Blood in the water

Chapter 1

It was 5:30 when the usual alarm went off on Everett’s phone signifying the start of a cold Friday in February. He groaned as he pressed the snooze button. He sat up, his hair fell untidily over his face. He shivered as the cold air hit his skin and reluctantly stumbled out of bed. He got his base layer of clothing and headed to the bathroom for his shower. He could barely keep his eyes open as he got ready for school. 

Later as he was combing his hair, Everett could smell the pleasant aroma of fresh coffee being brewed. If anything could wake him up, it was coffee. At 5:55 He went downstairs and put his backpack by the door and went into the kitchen. He noticed his mom as he entered, taking a drag of her cigarette. 

Everett gagged, he hated the stench of cigarette smoke, it made him want to puke. His dislike increased every time she took a drag.

“Ugh, at least open a window.” He coughed “What are you doing up?”  

“I have an early flight.” She yawned “I need you to bring in any packages that come through the mail while I'm gone.”

“Can’t, I’m at Dad’s for the weekend.” 

“Well, who’s gonna take care of the packages?”  She asked. 

Everett said nothing as he made his cup of coffee. 

“Who!” Everett’s mom barked. 

“ I don’t know! I would if I wasn’t at dad’s this weekend.”

“Oh right, well I hope he doesn’t leave like he did when you were younger.” His mom retorted.

Everett was furious, “You kicked him out! Don’t pin it on him! You’re the reason everything went to shit!”

Everett’s mom glared at him, He didn’t care.“Excuse me, but I have school.” He said. 

He went to the closet for his leather jacket. His mom continued to glare at him.  Everett knew he had won this argument. He felt for his wallet and earbuds in his jacket pocket and left. 

It was a 30-minute walk to school. Along the way, Everett took a detour to go to McDonald’s for some breakfast. He reached for his coffee in the side pocket of his backpack. He had forgotten his coffee. Already fed up with what happened, he decided to opt for some burnt coffee with his breakfast order.  When he arrived at school he headed to his usual spot in the back of the school where it was usually pretty quiet in the mornings. There he saw Sabrina. A black-haired girl with dark clothes with a brown leather bomber jacket. 

She looked up at him with a smile “Where did you get that?” She said, pointing at the snake attached to the chain around Everett’s neck. “I found it in storage in my mom's attic, I think it was my dad’s.” He responded looking at the chain as he let it dangle and fall back on his chest. “Oh nice!” she said. Everett threw his backpack down beside him and sat down to eat his breakfast.

Everett sat there thinking about what had happened earlier. He froze as Sabrina tapped him on the shoulder “You good?” she said in a concerned tone.

 “No” he responded.

“Wanna talk?” she asked

Everett looked away as tears started to fill his eyes and obscure his vision. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about it.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.

For a second Everett hesitated, There  was a long period of silence. He was just about to tell her what was going on when the bell rang. “Oh great, just what I need right now, Biology!” Everett commented as he grabbed his bag and helped Sabrina to her feet. 

On the way to class, he explained how he was going to stay with his dad for the weekend while his mom was away. “Honestly, that's the only good thing about the divorce. I can actually visit him without her around.” As they climbed the stairs to the science wing. Sabrina asked again “Everett what happened between you and your mom.” but there was a crowd of people that caught Everett’s attention. A fight broke out. Everett and Sabrina both looked at each other and immediately went down the stairs to the cafeteria.

“The only good thing about fights, you can’t go anywhere.” chuckled Sabrina. 

Barker High was notorious for the common occurrence of fighting and drugs. After a while, it became a “norm” that nothing much would happen unless the school security guards ran from the other side of the school to stop the “incident”.

After getting monsters from the vending machine in the cafeteria, They both went to the back stairwell that led to the science wing to get to their class. Depending on who you ask, Biology is “easy enough” to get through. For Everett, it was almost impossible to get through class without wanting to strangle some of his classmates, sometimes even the teacher. 

He sat in the back of the room, with Sabrina and another girl, The three of them were the sort of people who had a sense of humor that could get them into trouble. After biology, the rest of the day went smoothly. Everett had a free period at the end of the day, which meant he could either wander the halls or go home. He decided to go home to pack his bag for the week to go to his dad's house.