Hell Into Heaven Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Jesse

November, 2009

“Your tie is crooked again, want me to help you?” Said mom.

“Thanks, mom, but I got it.” I replied back as I walked back to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

I hated dressing up. I hated going out period. I’m only going out to homecoming tonight to please my woman, Alexis. Sighs. The things you do for love. I fixed my tie and made my way to the car and head to Alexis’s house to pick her up. She looked stunning as always, wearing a sparkling black dress and her hair in a fancy updo.

“Hey, handsome. Are you ready for some fun tonight?” Alexis said as she stepped out of her doorway and into my arms.

I smiled and gave her a quick kiss.

“I am as long as I have you” Girls love cheesy lines like that. Long as you treat them right and throw in a few lines to make them blush they practically melt in your arms.

We arrived at homecoming at the West Campus gymnasium and caught up with our usual friends from the East Campus, Alexis had her fashion club friends and I had my wrestling squad with me. We got a table and sat down for a bit until everyone arrived. When the music was starting to get into a good beat I asked Alexis to dance with me. We danced 2 songs in a row then I went back to the table with the boys while we watched our girls continue to dance with each other.

“Dude, are we lucky or what to have the hottest chicks in our school as our girlfriends?” Said Paul. One of my closet friends whom I consider my right hand man.

“I don’t know about you but I don’t need luck when I got these looks.” I joked and we all laughed.

I noticed at the corner of my eye a sudden flash. I turned my head and saw a girl in a purple dress with a little black jacket covering her arms. She looked very familiar but I couldn’t quiet remember where it was that I recognized her from. The girl looked like she was running away from something...or someone maybe.

Alexis returns to my side and pecks me on the cheek.

I turn my gaze to her and noticed she came back alone.

“What happened to your friends?” I asked.

“Oh they went to go jump, Irene. I can’t believe she has the guts to show her face here again after what she did.”

Alexis continued rambling on but I wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. I don’t like scenes especially at school. I scanned the gymnasium from where I was sitting to see if I can find Alexis’s friends and see if Irene really did come back. Irene has a bit of a bad history with both the East and West Campuses. Mostly for physical fights. I know her and Alexis got into it but that was before I was even with Alexis.

After scanning the room for a good five minutes I finally see Alexis’s friends talking to the mystery girl in the purple dress I saw earlier. Now that the girl was standing still I can easily see her face. It’s not Irene. She looks like her but at the same time not so much. The girl seemed to push her way through and walked in the direction of my table. Alexis’s friends stopped her again.

“Just who do you think are, you little piece of trash?” Said Mandy, Alexis’s best friend.

“Look I’ve already told you and your friend here that I am not Irene! My name is Nikki. Here’s my student ID that’s says Nikki, not Irene!” Replied Nikki as she pulled out her ID.

“I don’t believe you, you’re a liar!” Mandy threw her hands on her hips.

I called Paul over and told him to pull Mandy away from the Nikki girl fast. Mandy went silent fast when Paul whispered in her ear and pulled her back to the table.

“This isn’t over with, Irene.” Mandy said before she left with Paul to sit down.

Alexis’s other friend, Kristy, followed shortly after Mandy and sat next to her. The Nikki girl just sighed and walked away into the dance floor.

“What the hell, Jesse! Why did you let Irene get away after already knowing what she did to Alexis!?” Mandy started shouting at me.

“Because she’s not Irene. That innocent girl you were about to jump is Irene’s younger sister, Nikki. She’s only 2 years younger but people still mistake them as twins.” I said calmly.

I remember hearing that Irene had a little sister and that if you stood them side by side they could be mistaken as twins. Now I know why I recognized her.

“Irene is gone from here, so I’m going to ask you this nicely. Please leave Nikki alone, I don’t think she knows anything about her sister’s history here with the schools and everyone.” I stood up without even letting Mandy say another to me.

I walked outside to get some air. It was getting stuffy in there pretty quickly. Too much drama to deal with which is why I missed being at home already. When I walked back into the gymnasium again I accidentally bumped into Nikki.

“I’m sorry,” Nikki said so low and fast as she continued to walk away. I was about to call her out but then suddenly I was bumped again by someone else, Chris. He too was on the wrestling team. He’s one of the few wrestlers attending the West Campus but we still come together as one. I didn’t care for the guy so much. He always pretended that his shit didn’t stink. He didn’t even say sorry to me just kept walking and walking. I decided to ignore him and go back to my table. Everyone was on the dance floor but Alexis. She was waiting for me.

“Why did you talk to Mandy like that? She’s my friend not yours.”

Alexis started as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Because she was acting like a child. The girl she was about to jump had proof that she wasn’t Irene and Mandy didn’t back off. She’s about to enter into the real world as an adult and she still needs to learn fast and act like an adult. “ I replied back and turned my head away from her.

Alexis remained silent for the rest of the night. I randomly started watching everyone else dance. I noticed there was a group starting to form a circle in front of the DJ stand. I kept hearing a loud cheer coming from the group and saw in a small window gap a girl who was break dancing in the middle of the circle. Her final step was a spin into a perfect splits and then back up again. It looked flawless and then when she stepped out of the circle for other people to join in I noticed it was Nikki that was dancing. I didn’t know much about Nikki but judging from what I saw from her talking to Mandy I never would have thought of her as a dancer. She was smiling and then in seconds her smile dropped when Chris came to her. She seemed to have known Chris. How she knew him I don’t know but she didn’t look happy to see him. I saw her dashing away and noticed she stopped in front of two girls and a tall guy. I wonder if she was friends with them. Soon one of the girls charged in Chris’s direction and the other girl pushed Nikki into the tall guy’s arms and they started to slow dance together. She relaxed more in his arms.

Why did that bug me so much? Why did it bug me that Nikki, whom I don’t really know, was dancing with another guy?

I dropped Alexis off at home. We still didn’t talk to each other after our disagreement. I waited for her to enter the front door before pulling away. When I got home I saw my older brother, Bruce, laying on the couch and watching T.V.

“Hey, Bro. How was the dance?” He asked still looking at the T.V.

“Okay I guess. Usual drama with the women but you know how that is.” I started to undo my tie.

“Mom asleep?” I asked.

“Yeah, her vertigo hit her hard shortly after you left so she took her medicine and knocked out.” Said Bruce.

“Speaking of medicine, isn’t it time for yours?” I asked pretending I didn’t know the answer.

My brother has seizures, he’s had them most of his life. Some days are good and some days...not so much but I take it one day at time. After making sure Bruce took his medicine I went upstairs to check on my mom. She was out cold, thanks to her medicine. I hated seeing her suffer. I pulled her covers up more on her and kissed her forehead before going back down stairs. Bruce was heading upstairs to his room next door to my mom’s. I go down into the basement where my bedroom was. I undressed and got into a pair of sweatpants and crashed on my bed like there was no tomorrow. It was exhausting being me. My thoughts randomly went to Nikki again. I couldn’t help but worry and wonder how she knew Chris. I was out like a light before my thoughts could continue.