Hood Rats | Sandy Milkovich

School Bell Rush

TW: Needles and slurs

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"Everybody up!" The scream echoed through the still house, rousing everyone from their beds. At the end of the hall, Rory threw her door open and started banging on each of the bedroom door frames. "First day of school," she announced. "Move it!"

The second kid out of bed was Rosie, who sprinted down the hallway and pushed her out of the way. "I call first shower!"

Her sister didn't have time to argue because the bathroom door slammed shut. She hit the wood uselessly. Rosana had already locked it. "You little shit."

Across from her Diego groggily stumbled out of his room. "Is she already in the fucking bathroom?" He grumbled.

Rory stepped over the clothes littering the floor of the boys' room. "Just use mom's." She snatched a pillow off of Diego's bed and started beating the still body sleeping in the corner of the room. "Get up!"

"I'm not using her bathroom. It doesn't have a door."

Flailing on the mattress, trying to block the pillow, Joaquin screeched. "Bitch, get off me!"

Over her shoulder Rory called after Diego. "If you piss in the sink again I'm putting spiders in your underwear drawer!"

He flipped her off as he started down the stairs. "Bite me."

By then Joaquin had rolled off his bed and chased Rory out of the room. "The spiders will," she shot back as she followed him downstairs. Her bare feet slapped against the yellowed linoleum as she padded into the kitchen.

She pulled out the bologa and bread and threw it on the counter, hands working automatically to start making their lunches. Diego sighed behind her and she glanced back. "Oh, come on! That's disgusting," Rory whined. She grimaced and scooted away from the sink. "Right in front of my sandwich?"

"Chill out." He tucked himself back into his boxers and turned the faucet on to wash out the sink. "Your sandwich is out of the splash zone."

The silverware clinked as she pulled out a butter knife and pushed the drawer shut. "My sandwich is fucking traumatized. Take it outside next time."

He ignored her, still blinking away the sleep from his eyes. "Hey, do you know what's up with Holly?"

"There's something up with her?" She asked, lying out the bread for five sandwiches across the counter.

"Yeah." Diego frowned. "She keeps ignoring me and she's acting weird."

The girl just shrugged. "I don't know. Haven't talked to her in a few days." Rory slathered some mustard onto the bread. "She's your girlfriend. You figure it out."

The bitterness in her tone would probably never go away over this. Diego wanted to be annoyed, but he didn't have enough energy for it. No matter what he did this would always be a spite thing with his sister.

Before he could say anything else Joaquin joined them in the kitchen and rushed over to the freezer. "Morning." He was already dressed in a faded t-shirt and jeans that were so worn that the bottoms were tattered. "Toaster waffles?" He offered.

Both Diego and Rory nodded and he threw the first batch in. Once the lunches were each packed into individual paper bags Rory started back up the stairs. "Save me a waffle!"

Like always, her clothes were already set out for the first day, so she skipped the shower and got dressed quickly, attention glued to the clock.

It went unsaid that Rory was nervous for her first day back to school since the incident. She had never been the kind of person to care what her peers thought about her, but she knew she wasn't about to hear the end of it. Her first week back was sure to come with a lot of staring and unsavory comments. She couldn't blame them, the last most of the students of Lincoln Grove saw of her was her being dragged out the front door in handcuffs.