Freshman Friday

Chapter 7 - "Survival is Good Too"

"Screw Donavan and his stupid face!"

Mason and I had decided to lay low in his girlfriend's dorm after surviving Freshman Friday. Not only did we win, but every member of the baseball club received a combined cash prize of a hundred dollars. Mason told me that the money was excess from school fundraisers, of which student council managed and operated. We had split the prize money between each member of the baseball club, leaving us with about five bucks per person. I wanted to feel happy for Mason, for the team, and for myself. But I just couldn't beat Donavan's bloodied face out of my head. No matter how Mason tried to justify it with his soothing words, there was no denying what I did.

I crippled him.

"Okay Sieber, you earned my respect! What you did tonight was fan-fricking-tastic," Mason exclaimed, lying on his bed with a half-empty can of cheap wine in hand.

"There's nothing to be happy about. An innocent kid was stabbed tonight," I said sadly.

Mason ignored me. He was struggling to pop open yet another can of wine.

"Here, take this."

He tossed me his drink.

"What's this for?"

He groaned. "Listen Sieber, I don't usually do this type of shit, but I'm sorry for... throwing you under the bus earlier. I shouldn't have let you volunteer back there. Santory stabbing that kid was... unexpected, I won't lie. Then I saw Baseball v. Football on the screen after that and it just... spooked me a bit. It was messed up and I still feel bad about it. But I'm hoping that you'll stay on the team."

He helped himself to his wine.

"Ahhh, hey I have an idea. Let's make a toast," he said, wiping the red drink from his lips. I almost regurgitated.

"A toast? To what?"

"To being badass. For the next two years. I'mma junior, which means that there's less than 700 days before I can finally escape this hell and adjust back to society."

I couldn't hold back my grin. For the very first time since our awkward meet, Mason's words actually sounded sincere. For a moment, he sounded like he actually believed that we would survive the academy and graduate together. Then after that, he and I could figure out a way to contact the police and be the first to put an end to Freshman Friday once and for all.

"To... being badass... and surviving this shit-hole school," I remarked.

Mason was shocked. He still wasn't used to hearing me swear. He laughed and raised his dripping can.

"To sticking together for as long as we can. That's what's most important. But yeah, survival is good too."

We tapped our drinks together before taking a sip and slipping into our bedsheets. If it weren't for Mason's toast, I might not have been able to sleep at all. His words of encouragement and hope helped me look forward to the upcoming days. Every nap brought me one step closer to graduation. I didn't know how, or why, but I had this feeling that everything would be okay. As long as I had Mason, these next four years would be bearable.

If we found a way to end Freshman Friday before graduation, high school might even be enjoyable.