Don't Get Angry

15- Otis: Pickle

I slipped my shirt off and kicked my door shut. I threw it at my basket of dirty clothes, then unbuttoned my jeans. I froze when I felt something in my pocket. I pat my pocket. My brows lifted. I quickly took Angie's phone out of my pocket. I looked at it. It was locked. I sighed then threw it on my desk. I dropped my pants then jumped on my bed. I was about to shut my eyes and forced myself to sleep when my bedroom door flew open. Angie rushed into my room. I quickly sat up and covered myself with my sheet. "Are you kidding me? GET OUT!"

"Where is it?" Her eyes darted around the room aggressively. They landed on the phone. She rushed over to it and grabbed it, then turned to me with this intense, furious, wide-eyed stare. "Don't...touch...my...STUFF!" She shouted at me, following it up with a loud, eardrum busting scream.

I quickly covered my ears until it stopped. "You're insane!" I shouted at her as she ran out of my room. My mother rushed in a second after Angie had rushed out.

"What's going on?" She looked at me with alert eyes, prepared to kill an intruder.

"Angie! She just walked in here screaming at me! What's wrong with her!"

My mother's face filled with worry. "I don't know." She frowned. "She's only eleven... I don't understand why she's acting this way. Maybe..." She looked at me. I already knew what she was going to say; that it had something to do with my dad. She sighed then walked over to me. She kissed my forehead. "Goodnight, my love."

"Night, mom..." I forced a light compassionate smile on my face. She walked out of the room and I laid back on my bed. I stared at the ceiling. My dad would be so proud of me if he could see his criminal son.

***

I walked over to my locker and opened it stuffing my textbooks inside. My eyes burned in my skull and it sent slight lightning-like pains through my head. I felt odd...nauseous...lightheaded. I chalked it up to exhaustion. I'd barely slept the night before. "Otis." Taylor stood beside me with folded arms.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. They hurt.

"I called you a hundred times yesterday. Texted you more-"

"I'm sorry," I blurted out feeling on edge.

Taylor touched my cheek, running her finger one of my lower lids. "Your eyes. Did you get any sleep?"

I sighed, my head feeling dizzy enough to not let me think. "No."

"What's going on?"

I sighed again, then I looked at Dalta. She stood by her locker just staring at it. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Wha-"

I pulled away from Taylor and walked over to Dalta. "Hey."

She turned to me, slamming her face into my chest. "I'm so tired," she said, her voice muffled by my shirt.

I put my hands on her shoulders and lifted her off of me. "I haven't had sleep. You can make it."

"I'm so scared." She pouted. "We have chemistry."

My weary eyes grew. "I'm...-I'm glad you finally feel it too-"

"I'm so afraid to face Ethan. Especially like this."

"Oh..." I shrugged. "Yeah. That's what you meant. Ethan," I groaned. "I can't fight him like this."

Dalta opened her bag and took out a jar of pickles.

I covered my nose in disgust. "Why do you have that?"

"I feel miserable and when I feel like this I eat. Want one?"

"I'm good."

She shrugged then took a pickle out of the jar and bit it, walking away.

I gagged. I hated the smell. Penny stood across the hallway staring at me with folded arms and squinted eyes. She pointed at them, then she pointed at me and walked away. I sighed and leaned my head up against a locker.

* * *

I walked into Chemistry and sat at my desk putting my head down. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. I woke up ten minutes later to shouting. Dalta had her arm around Ethan's throat and everyone was screaming. My eyes grew. "Oh no-"

She pulled Ethan off his chair by his neck and threw him to the floor. I quickly climbed on top of the table and jumped down to the floor, grabbing Dalta by her arm and pulling her out of the corner between our desks. "He said I deserved it," she screamed. "Your mom! She deserved it!"

I pulled her towards the back door of the classroom.

Ethan stood rubbing his throat and choking. "What does that even mean?"

I pulled Dalta outside and shut the door. "Dalta, you can't do things like that-"

"You said you would hurt him for me, so I did it myself." She looked at me with wide beady eyes. "Because I can do things for myself!"

I sighed, my eyes barely staying open. "You have to go home. You can't even handle a night with no sleep-"

"We barely slept Saturday night-"

"You wouldn't let me! You kicked me half of the three hours we slept. I slept."

"Well... I didn't know that I kick in my sleep... I'm sorry. But I didn't sleep at all last night. I had sleep paralysis that a cop was standing in the corner of my bedroom. Like...a COP!"

"Well, you slept all day Sunday and yet you're still barely standing."

"Is this a competition?" Dalta squinted at me, putting her hands on her waist. "Because I'm in. First person to drop has to call the police on Peter." She poked my forehead, pushing my head back.

I pushed her hand out of my face. "No one's calling the police on Peter."

"We'll see." She stepped away and started marching down the hallway. I couldn't care less about running after her. I was too tired to think.

I turned back to see Taylor coming towards me in her hall monitor jacket with folded arms. "You slept with her, didn't you?"

"What?" I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. "That's stupid. What would make you think-"

"The two of you haven't slept in two nights and you're both arguing about barely sleeping. Don't try to make me look stupid-"

"Taylor," I squeezed my eyes shut again. They began to blur at their corners. I rubbed them. "We didn't sleep together-"

"Then what did you do? Huh? Explain!"

"Why does everybody think that everybody's sleeping around? Look, I can't explain right now."

"Why not? Need time to make up a story-"

"Yes". "No-," my eyes began to hurt. I covered them. "My eyes."

Taylor uncovered them holding my wrists. "What's wrong?"

"They hurt," I felt them beginning to water. "And my head," I felt my body going weak.

"Is your stomach sick too?"

I nodded.

She sighed. "You're getting a migraine. You need to go to the nurse."

"Dalta's tired. You have to find her. She acting erratically."

"Fine." Taylor held my wrist. "Come on."

I sighed. I couldn't remember the last time I had had a migraine. I stumbled with running eyes down the hallway trying my best not to break down. It felt as if my eyes were being yanked out of my sockets and my head had a ticking time bomb inside of it. We got to the nurse's office. "Find Dalta." I touched Taylor's hand. "Please." Her hand slipped away from mine.