce. Thank you.”
Mrs. Hairston says with a smile.

I nod at her, than glance back at
Claudia. She is looking back down of course.

 I wonder if she got it. I wonder
if Claudia got the fact that I was talking about us. The funny thing is that I
didn’t really notice myself until I was finished talking.

Claudia

“Look at him; he is like a
freaking God or something.” Naomi says while staring at Donovan waiting on his
lunch.

“He’s just so hot, but of course
that’s not a shocker his dad is a D.I.L.F and his mom is a M.I.L.F.”

“Really Naomi?” Dawn says before
taking a sip of her diet coke.

            “Oh come on. You all know it. I mean
Claudia I know he’s supposed to be your enemy, but even you have to admit he’s
gorgeous.”

            “He’s not my enemy. I hate referring to
him as that. They’re just people who’s dad hates my dad.” I say.

            “And people who slept with your
boyfriend.” Naomi says in her very smug way. She does these low blows to get a
reaction from me.

            “Naomi, shut up.” Jade snaps while
everyone is silently waiting for my response.

            “Ex-boyfriend and if you all don’t mind
I just want the rest of the semester to go by without the Pierce’s being
mentioned, please?” I try to stay calm. I really want to jump across the table
and scratch her eyes out.

            “Are you guys talking about Donovan
Pierce?” Gretchen says sitting down at our table.

                        “Oh
my God.” I mumbled while trying to eat my fries.

“Okay is it me or does he look
like Edward?”