Terrible Things
I was glad the bell rang…it was lunchtime, and I was already tired of the eyes staring at my bruises. I gathered my books, and walked down the hall. There stood Billings, looking to me. “What is up, Hollister? I see you have bruises to match mine. We are brethren now,”
I hung my head, for a minute, then looked up to Billings. “Rory, I’m sorry I lashed out at you like that. I shouldn’t have. I was worried about some personal business, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m not apologizing so that you won’t pursue your actions against me…you have every right to do so,”
Billings looked at me, as if I were trying to deceive him. He then noticed that my look was that of sincerity. “Fuck it. I’m done with Capers and Thommerson anyway,”
Billings walked away. I walked to my quarters, putting away my books. Capers looked at me. “What the hell? Did Billings do that to you? I’m on him, esse!”
“No Billings didn’t do this,” I said. “Let it go, Capers. I am not in the mood…can we talk about something else besides my face?”
“Like what?”
“Like did you and Sydnee go out this past weekend?” I asked. Capers got up from his bed. “Come to lunch with me, and you’ll find out,”
I gave Capers a keen look through slimmered eyes. It was obvious, that it was a ploy to get me to eat with them at lunch, which was something I wasn’t feelin. But if I didn’t eat lunch, I would be perusing the snack machines in the Rec Lounge between classes until dinner. I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Fine…let’s do this,”
I looked in the mirror. I still had the stitches above my brow, where my head was busted open by Dre and his other homeboy, I had a bruise on my left cheek, my split lip was healing quite nicely, but I also had a bruise on my lower right, near my jaw line…my ribs were also still sore, but not as bad as they felt on Monday. I sighed in dismay…my face looked like I was the victim of some back alley street thug who went by the moniker of “Bumpy Knuckles”. I looked to Capers, who was standing there waiting. He raised his arms.
I reluctantly followed him to the Mess Hall…while grabbing my lunch, I could feel eyes staring at me. It bothered me a little, but there was no turning back because I was here. Capers and I sat at the table with Franchesca and Sydnee.
“What happened to you?” asked Franchesca.
“I was building a treehouse, and the whole thing fell out of this really high tree,” I lied.
“You need to be careful. Trees don’t like you,” she said, as we all laughed. Sydnee smiled. “Welcome back, Mitchell…how is that sister of yours?”
“She’s doin okay,” I said, in a flash of positivity. “She has a fractured rib, but she’s becoming herself again…no- she’s better than herself. She split up with Riley, and she’s now talking with Dupree,”
Sydnee’s mouth dropped open. “WHA-?! Dupree Dupree? Weed smoking Dupree? She’s talking with him?”
“SHHHHH!” we all hissed.
“Sydnee, you of all people should know, Dupree has had a crush on Meridian since high school…and she liked him, just as much- they were just too chicken shit to admit how they felt about each other, until now,” I explained.
YOU ARE READING
Sugarpill
RomansaThe son of a Navy official, Mitchell Hollister has now enrolled into Annapolis' Naval Academy himself...will he be able to stick to the "destined script" that others have envisioned for him, or will he follow his heart and pursue his "taboo-esque" r...