"Punk Rock"{no longer a book}

Chapter 11

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed the next morning. The grey bedsheets and navy comforter smelled like vodka and hair dye. I sat up and looked around. Mikey was lying next to me still sound asleep. I smiled to myself and stood up to find a bathroom. I opened what appeared to be a closet but most of the clothes were on the floor in there and around the room. One window near the bed, if you could even call it that, let in small streams of light. The bed was really just a mattress on the floor. The second door I opened lead to a bathroom. I closed the door behind me. The pain in my head hinted I was hungover. I looked in the mirror and several things were explained. Some of the pain came from a different source. I got a piercing; spider bites to be exact. The 2 black studs were located about an inch apart between my chin and bottom lip. Also, my hair was now green and black. I remember everything except for what tattoo I got. It was covered up on the back of my hand beneath my pointer finger next to my thumb. My mom didn't care about the piercings or hair dye but she made me promise to not get a tattoo until I moved out because my grandma didn't want me getting one. Oh fuck. It's graduation this afternoon. With a deep sigh, I opened the door and walked back into Mikey's room vaguely aware that I was wearing his sweatpants and t-shirt. It was freezing cold in his room with the fan on. I crawled back under the covers and just looked at him for a moment. His hair was newly a shade of red. I guess he was awake because he flipped over to face me. "Good morning sunshine." he said sleepily. "Graduation is today" I said softly. It horrifies me that now I'll have to be an actual adult. "It starts at one. I suppose we have to get up now?" he asks. To answer his question I stand up on the cold floor once again. "Ughhhhh" Mikey groans. "I don't wanna get up." I grab one of the pillows off his bed and hit him with it "Michael Gordon Clifford wake the fuck up" he seems unphased by my request. I hit him with the pillow once more. "Alright, alright I'm up." he promises with a sigh. He stands up and towers a whole head above me. I turn to open the door I assume will lead to a hallway when Mikey grabs a pillow from the bed and throws it at me. Before I can get up and strike back, he's yelling "Okay we're even now love you too" as he runs out of the door. I just laugh and get up in search of my phone. I find it on a table near the bed with 8 missed calls from Daizha, 5 from Ashton, 3 from Calum, and one from my mom. I put them all in a group chat letting them know that I'll be at graduation on time and that Mikey and I are fine. I slip my phone into my pocket and head downstairs. I expertly manage to find the kitchen where Michael is making cereal. "I need coffee." I grumble and lean against the counter. He just laughs and hands me a cup he's already made. "Thanks" I say and gulp down the liquid. He slides a bowl of fruit loops
towards me and starts eating his own. "You look hot" Mikey states with a grin and starts laughing. I check my reflection in my phone. I have extreme bed head, my eyeliner is smudged to the point where I look like a raccoon, and I have tremendous bags under my eyes. I flip him off and continue eating my cereal. "What do you plan on doing after graduation?" he asks. Oh shit. "Well, I'm not staying here. No matter what I do, I'm moving to New York. I've never liked it here." Mikey looks down at his cereal. "How do you know you'll like it there?" he asks. "I have a bunch of family up there. We used to visit all the time." This is true but we stopped visiting years ago. Part of my family is crazy and the other part isn't too fond of us. I still always liked visiting even when we weren't tourists. "When are you leaving?" he says, interrupting my nostalgia. "Towards the end of this summer." I say. I haven't planned a date yet. He's the only person I've told besides Daizha. Plus, she's moving too. "So lets make this summer the best." he looks up at me with huge eyes. The ones that leave me no choice but to agree. I laugh at him and put my dishes in the sink. "Let's get ready." he tells me. 15 minutes later, I look mildly presentable and we're on the way to my house. "Where was your mom?" I ask Mikey who looked hilarious in the graduation gown. "Oh, um, she practically lives with her boyfriend but he really doesn't like me very much. They uh, pay the bills and I buy everything else." he seemed nervous. I wanted to reassure him that everything was okay but I couldn't find the words. "I don't mind though." he continued. We never got along when I was there anyways. The day she left for good was the first night I slept in my bed for three years. I just went from friends house to random couch to someones car." We pulled up in my driveway and I could see my mom's car. "Want me to go in with you?" Mikey offered. "No just give me ten minutes." I got out of the car and ran up to the front door. Once inside, my mom stood up from her place in the kitchen. "You got a tattoo." was all she had to say. Before I could reply, she was dragging me into the bathroom and too the covering off it. "You need to put this on twice a day and you can't go swimming for 2 weeks." she handed me a blue container with some lotion in it. "And for the love of god," she added "don't let your grandmother see it." I smiled at her and went upstairs to change. "Don't forget to be there at 1:30" I reminded my mother after she took 3,000 pictures. "Alright, alright just go." she laughed and pushed me out the door. Daizha's car was there carrying Ashton, Milka, Calum, and now Michael. She stuck her head out of the rolled down window. "Get in loser, we're graduating."