Chapter One
Andrew took a sip from his coffee and looked over at Leo. In the years he’d known him, he’d never seen him look so aged. As Leo ran a frustrated hand through his greying hair, Andrew felt at a loss for words but he tried to be supportive. “Please, Leo,” he said. “If you keep acting like this you’re going to end up making yourself sick.”
“Please,” Leo said, taking a large sip from his drink. It looked like coffee from the outside but Andrew could tell by the smell that only half of it at best was actual coffee. “I don’t need advice from a child. Everything,” he said. “I gave that girl everything she could ever need and this is what she does to me? She disgraces herself by acting like that in my house? Under my roof she allows a man to sneak in and take liberties with her while I’m sleeping in the next room?”
“We don’t know for sure what Heaven’s done.”
“Oh, please,” Leo said. “She’s like her mother. I’m sure she did something unsavory. Let’s just hope that no one else ever sees those pictures.”
“You can’t hold Heaven accountable for her mother’s crimes,” Andrew said.
“Please, just go home,” Leo said. “I need to be left alone. I have no need for a psychology major.”
“Philosophy,” Andrew corrected.
“Even worse,” Leo said, taking another heavy sip from his mug. “Let me suffer in peace.”
“You’re not the only one who’s suffering,” Andrew said. “Heaven’s—”
“Heaven’s paying the price for the crime she committed!” Leo slurred. “She’s lucky I didn’t send her to an all-girls school.”
“But what if Clark’s wrong?” Andrew asked. “Will you feel this same anger when it’s found that Clark was wrong?”
“That’s even worse,” Leo said, going to stand up but losing his footing and collapsing back into his chair. “Andrew, you must know…in my heart…deep down I want to believe that my daughter has been falsely accused. I don’t think she’s capable of what Clark has claimed. I’ll make sure that when or if it’s shown that my daughter is pure, that Clark and Donnie and anyone else involved will pay the consequences.”
“Speak of the devils,” Andrew said, looking out the window toward the street. “Practice must have been cancelled today.”
Leo stood again, swaying badly but keeping himself upright and walked to the front door.
“No Leo,” Andrew said, grabbing his arm. “Stay here and drink some water.”
“No,” Leo said, maneuvering past him and opening the front door. Clark and Donnie adjusted their back packs and looked over curiously.
“Hello there, Mr. George,” Donnie said, trying to remain polite.
“Hello,” Clark grunted.
“Now listen here—” Leo said, swaying a bit.
“Mr. George,” Donnie interrupted, “we would love to stay and chat but we’re in a bit of a hurry.”
Leo sniffed, taking another swig from his cup. “You’re in a hurry, hmm? Well then, don’t let me stop you. You have enough time to ruin my daughter’s good name, but not enough time to hear me out?”
Donnie laughed. “Come on now, Mr. George. You’re not in a good place. Go inside and take a nap.”
“He wants to fight,” Andrew said, embarrassed.
“Why would he want to fight us? We don’t have a problem with him,” Clark said.
“But I have a problem with you!” Leo shouted to the street. “You’re a liar and you were a bad influence on my daughter! If you think I’m scared of you—”
“I’m sure you’re not scared,” Clark said, trying to suppress his laughter.
“How dare you laugh at me?” Leo shouted, his voice growing louder. “You think that I’m some doddering fool simply because I’m not a child, like you? You mark my words now, one day you will be in my place, looking at some little shit who has the nerve to chuckle at you! Youth and beauty never lasts!”
“How profound,” Clark said.
“You ruined my daughter,” Leo said. “Do you have any idea what this could mean for her future? She’s been locking herself up in her room and refusing to come out! Have you seen the things that have been written on her locker?” He smiled grimly when Clark’s face revealed that he had not. “Slut! Whore! Cheap!” he went on. “She’s terrified to return to school because of you!”
“Because of me?” Clark asked, the mocking smile on his face beginning to slip. “I wasn’t the one who—”
“You’ve committed the worst crime of all,” Leo said.
“We didn’t write those words on her locker,” Donnie said.
“Why don’t you come up here and say that to my face?” Leo said drunkenly. “Come now! Come up here and tell me that your slander did not help put those words on my daughter’s locker!”
“Are you kidding me?” Donnie asked. “I’m not coming over there.”
“Then send your friend,” Leo said.
“I’ll have nothing to do with you either, Leo,” Clark said.
“You shouldn’t be able to hold your head up high with the things you’ve done,” Leo said, starting to leave the front porch. He pointed a finger to a window on his house. “My Heaven is up there! Shaking, terrified, and worried about going back to the place where you have ruined her good name! She may as well be dead! Are you pleased with yourself?”
“I’m not pleased,” Clark said. “But Heaven should have never—”
“Heaven should have never trusted the likes of you,” Leo said, his drink sloshing onto the grass. “If you wish to harm others so badly, then come after me instead of my daughter.”
“You two really are disgusting,” Andrew said, relieved that Leo was finally standing up for his daughter, despite the fact that it took several drinks to get him there. “If you want to ruin lives as Leo says, then perhaps you should have talked to him first, or even me. Maybe I’ll just kick the shit out of you right now.”
Leo looked surprised, glancing at Andrew. “You wouldn’t actually do that, would you?”
“To them? I’d send them beyond the grave if I could. Heaven’s always been a sweet, happy girl and now she stares at the wall with a blank expression. It’s painful to see someone who has always been so good, so pure, looking as though she’s been stabbed through the heart. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. Proud of what you’ve done to an innocent girl.”
“T-that’s enough,” Leo said. “Maybe we should—”
“Maybe we shouldn’t let them get away with this anymore! Youth and beauty, beauty and youth! That’s all you monsters have now, but like Leo said, it’s fleeting! Your true ugliness is already starting to show through! You disrespected an innocent girl, lied, accused her of cheating, mocked her, shamed her and slandered her to the point of terror. You think that you’re invincible? You’re not! It will take time, but you’ll learn that you aren’t.”
“Let’s just go back inside,” Leo said.
“No!” Andrew shouted, shoving him aside. “I’ve had it with this! I knew that Clark wasn’t good enough for her—”
“Andrew, Leo,” Donnie said calmly, “it’s clear that we’ve upset you both during your afternoon drinking—”
“I’m not drunk!” Andrew shouted.
“Regardless,” Donnie said, “we’re not here to cause a scene. I’m sorry about what’s happened to Heaven but she brought it upon herself with her actions.”
“What actions?” Andrew shouted as he advanced on them. “What proof do you have?”
“We have enough,” Donnie said.
“Like what?”
“Stop, just stop now,” Leo said.
“We’re not talking about this,” Donnie said. “The proof is there, it’s over.”
“There isn’t proof!” Leo shouted, growing brave again. “I’ll prove my daughter’s innocence.”
“Then I look forward to it,” Clark said. “I wouldn’t look too closely if I were y
ou, though. God knows what else she’s done – maybe she does this with all of your neighbors—”
Clark’s mocking speech was cut suddenly short by a blow from Andrew’s fist that sent him sprawling on his back in the street. Red-faced, Andrew stood over him for a moment as he fixed Donnie with an intense glare that the younger man couldn’t meet.
“Calm down,” Donnie said shakily as he helped Clark to his feet. Andrew took a step back, keeping his eyes locked on both of them. “Come on, let’s ice that.”
“You ass,” Clark growled, spitting blood onto the sidewalk. “You’ll pay for that.”
“And as you said,” Andrew said, “I look forward to it.”
Leo barely noticed the scene, instead looking at the house across the street. “Those neighbor kids,” he said softly, suddenly feeling much more sober.