Redheads are Soulless (2 page)

She
nodded her head in agreement
. I
helped her
walk to the recliner and sat her down. I quickly ran to the bathroom, and grabbed some
bandages
, and a wet wash rag. Once I cleaned up the cuts, she relaxed back in her chair. I could see she was starting to sober up a little.

“You’re such a good girl, Sof,” she said as she started to fall asleep.

“I know, Mom
. You get some sleep,
ok
?”

“Ok
,” she said right before a snore escaped her throat.

Just a typical Friday night.

Two

Jason
Morgan

Monday mornings
are
always
bittersweet for me.

They
are good because I have
a whole 5 days before my mom w
ill
be hitting the bar
again
. They
are
bad because
it means
I
have to go
back to school, which means lots of taunting from the other students.
You woul
d think that sin
ce we a
re seniors in high school
they would be
more mature and
nicer. Nope, if anything, they
only got more immature
and crueler
with time.
One
thing was certain –
their words were just as hurtful now as they had been seven years ago. O
nly now, I do
n’t cry in front of them. I p
ut on a brave face and pretend
to ignore them. In all reality, it fe
els like they a
re taking a knife to my insides. Sometimes, I think a knife would hurt less.

I looked in the mirror one last time before heading to school.
I was very disappointed at the girl looking back at me.

I kept my unruly, curly, red hair pulled into a ponytail
, frizzy
curls cascaded dow
n
my back
. I almost like
my hair…
almost. My dark brow
n eyes, as always, were filled with
sadness and hurt. And lastly, my clothes – I wore my favorite
purple
sundress. I wore it a lot, simply because I didn’
t own a lot of clothes,
b
ut neve
r-the-less, it was my favorite.
And I wore cheap dollar store flip flops.

I glanced at the clock on my nightstand.
7:55
Am
. Time to go.

I live
exactly 4 mi
nutes from the school. If I leave
at this time, that g
ives
me 1 minute to park and get to c
lass. It
i
s always just enough time. I figure, why set myself up for torture first thing? Arriving just on time
i
s what I ha
ve
done for years. It’s just better th
is
way.

Once I got to school, I slipped into my desk just in time for the bell to ring. Mr. Franks gave me a knowing nod, and then
began
the lesson.

My dull, predicting, never-changing life…

Something hit me from the right.

I
looked down at a crumpled up piece of paper
on the floor beside my desk
. Todd, the
star quarterback, gave me a wink
.
I rolled my eyes at him.

I knew
that
I shouldn’t read the note. I kne
w it would be hurtful, b
ut I
opened
it anyway.

Heard your mom’s easy, just wanted to see if it ran in the family. You’re ugly, but I’m
pretty
desperate.
– T
odd

The note didn’t make me angry, just really sad. I tried to play it off as anger.
Piss
off,
I wrote back. I s
ent the note flying at his head.

Mr. Franks saw, but he chose
to ignore it. Teachers always gi
ve me breaks. It’s not like it would matter. My mom wouldn’t care if I did get in trouble
.

Before Todd even go
t the note, I tur
ned
my attention back to the lesson.

School is about the only thing I do have going for me. Despite the
lack of
parental guidance, I ha
ve
a 4.0 average. I
am
desperate to get out of this town, and away from my mom. I love her, but I c
a
n’t stand to be with her anymore. I will go to whatever college accepts
me
, hopefully in Portland, Maine
, and I will never look back at my crappy life.

Just then, the classroom door open
ed and in walked a student I have
never seen before
. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. Some
thing about this guy captured my attention
.
It was like my eyes were glued to him.

He walked to the front of the class with pride and dignity. His hair was black, but not in a gothic,
I hate my life
,
way. M
ore like
a,
I’m a rock star
, kind of
way
. His bangs swept to the side, and normally I’m not into that, but it looked good on him.
He was tall, towering at le
ast a foot over Mr. Franks. H
is
tight,
bl
ack hoodie clung to his abdomen, and it was hard not to stare at his rock hard muscles.
He wasn’t big like a football player, but something told me nobody would want to mess with him.

His eyes met mine for a second, and the hair on my arms stood up. His eyes were solid black. But then, something unexplainable happened
…
they turned to a golden brown color. I blinked a few times
.
M
y eyes must
be playing tricks on me.

He winked at me, and I was finally able to look away. I w
as sure my face was as bright as
my red hair.

I looked up again once I heard Mr. Franks voice. “Everybody, this is Jason
Morgan
. He has just transferred here from California.” He pointed to the empty seat beside me. “Just take a seat
in the back
, please.”

My heart sped up about a hundred beats
a minute
.

He would be sitting by
me
.

Of course he would, that is the only empty desk in the class. Nobody
else
wants to sit by me.

On his way back to the seat, I could see people were giving him sympathetic looks.
Poor guy, having to sit
by her, I hope he doesn’t get her herpes
, I could
hear them whisper.

I look
ed
down at my textbook
, ignoring the whispers,
as Jason
t
ook
a seat beside me. I could
feel his eyes on me
.
I glance
d
up for a moment. Sure enough, he was looking right at me.

“I’m Jason,” he introduced himself in a whisper.

“I know. Mr. Franks just to
ld the class,” I whispered back, hoping that my unkind tone would end the conversation.

“I was hoping
you’d tell me your name
.”

I tried to hide the surprised look on my face. “Why
would you want to know my name
?”

“Well,” he paused for a moment, “we are going to be sitting beside each other all year. I should at least know your name.”

I glan
ced around to make sure nobody wa
s looking. “You really shouldn’t talk to me,” I warned him.

“What if I want to talk to you?”

“I’m kind of a freak,” I admitted sadly.

“Maybe I’m a freak, too.”

I sighed. “It’s your reputation at stake.”

“I think I’ll take my chances,” he smiled. “Are you going to tell me your name?”

“Sofia Black,” I mumbled.

“Well, Sofia Black, it is very nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

I turned my attention back to Mr. Franks, who happened to be standing right in front of us.

“Sorry, Mr. Franks,” I apologized
immediately
.

He tried to look mad, but I could see a smile beyond his
angry
face. “Since you two like talking so much, maybe you could show Jason around school.”

“I wouldn’t want to t
arnish his reputation like that,” I protested.

“I’d love for Sofia to show me around,” Jason added quickly.

Mr. Franks smiled. “Then it’s settled.” With that, he walked back to the front of the room and continued the lesson.

My mouth hung open in disbelief. What was with this guy?
Did he really have no self respect?

As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed my stuff and was out the door before Jason could say a word to me.
I silently sighed in
relie
f when I ran around the corner.
I was pretty sure he wasn’t out of the class yet, so he didn’t see where I was going. He may not care about trashing his reputation, but I do.

I put my Advanced Geometry book back inside my locker and pull
ed
out the books for my next 2 classes. I shut my locker and turn
ed
to walk to my next class.

“Why did you run away?” I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

Crap.
I turn
ed
around to see Jason
standing directly in front of me
. “I didn’t run. I just walked… fast.”

A couple gir
ls laughed as they walked past
me. “Nice
dress
,”
one of them
said sarcastically. “How much did it cost? Twenty five cents?”
They both laughed hard at their joke.
I kept my head down and
ignored them
. Thankfully
they kept walking.
But the comment hurt deep. The fact is
I had only paid fifty cents for the dress at a yard sale.
I swallowed back the knot that was forming in my throat.

Finally, I looked up at Jason. “That is why you should ignore me. I’m not
normal
,” I pointed my finger towards him.
“
I don’t fit in here, and you will be a
n
outcast
by association.”

I could see the smirk on his face. “I… don’t… care…” He
emphasized
each word.

“Why don’t you care? Don’t you want to make friends here?”

“I have a friend – you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

I turned to walk away
,
and he gently pulled me back. “You don’t see yourself very clearly. You have so much potential. You can’t even imagine.”

“And you realize this after 30 minutes?” I sighed. “
You have no idea how terrible my life is.
If you want to be my friend, fine, but you’ve been warned. Feel free to change your mind anytime.”

“I won’t,” he promised.

The rest of the day, as promised, Jason followed me to each class. Conveniently, we had 4 of 6 classes together, which was no surprise. My senior class has a whopping total of 54 students.

After school
,
Jason invited me to hang out w
ith him. I seriously considered saying yes just so I could miss “
Hangover Monday
”, but I turned him down in the end.
I didn’t want him to think I would be a good friend to have. Plus,
w
ho else would keep my mom from OD’ing on Excedrin?

When I got home from school, my mom was lying on the couch moaning, as usual. I walked pas
t
her to the fridge and grab
bed
her a
cold
beer and 2
migraine
pills. I hand
ed them to her, and she accepted
them readily.

After she took
the
pills
and downed
the whole beer in one swallow, she
smiled
for a moment. “You’re the
best daughter.”

“Mom, you have to get up and get ready. You have to go to work at
6
,” I informed her.

“Can’t I jus’
call in sick?” she whined.

“No. You called in twice last month,” I
reminded her
.
“If you call in again before the fifth
,
you will get wrote up.”