Broken By Reality

Chapter ❺

"Honey. It's time to wake up." mum rocked me in the bed.
"Nooooo." like any teenage boy, I thought that that was the appropriate reply.
"Come on. I'll go make your breakfast. Get up and dressed."
"Fine." that made her walk away. I'm amazed at how much mum trusts a teenage boy to get out of bed. Once I was dressed I wobbled to the kitchen and are my cereal.
"So I was thinking about having spaghetti tonight?" Mum asked me
"Sounds good mum." I replied half asleep.
"Oh and make sure you hand that form into the office about the volunteering."
I seriously was not going to hand that form in. I hate volunteering. You give up all your time and get nothing in return. What a waste.
"Yeah sure whatever." I thought I had to say something.
"Would you look at the time! 8:30am. You'd better be off."
I finished my cereal. grabbed my bag, kissed mum goodbye (hey I'm still a kid. Technically.), and walked out the door.
"See you this afternoon mum." I waved
"Oh I forgot to tell you, I'm going out this afternoon. I'll be home around 10pm. Make sure you have dinner and do your homework. I'll see you then."
She explained.
"Okay. Bye." but all I could think about was inviting Karly over to watch a movie or something. Okay. So I know what your thinking about the whole inviting a girl over and then ..... but I'm not like that okay? I just wanna hang out, watch a movie, eat some popcorn and talk since we can't talk in class much. Okay?
***
When I arrived at school the first thing I did was run up to Karly. She was wearing her hair up for a change with no makeup. I liked that. It made her 'real'. She styled a loose watermelon top over light blue jeans, cuffed at the ends. I loved her black and white high top converses, one with a small rip in the side near the heel.
"Morning." I greeted her
"Morning." she returned it to me.
I figured that now was my chance to invite her over.
"Hey umm, I was just wondering if you wanna come over to my house this afternoon and watch a movie?" I struggled to say that but I got it out in the end.
"I would love that." the twinkle in her eye said it all.
"Great. Can't wait. I'll see you in English." I announced
"See you then."
We only had one class together that day which was English. Our last class. Which technically was convenient because then we could walk home together.
***
Once we were home I invited Karly in and got us both a snack. "How's grapes?" I still wasn't sure of what he liked yet.
"Sounds great." she was always perky.
"So, how's your day been?" I thought that I had to make some sort of conversation.
"It's been good. It wasn't actually that bad. Got no homework today." She answered
"Really? Lucky. I have an assignment for HPE. We have to do like a training program then write about it. Boring." I explained to her.
"Well," Karly replied "I guess the training part doesn't sound too bad. Like the whole fitness and stuff but the report sucks."
"As always." we burst out laughing.
"Hey wanna go pick out a movie?." This was always the hardest thing to ask someone.
"Sure." well that wasn't too bad. At least she didn't reject my offer. Anyway, we walked downstairs and ended up settling on a love/drama/mystery film (which by the way was an amazing movie) called 'The First Sight Run Away'. I put the movie into the DVD player then went to make some popcorn. I thought that if the food was going to last the whole movie, I might as well get some more. So I opened our 'special occasions cupboard' and pulled out a packet of cheezels, snakes, starburst lollipops, salt and vinegar chips, more already popped popcorn, and this coffee powder from Starbucks. I put all the packets into a large bowel to carry them easily. "How do you like your coffee?" I half yelled to Karly over the kettle boiling.
"Strong!" She yelled back. "Wait is that Starbucks I can smell?"
"Only the best for the best!" I replied back to her.
Once the water had finished boiling I made our coffees then put them in the fridge with some ice cubes to help cool it down (iced coffee is way better). I grabbed the bowel of snacks and headed towards the lounge room.
"Shall we start the movie?" I asked in a somewhat posh voice
"We shall." Karly answered in a voice that was way posher than mine. I liked how she played alone with little jokes that I was always making. Just think, if I was never the loser put in the corner, I would've never met Karly. I guess that I actually thank the other kids from teasing me and thank myself from being weird. The movie finally came on. I could hear the loud Century Fox thing at the start of movies that kids always badly imitate. After a while the actual movie started playing.
**
1 and a half hours into the movie and one of those awkward Hollywood romance things happened. I reached for some popcorn and so did Karly meaning that yes, our hands touched. She instantly pulled her hand away, obviously realising what had happened.
"Sorry." She apologised for no reason
"No need. All good." I replied nicely
she smiled and turned back to the movie. I could see in the way that she was randomly staring off into space but pretending to watch the movie that she was thinking about either me or what had just happened.
***
Once the movie was finished, I clicked the stop button on the remote as the credits started rolling in.
"Wow. It's a lovely movie. That was amazing and so moving." Karly emotionally stated
"Yea it gets ya every time." I informally answered
Karly pulled the sleeve of her jacket off her wrist so that it bundled up just under her elbow.
"Wow. Would you look at the time? It's already 9 o'clock! Time definitely flies!"
"Yea! I guess it is getting pretty late."
"I should probably get going. My parents are probably wondering where I am." She said like she was disappointed
"Yea I should probably start doing some homework and have my dinner. Mum will be home in a couple of hours." I said in the same sort of voice that Karly talked to me in. She found this funny and chuckled.
"I had an amazing time tonight Wayne. Thanks heaps for inviting me over." She seemed very grateful
"Any time! I'll see you tomorrow I guess."
"Yep. I'll be there!" Karly replied in a sarcastic enthusiasm voice
I chuckled "Hey umm, do you wanna hang out again some time?" I asked knowing that the answer would probably be no
"I would love that! You wanna come over to my house next time?" She asked nervously
"I would love that."
"Sounds good. Well have to organise that sometime! Anyway, see ya Wayne!" She waved and winked as she left the house.
"Bye." I whispered while waving to her. I could see her hair shining in the moonlight as she walked out of the front gate. Her smile lit up even the darkest of nights.