Not So Special

one (alexa)

Much to my dismay, getting hit by a car wasn't the worst thing that happened to me during sophomore year.

That still doesn't make waking up in a hospital any better.

A girl with a curly head of jet black hair and green eyes sits on the window sill, staring at me when I wake up. I think I've seen her before, maybe in my Honors Chemistry or math class. "Jesus, Edward, chill out."

I really wish that I hadn't said that. She's going to think that I'm a weird, Twilight obsessed scene kid. I don't even look the part. Long dirty blonde hair and pink yoga pants when I'm not in a hospital gown. Not your typical emo.

To my surprise, she genuinely laughs at my reference. "Sorry, I didn't want to just leave you here with nobody."

Well of course there's nobody. She hit me while I was walking to lunch. At least, I think that's what happened. I feel anger rising inside of my chest, but bite my tongue and force it down. I'm missing work for this crap.

"Yeah." My voice is louder and sharper than I mean for it to be.

When I look closer at her eyes, I can tell she's been crying. I mean, there's good reason for that. She hit me with her freaking car and now I'm in a cast, missing work and school. I close my eyes and inhale through my nose, trying to calm myself down. Anger won't help the situation.

We don't talk. I'm glad that we don't because if she opened her preppy mouth I'd probably shout at her.
After an hour of listening to music on Dad's old IPod and doing homework, she taps on my shoulder. I hate the physical contact and rip out my earbuds. "Yeah?"

"My twin brother is coming, I just wanted to tell you." Preppy girl completely recoiled. I shouldn't be this mean. She's already stressed enough about hitting me (probably, unless she's a sociopath), and I shouldn't be adding to that. But at the same time, how could she expect me to be calm about it?

"Okay." I'd so much rather wait alone, but if he's already here, may as well fill the silence.

A long face peeks in through the crack in the door. The brother comes in, and it's hard to believe that they're fraternal twins. Their mom must have asexually reproduced both of them because they're literally the exact same. Or cloning, because if they were asexually reproduced they would both be girls. I don't know how it would work.

"Shit, man, it's cold in here." the boy says. He's loud and smiley, exactly my type. Ha, as if I'd date the brother of the girl who hit me.

The girl laughs. "I know, right? I mean, gosh dang, it's September and we live in a desert! It shouldn't be like the Arctic circle." She's matching his energy now, mirroring him.

"Hey, you're Car Girl!" He holds out his hand for a high five. As a reply, I stare at him. I don't want to touch his sweaty hand. "Alright then." he says awkwardly, pulling three sandwiches out of his backpack and throwing one at his sister. "Want one?"

I'm hungry, so I take it. From their conversation, I learn that their names are Charlie and Brooklyn, but Charlie calls Brooklyn Brooke or Brookie the Wookie. If her hair was brown that might make sense, but I don't know.

"Wait, did you straight up run home and make three PB+J's for us?" Brooklyn asks.

"No, didn't have time for that. I keep a loaf of bread, jam packets from the restaurant and a jar of peanut butter in my locker." he retorts. When he realizes that she's doubling over laughing, he furrows his brow. "I thought you knew this."

She's nearly crying again. "Oh my God." she giggles. "Oh my God, you're such a freaking dork." She punches his leg. "You're the best, I'm coming to your locker during lunch tomorrow."

I start to laugh, too. Poor Charlie is going bright red, but he's taking it well. "Lex, you can come too." Charlie says. "You do have lunch the same period as us, right?"

"Well, yeah." I say. How would we all be here if I didn't?I bite into the sandwich and grab my phone. I'm so hungry that I don't care where it came from. I really hope Dad comes soon. I'm getting restless.

After Charlie shows Brooklyn a picture of a bug that makes her flip her everloving crap and Brooklyn rants about a boy who's trying to chase her, I'm done with them. They're loud and they're annoying. I'm glad when the door slowly opens and Dad comes in. He's silenced the twins, which I'm grateful for. "You ready to go, Lex?" he asks without acknowledging them.

I nod and grab my stuff. He helps me out of bed, and gets the crutches that were set out.

It takes a long time to get checked out, and I'm wearing Brooklyn's gym pants and Charlie's Thrasher shirt. He's totally that kind of guy, if you were wondering.

Dad and I don't talk on the bus ride home. I want to sleep, but the activity around me keeps me awake. There aren't any empty seats and nobody wants to give theirs up, so we stand. I figure Mom should be getting on the same bus soon, since it's nearly seven.

"I'm surprised they let you go that early." Dad says while we're walking home. The bus lets off a few blocks away from our apartment complex, which is convenient.

"Yeah." I'm tired and I don't really want to talk. Brooklyn and Charlie's chatter was enough to last me a whole week. The sun is setting behind us. We have to speed up, because it's best to be in before dark. We can start making dinner before Mom gets home and surprise her.

All we really have in our cupboards are bags of rice and noodles. I find a can of beef stew in the back of the pantry and heat it up in the microwave. Dad sets up the rice maker and we leave it alone.

The batteries from the channel changer are gone again, so I start to go through my backpack. I have a binder, but never really put papers into it at school. I'm still sorting through them when Mom walks in.

"Oh, my baby, are you okay?" She drops her bag at the door, basically running to me.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine." I say. She smothers me anyways, brushing my hair out of my eyes, making sure my leg is elevated properly, all the mother hen stuff. I push her away, even though I love it.

"You worried me so bad." Mom says. "I got the call during a meeting and I thought you had been suspended or something." She laughs, sitting on the coffee table with her legs crossed underneath her. "Dad and I used to get suspended all the time for dumb crap and I figured that you had finallly rebelled. You're kind of the opposite of us."

Dad comes in and sits on the stairs. "Ha, yeah. One time I got caught dipping class to get ice cream and got suspended for three days. You remember that, Tay?"

Mom throws her head back laughing. "Of course I remember it! I was so mad at you. I was, like, six months pregnant and you're all like, 'yo I got suspended' and I think that I yelled at you for, like, an hour."

"Oh, yeah." Dad brings his legs up under him so he's sitting cross legged, too. "Shouting all about 'our kid's future', and 'our future'."

I laugh. I can totally imagine seventeen year old Mom up on her tiptoes, getting all in Dad's face to make her point. He's backing away, trying to diffuse her but she won't stop shouting about how he's "about to throw away his future for fucking ice cream". He was only one strike away from being expelled, and he was going to throw away his diploma for ice cream.

"Moral of the story: don't get suspended when your girlfriend is six months pregnant." Dad says.

We laugh. "How would I get someone pregnant?"

"Beside the point!" Mom yells, cracking a crap eating grin. "Don't get suspended or expelled."

"Or pregnant." Dad adds. The rice maker pops and I realize that I am starved. The PB+J that Charlie gave me was the only thing that I had eaten the whole day. "I'll get you some, Lex."