awkward together

~a problem~

~Stephanie~

Oh my God. No no no no! This can't be happening, not the day before 10th Grade! Oh my God why does this happen to me? On all the days of the year, why this one? In the dry humidity of Wilson Tennessee, a fire started. This hasn't been uncommon, but usually it just burns a little, and it's still in habitable. But nothing like this. This time my ENTIRE HOUSE burned down! Crap. What now? My phone, my laptop, oh no. What about my sweatshirts? They're my way of cutting off from the world, the way they envelope me in their comfort and hide me.

My parents aren't exactly sure how this happened, but we think it was one of my mother's candles catching on the curtains while we were sleeping. This really isn't my week, if you couldn't tell. First the girl I have a crush turned me down, then I broke my arm playing volleyball, and then this guy tried to make a move knowing that I'm gay. And then, to top it all off, my house burns down the night before 10th grade starts. Not to mention, nearly the entire town is here, trying to figure out what is going on.

And there's my luck, speak of the devil. Annika Wilson, most popular girl at school, also known as my crush. Probably wasted and returning from a party. All around perfect girlfriend material. Thing is, she's straight. So there's no chance of us. I realize I've been staring at her a little too long when she suddenly turns her head and we make eye contact. She looks at me and eyes me up and down. I probably look like a disheveled mess, but something seems off about the way she stared at me. I turn away first not wanting her to see the light red dusting my face.

Somebody runs up to my mother, and I recognize him as one of my mom's old highschool friends. I can hear their hushed voices, something about the fire, a house, a daughter, then they hug and go to my father. I can here almost the same things. The fire, house, daughter, no rent, temporary.

My mother calls to me, just as I can see my best friend, Adrien, in the distance. "Stephanie! Can you come here please?"

"Yeah sure mom!" I hold up my index finger to Adrien so he knows I'm going to talk to my mom.

"Honey, how would you feel if we spent the night at Justine's?" My father asks me.

I smile at my father and say, "Well if that's okay with Arman's?"

"Oh nonsense sweetheart! It would be my pleasure!" The man called Arman exclaims.

As my parents and the man continue talking, I rush back over to Adrien.

"HOLY CRAP WHAT HAPPENED?" He asks.

"The house burned down Einstein."

"Rude." He sticks his tongue out at me and laughs.

Adrien is the typical emo guy. He has a lip ring, likes to wear black, and his hair is dyed purple. He looks tough because of the tough persona he puts up, but he's really very sweet. I think it's stupid how much people misjudge him.

After talking with him for about 20 minutes, my parents come to drag me away to wherever we will be living for the night.

It was about a 10 minutes drive away, yet it seemed like years. The window being open, you could still smell some of the smoke against the dry August air.

We pull into a driveway and i take my surroundings in. The house isn't a mansion, but it's a considerable amount larger than our previous home. We walk inside and I marvel at the place. There's marble floors with plush velvet rugs, and a huge kitchen, with an even bigger living room.