Curious Georgia |✔

•7 - Curiously Memorizing•

  Danny, Adam, and I sit awkwardly in my living room reading The Outsiders while listening to Andy Bey.

  "G, I literally can not think with this depressing song; please turn it off," Danny whines.

  I roll my eyes. "My house, my rules. You wouldn't have to listen to it if you didn't fail this class."

  "I wouldn't have to listen to it if you hadn't went and gotten yourself in trouble," I hear him mumble.

  Adam raises slightly from the couch. "You said what?" he asks threateningly.

  "Nothing. I just don't want to be here."

  Adam scoffs. "The feeling is mutual. We don't want you here either."

  "They're writing songs of love... But not for me," my bluetooth speaker hums from across the room. I sing along to it quietly, earning looks from both Adam and Danny. Neither of them look impressed, but Adam has the decency not to roll his eyes. He just shakes his head and continues reading.

  Eventually the song goes off, and it switches to In a Sentimental Mood. I can't sing along to it, so instead I recite the poem Ponyboy tells to Johnny when they're hiding out at the church in my head.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

  Adam and Danny stare at me again, and I don't notice that I said the poem aloud until Danny starts clapping sarcastically.

  "It's so sappy, all of the dramatic TNT actors are jealous," he says.

  I finally stand up from my comfortable recliner and stand right in front of where Danny is sitting. I jab my finger in the direction of my front door. "You can leave," I suggest lowly, "and you can fix your grades yourself and never come back. Or you can sit down, shut up, and actually appreciate me and my sappiness. If you really had an issue with me, you should have told your dumb bimbos to back off, and we wouldn't have to see each other's faces."

  He scoffs and reads his book. I march to the kitchen, frustrated and flustered, and Adam walks with me. "I'm surprised you didn't punch him yet. Feeling okay?"

  "No, I'm not actually. I skip detention once and try to avoid a pervert, and I get repaid for it by getting assaulted by his groupies and tutoring him. Not only that, but the one friend I have is being used as a bodyguard."

  Adam ransacks my fridge and pulls out hummus and pita chips from my cabinet.

  "You aren't even listening! And you're taking my food!"

  With multiple things in his hands, he places the bag of pita chips between his teeth. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't steal your food?" We walk back into the living room, and he drops all of the snacks onto the coffee table. "Bon a petite, Loser." And as much as I didn't like Danny, I had to smack Adam's shoulder for being rude. He shrugs and opens the chips.

  I read the worksheet that has our assignments for this week.

  Read and memorize "Nothing Gold can Stay."

  The guys groan obnoxiously, and after their little episode I roll my eyes for umpteenth time today.

  "I don't understand what's so hard, but good luck to the both of you because I already have it down-packed."