The Definition of Me

Chapter 1: 8pm

Sitting at the very end of the classroom, listening to The Cinematic Orchestra  on replay with my head tucked into my doodling notebook made it obvious I was one of the introverted, but having Evangeline, my partner in crime, share the same passion for movie nights and acoustic music made me feel less of an outsider in school. And perhaps it will save me from the pointless drama it is packed with. Seriously. When you hear a fifth grader complain about her "claimed to be" boyfriend, you know that these people have some problems. Not that I didn't have my own... They just weren't part of my school life.

"Hey loser" Eva giggled and took one of my headphones out of my ear. "That song again?" she then added, rolling her eyes slightly at the artists name, "Jon Bellion - All Time Low"
"Do you think my Spotify playlist needs a makeover?" Indeed, my playlists didn't have variety. But it perfectly reflected on my personality, and you could clearly tell by my music preferences that I A) was not one of the popular kids and therefor  B) I was not an open book to everyone: I preferred keeping things to myself. At least when it comes to my other, more personal life. Oh, and I am not talking about relationships here. Keep in mind that I have been single for almost three years now. My last "first love" was during my freshman year of high school, and let's just say that it ended on a sour note. But the personal life I am talking about is different; It is less butterflies and rainbows, and more storms and rains. But at least I had my school life to keep me occupied and distracted from it.

"I think we should go to 'Fitzgerald's Record Store' instead of going to AP Lit. One more class with the devil (the devil being Ms. Brukes) and I swear I will shoot myself." Eva said in an annoyed, yet very persuasive and over exaggerating voice.

"Woah, since when skipping class was part of your resumé?" I asked, pressing 'pause' on my player.

"Since there is only one week left of school until summer break, which according to my calculations means that finals are over and going to class is just a waste of time." She responded, giving me yet another, slightly more convincing excuse to ditch class this time.

"Fine. Then you're buying me one of the Timeflies records. And not from their discounted 2012 album, I need the Just For Fun Deluxe 2015 one."  I replied.
Knowing Evangeline, she probably had already gotten me that album. She was always one of those people that prepared for everyone's birthdays two months in advance. Although that was never the case with homework. That she always did last minute. I just hoped that this was not one of those times, because I couldn't wait two weeks until my birthday. I needed the album now.

"Deal." She responded right before the bell rang.

Every time me and Evangeline went to the record store, she learned something new about my addictive personality. Instead of buying one album as planned, I bought three. But to be fair, the other two were on discount for 5 dollars each, which somehow made it automatically okay. At least in my mind.
After our not-so-little shopping spree, we had lunch at my all time favourite café, Rue 57, which was located on 57th Street, Central Manhattan. We chattered away and ordered some food to eat; I ordered french toast with strawberries and powder sugar topping, and Eva had their famous american style pancakes with syrup. Right after our pitstop, I walked home, whilst Eva went to catch the metro. This meant that my average day routine was coming to an end, because it was getting close to 8pm.

***

"I'm home, honey" a man sang drunkly as he slammed the door with his left hand and a bottle of whiskey in his right one as his frame entered the downstairs living room. Shamefully, this man was close to me. And regret filled me; the overwhelming frustration that I couldn't change the fact that he, the man that once saw my mom as his only addiction, is my full time alcoholic father. His blood running in my veins makes me terribly sick, wishing that I could somehow cut my family ties, as it was the only thing that was keeping us together, in the same house.