Jericho was in troubled waters, that was for sure. Her step dad was expecting her report card today and she was practically failing all of her classes. This wasn't good. It wasn't good and it wasn't okay. She took a breath, shoving her report card into her backpack and hopping into her car. It was a bit of a clunker, but her parents had gotten it for her for her 18th birthday, so she couldn't complain. It was all they could afford, and she was lucky they had decided to get her a car in the first place. She paid her own insurance on it with money from her job. She worked as a cashier at a nearby gas station. Technically, school was close enough to walk, but she preferred to drive, and why wouldn't she? I mean, she did have her own car.
She tried to think of excuses on the short drive home, but came up empty. She'd been skipping class to go smoke weed and have sex with her boyfriend and his friends. Jericho and her boyfriend, Eric, were in a mostly open relationship, so he didn't mind her getting it on with his friends. Hell, some of the time, he even joined in! Now, that was a good time. Mm, yeah, she was smiling just thinking about it. Her thoughts were often on sex and boys, which probably explains why she didn't think of any excuses while she was driving. Maybe she could blame it on her parents divorce? No, that happened years ago. Or her mom remarrying? Her and her step dad had only been together for a year, having gotten married a few months ago.
She sighed, parking on the street in front of her house. This was gonna be rough. With a hard swallow, she grabbed her backpack and went inside.
Inside, Samuel was pacing. He had gotten a call from Jericho's school saying she was skipping classes. Apparently, she had also managed to put down her own cell phone number as her mom's contact number so she had been intercepting the phone calls from her school. This time, though, they had called Sam's phone number, and boy was he mad. He was fuming. Lets see her talk her way out of this one. He set his phone down on the table and sat down, waiting for his step daughter to get home.
Jericho entered, her head down as she tried to dip up the stairs to her room unnoticed, flinching when her step dad cleared his throat. "Hey, Sam. What's up? How's it hanging, my man?" She tried to play it cool, then sighed when he shook his head. "Jericho, what have you been doing, skipping so many classes? Did you realize you're failing all but one class? Your mom and I are going to have to take your keys away if you don't turn things around. What's so important that youve been skipping school for it?"
She swallowed and hung her head, not wanting to tell him the truth. Now, that would be awkward. Telling her step dad that she was skipping school to have sex? Yeah, not gonna happen.
"Jericho, tell me the truth. Don't even try to lie to me."
"It's just... it's nothing. I just don't want to be in class, that's all."
He leaned forward and gave her a good sniff, wrinkling his nose. "Don't. I know what weed smells like. And I know what sex smells like, too. You reek of both. Feel like changing your story before I give your mother a call?"
Jericho had a deer in the headlights look as she stared at Sam. Shit. She was caught. She tried to stammer out an excuse but the look on his face cut her off. It was scary, almost. But there was an undertone of lust in his eyes that intrigued her. She shook her head, averting her eyes as she looked down and away.
"Now, what are we gonna do with you... I should tell your mother anyway, but I'm sure we can come to a compromise. She's already so stressed out with work, do we really need to bother her with the fact that her daughter is skipping school to hook up with guys?" As he spoke, he was rubbing her arm suggestively.
Wait, what?
Was he really suggesting... no, he couldn't be... could he?
