Behind the Bad Boy

Chapter Two

I lay on my makeshift bed, staring up at the blue ceiling.

It was four in the afternoon, and I was pondering through my thoughts.

When Travis and I had gotten home yesterday, our parents were a bit surprised. It’s not every day they see their seventeen year old daughter red faced and covered with sweat and their six year old son dripping from head to toe with water.

When I explained what happened, I told them about how Travis had gotten a little bit lost and I had to run to look for him, only to find him in a stranger’s pool. I left out my encounter with Mr. Hotty, deciding they didn’t need to know about it. It cost me a dollar to keep Travis’s mouth shut.

In the end, we both got scolded—I should have kept a better eye on Travis and kept up with him, and he shouldn’t have been running around in an unfamiliar neighborhood in the first place.

I protested that Travis was a fast runner and I wasn’t, but all my mother had to say about it was: “Join a sport.”

In my nightmares.

I wouldn’t even get past the first try-outs.

But that was all yesterday. All of this morning was spent unloading more boxes and crates from the truck, and we weren’t even done yet. We hadn’t been able to move the heavy furniture as yet, because my dad’s back wouldn’t allow him to lift it up, and my mother couldn’t do it even with me and Travis helping. My parents suggested we do the rest tomorrow.

Tomorrow. The first day of school.

I was nervous, I have to admit. A new school is a new challenge, especially since I’ve never moved before. There were so many doubts and questions going through my mind.

Will people like me?

Will I make any friends?

What if I embarrass myself and get made fun of for the rest of the year?

I hope my senior year doesn’t turn out to be crappy.

Yeah, I’m not always a very optimistic person.

It was easy for Travis. He was just going to be starting first grade, and that’s when you basically start making friends, since everyone is new to elementary school.

But where I’m going, people have been friends for years and years, since the beginning of school, or even more.

I really miss Ben and Marissa.

As if triggered by my thoughts, my phone starts to belt out Marissa’s ringtone on a pile of boxes. As soon as I hear that it’s her who’s calling, I leap out of my bed in my haste to answer the phone. In the process, I end up tripping over some stray bubble wrap, falling with a thud.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” My mom calls up.

Of course, she immediately thinks that I’m the one who fell.

I reply with a yes, and quickly get to my phone. Answering it, I say, “Hello?”

I should’ve put on some ear plugs.

“Bianca!” My best friend screams.

Ow.

“Geez Marissa, tone it down! I can hear you just fine if you talk normally.” I told her.

“I know but I miss you so much!” She exclaimed loudly yet again.

I smiled at that. “I miss you too, Rissa. But please talk a little more—,”