one-shot for ShiloCoulter

People that walked past were already wearing jackets, like 62 degrees was something that required hot cocoa and scarves. Rolling her eyes, Violet fumbled with the cigarettes in her pocket, thumbing one out and shoving it in her mouth as she sat and continued watching the douchebags walk past her. For the life of her, she couldn't remember people back home being this unnerving, not giving into the theory that maybe it wasn't just the people, maybe part of it was her hatred for having to be here. Coming home to chaos Halloween night was not her idea of a 'new start' for the Harmon family, but honestly she didn't expect the house, nor the baby, to be some new start. It was just a hiccup in the road, a side track that her dad had brought up intentionally, hoping it would throw his wife a curve ball and thus keep her off his adulterous track that much longer. With the shit going down with Hayden, that trail was ripped open, and before she even got out of bed the following morning she was in a fatherless household. Truthfully, she didn't care.

Blowing smoke ring after smoke ring, her gaze found it's way to an older man lingering a bit too close. He looked old enough to be a teacher but was dressed like some strange mix of a hipster and Buddy Holly. Who was she to criticize someone's styling choices, though? Currently rocking a Smiths tee (original, right?) with a longer shirt under it, a vest people would surely assume she stole from her grandfather, floral knee length leggings, mismatched socks and her black ankle high boots. Every morning she had half a mind to make a sign that said "yes, I dressed in the dark and yes, you can go fuck yourself", just to avoid the stares and on rare occasions actual questions. Just last week some broad had asked if she was wearing her Halloween costume. She replied with a yes and asked to borrow the bitch's mask so she could really scare some kids that weekend. She had a way with words, what could she say? People just found her utterly charming. It would explain her huge posse of friends.

"You don't look old enough to be smoking." His words came out of no where, causing Violet to flinch slightly in surprise. Glaring up at him, she took an exaggerated drag just to stick it to him. Making expert smoke rings she had been practicing since she was 13, Vi let the almost dead cigarette drop by her foot and stomped it out.

"Okay? You don't look old enough to be wearing pants from the sixties. What's your point?" Her sarcasm made the older man laugh as he helped himself to a seat next to her. Arching her eyebrow in his direction, Violet was two seconds from reaching into her bag for pepper spray when he reached for his bag first, pulling out a badge signifying his employment at the school.

"I'm not here to bust you, and I'm not some creep. I just haven't seen you around, thought I'd introduce myself." Raising his hand to shake hers, Violet was hesitant at first, but figured who the hell was it going to hurt? Quickly slapping her hand against his, she looked over his profile from their now close proximity. He was kind of cute in a Jesse Lacey kind of way. "I'm Mr. Cooper, but you can call me Matt. I hate having a mister in front of my name.. makes me feel old."

"If the shoe fits." Shrugging as she reached for her pack of cigarettes again, she found herself chain smoking. Nervous habit she had, but what was the use in breaking it now? Flinching again as his hands appeared in front of her face, she allowed the teacher to light her cigarette for her despite her eyes bugging out at his closeness. Blowing the smoke out of her nose in a dragon like fashion, she mumbled around the cigarette butt in her mouth. "Thanks."

"Do you have a name or should I just call you Phillip Morris?" He knew as soon as the statement came out that 1. he sounded like a douche, and 2. this teenager was more advanced than him in the wit department. Laughing to himself, he reached for his own pack of cigarettes to light one for himself. "Sorry, I try to be funny when I meet new people. On the bright side, embarrassing myself tends to get me a pity vote. How am I doing?"

"I don't find you funny, nor pitiful, so.." Letting him take it however he wanted, Violet watched him inconspicuously out of the corner of her eye. Forgetting to turn on her filter this morning, she turned to face the man, focusing on his face more to memorize it in case she needed to give details to the cops. "Do you make it a habit to fraternize with your underage students or am I just that special?" Taking another long drag, she didn't leave, nor attempt to get up, she was just curious. Reaching in front of herself to flick ashes off the tip of her cigarette, she watched them float away in the wind, a few landing on her shoe. "I'm Violet, but you can call me Violet."

"You're not in any of my classes." He had a point there. Watching him smoke, she couldn't help but wonder his real intentions behind coming to talk to her. He wasn't some kind of welcoming committee and he was too damn old to be trying to befriend her. He looked harmless enough, but so did Jeffrey Dahmer and look at all the people he fucked up. "It's good to meet you Violet. That is a very nice name, were you named after someone special?"

Her eyes squinted slightly as she sized him up more closely now. There was something definitely up with this dude. Grabbing her bag from the ledge she was sitting on, Violet stood up and swung it over her head to hang against her hip. Taking a long drag before tossing it to the ground with her other discarded butt, she half saluted the man. "Listen dude, it's been a slice, but I gotta get home. I'll see you around."

"Do you want a ride? Where do you live?" Okay, he was getting to be too much. Can you say desperate?

"I'm Amish, can't do cars, sorry." Licking over her lips, she turned and started to walk away, only pausing to turn around as he kept talking.

"Where's your bonnet?" He thought he was clever, clearly he didn't know of the Pennsylvania dutch's ways.

"Rumspringa. Google it!" Turning to practically run, one hand on her hat, the other on her bag, she only slowed down five blocks later. The last 10 were slow, but she didn't mind. She liked the long walks home, it gave her time to think. Bikes were for scenester douchebags, cars were too big of a pain in the ass, and she'd break her face if she tried anything else with wheels.

"I'm home!" Hollering as she walked through the door, she only stopped when her mother said she had a visitor, if it were anything else you could bet she'd already be in her room. Who the fuck would visit her. So help that douchebag if he followed her home or somehow found out where she lived. Still wearing her pissed off expression as she entered the kitchen, there was no hiding her stupid grin as she saw her mom sitting at the island with Tate. No fucking way. Apparently there was a whole shit ton of stuff Ben didn't tell his wife. "Oh.. hi."

Vivien wanted to scream when she saw how her daughter's face lit up when she walked in. This was what she was hoping for when they moved, a fresh start, a new life. At least one of them was getting it. Her daughter was clearly smitten with this boy, and from the whole 10 minutes she talked to him, he seemed nice. Viv gave Violet an excited smile as she walked past her, quickly leaning in to kiss the young girl's cheek. "He's cute."

"Your mom is gorgeous." Her smile immediately fled the premisses. Taking her bag off and tossing it on the kitchen table, Violet kept her shitty expression as she walked over to Tate and past him to the back door.

"Good, maybe you can get it up for her." Yeah, she was still a little bitter. Walking into her backyard, Violet took to the gazebo and sat with her back to the house. The main reason she liked this boring thing was because of how much everyone else seemed to hate it. Lighting up another cigarette, she waited for Tate to follow her out there. It was only a matter of time.

"Violet!" He was clearly upset over the statement but it wasn't like he could blame her. If he wanted to have sex with her and she told him she had to wash her hair he probably would have put his fist through a wall. Standing at the rail behind her, Tate peered over her shoulder at the burning cigarette. "You are breath taking."

She just rolled her eyes, despite the hint of a flush in her cheeks. No kind words were going to make up for how he treated her after their first date. She wasn't as mad as she was offended. How he could just disappear and then not show up without an explanation or anything. It was just rude.

"Where were you? It never takes you this long to walk home."

"Oh, hey. You still got your Halloween costume on. It's cool though, my actual probation officer is back, so you're free to go to Hell." Maybe she was being a little too harsh? Probably, but she she cared about Tate, otherwise she really wouldn't have given a shit either way if he had come back after being chased by a group of kids.

"Vi, don't be a bitch your whole life."

"Tate, don't be an inconsiderate asshole your whole life."

Even with the harsh words and angry tones, the two were still gravitating towards each other like two star crossed lovers. Tate had made his way up the stairs and took a seat by, but not too close to the girl. Clearly she was pissed, he couldn't say why, but it was obvious she didn't want him there.

"I'll leave."

"No!"

Letting out a pissed off sigh, Violet turned on the bench to look at Tate. God he was gorgeous, even when he was infuriating. Maybe even more then. Taking a drag of her cigarette that was burning out after she had almost completely forgotten about it, she opted to just throw it into the grass. Reaching out to grab Tate's hand, she tugged him closer, she hated fighting with him, life was too short. She had learned that the hard way, what with Addie's life being cut far too short and all.

"I worried about you. You never came back to tell me you were okay. No call, no note, no fuck off and die, bitch. You could have been dead on the side of the road and I wouldn't have known."

Tate couldn't help but smile at her genuine concern for his well being. It was that part of her that made him absolutely crazy about her. Sliding closer, he dropped her hand to reach up and take her face in both of his hands. She really was a million times more beautiful than her mother, but could she really be mad that he appreciated the way Violet would eventually grow into? It should have been a compliment to her, not a slap in the face!

"I'm sorry. It will never happen again, I promise. I love that you worry about me.. now you know how it feels."

Rolling her eyes, Violet leaned in to press a quick, chaste kiss against her boyfriend's lips. It was weird calling him that but he didn't object so she wasn't going to change it.

"So, what took you so long getting home? Your parole officer asked me to get the information for him so he could go on his donut break."

Chuckling, Violet shook her head as she leaned back against the gazebo's railing. Shrugging, she looked around the yard, taking in how it looked from her new perch. It wasn't a big deal that she was talking to another guy, right? He was a teacher. A creep, but a teacher. She had only been being civil after all, how could he get mad for that?

"Just smoking with some teacher. Well, not with but by.. you know. He sat next to me and started talking so whatever. I made it home in one piece. I think he might have wanted to put me in little pieces in his trunk though."

Cue rage.

"Who the fuck was it? Why was some creep ass teacher smoking with you? Did he try anything?"

It took all she had to not smile, but honestly, his jealousy and urge to immediately jump on the defense for her, it was sweet. No boy had ever wanted to protect her so much. Shrugging her shoulders as she reached out to take Tate's hand, she had hoped that the contact would calm him and reassure him that there was really nothing to worry about. Stroking her thumb slowly over the top of his hand, she waited until the color drained from his face before answering.

"He just wanted to know who I was. He was innocent enough. I mean he offered me a ride home but I doubt he had a chainsaw in the back seat. He probably just felt bad for me. Poor lonely chick, she dresses like a weirdo, she probably has no friends, her parents probably forgot her at school."

"So help me God, Violet! Why do you attract psychos?" He had to stop himself. They both laughed quietly, but in all honesty Tate was the least harmful of all the crazies around. He was there for her, to protect her. This jackass just sounded like he wanted to rape her and dispose of her remains in some crack house. "Do you need me to take care of him?"

Staring blankly at Tate for a few beats, Violet smiled at him as she reached up to pinch his cheeks. He deserved it.

"No, but thank you. I promise, even if I did need him to be taken care of, I can totally hold my own. You just never leave me to fight my own battles, so you don't know."

The next day was the same as the one before, cigarettes on the short stone ledge on the side of her school. What could she say? She was a creature of habit. Watching people was another big part as to why she enjoyed sitting in one place for a while. She didn't want Tate to be upset with her for not coming home fast enough, but she wasn't about to change her interests for him. Maybe if he stuck around and actually hung out with her rather than just lurking in the basement she would have been more obliging.

"When an Amish youth turns 16, they're given the option to leave their family for a time, experience the world in order to make the decision if they want to stay with the lifestyle or leave." His words came out of no where, yet again, as did his sitting without an invitation. Not bothering to look over at him, Vi took a long drag as her eyes squinted towards some bushes across the street. Were they moving? Looking at her cigarette she wondered if it had been laced or if it was just that old.

"You know how to use a search engine. Yay." Her tone was just as monotonous as it had been the day before, showing no desire to actually spark up a conversation with the dude, Violet just sat and listened to him drone on for the next ten minutes. Asking cookie cutter questions in order to try and "get to know" her. Answering with short, fake answers, Violet finally gave up. "I gotta go, see you later."

"Wait, lemme give you a ride." Reaching out to grab her arm, Violet stopped, looking at his hand then his face. Seriously? Trying to jerk it away, his grip tightened despite her pulling.

"What the fuck, man! Let go." Stumbling forward as he pulled her close to him, Violet glared up at this teacher, if he was really one. She would be nice and give him to the count of three. "Let. Go. You'll be sorry if you don't."

Mr. Cooper just laughed. She was so small, what harm could she possibly inflict? Letting go of her arm, he wrapped his own around her shoulders firmly, holding her body against his side almost painfully so. "Just walk with me, Violet."

Dipping into the driveway for deliveries for the school, sheltered from the street and anyone walking by, the man tucked the teen away. Was this really happening? What ever happened to a normal day? Letting him shove her against the wall, she had made it to two. Bringing her knee up between them as he started to lean in to kiss her, she assumed, she grabbed the older man's shoulders to pull his weight into her as she brought her boney patella to make contact with his crotch. Raising her leg higher once he started doubling over in pain, Violet kicked his shoulder, letting him fall down in front of her.

"I told you you'd be sorry." Spitting right next to his head, she took pride in how quick it had taken her to get him on the ground. Turning to leave, she stopped, her face contorting with confusion.

"How the hell did you know where I was.." Looking at Tate's expression, she knew it was safest if she got him away from the teacher as quickly as possible. Grabbing his hand, she started to pull but was jerked back. Since when was she a fucking rag doll! Looking back as her boyfriend released her hand and walked over calmly to Mr. Cooper, she couldn't hear what he said to the cowering man, but the face he made when Tate walked back towards Violet spoke volumes.

"What did you say?" Linking arms with him, Violet couldn't help but smile. She didn't need him to rescue her, but it was nice knowing he was always around if she needed him to save her.

"If he even looks at you again I would slit his throat."

Violet watched the ground as they walked back home. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, either way, it was nice knowing she had him to put the fear of God in people, too.