Stitches

Sixteenth Stitch

sixteenth || Simon

We spilled water on Eddie's desk.

"Let's face it, we're dead meat," I say, hopelessly staring at the liquid thoroughly soaking Eddie's desk—along with the papers on it.

Perci bites her lip. "Those documents can't be that important, right?" she says with nervous laughter.

I roll my eyes. "Of course they're important, they're sitting on the freakin' editor in chief's table!"

"Well the 'freakin editor in chief' just left them sitting there! Those papers practically asked to be accidentally ruined by any near spill-worthy bottles of liquid! How was I suppose to know?" Perci huffs.

"Good God," I groan. "We are so dead."

"Maybe we can pretend it wasn't us?" she says, hopeful.

"That might backfire on us. We're the only ones here during lunch," I say.

We hear footsteps coming closer. Eddie's voice comes booming from just outside the door. "Perci? Simon? What's all the fuss about?"

"Shit," I say. "Shit shit shit."

Eddie's capacity for patience wasn't infinite.

The moment he saw the mess we've made on his table, he went an ugly shade of red.

Eddie grabbed his axe and threw it at me. It hit my chest, making a sickening crack as it broke my ribs. Blood gushed from the wound, soaking the floor just as much the soiled papers on his desk.

Well, not really. But it felt that way.

Let me do you a favor and not mention Eddie's wrath. Let me skip the part where he lashed out on us, his rant echoing through the empty (thank God) Newsroom. Let me forget the look on his face, the horrible, horrible things he said, the anger and venom he spat with every word.

Yep, let me just skip all that trouble for you. Because I'm nice like that.

I will however mention the fact that my man Eddie here is always like this, screaming and yowling like a banshee when he's mad, but he'll come around sooner or later. Once he cools down.

Hopefully.

It turns out that the paperwork on his desk was the written version of the interviews of Quentin's basketball team, the Ocelots, after their latest victory against our rival school Crest Coast High. The news writers always took voice records, of course. Unfortunately for us, they've deleted it. Thank you, universe. Eddie asked us (or demanded us, actually) to go back to the team and redo the interview. ("Record the bloody thing this time, will you?!" he had said.)

"Welcome to another episode of My Life Sucks, folks," I say, as Perci and I march the walk of shame.

"Starring the one and only Perci Barrett," she says.

"Hey, I'm the star," I say.

She rolls her eyes. "Fine. Starring Perci Barrett and her beloved sidekick, Simon Denman."

Okay but let me just clarify, I never liked being the sidekick. Austin and I would play superheroes in Aunt Tess's livingroom when we were kids, and he would always get to be the self-righteous kickass hero, just because he was older (by only 2 months and a half!) while I was always stuck being a self-absorbed kick-around.

I grew up despising playing the sidekick role. But being Perci's beloved sidekick, well. Doesn't sound like such a bad way to go.

We stop walking. "We're here," I say, when we make it to the gym. "Finally."