Homework Hell

Chapter 2: Home Trip Therapy

Conroy was sitting and sketching in a rare bit of bliss. Completely mesmerized by the way the light caught the girl's hair in front of him, he had been sketching her all of art class. Conroy loved art class. It was a free period where he could express his talent with no restrictions. No overbearing father pressuring him into sports or ROTC. No trigonometry teacher breathing down his neck as he doodles away the class. And, most importantly, no failing grades. Conroy excelled in art with straight A's. His brain was just wired for abstract ideals like liberal arts. Math is the farthest thing from his skill set.

He glanced up at the girl he was sketching. He knew her. Everyone knew her. She was class president and top of class. Delilah. Delilah Roberts. Conroy smiles; saying he had a crush on her would be an understatement. She was amazing! Smart, popular, nice, and beautiful, the full package. He delicately shaded in her ebony hair. As he glanced back up again, he saw her gathering her things. Conroy fell out of his blissful haze as someone snapped in front of his face. "Hey dork, the bell rang, like, five minutes ago. Time to go." He looks up to see Sam standing over him, with her shoulder length blonde hair tied back and her hands and face covered in paint.

"Do we have to leave?" Conroy groaned slipping down in his chair.

"Well, I for one don't want to be at school for longer than I have too," Sam said in a light, sarcastic tone. Conroy groaned again and started collecting his array of pencils and erasers.

"Why do you want to stay at school anyhow?" Sam asked while she wiped her hands on her jeans.

"Because. I like avoiding my doom," Conroy replied, stuffing his things in his bag.

"Are you still worried about your dad? It's just one grade... he isn't going to ship you to prison."

Conroy lets out a short laugh. "Have you ever met the man?! He'd ship me off in a heartbeat." Conroy for sure knew that was true. His father never really cared for what he wanted to do. His father would always push him to do what was "normal" for a teenage boy. He was always waiting for Conroy to slip up, so he can ship him off to a military academy to "fix" him.

"You worry too much, Roy. Honestly, I just think it's an empty threat to scare you to work harder," Sam said with a calming smile.

Conroy can't help but smile slightly. Sam's smile was always contagious. "I hope you're right, Sam..."

"Of course I'm right!!" Sam said hooking her arm around his shoulders. "Now come on, let's grab some soda from the gas station on the way home"

"Only if you're paying," Conroy said with a small smirk.

Sam lets out a fake groan, "Fine. But only for you!"

Conroy laughs and smiles shouldering his bag.

The two quickly grab some books from their lockers and start to head to the gas station. This was their everyday tradition. Since eighth grade, they would run across the street to grab a drink from their local gas station before heading home together. They did this as an accident at first, but soon made it part of their routine. Both enjoyed their twenty minutes of chatting and relaxing as they walked from school to their safe haven of home.

Sam tossed her empty creme soda bottle in the passing trash can. "Well, here's my street! See ya tomorrow, Roy!"

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow if I'm not on a bus out of here." Conroy said flatly while finishing off his root beer.

Sam gains an annoyed face before flicking Conroy on the forehead.

"OW! What the hell was that for?!"

"It's a Level 1 punishment for being too negative," Sam said with a playful smile. "You really need to stop being so negative all the time. It isn't healthy."

Conroy looked at her with his classic glare. "What if just I like being negative?" he snapped back.

There was silence between the two, before they both crack up laughing.

"Really? That's your argument??" Sam said between laughs.

"It sounded bad in my head too!" Conroy says holding his sides and smiling.

"See? Feels better to smile. Doesn't it, Edgelord?"

Conroy playfully shoves her. "I smile all the time, dork! But yeah, it does feel good."

Sam smiles at her friend. "Then keep smiling Roy, or else I am stealing and hiding your game console!"

"No! Not my precious!! Ok, ok! I'll keep smiling!"

"Good," Sam says as she turns away. "Bye Roy!"

"Bye, Sam," Conroy says as she sprints home along her street.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok so I intended for this chapter to have more action, but, not only was it getting too long, I just really got caught up in a friendship/character moment. Sorry 'bout that! Also, I have decided to try and update biweekly because my brain is in no way capable of writing a quality chapter a week. (I barely had enough function to make this chapter lol) Finally, I'm planning on drawing the character line up, but I want to wait till I introduce more characters. If you want to see some drawings or doodles of them, I sometimes post drawings on my tumblr ItsBagelly. Thank you for reading so far!! See you in two weeks!)