Trophy Child (On Hold)

Chapter 2

Monday began as it always did: Miserably. 

I had made it approximately ten seconds into my walk to school and I was already regretting leaving my bed. The frigid morning air bit at the exposed skin of my face and hands, racking my body with shivers.

I hated a lot of things about the world around me, but I absolutely despised the cold. It couldn't ever just be a cold day either. It had to be both cold and wet, so that I was forced to walk through disgusting patches of damp grass. The moisture seeped through to my socks, and stray blades clung to the sides of my sneakers. 

By the time I'd made it to school and reached my locker, the guys were already fighting. Specifically, Phil and Eric. Benny was off to the side fiddling with his phone and trying to ignore them, a binder and the novel he was currently reading though tucked under one arm.

Eric was a tall, scrawny redhead who usually had a pair of drumsticks in his back pocket. Phil was tall too, but not in the same awkward skyscraper way that Eric was. At the time, Eric was also trying to grow out a mustache. I use the terms 'trying' and 'mustache' very loosely. Really it just meant that no one could take him seriously anymore.

The two of them were always butting heads. I think it's because they were a lot alike. Sure, Eric was a lot less mature than Phil, and Phil had had enough common sense to give up on facial hair, but they were both loud, arrogant, and stubborn. Even with how incredibly close the two were, those similarities still caused a lot of problems. For example, the fight going on in front of my locker.  

"Screw you," Eric spat.

"Oh, shut up," Phil fired back," you weren't going to ask her out anyway."

"I thought we were friends."

"She rejected him anyway, so drop it already and let's talk music now that Casey is here," Benny cut in, adjusting his glasses as he spoke.

Benny was pretty much the complete opposite of Phil and Eric, both in personality and in height. We had always considered Benny to be a member of the band, even if technically he was more like a manager. He was the one who always made sure to plan out practice sessions for us, and dealt with our equipment issues. More importantly though, Benny was an amazing writer. He wrote all of our songs, even if he couldn't conquer his stage fright to perform them with us.

Together, we made up our rock band, affectionately named Honorable Mention. We were pretty much one big, happy family. 

"You three give me headaches," I announced. "I hate you all." 

"I didn't even do anything. This was all them," Benny defended.

"You hate everyone, Case," Phil said, with a roll of his eyes.

I shoved Eric out of my way and spun the dial on the combination lock. Two failed attempts and a string of curse words later, I flung the door open and grabbed the binder I needed for my next class. I slammed the locker shut with more force than necessary before returning my attention to Eric and Phil.

"Speaking of things Casey hates, how'd it go with the family?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, dude, we want to hear the stories. Any fights in the kitchen? Family secrets revealed?" Phil asked.  

"My family isn't really like that. They just smile off their hatred for each other until they can go home and complain to their friends about how awful everyone else is," I said. "That's probably what my mom is doing with our neighbor right now, actually."

"Lame," Phil replied, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back against the lockers.

"Whatever, whose place are we crashing after school for a practice session?" Eric asked.