The New KISS High School

Ch 4: Peace and Freedom (Peter)

The final bell rang and I rose to my feet with a wince, massaging my forehead. Ace had thankfully kept his promise to get me lunch and while that had helped with my hangover, a headache was still absolutely kicking my ass. I massaged my forehead, walking to the parking lot and thankfully running into Ace. He gave me a smile, ruffling my hair. "How're you feeling?" he teased. 

"Better, but still hurts. Oh, we've got rent coming up," I said, and Ace frowned. "Damn alright. What's the damage?" "I'll do 60%, you take 40%, that work?" "Aw no we can go half and half!" he protested, but I shook my head. "Nah, I've got a job and you don't. I take it back, we'll go 70%-30%." "No! I'm not gonna make you do over half the rent!" he cried. "Well too bad, I'm not giving you a choice," I said, giving him a smirk. "Oh shut up. When's it due?" "First Friday in September. It's always the first Friday of the month." 

"Alright. Just tell me how much I owe. And you're not allowed to take more than 60, I won't let you!" he said. "We'll see," I said, knowing damn well I was going to be covering at least 80% of the rent without his knowledge. "We still good for tonight though?" he asked, and I smiled. "Of course. Same old?" I asked, and he nodded. "Always. I tell them I'm at your place, you tell them you're at mine." "Perfect. I'll see you at six then!" I said, giving him a parting wave and heading to my car. 

It was a thankfully quiet but regrettably brief drive back to my house. I sat in my car in the driveway, bracing myself for a moment before grabbing my backpack and heading inside. It was just as noisy as it always was, with chattering voices as my siblings argued and played with each other. 

"Mom I'm home!" I called, grabbing a soda from the garage fridge. I cracked it open, taking a sip. "Peter can you help Lucas with his homework? I'm in the middle of making dinner!" she called back. I bit back a sigh before walking into the kitchen, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as she chopped vegetables. "What's cooking?" I asked. "Beef and vegetable stew," she said. "How was your first day of school?" "It wasn't bad. I'm going to Ace's to spend the night, that okay?" I asked, moving to the table and sitting next to Lucas. She frowned, looking up from the cutting board. "On a Monday?" "I promise we'll get to bed on time," I said with a smile, crossing my fingers under the table. To my relief, she let out a sigh. "Alright fine. But help your brother with his homework and see if any of your other siblings need help," she said. 

"Alright!" I said, before looking at the worksheet Lucas was working on. "So what's this?" "Fractions," he said miserably. "Ah, fractions. I remember those. Dang, your teacher really hit you with homework on the first day of fourth grade?" I asked, and he nodded. "Yeah. Mrs. Thomas is known to do that," he grumbled. "That sucks. But here, let's see what you've got!" I said, pulling the page toward me.

I moved through the worksheet with him, explaining how the denominator stayed the same when subtracting and adding fractions with the same denominator and all he needed to worry about was the numbers on top. As he worked on that Zach toddled into the room, climbing onto my lap and trying to get ahold of my soda. "You're two years old, kid, you don't need any," I said, ruffling his hair and draining my drink. Finally, Lucas finished his worksheet and I gave it my seal of approval, setting Zach down and heading to my room to throw together a bag of stuff and stepping over toys strewn through the hallway. 

"Hey Jo, how was school?" I asked, starting to shove some clothes into a bag. "It was okay," he said, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading. "You have homework?" I asked, but he shook his head. "Nope! I guess 3rd grade is easier than 4th," he said with a smile. I grinned back, ruffling his hair. "Hey, appreciate it while it lasts." I had finally grabbed everything and was halfway out the door when a shrieking match erupted between Lauren and Elizabeth. "Peter, can you take care of them?" Mom asked, still cooking. I let out a sigh, walking back into the house and moving to my sisters' room, looking at the three of them and grateful that at least only two were fighting. 

"What's going on?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe. "Peter! Lauren took my toy and she won't give it back!" Elizabeth wailed. I bit back a curse, forcing a smile. "Liz, it's important to share, alright? Lauren, don't take your sister's things without her permission. Play nice," I said, ducking out of the house before I could get dragged into anything else. The drive to the apartment passed in a snap and I practically ran up the stairs, unlocking the door and stepping inside. 

"Damn! Took you long enough!" Ace said, looking up from his phone. "Sorry, sorry. Had to deal with my siblings," I said with a sigh. Grinning, he opened his arms and I gratefully threw myself into them, snuggling against his chest as he kissed me on the forehead. "Well that's why we've got this," he murmured. "No, we have this because we've been in a relationship since eighth grade and if anyone found out we'd be screwed. If I wanted to get out of my house I'd just go to yours," I said, kissing him on the lips. 

He gave me a squeeze, playing with my hair. "True. What do you want for dinner?" he asked after a pause. "Mm you pick. You usually get to pick at your house, don't want to switch things up too much for you," I teased. "Hey, don't be jealous," he said with a giggle. "I just don't see why I've got to be the oldest of six by nine years. Like damn, they really couldn't have given me a sibling that I'm not almost a decade older than? I didn't really get to even be an older brother, just a third parent," I grumbled. "Yeah that sucks," he said sympathetically, giving me a soft kiss. "Yeah. Probably better than being the youngest of four by over fifteen years," I teased. "How'd that even happen?"

"Oh easy! I was an accident!" he said, bursting into his adorably wild laugh. "But being a functional only child gets kinda lonely, they were all in college or out of it by the time I was starting kindergarten," he said with a shrug, hand moving lower down my back. Smiling, I gave him a kiss, sliding onto his lap. "Well it doesn't matter, since we've got each other and our own little hidden apartment where the only thing I need to worry about is how I'm best going to show you how much I love you," I purred. Cheeks going pink, he gave me a long kiss.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way."