Best Intentions

A few days later, Hera's parents invited me over to their place for a meeting to find out what my "intentions" were with their precious little daughter after school ended.

But no time to worry about that now, it was time to smash through today's school schedule.

I headed to my first class with a quivering lip.

"What's the matter, JJ?" Hera asked, concerned.

"Now how do I put this...? My lip is quivering because I gotta go see your parents again after school, Hera," I answered.

Hera was shocked at what I had just said. "My folks...want to meet with you...again...?"

I slowly nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"Damn, really...?" she said. "Good luck with that."

"Excuse me, am I interrupting your conversation?" our AP Calculus teacher, Mr. Fox, who was tough-as-nails, asked. "I'll wait."

We immediately stopped talking as almost the entire class turned their heads towards us.

"N-no, Mr. Fox," I answered immediately. Damn... So much for trying to be discreet, I thought.

I turned to Hera. "Sorry, Hera, but the convo is gonna have to wait," I told her. Then, I turned back to Mr. Fox. "Please, continue."

After Hera and I fell silent, Mr. Fox began with the lesson in which there was an assessment for.

***

Immediately after school, I decided to at least look decent for the meeting. Not too dressy, and not too messy; I want to make a good impression, so I can't fuck this up. If I rock this meeting, victory is mine.

As soon as I got all pampered up and all that jazz, I drove to Hera's place to finally see her parents again. And when I arrived at her place and got out of my 'Stang, her parents were standing right there outside the house. With each step I took toward the house, I felt more and more uneasy.

"So, we meet again, Mr. and Mrs. Washington," I said with the slightest bit of nervousness, even though I tried so hard not to let it show.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Mrs. Nguyen asked. "Last time we saw you, you weren't like this."

"I don't know, Mrs. Nguyen," I answered. "I'm just all kinds of nervous about the whole thing..."

"As you should be, nerd," Mr. Washington replied.

"MALCOLM!"

"Please don't call me that, Mr. Washington," I moaned. "Your daughter's been calling me that for the past two months. I don't need another scuzzball baggin' on me."

Mr. Washington rolled his eyes. "Get used to it," he said. "I'm gonna keep calling you that."

"Don't," Mrs. Nguyen told him, "because it isn't your place to, babe."

"Yes, dear," Mr. Washington moaned as he led me to the dining room, where I had first met them. And right then and there, I had some pretty bad flashbacks of it; Hera slapping me in the jaw, Mr Washington being so pissy, and Mrs. Nguyen being so adamant.

"So tell me, Mr. Davis, Jr., what are your intentions with my daughter?" Mr. Washington asked. "Why do you really want her as your girlfriend?"

WHOA! Did he just call me "Mr. Davis?"

"I assure you, Mr. Washington," I said, afraid for my life, "to make up for everything I've done, I only intend to please your daughter and cater to her every want and need," I told him. "In fact, I'll treat your daughter like a queen." Honest enough.

Mr. Washington, the scrawny but tough guy of Hera's family, could see that I was actually being honest. But I'll tell you, he had his suspicions about me...

"You damn well better, because if you hurt one hair on my daughter's head, Jason," he told me in a deep, menacing voice, "you answer to me."

Whoa, whoa, whoa! I've done enough bad shit to her as it is already! Why would I ever want to hurt her now? But even if I wanted to, my heart would tell me not to, 'cause she's been through enough shit as it is because of me!

And P.S., where does that line come from?

"U-understood," I quickly said. Then, I decided to change the subject. "So tell me, Mr. and Mrs. Washington, while we're on the subject of hurting people, which I'll never do again, have you guys ever been bullied before?"

"Not me, Jason," Mr. Washington answered, shaking his head. "But my wife was a victim of bullying herself, just like my daughter was. It was a nightmare for her, as it was for our daughter." He turned to her and tilted his head towards me.

"Tell him," he told her.

Mrs. Nguyen nodded, fixed her gaze on me, and began telling her story.

"I was close to your age the first time somebody had bullied me, JJ," Mrs. Nguyen said. "I'll never forget it. Two big, beefy guys ganged up on me, started teasing me and calling me names like 'Fatty Patty' and 'Miss Chonk', and the horrible nicknames echoed throughout the school. It was so terrible; it broke me so badly that I couldn't take the horrible nickname anymore, so I asked my mother if I could transfer to another school, to which she didn't agree. She told me that I needed to tell those guys off. So I told them, right to their face, that I may be fat, but I could still kick their asses."

"Whoa!" I said. "Well, I would hate to be one of your bullies, then!"

I then immediately had another thought. "And again, those nicknames those guys gave you were pretty fucked up, ma'am. Kinda reminds me of myself..."

"Jason, I'm going to ask this of you just this one time," Mr. Washington said. "Just...watch your language, okay?"

"Yes, sir..."

"JJ, if it does go to the next level between the two of you, please be sure to use protection," Mrs. Nguyen whispered jokingly.

Suddenly we heard: "Mom... What the fuck did you just say to my boyfriend?"

She and I turned toward the direction of the voice.

HUH?! What's Hera doing here?

"Oh, nothing, honey," Mrs. Nguyen said with a fake smile.

Liar.

"Anyway," Mr. Washington said as Hera sat down on the sofa with us, "first thing's first: do you have a job?"

"Yes, sir," I replied. "I'm a freelance writer, and I've already got a novel out in the press. I've already told your daughter about it, and I thought you and Mrs. Nguyen would like to know about it."

"Oh, is that so?" Mr. Washington seemed to be intrigued. "What's it called, and what's it about?"

"It's entitled 'A Night Without the Moon,'" I answered, "and it's set in a small town where strange phenomena occur, but none are as strange as the things that occur on moonless night skies on full moon nights. That's when strange monsters begin appearing around town."

"Monsters?" Mrs. Nguyen asked. "Like what kind?"

"Trolls," I answered, "giant serpents, vampires, and goblins, just to name a few. And yes, they all have their own native tongue, but they also speak English."

"Okay, that's it, Mr. Davis. No more literature for you!" Mr. Washington joked. "I'm intrigued."

He immediately checked his Kindle Fire. I didn't know what he was doing at first, but I could tell through his glasses that he was looking for it in the Kindle bookstore.

And while he was searching for my title, Mrs. Nguyen decided to ask the hard question.

"So tell me, JJ–" Mrs. Nguyen started.

"Please, ma'am, just call me Jason," I said modestly.

"Sorry, Jason. Anyway, do you smoke, drink, or do drugs?"

"Don't even get me started on those drug paraphernalia, Mrs. Nguyen!" I answered. "Of course I don't; I'm clean."

"Good," Mr. Washington said, "because if I were to find out my future son-in-law was doing drugs, I'd kill him."

"DAD! NO!" Hera screamed.

Mr. Washington cleared his throat. "Now on to the subject of books and writing," he continued, "I just got your story in eBook form, and I gotta say, it's a good story. Writer to writer, I'd say it's a little rough around the edges with the plot, but a good story overall."

"Thank you, Mr. Washington," I replied with a sudden jolt of pride.

"But don't let that get to your head, babe," Hera cut in.

WHEW! To sum it all up, that all turned out pretty well!