Sugar High

Chapter 7

As soon as the final bell of the day rings, I book it out of the classroom. Head down, I speed through the maze of the halls out towards my car, purposely avoiding the route that I know Daniel takes to leave. We usually meet up and walk out together, but just no. I don't think that I will be able to see his face right now without punching him.

With my car in plain sight, I slow a little bit, trying to make my steps look more normal. Natural even. With my luck, a teacher might see me make a speedy exit and report me for suspicious actions. It has happened to other kids when all they are trying to do is get to their after school jobs or the bus to pick up a younger sibling. I don't need to deal with that tomorrow or in fact any of the other days of my remaining senior year.

Getting in the car, I blast the radio. Unlike most of my friends or high school peers, I always use the radio. I get too bored listening only to the music that I have downloaded and don't honestly feel like spending a ridiculous amount of money on a music subscription.

The old rock station feels my ears as I put the car into drive. Luckily since I raced out of the school, not many of the other students are fighting to exit the lot. On the usual day, it could take me anywhere from ten to thirty minutes to push my way out. Today, I glided through the exit and turned down the side streets before getting on to the highway.

It's a straight run home from here. My house is only a couple of blocks from exit forty-seven. I don't have to think about the path home. I have driven it so many times in the last couple of years, that it is simply muscle memory. Turn here. Stop there. Nothing about it is shocking or comes as a surprise.

Stopping the car in the driveway, I throw it into park before reaching for the garage door opener that I have on my sun visor. When my parents aren't here I always park my car in the garage. Since it is only built for two cars, my mom's suv and dad's truck usually take up the space. However, with them away on their ski trip, the truck's space is available and thus mine for the week.

My fingers wrap around the remote just as my phone starts to buzz with what I know am realizing is an obnoxious ringtone. Back when we first started dating Daniel insisted on setting his ringtone on my phone as 'Boyfriend' by Big Time Rush. Now, I have nothing against Big Time Rush. In fact back in the day, I even went to one of their concerts, but setting it as your own ringtone? I used to think it was endearing, but now I am seeing it for what it truly is to everyone else... annoying.

Garage remote still in hand, I press the button, before grabbing my phone out of my bag. Sure enough the top messages are from Daniel. He wanted to know why I hadn't met him. Another thing, I am realizing about our dynamic is that I always was finding him at the end of the day. He never would come and look for me. Even now he is texting to see why I didn't come and see HIM. Maybe, I am dodging a bullet with Daniel finally showing his true colors.

I have college next year and one of the things about college is the new men, not boys, men. I will finally get away from the nose picking immature boys of the past. Yeah, even as I think it I don't believe it. Boys do not become men in a year. Hoping they will at least be starting to evolve by the time I get there.

Now, the question is do I confront him or just lie about the whole thing? Though he is definitely the ass in this situation, to break up with him over text seems like an even bigger of an asshole move. So, I choose a simple lie.

ME: Sorry, I got a stomach ache last period and decided to go home early.

Not a total lie, hearing him with Nicole did make me feel sick to my stomach, just not enough to have me leaving school early. His text bubbles immediately appear, so I wait for them. Wait for the kind text to get better or maybe even offer to come over to check up on me. Those never come though. Instead, I get a text that causes smoke to come out of my ears, if that could really happen.