Boys Will Be Boys

Chapter Six

I wake up early the next morning, not exactly feeling rested, but feeling much less tired than I did last night. As I wipe the gunk from my eyes and blink several times in an attempt to wake myself up, I try to remember the dream I had last night, but nothing rings a bell.

I groan. I hate when I have good dreams and can’t remember them. I know the dream I had was a good one; I just can’t remember what it was. And that seriously aggravates me.

I try and shrug it off, and get out of bed so I can get ready for school.

Ugh, school.

I am so not in the mood for the school right now. I mean, I never really am in the morning, so this is nothing special.

School is so much more than going to classes and enduring them. When you add in the social aspects of daily high school life, you see how tiring it can get. Between basketball practice and keeping up the odd teammate-friendship I have with all the guys and then balancing that out with my own little friend group, which has expanded by two people very recently—Emery, of course, and I have a feeling Katy is going to become a more regular seat at our lunch table soon.

Not that I’m complaining! I like Katy!

Hmm. Was I dreaming about Katy?

No. I shake my head to myself. No, I wasn’t dreaming about Katy. I tell myself to give up, that trying to remember is just going to frustrate me more.

So I try and let it go, as I pull on a pair of black jeans and a gray Fall Out Boy t-shirt.

“Gabe!” I shout, as I make an attempt—and subsequently, fail—at combing through my hair. Eventually, I give up, and let it do whatever it wants. I pull on my sneakers, grab my backpack, and run down the stairs. Gabe isn’t there yet.

“Gabe!” I yell up the stairs, louder this time.

“Here you go, sweetie.” My mom says with a smile, handing me a banana.

“Thanks, Mom.” I say, hurriedly, and grab Gabe by the ear when he comes barreling down the stairs. “We’re going to be late, you tool.” I say, dragging him by the ear out the door.

“Language!” my mom cries after us, half-heartedly.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” Gabe whines.

“Shut up.” I say.

As you may have guessed, I am not a morning person—especially after I’ve woken from a good dream that I can’t remember!

Sorry, that’s just really getting to me.

In the care, Gabe blabbers on and on about something or other that’s going on at school, and I’m not really paying attention till I hear the name ‘Emery’ slip out of his mouth.

“Wait, what?” I ask. “What about Emery?”

He rolls his eyes at my inattentiveness, but backpedals enough for me to understand. “Apparently, yesterday, Bryce and his douchebag buddies cornered Toby and Drew after school, but Emery jumped in before they could hurt them. It was awesome…supposedly.”

I mull this over in my mind.

“Yeah, Emery’s a good guy.” I say to Gabe, my attention already elsewhere.

Gabe snorts. “You don’t have to tell me. The girls are all over him now. Sorry bro, you’ve been replaced.”

I glance at him, furrowing my eyebrows. “What?”