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—
Soft snores escaped his lips as he slept, head smushed into the singular pillow he had in his bed.
He could faintly make out the sound of footsteps approaching his bedroom but he refused to fully wake up, knowing his dad would attempt to assign him a job that would take the average person less than three minutes to complete.
Then again, awake or not, Johnny didn't care.
"Wake up."
It was less than a second before August's head was on the mattress and his pillow was being pulled from under him, landing roughly on his face.
"Really, Johnny?"
The man scoffed, "You call me dad."
August groaned, rolling over onto his back, "Not when you're acting like a child. What do you want?"
"I made breakfast."
"You mean burnt ham and water down ketchup? I'm not eating that shit." August rolled over, his back not facing Johnny.
"Then starve. I need help talking out the trash."
"You need help, or you want to annoy me as much as possible before you have to go to work?"
"Both." The man began walking out, "Let's go."
•••
"Hey. I'm Miguel."
The Lawrence's nearly jumped out of their skin at the voice, having not expected someone to sneak up on them.
"My family and I just moved into 109."
Johnny rolled his eyes, not turning back as he continued his walk to the trash, "Great. More immigrants."
"Dad—"
"Actually, we're from Riverside." The boy, Miguel, corrected the older man, "But anyways, I was just wondering if you were having trouble with your water pressure, cause I know our sink's being a little weird right now and— Oh, bottles go in the blue bin."
August furrowed his brows, looking to see that the new guy was very much correct. He, personally, didn't care much about where bottles or cans went but if putting the trash in their respective bins shut the kid up, he'd definitely follow the rules.
It seemed his father felt the same way about Miguel's rambling and cut him off before he could go any further, "Listen, Menudo... I've lived in this shit hole for over ten years. The pipes don't work. The fountains full of piss. And the only good thing about being here is I don't have to talk to anybody that isn't my kid. So nice knowing you."
"Okay, well, have a nice day...I guess?"
Johnny then turned to August as he opened his car door, "I'll see you later."
"Bye, dad." Just as he turned to walk away, Miguel called out,
"Hey!" Miguel gave August a smile, "I'm Miguel."
"I heard."
"What's your name? A-and your dad?" Miguel cleared his throat.
August decided that he'd use the qualities he assumed he gained from his deceased mother, rather than his asshole father and give Miguel a smile, "I'm August. And that's Johnny."
"It was nice to meet you!" Miguel followed the taller teen towards his apartment, keeping a good distance as August made his way inside, "Hey, are you going to West Valley High? Maybe we can sit together at lunch?"
"Don't count on it!"
•••
The faint sound of Lana Del Rey's delicate voice filled the silence in Valerie's bedroom. Her face was covered with a white face mask as she focused on the drawing in front of her.
She could hear her dad move around downstairs, preparing what she assumed was dinner.
She couldn't help but subconsciously smile at the thought of the man that adopted her. She truly had no clue where she would be in life if it weren't for Peter Hunter. More than likely in some group home that pretended to care for the children they took in.
A vibration from her phone snapped her out of her thoughts. Gently placing her pencil on her notebook, she smiled at the contact, accepting the call instantly,
"Hi, Auggie."
A sigh from the other line could be heard before he responded, "Hey, Val."
Words couldn't explain how much he disliked that nickname. But it was Val calling him it, so he couldn't do much complaining.
"Are you excited for school tomorrow?" It seemed her question annoyed her boyfriend as he let out a scoff,
"Who's ever excited for school, Val?"
"I am. Demetri and Eli are." She started, quickly realizing her mistake and adding on, "At least for the learning part of it all."
"That's because they're nerds. Nerds love school. I, however, am not a nerd." August spoke, shuffling being heard from his side. Valerie could only assume that he was getting ready for either dinner, or bed.
"You're dating a nerd. Which, by association, also makes you a nerd."
"You're not a nerd, Val. You're smart, there's a difference."
She failed to see how it was different. But if there was anything Valerie knew about August, it was how stubborn he was when it came to admitting he was wrong. He definitely got that quality from his father.
"Hey, I hate to cut this short but I have to go eat dinner." She hummed softly, closing her book when she heard Peter making his way upstairs.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."
She could hear the frown in his voice, making her hesitate to end the call.
"Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine, Val. I just wanted to hear your voice before i went to bed. I'll pick you up tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"Bye."
"Bye." The line went dead.
She couldn't get any deeper into her thoughts before a knock on her door alerted her of her father's presence.
