Teacher's Pet

Ch.8

                                               Chapter Eight

Sitting on my bed I was left to wonder about what Aaron had said to me. It's not fair how well he can get into my head. I continue to get ready for tonight shaking my negative thoughts away. Looking at the clock it reads 7:45pm. I can feel the anxiety start but I push myself through it, all it takes is three seconds of courage if I can do it in three seconds then I don't think I can ever do it. That motto has gotten me this far it'll continue to take me further. Once I was satisfied with my outfit of ripped jeans and an off-the-shoulder black crop top matched with my everyday shoes. I layered on a couple studded belts for shine and moved onto my makeup which stayed the same overall just added red blended into pink eyeshadow. I tried to tie in the colors from the graphic tee onto my eyes but I'm not that great with makeup.

letting out a big sigh I contemplate my thoughts on whether I should go to the game at all at this point. shaking my head away from the thoughts I decide that I will go. I shouldn't keep letting Aaron get into my head so much. he's stopped me from hanging out with what little friends I've had growing up by stating stupid things like the DD thing tonight or when I was 8 and he told me I was a stand-in friend and that's why I heard about my ex-best friend sharniece's birthday party so late because she didn't really want me there he said. after her, that's when I started to get closer to Aaron and Dan because Aaron told me my family and my brothers would never leave me out like my so-called friends did time and time again. dan was just a baby then and Mom was working full time just as much as she does now so evidently I had no time for friends anyway because I became Dan's mom from birth till it was time for potty training basically.

those times were rough yet gone so fast. I miss Dan being so little, I miss Dad and Mom being around the way they were when Aaron and I grew up.

"so you're still going huh?" Aaron laughs from my doorway. rolling my eyes I don't say anything to him.

I just grab my bag, keys, and phone in hand, walking past Aaron as he watches me go down the stairs. before I could fully make it out the front door Mom stopped me, "Where are you going it's almost eight at night?" my heart now fell into my ass, I have to think quick and something good or I can kiss tonight plan away and Aaron gets what he wants. "don't lie to me either Miranda." she adds after a minute of silence.

"I was invited by some friends to the football game and a small school after-party," I admit not even having the energy to look her in the eye at this point. there's silence for a good 2 minutes and I start to get anxious looking at my shoe-covered toes and the dirty white tile.

"okay be safe and text me every half hour or I will call." my head shoots up to look at my mom who has her arms crossed over her chest and a serious look on her face.

"Really?" I question not quite sure if she's playing with me right now and waiting for me to assume.

"si, really. out of all your teens years the most crap you do is at school and other than that you sit in the house, either practicing your photography or something else that catches your interest at the time." her face softens and she readjusts her cardigan to cross over her torso. I gave her a smile and ran up to her giving her a hug. She seemed to be in shock as she didn't hug me back for a few seconds and then when she did wrap her arms around me, it was like it was going to be the last time she would ever see me again and with that in mind I held onto her a little tighter. before tears fell onto her cheeks she rushed me out of the house so I wouldn't see her crying.

~

finally, after a 15-minute drive, I get to the football field at my high school, home of the Ravens. I find myself a parking spot not too far away from the stadium entrance and make my way inside. I can hear the whooping voice of Clarissa, Melanie, and Lillian. the three of them are toward the front of the bleachers decked out in team colors blue and gold, party pom necklaces, and big glasses that say class of 2016, they even have a megaphone and chat out school fight songs when the marching band plays. Lillian is even wearing a jersey with the number 8 for her boyfriend Gabe Fuller who is on our rival team. so she's the only one wearing our school colors on her face and hair with a purple jersey from his school. the three of them saw me as I made my way up the bleachers to where I had caught a glimpse of Jackson and the girls up top. I waved to them and gave them each a half-assed side hug before meeting up with the others.

"Finally she has arrived!" Jackson sang out doing a little dancey dance.

"as you can tell we started drinking already." Lizzie laughed.

"What did you guys drink?" I ask curious as to how they snuck it in. Tilly pulled a brown bag-covered tall can of dark ale from her purse. I realized that Tilly's posture was more strict and not natural for her and once the open can was removed from her bag her posture returned to a normal relaxed one. I take the half-full can from Tilly and down the rest. tilly and Lizzie's mouths agape i take the dollar bill out of my back pocket and hand it to Tilly, causing an eruption of laughter from all of them. I couldn't hold back the smile I was trying to hide any longer, so I began to laugh with them.

"fuck yeah, Winters let's party!" Jackson yells and the three of them join in on yelling whoops so I join too. it felt so good to be loud and have fun, I can't remember the last time I had fun like this with anyone. tilly pulls out another big bottle of Smirnoff ice vodka wrapped in tin foil as well as condensation water all over like it was once in a freezer.

we all take turns having a swig and by the 7th pass, I started to feel warm with no jacket in 45-degree weather. I held up my hands in front of me when Lizzie tried to pass it to me again. "nah I still gotta drive to the party imma call it for now." Lizzie giggled and Jackson chanted "One more shot one more shot!" so loud that one of the campus security heard him and stopped us before leaving.

"where's the bottle guys, you already drank it just hand over the rest and that'll be the end of it." the three of them widen their eyes and start to look panicked. I step in front of the group and hand the security the brown bagged tall can I put in my jacket pocket because I didn't want to litter. the guard takes the can and tosses it in the trash waving us off.

I usher everyone to my car and we all pile into my two-door Camaro. once inside we all sit in silence for a few moments and all you hear is heavy breathing from being drunk and trying to get into a two-door car and almost being caught up more than what we were.

"I'm just going to say it outright, Miranda you are a fucking beast girl!" Tilly slaps my shoulder and I get a shoulder shake and head pats from Lizzie and Jackson in the backseat. "the way you just handed the empty can to him I thought that was long gone! we almost lost half a fucking handle to that douche!" Tilly screeches in excitement. turning the engine over I drove us all slowly over to the nearby neighborhood that the party was at. on the ride over the radio plays all kinds of current hit songs that at least 3 out of the five of us knew. it felt so nice being connected with people, to feel included and wanted for once. is this what having friends is like?

when we finally get to the house I see red cups everywhere on the lawn, a fold-out table on the driveway with beer pong set up, streamers draped all on the outside, teens packed on the inside and everywhere on the outside. I feel a lump in my throat and pull against the curb to park. getting out of the car I follow closely behind the group until they start to break off separately when they see other people they know. the feeling of loneliness and being unwanted starts to flood back so quickly after a good moment. I start to wander the house looking for a keg or bottles since Tilly ran off with the vodka.

"yo, winters over here!" I hear Jackson's voice call out to me. my smile perked up again as I finally saw his familiar face.

"finally y'all separated so quick, where's the drinks?" I ask darting my eyes around behind him. Jackson got off the cooler he sat on and lifted its lid to reveal handles of different alcohol covered in ice. " 10 bucks and I'll slide you an entire bottle," his voice is slightly slurred. out of my sock comes a ten-dollar bill and I hand it over to him, he gestures toward the bottles and I pick out a scotch whiskey of 12 years. "Fancy pants, I like it." he winks closing the lid.

"do you wanna drink this with me?" I ask after the first swig, holding the bottle outward Jackson. he eyes the bottle and then me biting his lip. "fuck it.." he whispered to himself for unknown reasons and takes the bottle by the neck and takes a large swig.