MELANCHOLY [S.T. B. Hargrove]

2

The sounds of AC/DC fill the house. I bite onto the toothbrush and twirl around the room in nothing but underwear and Billy's shirt. I headbang a few times and throw my hands in the air.

"Dude!" Billy shouts.

I look over at him. I couldn't see much through my hair. He had on jeans for school. He was still drying his hair with a towel.

"What?" I ask, muffled by the toothbrush.

"You take my clothes, my radio, now my whole room?" he asks.

I reach over and turn the boombox down. I hop onto the bed.

"Your arm better?" he asks.

"She's all right," I answer.

"Gross," he says, pointing to the toothpaste dribbling down my chin.

I roll my eyes and crawl back out of bed to wash my mouth out and put the toothbrush away.

"You heading to school?" I wonder.

"About to. Something you need?"

I step halfway into the room and lean on the door. "The hell am I supposed to do while you're at school all day?"

"You could come if you don't want to sit in the house," he offers.

I make a face. "I dropped out of fifth grade. You think I'd go to high school?"

"No one would question. Hell, it'll give me someone to talk to. I already gotta take that piece of shit Max with me."

I'd been here for about three days. Neil hadn't realized his house had a new guest at all.

"Max isn't awful," I admit.

Billy scoffs. "Yeah, right."

"I mean she's more bearable than other prick kids. She isn't like.. a whiny baby. She has personality. That's more than I could say for other kids."

"She's still a piece of shit."

I hold my hands up in surrender. "All kids are pieces of shit. Hell, you're a piece of shit. I'm a piece of shit. That's life, gringo."

"You wanna come with us or not? I gotta get going or I'm gonna have Neil's fist down my throat."

"I'll come, but.. I'll just fuck around on the lot. I'll be damned if I go sit in a classroom."

"That's fair."

I grab a pair of jeans Billy bought me yesterday and put them on. I keep Billy's shirt on and just half-tuck it into the front of my jeans.

"You sure I won't scare off any of your new bitches?" I question as we walk out of the bedroom.

"Bitches here aren't worth a shit anyway. Probably best if you come to scare them off."

"Well, don't come crying to me when you go through erectile dysfunction. I've seen your dick enough to never want it around me again."

"You make it sound like we hooked up," he snorts.

"No, you're just the 'Sack King of Sacremento' from streaking all the fuckin' time," I punch his arm.

"I'm a goddamn legend," he assures. "Max, let's go! If you're not in the car before us, you're skating to school!"

Max walks out of her room with a skateboard in her arms and a frown on her face.

"Oh, shit.. Hey, Little Red, do you have a jacket I can borrow?" I ask her.

"A jacket?" she repeats.

"I'm going with you, but I'm not going in. I might look for a job or something. You got one?"

"Max, get her a jacket," Billy demands.

I slap Billy's arm. "Douchebag."

Max returns to her room and Billy and I walk to the living room where Billy grabs his lunch for the day. I look for Max's food, but she didn't have a bag prepared.

"Here you go," Max says, holding out a leather jacket.

"Damn, nice style," I comment, tossing it halfway over my shoulder.

"My dad got it for us to match," Max explains as we walk outside. "But, I never wore it because.. no."

The jacket was smaller compared to my size. But, it fit like a cute cropped jacket. I couldn't complain.

"Thanks, dude," I pat her shoulder before opening the door.

Billy gets in and Max gives me a look.

"You want me in the middle?" I ask her.

She doesn't say anything. She just nods. I relent and slide into the car beside Billy. Max gets in and closes the door just as Billy starts the car.

The ride was silent from the three of us. So, I turned on the radio. I knew from the past few days that there was a mutual dislike between Billy and Max, but it was weird to be quite literally stuck between them and their tension.

Luckily, the ride wasn't long. We make it to the school and get out with ease.

"If a snotty rich bitch tries something, knock her teeth in with your skateboard," I advise Max.

She scoffs. "That's better than any 'anti-bullying' campaign I've seen."

I turn to Billy as Max skates away. I hold my hand out to him. He takes the cigarette out from between his lips and hands it to me.

"Not that, dipshit. The keys," I complain.

"You're not driving my car."

I take a puff of the cigarette regardless.

"I'm gonna go find a job, man. Come on. I gotta pay you back and get out of Neil's house before he busts me."

A group of people walk over and Billy gets that sly grin on his face.

"Billy, what's up, man?" the only guy asks, his arm around a girl.

"Tommy," Billy greets. "Carol, Nicole."

"Who's your new friend here?" Tommy asks, nodding to me as if I wasn't in the conversation.

"Long time friend. Visiting," Billy keeps it short.

The Nicole girl looks me up and down with a scowl. Carol was the one that Tommy had his arm around.

I make a face and toss Max's jacket over me so it fits. Nicole eyes the T-shirt like she knew it was Billy's.

I hold my hand out to Billy again and hand him the cigarette back. "Pinche güera."

"Back at two-thirty," he advises, handing me the car keys.

"Gagged. Be back later," I inform.

I get back into the car- this time in the driver's seat.

"Who is she?" I hear Nicole ask before I start the car.

I grin to myself. Billy says something about me being a friend again and Nicole steps closer to him. Right before she touches his arm, I rev the engine up suddenly. She jumps in alarm and scurries away from Billy.

I chuckle to myself and rest my arm on the door, driving out of the school parking lot.

Damned white girls.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

every latina has their token güera and that pinche güera its a rule