The Bad Boy Is Nice

River blinked and stared at her camera for a long moment. Before she could chicken out, she set the camera up so it would show the pictures she had taken recently. Some were of flowers and whatnot that she took on her daily walks, but most were of Serenity skating brilliantly. Holding out the camera toward Max, she said, "As long as you don't break it, you can look at the pictures."

Chris tilted his head curiously then smiled. "We get to sleep over with you??? Can River come too??? That would be so fun!"

At the young boy's words, River smiled. "Only if it's okay with Serenity. I'll have to drop by my place to get stuff for a sleep over, after all." Turning to her skater friend, she asked. "Is that okay with you?"

--

Kent shrugged as he glanced away nervously, not used to being thanked. "I was just concerned. I've had breakdowns and wouldn't wish it on anyone..." He told her, shoving both hands into the pockets of his jacket.

Tam shook her head. "Uh... no. No it didn't. I just..." She tried to think of some excuse that wasn't "I broke down crying because I hate my life and my dad's abusive and I'll never escape this place or him." She just stammered for a good two minutes instead before shaking her head. "It's nothing... You're... Well thanks for asking if I was okay... You... Not a lot of people would do that in this day and age..."

Now that he got a good look at Tam, he recognized her a bit. They had possibly gone to the same high school and he knew she was the pizza delivery girl. His father had ordered from the place once or twice if he remembered correctly. "Uhm...then why are you stopped here? Don't you live in the opposite direction?" He asked.

Kent recalled shoving a tip into her hands whenever she delivered because his father was a cheap bastard.

He just prayed she didn't notice the black eye. Sure, he could just use the excuse of another fight in town, but a part of him felt like that excuse was getting old at this point. Did people really believe he got into that many fights?

Being labeled the local bad boy was frustrating.