Emerald Summer

Chapter 2

I stop in front of my house and observe it. There is nothing out of the ordinary. It's a complete rat's nest as usual. The shingles are falling off the warped roof, the grass is uncut, and it is wrapped with the same rusted, tacky chain link fence it always is. It is the stereotype of trashy-person housing to a T. There is even a busted out window covered with wood. I stand entranced for a split second.There is a different feel in the air, almost sinister. I shake it off, sigh, and go in the gate. I sit my backpack on the concrete stairs and then plop down beside it. I watch the cars go by for a while, dreaming about Minnesota. I take out my phone and put in my earbuds. I sit outside for a long time. I'd better go inside. I sigh and stand up.

What mess am I going to have the pleasure of cleaning up today? I open the door and step inside. I hear glass break under my feet. I flip on the light. There are busted beer bottles all over the living room floor, Aunt Missy is passed out on the couch, and there is various other trash everywhere. It's like she throws a party everytime I leave for school. I weave my way through the living room to the kitchen table.Even the table's cluttered. I groan, slide the trash over, and then drop my bag on the table. I grab the broom and dust pan out of the pantry. I sweep all the glass up out of the floor and clean the trash off the table. I'm tired of cleaning up after her. I don't clean anything else.

I look in the fridge and grab the milk. Of course it's out of date. Eh, it's only three days. I grab a cup out of the cabinet. I throw the rest of the carton in the trash. I sit down at the table and stare blankly at the wall. My phone lights up, Serena is calling me. I answer, "Hey bitch."

"What's up?" She asks. We haven't talked in a while. There is so much to tell her. I don't really feel like talking though.

"Nothing," I pour out the rest of my milk in the sink, "I can't wait until I get up there. I can almost tolerate the ride with Missy."

"Speaking of, how is she?" She sounds slightly concerned. I can't see why. Missy is a terrible person, but Serena has always been a humanitarian.

"She's passed out on the couch as always,'' I say nonchalantly. It is nothing new. Serena should've known.

"One day-" she starts, but I cut her off. I can't hear it. I know, but there is nothing I can do.

"I know," I sigh, "don't say it. I can't even think about that. Even though she's absolutely terrible I still need her. I've already lost mom. How the Hell would I support myself?"

"Yeah," she says,"I'm just worried about you." I write 'Gone to park' on a sticky note and leave it on the fridge. I hope she has a fun time getting sober without milk.

"Me too," I finally say after a long pause. I weave my way back through the mess in the living room and out the front door. I step out onto the porch into the sunlight.

"So," Serena breaks the silence,"are you planning on ditching that ugly, pasty skin tone and getting a nice tan?" I withhold a groan. Why does everyone always tease me about how pale I am?

"Nope," I smirk to myself as I step off the porch and make my way across the yard. The next thing I know I'm lying on the ground and my knee is burning. I tripped over a fucking brick. I'm such an idiot.

"I gotta go,"she says as I stand and dust myself off. I watch blood run down my shin. I wipe it off. Of course this would happen today! What else is going to go wrong?

"Okay, bye," I say as she hangs up. Finally. It's not that I don't like her, I just don't feel like talking on the phone. I try to convince myself not to feel bad. I open the gate and take off down the sidewalk.

I walk as fast as I can. I'll have plenty of time to hang with Jade, I try to convince myself to slow down before I fall again. My knee is also not in favor of my jogging, but I keep going anyway. I round the corner and see the gate to the park. This is the fastest I've ever gotten here. I look at my clock to make sure. It had only taken me twenty minutes.I go through the arched gate. I spot Jade sitting on the swings smoking a cigarette. She spots me and waves. I wave back. I walk over and sit on the swing next to her. Now I can smell it, it wasn't a cigarette. Typical Jade, I withhold another smile. "So," she asks, "what do you want to do?"

Unlike most people, Jade wasn't chill when she is high, oh no. When Jade gets high she constantly has the urge to fuck shit up. Which makes me wonder sometimes whether or not she laces it with something. "I don't know," I shrug.

"Wanna go to the mall?" Her eyes light up. I don't feel like going to jail for shoplifting. I don't feel like going to jail for anything. Maybe I can keep her contained to the park.

"Nah," I shrug. We just sit there staring at each other. The park is eerie when it is empty. Three girls walk into the park. They are all the definition of valley girl. I can't believe they're even outside and not at the mall. I realize they could say the same for us, basically a pair of vampires. We look at each other and snicker.They stop dead when they spot us and talk to each other. I look them over. One has blonde hair, one has dark brown, and one has light brown hair. The only reason I can see for them to be in this part of town is the park was exceptionally nice. They are whispering and giggling and looking from each other to us. They go to our school, but I don't know their names. They always give us a hard time.

"Freaks," the blonde haired girl hisses as they walk past. Jade snarl and I bite at her. "Emily, don't tease the wildlife," the light brown haired girl snickers. I feel the hate and anger rise. I look over at Jade. I can see it in her face. They sit six swings down.

I turn to Jade, "What's their problem?" Jade shrugs, but her eyes are still fixed on the girls. I know that look. That's not a good look. She stands up and walks over to them. "Jade, don't," I whisper. She whirls her head around and glares at me with an evil smile. This is not going to end well.

"What's your problem?" She asks and stops in front of them. They all get a smug look on their faces and stand. I crossed my arms and so did Jade.

"We thought this was a better park, you know, without trash in it," the Emily girl says. Even their fucking voices make me want to kill them. I didn't think people even really talked like that. I thought it was just a stereotype.

I look around."I don't see any trash," I stare at the light brown haired girl, who was right in front of me,"oh, wait, there." I pulled a small makeup mirror out of my pocket and showed her her own reflection.

She tries to jerk it out of my hand. I grab her wrist. I squeeze it and don't let go. She whimpers, the other girls look shocked. I feel Jade put her hand on my forearm. "Not yet,"she says. I let go. There are already bruises were my hand was.

"Ew! Ew! Ew!" She screeches,"I need hand sanitizer!" That's it! Before I can react Jade already punched and knocked her down. Jade is on top of her and I'm trying to pull her off.

I feel someone slapping the back of my head. I turn my head, it is Emily. She starts slapping me in the face and I turn my head back around to pull Jade off the girl. "Jade, Jade, calm down and get off of her." I feel someone jerk my hair. I feel my eyes get wide and my teeth clench. Don't do it, I thought to myself as I turn around and knock the girl to the ground. I couldn't help it.

I look over at the other girl. She is crying and when she sees me looking she hangs up her phone. Fuck. I start pulling on Jade again, who now has the girl pinned on the ground screaming at her.

"Jade, man, we gotta go. Jade. Jade. That girl just called the cops. Jade." I grab her arm and before I can dodge she hits me. My nose throbbed. It isn't broken but it hurt. I feel blood trickle down my face.

"I'm so sorry Sheri," she stands up, leaving the girl crying and gasping. Emily and the other girl run over and kneel beside the girl on the ground.
Jade's eyes get wide and my neck hair stand up. Sirens.