What I wouldn't give for a soda right now...
It's been another sucky day at school, as usual. I'm basically buried under homework and Jillian Smith is up to her old tricks again.
I'm Malinda Troy, a student in a high-school located in Lubbock, Texas.
I have lower-back-length light brown hair that is almost always pulled back into a high-ponytail and my eyes are the darkest shade of blue.
I usually make A's and B's on my report cards but sometimes I'll get the occasional C. Of course, none of that matters to my parents.
Both of them; Thurston Troy and Dana Troy are alcoholics. Usually it's Thurston, but whenever they come home drunk they'll take out their anger on me.
It usually involves an object flying across the room or shattering on the floor but mostly it's verbal. There's also those rare occasions when they'll come home high and then they'll pass out on the couch or the floor so I have to drag them up to their room because if I don't Dana'll throw the TV remote at me when she wakes up.
I'm all alone, walking home like usual. It doesn't bother me that much anymore since it's been the same routine for fifteen years. Mainly because Dana is too busy smoking pot and Thurston is out working his job at the bar downtown.
I'm the one who always has to buy the food for the house, Thurston wastes the money he earns on drugs so I'll go work part-time at the library a few blocks away most of the time.
I use some of the spare money I have to buy something that could be of some use, one of those being a cellphone. Not much, but it's enough. I only use it for music anyways.
I pop my earphones in my ears, scrolling through my playlist as I walk down the sidewalks, careful to keep my hood pulled over my head. It was unusually cold today and I can't stand it when my ears get cold.
I chose to listen to Fall Out Boy's song; Alone Together because I thought it fit my mood pretty well.
I sighed and kept walking, dragging my brown duffle bag behind me. I had to go and get some more food for the house today and not to mention I had to go back to the library to work a few hours from now.
Still thirsty, I spot the nearby 7-11 that I always pass on my route home and decide to grab a drink with the few dollars that I had brought to school today.
I dart across the for now silent road and push open the doors.
The girl at the cash register looks up and smiles at me in greeting before going back to scribbling something down behind the counter.
She had black hair and I could faintly see that she had brown eyes. She was wearing a red T-shirt that the employees here usually wore but she had a pretty blue chain necklace around her neck. The charm was a fish, though.
I had smiled back before she looked down and I walked into the store, going immediately to the back isle where I could see the drinks.
I pull open the glass door that separated me from the sodas and pulled out a Mountain Dew. On the way back down the isle I grabbed some Pringles and a Kit-Kat. Satisfied, I walk up to the counter and hand the girl the money.
"Thank you, that'll be seven sixty-eight." she smiles, taking the money and counting it up.
"I've seen you walking from the school a lot, how is it?"
"Not fun, I used to have trouble with looking both ways before crossing the streets and I've nearly been run over at least twelve times." I replied with bitter humor.
"Didn't your parents ever teach you?" She asks with a confused expression as she counts the change.
"No." I answered simply.
She frowned for a second before bouncing back and smiling again. "My name is Beth, hope to see you around."
"Malinda, you too." I smiled at her though I could barely hide the shock. This girl hoped to see me around? The last time somebody said that to me was when I lived in Nashville, Tennessee. But that was when I was staying with a now long-distance friend at least five years ago.
God, I miss her.
I shake the thought away and politely wave goodbye to Beth and walked out of the store, stuffing the food into my pockets and taking a long drink of the Mountain Dew.
It was refreshing, quenching the thirst that had been plaguing me all day.
I continued walking once again, across the streets and cutting through lawns until I reached the old house that I had stayed in for most of my life.
I walked up to the door and slowly opened it, careful not to let it creak just in case Thurston or Dana were here.
Unfortunately for me, I heard the thundering footsteps of Thurston and I wonder if he is drunk or not.
"Where've you been?!" He slurred.
Oh yes, definately tanked.
