Instead of Me

∆36∆

I told Mr. Avery to treat me the same way he had all year long. I regretted it the next day at school. Not only was I hungover, but I had to deal with his angry, nasally voice screaming around the classroom as smoke rose from his ears because the deadline for Annie's special edition of the school paper was quickly approaching.

"I've never heard such a loud sound come out of a little man's mouth," Heath joked as he proofread his articles for the third time.

I fake laughed. "Yeah, you'd think the devil possessed him or something."

Heath genuinely laughed.

The paper was nearly completed. I just had to bring Heath some candids of Annie during everyday life. Then, he could choose which ones fit best with his articles, and Kat could finish the layout.

As I scoured through each folder on the desktop in the back of the classroom, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I was now known as the kid with the dead dad and missing mom. Somehow, it was better than being known as the one with the deadbeat dad, even though it was only missing a syllable.

"Everyone is looking at me," I muttered under my breath.

Heath looked around. The members of the staff turned around and focused their attention back on their tasks. "They're waiting for you to cry or breakdown or something," he whispered, glancing at the bottom of his paper and circling a typo.

I scrunched my eyebrows together and leaned towards him. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I heard them talking about how they found it weird that you hadn't publicly showed your grief or something in some way."

I chuckled. "Trust me, I did enough of that in private."

Heath slapped me on the back as he let out a laugh, like dads did with their buddies. "Have you gotten those photos for me?" he asked.

I clicked on another folder on the computer screen. It brought me to old, old pictures of Annie from preschool. "Yeah, they're in my camera bag. They're kind of sprawled around there. I was rushing this morning to get ready so I just tossed them in the bag."

That was true, but I couldn't tell him why I was rushing. I had thought that I slept with his girlfriend again. And then almost did.

I woke up in the morning with nothing but boxers on. My clothes were laid across the room. The other side of the bed was warm, meaning that Annie had slept there. I racked my brain, trying to remember the night before when I was drunk, but nothing was coming to mind. C'mon, Finn, if you slept with Annie again, you would remember it, I tried telling myself.

Then, the door to my room opened and Annie entered with a towel in her hair and just a towel wrapped around her torso. She had a toothbrush in her mouth. "Mornin', sunshine!"

I rubbed my forehead. She was too loud. "Annie. . ." I said, closing my eyes.

She rolled her eyes at me. "You have to deal with the consequences of acting stupid last night." She sat down by my feet. "Also, you're going to school today. You need something to take your mind off of everything." She grinned and sprang back up. I hated that she was such a morning person sometimes.

"What happened to my clothes?" I blurted out. "Last night," I clarified. "What happened to my clothes from last night?"

Annie laughed and shook her head. "Finn, you were too drunk to take care of yourself last night. I was trying to help you into your pajamas, but you passed out after I got you undressed. I figured you would sleep just fine anyway. I slept next to you just in case you woke up." She held her toothbrush out of her mouth.