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Chapter 7: Beginning of a Second Life

“YOU WHAT!?” were the first words from Jessica when Kris told her what he did the previous night.
“I went to help out Hannah last night from Carlos,” he said, opening the last box in his bedroom, “and do you mind lowering your voice? Mom still doesn’t even know yet.”
“Did you not hear a word I said the night of the dinner,” she said, still as loud as before, “I told you how dangerous he was and—“
“—and I told you that I didn’t care, remember?” he said, whispering now as he heard someone on the other side of his door.
“Look, I’m trying to help you out here,” she said, her nose flaring now, but still with her eyes full of worry.
“Which you know that you shouldn’t, I told you that I’m not gonna let some dumbass harass women,” he said, putting his CD’s in his CD holder, “especially some coward who gets someone else to fight his battles for him.”
“What do you mean ‘getting others to fight his battles’? Did he send someone after you,” she asked, a tone of worry in her voice.
“Look, it’s nothing to worry abou—OUCH!”
“What?!” she yelped out, as she withdrew her hand from his shoulder after gripping it.
“It’s nothing, just sore from all the unpacking,” he said, rubbing his shoulder, “nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah right,” she said, obviously not fooled by the lie, “he hurt you, didn’t he?”
“No, I didn’t get this from last night, it’s just from all the unpacking, like I said.” He said, pulling his shoulder away from her as she lifted the sleeve of his T-shirt.
“Oh yeah,” she said, still unconvinced, “so these boxes left a bruise the size of a fist, huh?”
“Ok, look,” he said, figuring he won’t win this argument, “his flunky got me, ok? There, you can say it now.”
“Say what,” she asked, looking back at the bruise, but smiling as well.
“‘I told you so’, I know you’re about to say it,” he said dully, “ouch!”
“Stop complaining you big wuss,” she said as she poked at it, “you did this to yourself you know.”
“Whatever, just don’t tell my mom,” he said, pulling his sleeve back down, “she hates when I get into fights, even if it’s because I’m defending someone, ok?”
“Ok, fine, whatever,” she said, smiling slightly, “just as long as your careful next time, ok?”
“I’m always careful,” he said, as he picked up a stack of CD’s, which slipped out of his fingers and fell to the ground.
“Right,” she said, bending down to help him pick them up. “So, which one of his flunky’s got you?”
“I don’t know, it’s not like I had time to ask the guy’s name or anything,” he said as they stood back up with the CD’s in hand and shelving them. “All I know is that he was a big dude and smelled like booze.”
“That’d be Robert,” she said, smiling widely now, “so, he sees you as a threat.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, putting the last CD in its place and heading back to the box.
“He only sends Robert if he sees the target as a threat,” she said, bending down over the box next to him and picking up his alarm clock, “so he’s not gonna go easy on you.”
“It’s not the first time I was threatened by a big, brainless dumbass, it’s definitely not gonna be the last,” he said, smiling widely and placing his cell-phone charger on his bedside.
“Why are you so calm about this,” she asked, putting his alarm clock next to his charger, “I mean, most of the guys who stand up to Carlos usually back down from him a few days later out of fear from his flunkeys.”
“Well, I’m not like other guys,” he said, smiling at her, “besides, if I ran away from every guy that threatened that they’ll kick my a**, there’d still be so many girls that would be harassed today.”
“I figured out that you’re not like other guys the day we went to the store, remember?”
“Yeah, but any guy would have done the same, right,” he said, setting the time on his clock and setting the alarm.
“Not really,” she said, frowning slightly, “Carlos is well known for his temper and what he’s capable of.”
“Exactly,” he said, standing up to face her, “they know what he’s capable, but they don’t know squat about what I can do, remember?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking at him suspiciously.
“No one knows what I can do, cause they’ve never met me before, you know?” he said, smiling at this huge advantage.
“O-o-o-kay, whatever you say,” she said, still confused by this piece of logic.
“Oh no, I forgot all about tomorrow,” he said as he looked at the calendar.
“What?” she asked as she turned around.
“Tomorrow’s the first day of school, isn’t it?” he asked, moving closer to his calendar, looking hard at it as if it would change in front of him.
“Yeah, so,” she asked, smiling at the look on his face, “you don’t hate school that much, do you?”
“No, I don’t hate school, but I’m not ready to start my second life yet, you know?”
“Your what,” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.
“My second life,” he said, turning back around to face her, “it’s what I call my life outside of my family, you know?”
“Oh-h-h, I see, cool,” she said, smiling, “so, why aren’t you ready?”
“‘Cause I don’t have all my stuff for school yet.”
“Yes you do,” said his mother, walking in his room, laying down white shirts and kackies on hangers onto his bed, “come downstairs and get the rest Kris.”
“Ok mom,” he said, looking back at Jessica, “ok, so I have my clothes for tomorrow, doesn’t mean I’ll be use to waking up that early again.”
“Oh please,” she said, looking through the clothes on the bed, stop complaining. At least Carlos doesn’t go to the same school. You’ll be safe from him during most of the weekdays, right?”
“Sorry, but did you just say I’ll be safe,” he said, feeling degraded from how he felt a few a minutes ago, “don’t you mean he’ll be safe?”
“Just go get the rest of your stuff,” she said, now laughing.
“Whatever,” he said, “oh, hey Jennifer, Jessica’s upstairs,” he said as he spotted the black haired gothic walking up the stairs.
“Thanks,” she said in a bored annoyed voice.
As Kris gathered his clothes from downstairs he heard someone yell from his room, “don’t you dare” and another saying “shut up”.
When Kris reached the room again, he noticed the girls a little more on edge than when he left them and then noticed why.
“You know Jennifer,” he said, smirking slightly, “if you wanted to borrow my CD, I’d let you, right?”
“What,” she said, slightly surprised and growing red in the face, “how’d you—“
“There’s a gap in my CD’s where I keep my punk music at,” he said, pointing at the small, barely noticeable space in the holder.
“Oh,” she said, pulling the CD out of her jacket pocket and handing it back to Kris.
“Keep it,” he said, pushing it back to her, “I have it downloaded in my computer, I can burn it if I want to. Consider it an early birthday present, ok?”
“Um, ok,” she said, feeling more awkward by the moment, “uh, thanks.”
“So, what’d you come up here for anyway,” he asked as she moved towards the door.
“Oh,” she said, obviously forgetting the information herself, “uh, just wanted to check up on Jess.”
“Right,” he said, still unconvinced, “well, she’s still in one piece right?”
“Yeah, uh, right,” she said, looking over his shoulder, as if making sure he was telling the truth.
“Oh, Jessica,” Jennifer said, now remembering something else, “dinner’s almost ready, so you need to come home, ok?”
“Ok, see you tomorrow, ok Kris?”
“Alright, later,” he said, hugging her and watching her leave the room, leaving him alone for the rest of the day to unpack the rest of his stuff.