No Way (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 2

Antonio

"Dude, you know you look, like, dead, right?" my best friend, Zach, says. I glare at him and he shrugs. "It's true. How late we're you up last night waiting for your dad?"

"I wasn't waiting for my dad. I was studying." I insist. The look Zach gives me tells me that he knows the truth. I sigh, knowing there's no way around the truth.

"Two." I mutter and Zach sighs this time.

"You can't keep waiting up for him, Tony. You're wasting your time." He says.

"He's my dad, Zach. I can't let him get into trouble. And he is not a waste of my time." I snap. Zach opens his mouth to answer right as my other two best friends, Caine and Gabriel walk up.

"Guys, tell him he's wasting his time trying to fix his dad." Zach crosses his arms, giving me a look that I ignore. It's Friday and school just ended. Zach and I were waiting outside so we could go back to Zach's house to play basketball. My other two friends both give me horrified looks.

"That's why you looked exhausted all day!" Gabriel exclaims, exasperated.

"Antonio, you need to stop trying. He's not fixable!" Caine hisses. He too has his arms crossed and is glaring at me. I roll my eyes at them.

"He's my dad. I'll do whatever I think is best for him!" I snap.

"And where's your mom been all week?" Zach asks, now eyeing me with suspicion.

"None of your business!" I growl, slamming my fist on the hood of Zach's Ferrari, despite his yelp. "Can we just go now?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Didn't mean to make you mad." Caine says, giving Zach and Gabriel warning looks. I huff in annoyance as I slide into my Charger and the others get into their cars so we can drive to Zach's. Once there, I slam my car door as I get out, still angry at my friends.

"Boys!" I hear Zach's mom shrill before I see her. She walks towards us in her Gucci heels, smiling. Her dark hair is pinned up and she's wearing a silk dress that hugs her body, her diamond earrings sparkling in the sun light. "Zachary, you didn't tell me you were having the boys over today!"

"I didn't know you'd be home." Zach grumbles. His mother glares at him then beams at me, Caine, and Gabriel.

"You look good, boys! No! Correction- great!" She croons and I internally cringe. "So, anyways what are you boys doing?"

"We're going to play basketball." Gabriel answers, bravely. She nods, still smiling.

"Well, be careful. Zachary, honey, I'm leaving for a business trip for a couple days. You'll behave right?" She says. Zach nods, giving her a venomous look which she doesn't seem to notice. "Good. Love you." We watch her drive away then all let out an audible breath.

"She's so intimidating." Caine gasps.

"You think that's bad? It's worse when you're in trouble and she's your mother!" Zach exclaims, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go play ball now."

Two hours later and Gabriel and I got our asses kicked by Zach and Caine. I double over, trying to catch my breath. "I call Caine next time." I mutter.

Zach laughs. "God no!"

"What's the score now? Like 1670 to like 3?" Caine grins, taking a drink of water.

"You little smug a-" Gabriel starts but I know he'll go into one of his infamous curse outs so I stop him.

"You suck at Xbox, though, so at least I'm better at one thing." I point out. We all laugh then pull back on our shirts.