The Rich Boy in a Rock Band

Song 18 ♪ I'm Definitely Not Okay (I Promise)

School was for studying, not for fooling around.

I decided to live by that rule from that Saturday night on.

I finished my essay and handed it to Sister Luisa before breakfast the next day. I snatched a bunch of food from the breakfast buffet while it was still so early that the cafeteria was mostly empty. Hopefully it'd be enough for the rest of the day because I had no plans of leaving my bedroom. That way I minimized my chances of running into Ashton and company and could focus entirely on my homework.

Thank goodness for calculus, history and literature. I put on headphones and listened to old school merengue and salsa as I worked. It kept me sane for the rest of the day.

When Addy arrived to our room from her weekend away she found me hacking away on my old laptop as I finished up an essay for AP Lit. She brought in two suitcases that were so big I had a hard time imagining where all the stuff was going to fit. Our shared desk was pretty large but it was taken up by her sewing machine and supplies. Plus, any shelf space that could be found was to the brink with fashion magazines, scraps of fabric and a shocking number of buttons. She saw me eye the suitcases with concern and cringed.

"Okay, I think it's fair for me to make a bit more of an effort to be a better roommate." She walked back outside and came in carrying the biggest pizza box I'd ever seen. "I hope this helps repay you for the bother?"

I set my laptop aside and jumped to my feet, almost panting like a dog. "Are there any pineapples in there?"

"Ew, no."

I jumped at the box. "Thank God."

We sat together on my bed as we worked on the box together. Then she asked the million dollar question.

"How was your weekend?"

I swallowed a cheesy bite and looked her dead in the eye. "Do you really want to know?"

She tossed her strawberry blonde hair back and away from her slice. "Of course."

The whole sordid story spilled out of my mouth like a bad case of hangover puke. I'd spent the better part of my day immersed in schoolwork and trying not to think about anything, but the feelings started to bubble to the surface as Addy gasped in turns, scowled or cursed.

At the end of the story I whined, "You warned me and I didn't listen, I know."

She smacked my leg. "I wasn't about to say I told you so, I'm not gloating about this." She fell silent as I munched on the crust of my slice first. "Well, the worst part is that you'll have to deal with them in class and at practice."

"You're telling me."

"What are you going to do?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "My best friend Leti says I shouldn't let them treat me this way and she suggests swift revenge."

Her eyebrows went up.

I smiled a little. "For your information, I'm ignoring her advice. I think the best thing I can do is avoid them."

Addy leaned back against the wall and stretched out her legs. They fell off the bed in uncomfortable looking angles. She was tall and big, and the individual size beds must be a pain in the neck for her.

"That's probably the best you can do. Once they see that you're not responding to their fuckery anymore they'll grow bored and find somebody else to mess with."

I thought about it. That was probably true. The rich gringo kids seemed to live their lives hard and fast, with a rhythm the rest of us poor mortals couldn't entertain. Addy was right, they were probably going to get bored with me soon.