It's A Gay Thing

3 //

3 // Pris

The sound of my smartphone's alarm clock wakes me up. I sigh. I don't want to go to school today. Angie's kiss comes to mind. Well, maybe I don't mind so much after all.

I get ready and finally head downstairs, where Neil is sitting at the kitchen table, glasses on and newspaper in hand. I frown when I don't see any breakfast on the wooden table. That was a perk of being with my dad. He made me pancakes every morning.

Neil obviously notices my scowl, "You were expecting breakfast in bed, princess?"

"No, I just thought you'd be, a little more, you know, useful."

"I'm educating myself you know."

"Reading a newspaper? Only old people read that nowadays."

He looks up at me, "You'd only get pregnant in your dreams."

I chuckle, because he really thinks he offended me, "Then we're equal, 'cause it seems like your seed hasn't done much."

He glares at me, as I smirk in content. My mom can't stand when we talk like that to each other. Personally, I think that this incessant teasing is mildly amusing to both of us, on a certain level. Sometimes, it does appear to be misplaced, especially for a stepdad - stepdaughter relationship, but I consider him to be a sixteen year old boy, thus it doesn't bother me.

"When does mom come back?" I ask him.

"Tonight. Why?"

"I wanna know how long I'll have to endure your parenting."

"At this point, you don't need parenting anymore. At least, you shouldn't need it."

I grab a chocolate cereal bar out of the cabinet and munch on that. As soon as I take off the wrapper, the doorbell rings. Shit. It's Ari. I roll my eyes and I'm about to get up, when Neil stands up and goes straight to the door.

Well, I wasn't expecting that. He greets her in and sits back at his same seat.

"Can you hurry up? We're gonna be late."

I roll my eyes, "If you have gum, then we can go."

She rummages through her purse, pulls out a packet of minty chewing gum and throws me one. I catch it and start chewing.

"Going Neil," I tell him, on my way to the door.

"Slay those bitches," he says back, with a straight face before sipping on his coffee.

I roll my eyes as Ari laughs. We leave my house and go into Ari's car. She starts driving towards school, pop music blasting. I'd bike to school, but that looks more like a college thing. You always imagine the students at a liberal arts college biking their way from building to building. I'd be that type of person.

She pulls up in the school's parking lot. We get out of her car and head directly towards the main building. On our way, girls are waving at us, hugging us, asking how our summer was. Well, Ari's the one getting the attention.

As I'm waiting for Ari's fan club to cease bothering her, I turn my head to the one I've been waiting for all along. Angie has arrived. Everybody is all up on her, catching up with her but she barely glances at them. Her eyes meet mine and I blush. She mouths "hey" as she walks by and I wave a little, still flustered by her arrival. She never gets here this early. Maybe senior year has changed her, who knows.

I endure my morning classes, as the long lectures about what the courses will require this year take place. They keep talking about the need for consistent work, effort and attention in order to pass the year. The irony remains that during the part about paying attention, paper planes are already flying around and the students in the back are giggling about something completely off subject. This year will be turbulent like all the others.