𝑬𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑴í𝒂 | ᴮᵒʸ ᴹᵉᵉᵗˢ ᵂᵒʳˡᵈ

1: Sixth Grade Blues

I sat with Shawn at a small lunch table as we worked on our history homework.

"You know I don't get the point behind all this? It's called "history" for a reason!" Shawn said.

"We gotta pass sixth grade somehow." I responded. I looked up and saw Cory and Mr. Feeny having their daily tension filled conversation. Cory began to walk over to us. "He's a teacher, man. Keep raggin' on him– he's gonna make your whole sixth grade year miserable." Shawn told him.

"I'm gonna be miserable anyhow. At least this way, I'm taking him with me." Cory replied. "Hey, who's that?" I asked, looking over at a woman talking to Mr. Feeny. "She must be new 'cause I've never seen her." "She must be new. She's talking to Feeny!" Shawn said.

"Okay, so how late did you stay up last night?" An acquaintance of ours, Milo, asked. "Monologue." Cory said. "Monologue, First Guest." Milo replied. "Monologue, First Guest, Bad Sketch." Shawn told them. "Monologue, First Guest, Bad Sketch, Funny Zoo Animal." Cory said. "Monologue, First Guest, Bad Sketch, Funny Zoo Animal, Steve Lawrence." Milo said. "Whoa! Steve Lawrence!" Cory and Shawn stated in unison. "You guys are lucky you got a TV. My old man still won't buy one." I mumbled.

The bell rang loudly as I finished my sentence. "And there's the bell!" Shawn announced, standing up, and closing his book. "Four hours till lunch." Cory said, also standing up. We all walked to class.

It wasn't that bad. I had all my classes and lunch with Shawn and Cory. We've been a trio since we were seven years old. Shawn and I met Cory when Shawn saved him after he fell into the llama pen at the zoo.

♥

In English class, Mr. Feeny was teaching us Romeo and Juliet. A girl in our class named, Nevaeh, was on Mr. Feeny's desk and playing dead.

"She's dead, Mr. Bornihay." Mr. Feeny said. "Pick up the knife and kill yourself." "Come on, Mr. Feeny! You and I both know she's not really dead. May I stab her a few times just to make sure?" Nevaeh sat up.

"Hey, you touch me with that knife. You better kill me the first time." She warned him. He looked at Mr. Feeny and called out his name with clenched teeth. "Alright, alright." Mr. Feeny said, laying her back down again.

Shawn leaned forward to talk to Cory, who had his hand over his left ear with an earbud in, listening to a sports game. Mr. Feeny caught him. "What's this, Mr. Matthews?" He asked Cory. "Huh? W-What did you say, Mr. Feeny?" He pretended to be deaf. "You took my hearing aid." Mr. Feeny began to narrate what was going on, which had Cory and Shawn on the edge of their seats.

Mr. Feeny tried to explain Romeo and Juliet's importance to Cory when cries for help came from the direction of Mr. Feeny's desk. I couldn't help but almost laugh at the scene. Mr. Feeny ran over to his desk to break it up the scene.

"Miss Kincaid! Thank you." He said, pulling her off and away from the desk. "Thank you for that vigorous interpretation." He turned around and focused his attention back on Cory. "Mr. Matthews, you do not listen to the ballgame in the middle of my class." Cory stood up. "Mr. Feeny, who cares about some guy who killed himself over some dumb girl?" Mr. Feeny walked over to him.

"The tragedy here, Mr. Matthews, it's not about a dumb girl. Or the boy who kills himself because of her. It's about the all-consuming power of love and the inevitably of its influence on each of our lives." Mr. Feeny explained. "Are you aware that I'm only eleven years old?" Cory asked Mr. Feeny. "Are you aware you have detention Friday afternoon?" Mr. Feeny asked Cory. "No, actually, I did not know that." He replied.

♥

When school wrapped up, I went back to the trailer park. "Shawn, can I go back with you to your place? Nobody's home yet, and I don't wanna wait outside." I asked. "Yeah, that's fine. My mom's house, so she'll be excited to see you. She's missed you, you know? She keeps asking when you're gonna come over again." I smiled at the fact that Shawn's mom missed me. "That's nice. Thanks." "No problem."

We walked back to Shawn's trailer and went inside. His mom was in the kitchen folding laundry.

"Oh, Hi, Adriana-Camila! Come here, sweetie." She opened her arms and gestured for me to come over. She hugged me tight, and I hugged her back with a smile. "Hi, Mrs. Hunter." "After all these years, you still call me, "Mrs. Hunter." When are you gonna call me Virna? I said it was okay." "Well, I wanna be respectful." She smiled at me. "God, I love having you around." She said, then hugged me again.

"Well, I bet you and Shawn got schoolwork, so I'll leave you to it. It's nice to see you again, Adriana-Camila." I smiled at her as we broke apart. "It's nice to see you too again, Mrs. Hunter." She smiled back at me as Shawn, and I went to his room to do our homework.

♥

After a few hours, Mrs. Hunter knocked on Shawn's door. "Adriana, your daddy called and said he was home if you wanna go." She said softly. It sounded like she didn't want me to leave. "Oh, okay. Thanks, Mrs. Hunter. We're almost done with our homework anyway." She smiled and nodded. "You could stay for dinner if you'd like." I smiled back at her. "That'd be nice, but I know my dad would want me to have dinner with him and my brother. Maybe tomorrow." She smiled. "That works, Hun. I don't wanna ruin any of your family time." She closed the door and left.

"Sounds like she doesn't want you to leave." Shawn said as he copied my answers for science. "I don't wanna leave either." I spoke. "Why?" "I don't wanna make your mom sad." I told him. "Oh, she'll be alright. You said you'd join us for dinner tomorrow, so it's okay." Shawn finished copying my answers, and I left to go back to my trailer.

♥

As I walked in, I didn't see any sign of my brother, Eddie. He's probably at a friend's house or doing his weird military workouts in the backyard. He said he likes it back there because it's quiet and he has more room to run around. He does JROTC since he wants to follow in my dad's footsteps.

As I went down the hall to my bedroom, I heard my dad walking around his room. The door was cracked and I saw his shadowing pacing back and forth. He isolates himself sometimes when the thoughts of my mom get overwhelming. They divorced when I was three, but I hear from her. She's with a man named Parker in New Jersey. I go there every summer, but rarely stay long since I don't like Parker. He's very nosy and talkative.

♥

The next day, when I came back from school, Dad was messing with his truck. He ended up getting mad and kicked the front right tire, letting out a groan. He let out a sigh before he walked back to the front and fiddled with something under the hood.

"Could you hand me my wrench, Adriana-Camila?" He asked. "Yeah." I went over to his toolbox and squatted down, moving around tools until I found it. "Here you go." I said, standing up and passing it over. He took it before slumping back over the hood of the truck.

I walked inside the trailer and noticed two bags full of beer cans by the door. Dad let me take them to the center every Sunday and get money since I wasn't allowed to have an allowance. The night I asked him if I could have one, he said, "I allow you to live in my house. That's more than enough." I never asked again after that.

He may be a drunk, but he never got mean. He was just sad. Even when Eddie and I get in trouble at school or at home, he never yells. He'll just take away something we love, like Eddie's Gameboy or my magazines.

♥

At lunch, Mr. Feeny was talking to the woman again. "Two days in a row." I said. "She just doesn't learn." Shawn replied. Turns out the "date" Cory told us Mr. Feeny had was really just dinner with his sister. Mr. Feeny turned to Cory. "Confused, Mr. Matthews?" "Yes, I am, sir." He replied. "As it should be." He told Cory before walking away.