Welcome to Oceanside High: Revenge of the Bully

Chapter 3

Welcome to Oceanside High School. 

The lettering on the billboard under an image of our school mascot, an Osprey, is in bold and bright red lettering. It's greeted me every morning that me and Annabelle have had to drive by it for the past 3 years. I'm fortunate enough to not take the school bus anymore since Annabelle got a car from the junkyard man next to where she lives, but less fortunate that my dad hasn't bought me a car.

"All you need is a part time job. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll buy you one." Dad reminds me every single time I talk about it. "Your mother would kill me if I didn't show some parenting skills and help you learn some responsibilities."

Sometimes I pray he'll just surprise me for my birthday. But he hasn't. He just gets me gift cards to Burlington Coat Factory...even though we live in hot ass South Florida. Leave it up to dad to just not get me or who I am. He does pay for boxing league, so I guess that's something. Sometimes I think it would've been better to move in with mom but then I remember we fought a lot when I did live with her. So there's that, and I'd also have to leave the best friend I've ever had in my entire life behind. I'm not about to do that. Best friends are hard to come by, if they weren't I'd have a whole litter of them.

As soon as we pull into the parking lot and find one of the few spaces left to park, we are surrounded by jittery and high-strung and most likely deeply caffeinated—somewhat disturbed—students. Boys are busy revving the engines of their mud-packed trucks, and some of the girls are giggling while showing off their shiny new cars. These are things which just make me feel less than awesome. Especially since we show up in the oldest car on the lot. Annabelle and I call her rust bucket on wheels, Old Yellow, since it's old as who knows what and the yellow paint chips peeling off it probably have lead in them.

"Nice piece of shit you got!" shouts Lindzey Wellenberger as she strolls away from her red Porsche convertible, conveniently parked next to her soon-to-be boyfriend's shit-stain colored Ford F-250.

"What's up her ass already?" I ask but I notice Annabelle isn't paying any attention. She isn't too worried since she's busy putting her car in park and grabbing her phone to send a text.

"Who're you texting like it's the end of the world?"

She smirks while thumbing her screen, "Just a guy."

"Just?" I situate myself against the window and look at her. "Come on. Fill me in."

"Well, that guy I met at the pool party. He was in the pool but later, before I blacked out, he gave me his number and said he had to go and he was texting me yesterday but I was still laid up in bed."

"Yeah, I recall unicorn boy. But I didn't know you scored a guys number. I think I saw you eyeing him though. Does he go to our school?"

"Yep. In fact I think I have French class with him. So I'm kind of excited."

"Kind of? You're practically beaming like a pregnant woman."

She laughs and puts her phone down and looks at me. "Well, here's to our first day of the last year of high school. What do you say we make it worth it?"

"Worth it?"

"Yeah. Take shit from no one."

"Does that include Lindzey and her Bitch Squad?"

"Damn straight. So is it a deal?"

"A deal?" I ask, not sure of what she means. "Like how is that going to go down?"

"I don't know. But I don't think it's going to go down how we plan. Like, how mom is super infatuated with your dad now...thanks to you."

"Actually, it's thanks to you. If you hadn't ghosted your mom and replied to her calls and her incessant messages, maybe she wouldn't have freaked out so bad that I had to throw my dad at her like a piece of meat."