Let's Play A Game

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(Most comebacks in this book are inspiration from illumilucy from her book of comebacks)

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Lunch finally rolls around and I run down the hall to get to the cafeteria so I can be first in the line. To my delight, there was nobody there yet so I grab a plastic tray and stock up like I'm preparing for a zombie apocalypse. There's chicken nuggets, a piece of pizza, an ice cream sandwich, 2 Rice Krispie treats and a coke piled onto one tray. Then I walk outside to the table I sat at yesterday and start shoveling food into my mouth.

Just as I'm halfway through my piece of pizza a hand slaps down on the table a few inches from my tray. Dropping my pizza in aggravation, I turn around to face the person who dared to interrupt my precious lunch. "Do you have a problem, because you can just point me to the direction of where I said I cared." I glare at that girl from the parking lot while she glares back.

"What are you looking at?" She snaps and I raise an eyebrow at her.

"I don't know but you came over to me, so what are you looking at?" I question her taking a bite of my pizza.

"Something ugly." She responds smirking as if she's just won something. There are people looking at us from the door of the cafeteria, listening into the conversation.

"I'm not a mirror kid and your lucky, because if I were a mirror I'd be shattered." Some of the other people listening from the cafeteria burst into laughter as the girl's face turns an alarming shade of red.

"Who do you think you are?!? You can't just walk in here and go around acting like you're so cool. Everybody knows that you're a lowlife, lying, cheating, bitch who will do anything to be cool...including getting your brother arrested." I immediately stand up from the bench and fully face this chick.

"You can say all the crap you want about me, but you're not much better. Look how you're dressed, like you're looking for someone to pay you for pole dancing. And you act no differently than I do, you just walked up to me and tried to insult me-which totally backfired. You think you're the Queen of this school and I totally agree with you. You're the Queen bitch and I really didn't come here to steal your 'throne', but you need to stop getting all up in my business because you don't know anything about me. And btw, you're breath smells like you ate Shrek, have you ever heard of a tooth brush...or a mint?" And with that I storm away from the table, leaving whoever she is behind. I don't know why I'm being attacked by people I don't even know but I really need to bail Donny out of jail.

There's a certain amount of time that he had to be in there but I really need to see him right now. When I get off of school property, I break into a sprint towards the police station. They have small cells in the back for minor punishments like Donny's. It's only a few blocks away so I get there fairly quickly, but when I get there I'm in tears. At first I'm not sure why, then I realize it's me.

This is all my fault. Why Donny is stuck in a stupid cell...why we're even here in this stupid town, living in a stupid apartment, and going to this stupid good-for-nothing high school. I'm the reason why my sister is dead, and why my brother is so damaged and why my life became a living hell without me even realizing it. I did this to myself... I did this to us.

Before I know it I'm sobbing and two officers come running up to me, but I push them away.
I run straight back to Donny's cell and pick the lock with a bobby pin I saved in my pocket in case my locker got jammed (there's key holes for the janitors). As soon as it's open I go to my older brother and kneel down next to the bench he was laying on.

"Dev what's wron-"

"I'm sorry for doing this to you, and to us, and to our family. I was so selfish and dumb but I never meant for any of this to happen and it's all my fault. If I had just let it go and stopped begging for that stupid family vacation, Delaney wouldn't have gone down later. She never would've seen them drunk, and yelled at them to think about the family. They killed her because of me, they went to jail and now we're all alone because of me and now you got in trouble because of me! All this crap is happening to us because I keep making selfish decisions and getting us in trouble and... I'm so sorry!" By now he was sitting up and staring at me with wide eyes. Tears continue to fall down my face to the cement floor and I try not to make eye contact. Looking him in the eye will show everything I've been trying to hide all these years. I just confessed it to him, but I don't think I'm ready for him to see it killing me from the inside out.

"Devin...why would you think that. This is not your fault. You may have gone out without telling me but it's in no way your fault that I'm in here. I chose to take the violent way out and you're the one who convinced the cops that I was standing up for you. And don't you dare say it was your fault that they killed Delaney! They killed her out of ignorance! You were defending the family by trying to get us together and bring us all closer. Even when I was away at school they were never home. I asked our old neighbor when I came home who looked after you and she said nobody was ever there. She was the one who checked in on you guys and all you wanted was time with our parents. That's not selfish, that's noticing that your family was staring to fall apart. You can't pin this all on yourself." He sits down next to me and holds me in his arms while I cry, like how I did last night. The thought of last night only makes me cry harder.

Even though Donny thinks it wasn't my fault I know better than to blame this on everyone else. I can't keep blaming others for my mistakes. We've been sitting here for a long time but after a while an officer comes in and tells us that it's okay to go home now. We nod and stand up, walking towards the front door.

As the person at the front desk hands us Don's car keys we continue on to the car and drive home. "I love you Devin, and I hope you never change."

"I love you too Donny." Taking his free hand, I grasp it tightly on the center compartment. "I just really miss her."

"It's okay to miss her, you just can't blame yourself for her death. You can't hold that pain over you for the rest of your life. Who even put that idea in your head?" He questions glancing at me before turning back to the road.

"This bitch at school. She thinks she's 'all that' but she really just wants me to stay away from her boyfriend. Her boyfriend happens to be the dude from the poker game the other day. Now she's just out to get me."

"Well what does she know? Maybe she's just jealous of you." A smile breaks across his face as he holds my hand tighter. His broad smile is absolutely contagious so just looking at his beep, brown, shining eyes and his bright grin causes me to smile back. Immediately, my bad mood lightens up a bit so I ruffle his thick brown hair and laugh.

It's moments like these where I appreciate my older brother even more than normal because he's there. He's there for me when I need him and he's there for me even when I don't. Donovan has been here for me since the beginning and I've taken it for granted.

"Thank you Donny, for everything." He looks at me and grabs my hand again.

"I'll always be here for you kid. Because I love you, and obviously because ohana." I chuckle as he quotes one of my favorite Disney movies.

"Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." We say together and burst into hysterical laughter. Tomorrow is gonna be a great day, I know it.

For me at least.

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Oh my gosh I really need to update more. Jeez it's been forever 😂 it feels good to update.