Before the Hunt

Three: Sick Day

POV JEFF

I woke up early in the morning because of my alarm radio going off at six in the fucking morning, full blast, while SOS by Rihanna played. And I couldn't relate to it more than I already could, mainly because I've been sick with a stomach flu for over two weeks. School started four weeks ago, August twenty fifth, and I got sick, like, the next week because of fucking Don drinking out of my water bottle at the roller skate rink. I turned off my alarm and sat up in bed, I could hear my aunt Estelle brewing coffee while the TV played the weather forecast. Our house was small, but big enough for a perverted bastard of a dude (me) and my aunt who was a recovering breast cancer patient. They caught it early so she only went through one round of chemo, thank god for that. I would've had an uncle, but he left about seven years ago because of reasons that even Estelle doesn't know. All I know is that my uncle Michael had a fucked up past with him being a gang leader, getting into drugs, and even killing an innocent family. I hate him, even though I've never met him. Well that's a lie, I met him once at a family reunion when I was like, four. He looked pretty messed up, he had a weird tattoo on the right side of his neck that looked like a bleeding rose. All I could think was, "How edgy is this bitch?" Oh well. Also what I thought was weird was that he was oddly attached to my mom, who was a very pretty Filipino woman. My dad was from Brazil but he moved to Bozeman Montana when he was, I think seven? My mom however, always lived in North Dakota. They met in college and they married two years after college. Then I came into the world a short, ugly baby. But I grew out of the ugly part of myself, I think... 

Estelle came into my room about ten minutes later, all dressed for work saying, "You feel better, baby?" I shook my head, which felt like it was full of crap, "No, can you check for a fever?" She nodded and felt my forehead. It was hot, so before the left, she gave me an ice pack to put on my head. "There's water, lemonade, Kool Aid, and iced tea in the fridge if you get thirsty or if you need to cool off. The ice pack should help. Also, call me if you need anything, okay Jeffery?" she said as she left my bedroom. I nodded, said, "Bye." and heard the front door close and I heard her motor bike drive off. My aunt was a very pretty but also a little butchy. She was a dark skinned black woman, with very short hair, bright gold eyes, and had several small tattoos on her left arm. They were mainly planets and stars because she was big into science when she was younger, she still is though, so the tattoos make since for her. She always wore the large hoop earrings that were a copper color and had little Aztec designs on them. She was from Vegas, so she wasn't used to the cold Utah weather, but since she married Michael, who was born in Montana, and lived there for I think, twenty something years of his life, she got used to it. Estelle was a very caring person, she also thought of me as a son. Even if I was a little shit to her sometimes, and I always felt bad because as what I've heard, Michael verbally abused her, so I guess I have a bit of him in me. That came out wrong in my head, fuck life man.

I laid in bed for a good few minutes, then I got up when I heard pawing at the back door. We lived in a patio home neighborhood so the neighbors cats would always wander around the complex. I also lived right down the street from Thomas Parks, who is the smartest guy on the basketball team, which is like being the tallest midget. He was in advanced lit class (because my school has that for kids who want scholarships) and he was one of the dumbest kids in that class. And I've heard that the lectures are easy, for a smart person I mean. I begged Marceline to take it, but she's already doing advanced history and has the same grammar class with Isaac so she's already got some smart classes in her schedule.   

Anyways, I walked out of my small room and came to the kitchen, which had a tiny glass backdoor on the back wall. I saw a black and grey spotted cat pawing at the door. It was one other than Mochie, who was our neighbor's cat that was always let outside when they left for work. She only came over because we always fed her, that was it. She hated it when I would try to pet her (a "battle scar" from her scratching me is still on my left wrist) while she ate her food. I grabbed an old jar of tuna that we had lying in the fridge, opened it with my teeth (because our can opener got lost the last time Don came over) and set it outside. Mochie went crazy and pretty much didn't chew her food. She ate I think the entire can because nothing was left in it. I went back inside once she left, as in she walked across the street and begged for food from the other house. 

I went back into the kitchen and grabbed some of the lemonade we had on one of the shelves on the single door. I went back into my room, hoping that my Xbox wasn't still busted from when Isaac crushed it with his oddly pale legs. And by that, I mean he and I were high on the orange flavored Crush soda and he fell over from falling off my bed and his legs nearly crushed my Xbox. But it's still alive, after years of my spilling drinks on it, food getting stuck in the disc insert (I don't fucking know what it's called), and Isaac's legs falling on it. I turned on the little green button and it lit up, as in it worked. "YES!" I said really fucking loud as the box TV that was perched on my very small bookshelf lit up. I had Forza on my Xbox (as in the racing game that I only played when I got sick or really bored on a weekend) so I decided to play that, because I was really bored and it was like, nine thirty. 

Once I put in the disc, the TV blasted the old ads that played before the actual game came on. I had to turn down the volume because of how loud the TV was, and my bedroom window was open all the way so... that must've annoyed my neighbors. OH WELL I ALREADY HAD MY RADIO BLASTING 2008 SONGS. I grabbed my old controller and waited as my radio played once again, a Rihanna song. And at this point, it was timed perfectly. Shut Up and Drive played on the radio as I played Forza and tried to not feel bored. Funny story about that song, I had developed a crush on Marceline in sixth grade when puberty it her hard in the face. All of the cheerleaders hated her, except for like five I think? and she decided to prank the cheer captain who had shoved her in a locker the day before the last pep rally of the year. I was friends with Isaac and I had no idea that Marceline even existed, but holy HELL was I glad she existed when the cheer captain was pranked. They played a different rang of songs when the cheerleaders did their little dance, but once they were in pyramid form, Marceline threw a water balloon across the gym floor, hitting the cheer captain right in the face. Once I saw who had threw the water balloon, that was when I realized that even girls with short dark hair and pale skin can be hot. Shut Up and Drive came on once the dance was over and Marceline was chased around the gym by the cheer captain. But Marceline was a track star so she could run with the speed of a demon. She turned a corner, jumped onto an old pull up bar, and watched as the captain hit her head on the lower bar. Marceline just simply jumped off of the bar, walked out of the gym, and went home. And that was when I realized I was into her. The best part about that day, was that Marceline curved this girl when the pep rally was over, by walking past her in the hallway and shoving her face to the wall when the girl tried to beat her ass up. 

My morning was really just full of me being sick and playing Forza while my radio blasted 2008 songs. I got a call from Vincent, my friend who was in theater class and always ditched school and lived two doors down from me. He asked me if I wanted to come over, but once I told him that I was still sick, he responded with, "We got an albino hedgehog, Jeffery Javier Rose." I shot up and said, "What's it's name?!" "Teddy, he's a boy," Vincent said. I said, "I'll come over when I feel better, but for now I'm still dying." He laughed and hung up the phone. And yes, we still call people, because half of us are still trapped in the 90's (because all of my friends were either born in 91, 95, 97, or 98) my friend who was born in 91 is my cousin who lives in Brazil with my step great uncle and my great aunt. 

I later ate breakfast because I forgot, and once again, Mochie was outside, pawing at the door asking for food like a beggar from the 1400's. I opened the door and threw the cat a slice of ham, she ate it like she'd been rolling in cat nip, then walked away to the same house as before, and took a nap in the sun. I shrugged, closed the door, and continued to play on my Xbox for a few more hours.