I took my hoodie off and felt a little exposed.
"Thank you, Mr. Donovan." Mr. Johnson says and gets back to reading nonsense from his book. I glance to the left and see my best friend Emira. She smiles at me with her pearly white teeth. She's really grown into her body throughout the years. I've known her nearly my entire life. We first met on a playground when we were both six. She walked up to me randomly. I look up and stared into her hazel eyes. Almost immediately, she back-handed me and stole my action figure. I never said anything to my mom about it. A girl actually put me down to the ground....we were meant to be friends. A few weeks later we saw each other at the same playground. She was burying her dolls in the ground. I walked over and buried my nearly destroyed army man next to her doll. She looked at me confusingly but ended up smiling. After that, our mother's allowed playdates. Now, here we are...
*30 minutes later*
The bell rings for lunch. I toss my notebook and textbook into my bag and quickly exit the class with Emira right behind me. We both enter the cafeteria, grab our food, and sit at our usual table.
"So, apparently there's a rave in the old paper mill outside of town. There's gonna be liquor and bitches!" Emira exclaims.
"Sounds like date rape city Emmy." I say, picking at the gross food on my plate. Emira rests her chin in her hand.
"Dude, you really need to let me do your eyes for this. You have the prettiest brown eyes I've ever seen." Emira always gave me compliments. I don't think she's in love with me. I think she believes I need to hear it.
"You aren't comin' anywhere near my eyes." I say.
"Ugh, fine....but you are taking me to this rave. Its either you bring me or I have to ask someone like Mark." She says and my eyes dart across the room to where Mark Harrison is sitting. He's the lead quarterback for the school and local fuckboy. The thought of her ending up with a idiot like him enraged me. I could feel my chest starting to burn up.
"I'll take you...but you owe me later. I don't go back to work until next week and I'm out of cash." I push my plate away, throw my bag on my lap, and begin to dig through it.
"Seriously Jeff? If you weren't buying yourself so much weed you wouldn't be broke. Are you spending it all behind the bleachers or...." she gasps "you're paying somebody to sleep with you! It's MacKenzie, isn't it? That big-nose bitch totally would." Emira says rolling her eyes after the last remark.
"First of all, I don't buy myself weed-" I pull out a few joints.
"I buy US weed." I say and she pauses.
"Ok...and?" She asks confusingly.
"And what?" I ask back.
"You said first of all. Therefore, you have a second of all. AND you aren't denying fucking Mackenzie." She points at me with a smirk.
"I guess you'll have to sit there thinking about that for awhile and miss out." I say as I throw my bag around my shoulders and begin walking towards the exit. It takes Emira a second to realize not only what I just said but what she'll be missing out on. She gathers her things and runs after me.
I walk out of the main doors of the school with Emira at my side. As soon as we walk across the street I pull a joint out. I put it in my mouth and light it. I take a few puffs and feel the smoke take over my lungs. Me and Emira first tried weed when we were like nine. My dad was a major stoner. One day, I decided to steal a few of his edibles and brought them over to Emira's house. Me and her spent all night laughing at some stupid movie. Her parents were complete idiots and had no real concern for their daughter so we didn't get in trouble. I think if they knew, it would only make that memory even more memorable. I pass Emira the joint after taking a few puffs off it.
"8 o'clock Saturday night. Be there on time-" she stops to take a hit. "And look presentable. You really do give off school shooter vibes sometimes Jeff." She says and looks at my baggy jeans and zip-up.
"I will show up with all black clothes and my trusty MP5." I smirk at her as she rolls her eyes. She takes another hit and passes it back.
"Seriously Jeff...You're such a cute guy but you hide it all away." She says and looks behind her. She has a habit of checking her surroundings more frequently than most people. When she was 16, she was walking to a friend's house and some guy robbed her in broad daylight. He took her purse and her necklace. After he got what he wanted, he knocked her out and left her on the ground. I can feel that burning in my chest again..
"I know I'm sexy as fuck, but I don't feel the need to show it." I take a hit and look at her clothes. She always wore outfits that showed too much skin. I hate seeing her dress like that. I hate seeing all of the guys cat call her and harass her. I try to stay around her as much as possible just in case something serious happens again. But...I know she likes the attention. Sometimes I don't even understand why we stayed friends this long. We have almost nothing in common nowadays. It feels nice to be around her though. It feels nice to know I can keep her safe.
After a walking for about 15 minutes we get to my house.
"Do you wanna come inside?" I ask curiously, gripping my bags straps.
"I want to..but I can't. Sheila wants me to go to her house and do her makeup. It's like people think I'm a miracle worker or something." She rants. Emira was really good at makeup though. She never used too much.
"Its fine. I'll text you later." I say and begin towards my house. I can already hear screaming.
I enter the house and fast walk toward my room. The yelling getting louder as I venture deeper into the house. My mom and step-dad never got along. I understand why she stays with him. He has money. And when my dad left we were dirt poor. He took everything from us.
I enter my room and toss my bag onto my bed. I take off my jacket and fall onto the bed. Slowly drifting off.
