The sound of my feet slapping the wet pavement as I maneuvered my way to our car, a black and still as shiny as ever, 2015 Cadillac CTS-V-one of mom's most prized possessions that she had earned through her blood, sweat and tears-was the only thing that could be heard on our slightly foggy and very wet street.
Well, that and my brother's undignified cries as he tried to untangle his jacket from the door handle.
I dashed through the puddles that had settled at our front yard and made a beeline for the front seat, ignoring his bargains for me to let him sit in the front just for today.
As if I'd ever let that happen.
Now that the car was back from the garage, I could finally exercise my rights.
Nearly ripping the handle off the door, I got in and called out dibs loud enough to wake up the entire neighborhood. There was no way on earth I was going to be seen getting out of the backseat ever again.
I'm his big sister and it's about time Cash understands that.
After a few seconds passed, he got in and kicked the back of my seat. I was not impressed nor was I fazed. I had my weird yet still very aggravating victory smile plastered onto my face.
Mrs. Nosyton, was 'inconspicuously' peering through her window, hoping to find some fault with us to come over onto our yard and start her morning screechings-I mean, greetings. Morning greetings.
Not today, creepy old lady, not today.
Mom snuck her way to the driver's side, trying to shield her face from any more embarrassment her kids may cause, probably praying to God we don't end up in the local newspaper as the kids who fought to the death over the front passenger seat.
She started the engine and we drove in silence. After five minutes of me meddling with the radio and mom practicing self control even though she was dying to know what had me in such a cheerful mood, a solemn feeling settled over me as I recalled Cash whining to mom again this morning.
The recurrence was so unusual for a mama's boy like him that my curiousity won over my pride and I looked to the back, still wagering if it would be worth it to ask.
He was scrolling through his messages absentmindedly. I tapped him on the knee.
"Yes....Harley?" He drawled out, masking his surprise with genuine curiousity as he ran his hand through his curls.
"What were you guys going on about this morning?"
"Oh. My gray toothbrush." He stated and my brows knitted in confusion. I didn't know he also owned a gray toothbrush. "I've had it for almost a month now and was asking mom to buy me a new one since we're all out of the gray ones."
"You're a big boy now. You should be able to get your own stuff without my help." Mom argued.
"But, buying a toothbrush? That's so embarrassing..."
Their argument waned out as I tried to put two and two together in my head.
But there's only one gray toothbrush in the bathroom...and it's...mine...
My whole world came crashing down right then and there along with my mouth as reality settled in. I looked from mom to Cash in horror as I tried to form a sensible sentence. All of the things he's put in his mouth, all of the alcohol...
I gasped, my pupils dilating in horror as I realized something a thousand times worse than anything I could ever imagine.
All of the girls he's locked lips with...
I nearly fainted.
"Say it ain't so."I nearly cried out as I stuffed my fingers in my mouth and tried to drag the filth out. I reached in my bag and popped at least ten mentos in my mouth, chewing desperately while trying to say, "Mom told me the gray was mine."
"No. Just-no." He put his headphones on to tune me out just to take it off again in exasperation. "Okay, I know that the blue one is yours."
"Why would the blue one be mine? Everyone knows only boys use blue toothbrushes!"
"First of all, that's sexist and secondly, how could you not tell that someone else was using the same toothbrush as you?"
"I could ask you the same thing." I spat out, feeling betrayed and...used. I almost gagged.
"Uh, no because I shower first every single day and night."
Oh...right.
"Wait...why are we arguing over this? It's not our fault that someone gave us wrong information."
Our heads turned simultaneously towards the perpetrator who was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, feigning ignorance, lips pursed and shoulders tense.
"Mom..."We both drawled out as we bend into the school's parking lot. She parked and nodded at the building before us.
"Well, would you look at that?" She ran a hand over her perfectly arch-shaped brow,letting out a low whistle. "We're here already. At your school. Exciting, right?"
"This conversation is far from over." I huffed, grabbing my bag. In my state of anger,being as tall as I am, I somehow managed to bump my head,stumbling out of the car and into the arms of a passing student who gracefully caught me.
I looked up to apologize...and stared straight into the eyes of Hero. My smile of friendship made me seem constipated. I think I popped out a mento or two.
He had been walking-like a blooming flower in the sunlight, might I add- in the direction of the ring of laughing teenage boys when all of a sudden, the force of my beauty threw him off his path, despite my hair covering more than half of my face. He looked down-yes, down( for a tall girl, this meant a lot)-at my totally not cowering form as he steadied me.
He opened his mouth to, what? Speak? To me? and got cut off by the enemy of progress that the devil had assigned to me since birth. Or as I commonly know him as, my brother.
Ugh, I even hate to state our relation.
"Let go of my sister." Cash grumbled, crashing my fairytale as he got out of the car.
Hero slid his hands off my shoulders and took a step back, putting a respectable distance between us but not before I caught sight of the death glare he had thrown at Cash-one that was so quick I would have missed it if I wasn't such a stalker for Hero. He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets as his eyes zeroed in on his best friend.
"Relax. I was just helping her."
"Like you help every other girl in this town?" Cash's tone was as tight as his grip on Hero's shoulder. I rubbed at the throbbing, probable bump on my head. "My sister doesn't need any help. She can handle herself. Right, Harley?"
"Right." I forced out through clenched teeth then composed myself when I realized mom was watching our exchange. "I'm a Smith so... handling things is what I do." I ended lamely, a broken chuckle following soon after when really this was no laughing matter. I just killed off any chance that I could have possibly had with Hero.
I ducked my head, hoping they'd just leave already so I can go cry somewhere by my lonesome.
"Whatever, man." Hero grunted, shrugging Cash's hand off and ducking his head to get a good look at mom. "Hey, Mrs. Smith. Looking beautiful as always..."
"Thank you-"
"Stop flirting with my mom, asshat." Cash shoved him out of the way, unknowingly pushing Hero onto me as he went around to the driver's side to lay a quick kiss on mom's cheek.
While he was occupied with that, Hero was busy steadying me again since I almost fell from the force of the impact. He smelled clean-like showers were second nature to him.
I briefly wondered what I smelled like to him and I scooted back a bit, my smile of friendship wavering.
"Morning, Harley." He greeted after a pause and I could have sworn I heard a slight hesitation in his voice before saying my name. I panicked, looking at my hands that were clenched tightly together.
"Oh, uh, h-h-hell-"
"You done being a mama's boy?" I jerked at the sudden intrusion and looked up at Hero, wondering why he had cut me off.
Then I noticed Cash.
He threw his arm around Hero and pulled him along to the group of boys at the entrance, whispering something to him. They disappeared into the ring of cool kids, leaving mother and daughter alone.
"Come hither, Little one." Mom waved me over to her side and I obeyed, poking my head through the windshield. She planted a quick kiss on my forehead. "So...senior year. How's that going so far?"
"It's definitely going." I faked enthusiasm, keeping my response as vague as possible. "Donovan's back so this year I'll be out. You might have to even wait up for me since I'll be going to parties, having fun and sneaking out...all the good stuff-"
"There goes my movie partner." Mom successfully shut me up before we both ended up cringing at my words. "You still like Charming Matty's boy?" She nodded in the direction Hero had gone. "We were friends back in highschool, you know. I can pay him a visit and bring you along and if the two of you just so happen to hang out while we're talking then-"
"Mom..." I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "Thanks, really, but I don't think I'll be needing your wingwomanship or whatever. I don't even like him all that much."
Mom nodded, looking as convinced as a judge listening to a murderer who still had the murder weapon inhand while pleading innocent but didn't say anything else. I love that she doesn't butt in to my privacy or force me to express myself to her.
As I walked up the stairs, I made sure to send a small wave her way, not really caring what my peers thought of that even though I knew I'd get bullied for it later. Maybe I won't since the front of the school was pretty much cleared out by now.
Most of them had surrounded a fancy sports car, taking pictures and chatting up a storm at the end of the parking lot.
Sitting on the hood of the car with his nerdy friends the closest to him, was Donovan. He waved when he spotted me looking from the entrance.
I smiled and waved back.
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"To be or not to be..." A classmate gestured dramatically, his hands flying in the air and his foot misplaced on the seat of the chair as he acted out his version of Hamlet to the class. His efforts to chip away at our remaining class time was duly noted, though my irritation for the ancient hater of all other poor English scholars had been spiked from it.
Shakespeare, I believe he was called.
Because I couldn't get this morning's awkwardness off my mind even though it was fourth period already, the latter of his quote seemed to be the obvious choice.
The teacher was running late, my stomach kept reminding me that I had forgotten to have a bite this morning and this class seemed to be testing my will to live with every agonizingly slow,passing minute ticking to lunchtime.
How it had managed to find such a nonexistent thing-and test it at that- was beyond my comprehension.
My eyes drew to Donovan once more, my temperature rising in annoyance.
You'd think since he and I had built a bridge over our river of mistakes and crossed it, he'd be here keeping me company but nope! He was now Mr Popular and, apparently, that meant speaking to any and every one that wasn't me. He couldn't even use the lavatory without a full escort, can you imagine?
I had been pushed to the side three times now just as I'd built up enough courage to approach him. I was nothing but dust to him, and right now, he had surrounded himself with what we high schoolers classified as nerds. I would have gladly joined except their conversations were far out of my intellectual capabilities.
I sighed.
The play that the class clown had put on had worked for the most part. My partly divided attention to the jester led to what little energy stored in my last two functioning braincells' drastic decline, leaving me quite hollow inside when the performance came to an end.
In other words, I was bored.
Astronomically bored. So much so that I found myself dissociating into the infinite possibilities of what my already buzzed-up imagination had created so far in the absence of the teacher. I almost missed the peculiar figure that sauntered into the room like he had all the time in the world.
Now here was a face that I hadn't seen before.
"Thank you all for waiting." He began. "This town isn't as easily- navigable as I had deluded myself into believing."
His eyes scanned our faces before landing on the marker at the whiteboard.
"And you may refer to me as..." He uncapped it and began to write, his voice following the writing on the board, sounding as elegant as his penmanship looked. "Mr Roderick Melark."
We all stared like our new teacher was from a whole other universe. With his mud-brown eyes, eagle-sculpted nose, braided hair and tight lips, he looked like he had been pulled out from a book I had read about aristocrats.
My coherence failed me when he asked for an introduction from the entire class and met my eye first. He folded his hands on the desk and leaned forward in anticipation.
In this class, I had taken a seat at the front because I love any and everything that involves diving into a story, be it complex or not. I should have just stayed an introvert. Now, look where my need to participate had gotten me?
Yeah, sure, I had a window view of the playground and gray sky to keep me entertained and the writings on the board were clear enough but, really, I should have known it was all too good to be true. A scam in the long run. Besides, what were the chances of the universe ever bestowing anything good upon me?
Although I was in no mood to speak, my adult-pleasing tendencies sparked up a need to be talkative and I sharply rose from my seat.
My heart was pounding.
"I'm Harley Smith-"
"A.K.A., hedgehog hair." A voice drifted from behind me and I flinched but otherwise kept on ignoring Richard who had plopped down behind me the minute he entered class. "She's our most beloved mascot."
End credits. Their routined laughter was so predictable.
Mr Melark frowned, studying my demeanor as Richard spoke. He addressed the jab at me instantly, warning Richard about the consequences of disrupting his class and he would have gone further if a girl hadn't piped up from the back, explaining that I really was the school's mascot.
I nodded at Mr Melark's questioning gaze, informing him that they weren't lying and he dropped it, though unwillingly. He apologized to Richard for perceiving his words as something negative while I held my tongue even though I found it unfair.
He had been spot on in his assumptions but pointing that out would only make matters worse for myself. Richard pulled me down by my hoodie sleeves with a remark that I shouldn't take my job too seriously.
Again, end credits. So predictable.
"Richard Fords." He sounded so full of himself. I wanted to throw myself off of a building for letting him get away with it. " Starter on the basketball team-"
"Bencher, now that I'm here." I perked up at Donovan's voice, side eyeing their exchange in shock. Donovan looked apologetic, though his tone indicated otherwise. "Coach must have forgotten to run it by you or maybe you just didn't cross his mind when he was drawing up this year's starting lineup. Sorry, man."
He did not sound sorry, not a drop or a tinkle.
End credits, this time not directed at me.
"Donovan, by the way." He addressed the teacher. "Athlete, genius, ladies man, the mascot's best friend..." He winked in my direction and several heads turned to me in surprise, their eyes shining with a new-found respect for me.
I slowly pulled my hood over my head and turned away from the mayhem. Richard was glaring holes in the back of my head. He fell into a brooding silence behind me, the only sign that he was still there being the occasional kicks to the back of my legs that lasted until the end of English class. I acted like I couldn't feel a thing and avoided him until gym period, when he walked up to me and tagged me on his team.
Knowing how Richard enjoyed hitting me with the dodgeball, I reached to a conclusion that he had only picked me so Donovan wouldn't get the chance to as a sign of manliness.
Or something like that.
I was content with not having a ball hit me in the face for once and, even though I got a few shoulder-shoves here and there from my own team, it brought me great joy to see Donovan avenge my shoulders by knocking out everyone who had landed a hit on me. He served as my own, personal hitman and I rejoiced in every second of the justice that I received.
Until it was just me left and every single ball from the remaining players on Donovan's team came barreling right at me.
Because I had mastered the art of dodging, no thanks to Richard, I persevered through the first wave, gaining an impressed cheer of approval from my teammates for the first time in my life.
What a boost of confidence.
I shot one at Donovan and he caught it. Effortlessly. My cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment I dropped to my knees and squeezed my eyes shut, preparing myself for Richard's assault.
"That doesn't count." Donovan's laughter brought me out of my self-pity. He turned to his teammates and said, "Tap out."
"You bet it doesn't count." Richard grumbled from right beside me. He scowled at me as if I had caused him the game already and made a catching gesture with his hands. "At least take one of them down, hedgehog."
My head lulled to the side and my eyes dimmed. The pressure from Richard was draining my life source and Donovan looked all too eager to end me. He had this sick, sadistic grin on his face like he was getting a kick out of this as he walked up to where the lines met.
"Pick up the ball, Harley." He teased while I had a whole breakdown in my head.
I ignored him and laid flat on my back, tossing a ball in the air like nobody was even in the gym. I tried not to think about the murderous look etched onto Richard's face too hard.
"Oh, come on... that's so boring." Donovan muttered. I waited until he reached for a ball then sat up and simply tossed the one I was holding at him. It hit his leg and bounced off into a corner of the room, filling the silence that had enveloped the gym.
Donovan looked from the spot I had hit to my flushed face in a mixture of confusion and amusement.
"Yes, hedgehog!" Richard shouted, forgetting about how much he loathed me just to lord his win over Donovan's head. "Play silly games, win silly prizes."
My team was more than happy to cheer me on since it meant that we could skip the rest of P. E. while Donovan's team would have to exercise until the bell rang.
I let myself smile...
"I'm still in." Hero mumbled, coming up beside Donovan and my smile dropped. He waved me over. "Harley, come here for a minute."
My mind froze but my body moved.
He's actually talking to me. That's the second time today and this time it's in front of others. I was so stunned with happiness that I didn't even mind him booping me with the ball the second I got in touching distance.
Hero had finally spoken to me of his own accord. Not out of pleasantries, relations with my brother, or any other third parties for that matter.
Just dodgeball, a sport that, until now, only brought me pain and- on more than two occasions- a one-way ticket to the nurse's office.
"Okay, guys, listen up!" My brother pushed open the gym doors with a wad of cash in his hands. He stuffed them in his shorts pocket and clapped to gain everyone's attention as he made his way to Hero and Donovan.
Cash announced that they'd be having a casual hangout at The Cliffs- a prominent spot for teens like him and a life hazard for teens like me.
"I got paid early." Cash grinned at Donovan and Hero, shrugging nonchalantly. "Everything's on me, by the way."
Hero stared for a minute longer out of politeness then turned to complete their bro-triangle. They got into conversation about a bonfire while I stood behind Hero, feeling out of place as I tried to process what had just happened.
I quietly withdrew from them. I knew there wasn't a chance that I'd be invited to one of those. It was just never going to happen.
To them, I was just too uncool.
I ended up being forced to do almost twice as much jumping jacks and push-ups because, to my teammates, I had cost them the game.
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