Number 16

Chapter 1

"Tyson can you mow the lawn for me?" My grandma Joan yells from the kitchen.
"Yes ma'am" I say as I grab a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Oh sorry for yelling, I didn't know you were there" she laughs.

"It's alright." I chuckle and head out the side door attached to the kitchen.
I start mowing the front lawn. As I get to the halfway mark I look across the street and I see a girl with blonde hair. Not just any blonde haired girl, MY blonde haired girl.
I turn off the lawn mower and smile.
"Hey blondie!" I yell across the street.
She smiles and looks both ways before crossing and approaching me.
I kiss her before pulling her in for a hug.
"Watcha doing?" She asks.

"My grandma asked me to mow the lawn"
"Ohhhh. You going to your mom's this weekend?" She asks.
I slowly nod my head.
She knows I hate going to my mom's. I've never told anybody why accept for my older brother Carter. He only knows why because he would run into my room in the middle of the night during my night terrors.
Growing up my grandma always had custody of us. It was shared custody with my parents for a while but then my grandma had full custody again until my dad OD'd. after that my mom got clean and now she has partial custody of me again. I just go to her house on the weekends. Before my dad died and they lost the split custody I would go one week there, one week with my grandma.

"It's alright. I'll see you at your game on Saturday. Okay?" She smiles a little.
I nod my head. "Can we sleep on FaceTime every night I'm there?"
"Of course. And if you need me, just say the words and I'll be there." She ruffles my hair a bit with a little smile.
" I don't deserve you" I chuckle.
"Of course you do. Have a little more confidence in yourself" she says.
"Oh I do have confidence in myself" I smirk and raise my eyebrows.
"Oh yeah?" She chuckles.
"Mmhmm" I cup her face in my hands and start kissing her.

My grandmother opens a window in her living room.
"Mowing my lawn now, mooching your girlfriend later!" She yells.

We stop kissing and start laughing.
"See you at school tomorrow, I love you"
"See you tomorrow, I love you too" she smiles and walks away.

I quickly finish mowing the lawn then go inside.
"You and Maddison seem to be doing well" she smiles.
"Yeah it's going pretty good" I walk into the kitchen and wash my hands.

"You better still be a virgin" she says.
"I am, don't worry" I chuckle.

My grandma is Christian, so growing up I was raised going to church every Sunday, praying before a meal, told to save myself for marriage, all that jazz. Don't get too excited, I'm not sharing my sex life this early on in the story, it's only the first chapter!

Anyways, other than the Christian stuff, my grandma is pretty dope. She's taken care of me more than my mom has. Same with my dad, but we won't talk about my dad. My parents were drug addicts. Growing up drugs were a top priority, same with alcohol.
I managed to stay away from them for a while. Until one of my ex girlfriends got me into vaping and smoking weed. I don't use weed all that much now though, it's the nicotine that's hard to quit. My mom knows, grandma doesn't.

"Hey im gonna go upstairs and go to bed" I tell her.
"You sure? Your cousins are on their way back with pizza for dinner."
"Yeah I'm not hungry"
I grab my water then go upstairs to my room.
I change into pajama pants and a T-shirt then climb under my blankets.

I grab my dab pen and take a hit then hide it back in my nightstand before I roll over to face the wall.

Yeaaahhh I kind of lied. I only use to go to sleep now though. I can't sleep without it, I'll be up for days otherwise. It helps my brain slow down so I can fall asleep.

Eventually I manage to fall asleep. But it doesn't last long.
I wake up at 3 am yelling and sobbing. My grandma by my bedside, looks at me concerned.
"Tyson, you're almost 17. You shouldn't be waking up screaming still." She says.