Chapter Two: Heavy

＊ Heavy by Linkin Park

Two years later,

MY NAME SUCKS, and I’ve known that fact for as long as I lived. Even North West was a better name than Autumn Summers.

The only good thing was that I didn’t get bullied because of it. Well, I didn’t get bullied at all since I was Queen Bee. I ruled the school like the back of my hand. No one dared to bully me. Not for my name, or for how fucked up my family was. 

My dad, Thornton Summers, was a good-looking son of a gun. Everyone—from the financial magazine writers to my friends’ moms—knew that. With baby blue eyes and dark hair, he could pass as a model. He was a great businessman, and he always made the right call to keep his business empire alive. However, he was not a great dad. He spent most of his time at work; so busy building his empire that he neglected his family. He married my mom, Ava Smith, not because he fell madly in love with her, but because my big brother, Steven, was in her womb.

Yep, it was a case of marriage by accident or what we like to call an MBA. There was no love, but once upon a time, there definitely had been a strong attraction, or else I wouldn’t be here today. The sad thing was the attraction or whatever it was disappeared, leaving nothing but trails of betrayal.

About eight years ago when I was only nine, and Steven was twelve, my dad had gone home earlier than usual to find my mom on top of the kitchen counter riding the neighbor, Josh Dvorak. I remembered him beating the shit out of Mr. Dvorak before dragging him all the way to the front door, and dumping him right outside our condominium door. Those were dark days when dad clung to alcohol to make him feel better.

He stopped his addiction after he found something better to do: to get even. With his good look, it wasn’t hard to find willing ladies to share his bed. My mom felt bad at first, but after he started to sleep around, so did she. Guilt was long forgotten.

You are probably wondering why the hell they still stick together. They said they had an arrangement about their sex life outside the marriage vows, and they stayed married for us, Steven, and me. But if you asked me, I would say they did it to save their career.

Mom was a well-known newscaster; she couldn’t afford her broken marriage to affect her image. Dad had his business empire—divorce would only mean splitting his money and many, many other unnecessary ordeals. So they both agreed to stay married and keep their shenanigans under the radar.

Now you know why I wasn’t bullied. Having both famous parents, everyone treated Steven and me differently and looked at us with so much awe.

If only they knew how fucked up our family was behind closed doors, if only they knew how painful was to watch what used to be a happy family falling apart.

To come home to a huge but empty condominium unit with no one to greet you, but your family maid, Alberta.

People only believed what they wanted to see, the outer look. No matter how deceiving.

I slung my backpack over one shoulder and went downstairs where my best friend, Jess, was waiting for me.

“Ready to go?” She smiled and I grinned back at her. “What took you so long?” She asked whilst pressing the elevator button to call the lift to take us to the first floor. Jess always picked me up every morning, and we went to school together in her car.

Rolling my eyes I nudged her arm. “Please, you didn’t wait that long, bae.” She smiled and nudged me back. “How’s Colton?” I asked her about her beau, the handsome quarterback, Colton Barnes.

She smiled every time she heard his name mentioned. They’ve been dating for a year now and have been inseparable since. “He’s so tired,” her smile faltered a little as she furrowed her forehead, "With football practices and all." Shrugging she turned to face me. "What about Ash? Did you two have fun last night?"

My mind went to the text I received from him around nine pm last night, canceling our plan at the last minute. It said he had something to do. It was the first time he had ever done that, and I must say I didn’t like the anxiety growing in the pit of my stomach, it made me wonder where he was and with whom.

But we had a deal and there was no back door out of it. I sighed heavily.

“Hey, are you okay?” I flicked my eyes back to my bestie, there were concerns in her eyes, and I fought the urge to hug her and convey what I was feeling to her.

Putting on a lazy chillax smile, I poked her arm once more. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

On the way to school, I pulled my phone out and sent a text to Joe.

— Have free time l8r?

Less than a minute later, his reply arrived.

— Yeah. Wanna come by?

I smiled and quickly replied.

— Around 8. C U. xoxo 💋

My phone blinked one more time and I glanced at the screen.

— I’ll be waiting. I'll leave the front door open. 

It was always nice to talk to Joe. I didn’t need to wait for a minute or two before replying like girls always did to boys. I didn't have to do all the bullshit conversations that did nothing but waste my time. We've always been straightforward with what we wanted and that was the beauty of our relationship.

My first class was Math. I didn’t know who was stupid enough to make my brain hurt in the morning. Math should be the last subject, not a starter. I sighed and took my seat behind the Canadian nerd who moved here last summer. He always sat in the front row, and since I wasn't doing so well on Math—unless I paid full attention to class—I sat in the second row, right behind him.

He shifted in his seat as if he knew I was mentioning him on my mind. What’s his name again? It was so easy to forget someone like him. By the time we graduated, I probably wouldn’t remember him. He was not one of the popular guys and he didn’t join any clubs so I doubted I would recall a total nobody.

“Good morning, class.” Mrs. Fletcher came in, carrying a thick Math book under her arm, and a Starbucks cup in her hand. "Mr. Vincent, would you please enlighten me on what we studied last week?"

Oh yeah! His name is Tyler Vincent. I let out a giggle, it was funny that his name sounded so cool yet he looked super lame with his buttoned-up shirt and thick glasses. 

"Or maybe you could help me instead, Ms. Summers?" Hearing Mrs. Fletcher's alarming voice, I abruptly sat straight up in my seat. Well, fuck!

The nerd glanced back at me over his shoulder and there was a hint of a smile playing on his lips. I wasn’t the type to be intimidated, yet there was something that made me feel small when he was looking at me that way.

* * * 

A few hours later, I STOOD IN FRONT OF HIM in my white bra, matching panties, and pearly-white snickers. His fingers brushed across my stomach in a slow caressing motion. “I gotta go.” I gave him an apologetic smile and moved around to collect the rest of my clothes and put them on.

Joe folded his arms over his bare chest and let out a long sigh. "Why can’t you stay?" His voice followed me to the kitchen. “Just stay, Autumn. It’s past midnight.”

I opened the fridge and took out a can of coke. Putting it on top of the kitchen counter along with my handbag, I faced his annoyed yet handsome face. “I can’t. Steven will notice that I’m missing.” Yes, Steven, my big dumb dodo brother, not my parents. He was probably the only person in my family who truly cared about my well-being. Well, he and my aunt Clara.

Clarabelle Summers was my dad’s little sister and also my favorite aunt. She was a carefree and full of spirit woman. She had warned me before that having an open relationship might hurt me in the long run, but she didn’t reprimand or judge me. All she’d said was that she’d been young before and she’d gone through exactly the same thing.

I didn’t notice he was so close until his fingers touched and lifted my chin so that our eyes met. “Then at least let me drop you home.” His eyes were filled with concerns that laced in his voice as well. I knew deep down that he cared for me and not just used me for sex. I was damn tempted to say yes, but I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me with him outside the school walls.

Despite the fact that I was not a minor, he was still my teacher. If our secret came out, he’d be in trouble, which was why only Aunt Clara knew about him. Even she warned me to be careful and not to let this drag on saying that hook-up isn’t always relationship material and every time I always told her that it would be the last time. 

Ashton knew I was hooking up with other people, but he just didn’t know whom, and the rest of the girls didn’t know about us either. It was hard to keep a secret with so many people knowing.

Opening the can, I took a sip before putting it down again and swallowed hard. “You know exactly why.” I gave him a pointed look, and he let out a long sigh.

He shook his head and ran his fingers through the thickness of his hair in frustration. “I just don’t like this,” his voice engulfed with disgust, “I don’t want you to feel like I was just using you for this.” He waved his hand, and I couldn’t help but remember what we did just a few hours ago before I fell asleep, and woke up so late. It was supposed to be a quick nap but I guessed my body was just filled with exhaustion. Angry at myself for having this conversation, I took a long drink, ignoring the coolness of the bubbly soda.

“You’re not. I don’t feel used.” And when he was about to argue, I raised one hand to stop him. “This is what I want." He still looked like he wanted to fight me over this, so I added, “If you don’t like it then we should end this.”

That was my trump card. I hated using it because I knew how much it pained him, but I had no other choice. He pushed me into something that I wasn’t ready to commit yet.

This is not your fault, Autumn! He knows about Ashton! And when this all started, you did tell him how you wanted this relationship to be. This is not your fault, don’t feel bad! 

He closed the gap between us and locked his arms around me. He kissed the top of my head and held me for what felt like a long time before letting me go, and then walked towards the front door. “I’ll let you out,” was all he said. I nodded and kissed his cheek then walked out the door into the cold night air.

Maybe a teacher didn’t get paid really well, I thought, as I walked down the alley in front of his rental unit. It was narrow and dark and it wasn’t on the good side of the neighborhood. The place was close to clubs and bars, which was another reason why it was a perfect place to get away from everything. It was not a place where my friends or parents or anyone from school would come.

I turned right on the street, keeping my head down under my hoodie as I walked past several people who were either drunk or drugged. Clouds of smoke and marijuana filling the night air reminded me how I hated this part of the city as I tried to walk faster.

My foot failed me and I stumbled upon someone. “Sorry,” I muttered my apologies and was about to walk again except that the hard-muscled body in front of me was immobile, completely blocking my way.

I looked up, ready to yell at whoever it was to get the fuck out of my way, but my words got stuck in my throat as I realized to whom those hard muscles belonged.

It's that nerd. Tyler Vincent. As if to confirm that, one of the guys behind him called him out. “Hey, Ty, still got a pack?” I moved to the left and saw the guy was holding a pot in one hand, and a pack of what looked like marijuana in his other hand. Shit, shit, shit.

I looked at Tyler again, still not believing that he was the same damn Tyler who had been sitting in front of me in every Math class. He looked so different without his thick glasses and his buttoned-up shirt. Standing there, only a few feet away, he was wearing a black hoodie with a white T-shirt underneath, a pair of black trousers, and black Reebok shoes. Boy, does he look hot!

And threatening, I quickly added as my eyes met his dark gaze.

He used one hand to scratch the back of his neck. “This isn’t going to end well,” Ty took another step, blocking my way once more.

I tried not to get intimidated, as I could feel the wall pressed against my back. “What do you mean?”

Leaning forward, with his face inches away from mine—so close that I could feel his warm breath on my face—he said, "You know my secret now." He smiled a smile that looked so dangerous that I could practically hear my own heart pounding in my ears. “That’s really bad, Summers. I can’t let you go now.”

“I won’t tell others.” I blurted the words out and bit my lips nervously.

His eyes caught the movement and he bent forward, filling my nostrils with the smell of dope he smoked earlier. Tilting his head, he clicked his tongue and smiled. “Wrong move.”

With that, he slammed his lips against mine, knocking all the air from my lungs. He kissed me with no mercy. His tongue slipped at the seam of my mouth, and my mind went blank when I felt the tip of his tongue caressing mine. He tasted and savored me altogether without a care, while his lips moved roughly against mine.

Pulling away, he watched me with a mischievous look in his eyes.

“Now I’m going to be yours.”