The Pain of a Middle Child

VII

I barely woke up the next morning. When I did, it was 7:10 and my mom was furious.

But seriously, could you blame me for this? Sleeping at three, waking up at seven, I had barely gotten four hours of sleep.

Well, considering I slept five hours on average, this wasn't the worst day.

I got dressed and went down the stairs where my breakfast awaited me. I ate as fast as I could, then took the family iPad to my room to listen to 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'.

The track went on and on, lulling me to sleep. I wasn't usually like this, on normal days, I stayed awake to listen about Mr. Feynman and what he did.

But sleeping four hours wasn't normal, at least, for me.

I slumped into my makeshift chair and my eyes slid close on its own accord.

________

I woke with a jerk, and looked up at the clock on my wall. 8:26.

"Holy crap," I paused the track and pulled my school uniform on, almost ripping my dress-shirt. By the time I was ready, it was 8:29.

I did my makeup as quickly as I could, focusing mostly on my dark circle that had formed under my eyes, making my look like a panda.

Thankful that I had packed before I went to sleep, I slung my bag over my shoulder and ran down the stairs. The house was deserted, to my relief. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and went out the door, yelling "Bye!" into the house.

Liam was waiting at our usual place, a can of coffee in his hand. He beamed when he saw me, but frowned a little when he noticed my dark circle. He offered his coffee and I drunk it gratefully.

"Thanks," I said after finishing the can and throwing it away. We were almost at our school and we could see the yellow vested people at the school door.

"You okay, babe?" he asked, worried. I started to nod, but stopped, knowing he would keep asking until I told him to truth.

"I've been better, slept four hours last night," I confessed to him. He became wide-eyed, his mouth twisting into a frown.

"Do your parents ever care about your health?" he spat at the ground.

"Apparently not," I replyed gloomily. We crossed the road to the gates of our school, where the yellow vests were checking our clothes, shoes, makeup, and accessories.

"Liam, stop right there," a teacher said while checking something on her clipboard. We stopped, knowing what was coming.

"Your hand, please," the teacher held out her hand and Liam placed his on hers. She sniffed it, then jestured for him to give her his other hand. She sniffed the other one, too, and wrote on her clipboard.

"You may go now, Liam and er, Brielle's sister, right?"

Ugh, the annoying 'Brielle's sister' again.

"Yeah, I'm Lyla." I said and lead Liam to the main enterance of our school. There, we changed our shoes into our indoor shoes and headed up to our classroom, which was located on the second floor.

________

When school finished(after seven horrifying hours), Liam asked me if I wasnted to meet his buddies. I was always curious about his friends outside the school, so I agreed.

"So, I've been telling them about you, and they said you seemed great and wanted to meet you in person." Liam said while we walked to where I would meet his friends.

"Oh, turn here," I followed him to a space behind a building. As we went deeper in, I could see shapes moving around.

"Hey, I'm here with Ly!" the figures stopped moving and turned to face us. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see five guys in black clothes, every one of them tall.

One of them, whom I suspected to be the leader in the group, held out his hand and said, "Ah, it's a pleasure to finally meet the famous Lyla Johnson," he gave me a white-toothed smile.

"Nice to meet you too," I smiled back.

"Oh, where are my manners, I forgot to introduce us!" he chuckled. "I'm Tayson, he-" he pointed to a slightly shorter guy next to him. "-is Eric, the two next to Eric is Tate and Bailey-they're twins," the two nodded to me. "and that's Darren."

"Hi, I'm Lyla,"

"So, babe, what do you think of my buddies?" Liam asked me. I thought for a bit, then answered.

"They seem good, but quick question," I paused. "Do any of you drink or smoke?"

They all raised their hands in unison.

I beamed. "Then I think we'll get along perfectly."

"Nice girlfriend you've got, Liam, care to share where you found her?" I saw Tay ask Liam out of the corner of my eye while I was chatting with the twins, Tate and Baily.

Liam smirked when he noticed me looking his way. "That's a secret." he then strided to me and jestured to Darren with his hand. Darren nodded, disappearing for a second before coming back into view with a bag in one hand.

Liam reached into the bag and after rummaging around, produced a can of beer. He offered it to me, and I accepted in with a "Thanks, babe,"

Eric looked at us, then, shrugging, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth. Tate lit it and Eric took in a deep gulp, sighing in plesure.

This is way better than I imagined, I thought. Liam was smoking a cigar too, and draped his arms around me. I looked up at him, and he let me smoke with him.

I gradually got used to the burning in my throat, and by the time I had to go to my class, I was fully accepted into the group.