Staccato Bursts

Part Two: My Friends

        "Mom, I need to get my car fixed. I need it.”, I told my mom over breakfast the next morning.

       "It still runs, Honey. We don’t fix what isn’t broken.", she answered, giving me a wink. She’s right. My car runs but it looks crappy and I’m pretty sure it’s on the verge of dying. My car is literally older than I am.

        "If you want something done with your car, it has to come from your pocket.", my mom said.

My parents own a building, a few businesses, but won’t give me cash for a paint job for my car. That sounded really spoiled, but I rarely ask for stuff. I said no more, asking something from my mom is like using a flashlight during daytime, completely useless.

        "It’s okay, Kimmy. I bought my first car with my own money.", my dad said. I sighed and gave them both goodbye kisses before I left for school.

My first class of the day is Shop Class with Mr. Chopart. The tables in the classroom were designed to accommodate two people, so I chose an empty one, trying to avoid social interaction. That sounded really emo, I know, but I don’t like working in classes with other people. I figured if I sat alone, I would have to work alone. Everyone in this class were boys except me and Rhonda. Although, Rhonda (or most commonly known as Ron) looked boyish enough to land in the other category. I didn’t mind. I took this class to avoid taking Home Ec. Plus, I gained a few power drilling and mechanical skills and stuff while working in my brother’s tattoo parlor. Not the same, but very similar.

Mr. Chopart wasn’t there yet so I decided to scan the room. There was Brian Zane, who looks wasted. There was Leroy Conelly, my friend from grade school, who was still as pimply and sweaty as always. There was also Paul Paulsen or Paul-squared as they call him, an extremely buff guy but also extremely dumb.

Just when the class was about to start, a guy walked in the classroom. It was Dave, the guy from the party. He had no choice but to sit beside me, and I had no choice but to share. I gave him a little smile as he walked up to me.

        "I see you’re still wearing the same thing. Heavy party?", I pointed out his blue hoodie.

       "Hey, it’s my favorite. And no, it wasn’t a particularly heavy party.", he answered and smiled back.

He looked away to scan the room for a while and looked back at me. He moved his face a little closer to mine and whispered…

        "So what’s a girl like you doing in Shop Class?". He arched his eyebrows as if trying to look skeptical.

I moved my face a little closer to his and whispered back in the best Anna Faris impression I made.

        “Oh my God, I like, thought this was like, a class about shopping!”.

I laughed at my own joke while he still did that thing with his eyebrows.

        "I’m kidding, dude. It was either this or Home Ec, and I work better with power drills rather than wooden spoons.". He laughed and moved his face away from mine.

Mr. Chopart walked in looking like he was in a hurry.

        “I am deeply sorry I’m late, I had a fight with my wife…”, Mr. Chopart said.

He said more than that but I stopped listening because I realized I haven’t really seen Dave. I mean, I met him at the party, and I think I’ve seen him a couple of times in school but I haven’t really seen him like I’ve seen everyone else in the room. I mean, I don’t know him like how I know Paul Paulsen is as retarded as he looks. The amount of things I know about Paul Paulsen is equal to the amount of stuff I know about Dave but I don’t really know him.