84 Cents

The Second Night

Everyone had already unwelcomely settled in and had no intent to leave anytime soon so I decided to escape the reality of the scenario and listen to some music. I plugged my headphones into my phone, turned on something settling only to hear my music blaring out of my phones loudspeaker for the whole god damn world to hear. I soon found out that my cat had chewed a short in the only decent pair of headphones I had left. Not only was I acquainted with a pair recently destroyed headphones but I sniffed a whiff of a stomach wrenching smell. I looked over to see my cat staring at me ashamed with a “yeah I just did that look” As I proceeded to see a dump on the carpet sitting there with a menacing stench. Ten minutes of cleaning and a three minute hand washing session later I was back at it. As I sat back on the couch and finally got comfortable I hear a muffled ring coming from my phone that was stuck between two couch cushions and as soon as I seen that “712” number I knew what time it was. I answered the phone to hear the two infamous words. The voice on the other line then says “uh Jesse?” 

It was I guess for the readers out there i’ll call him “chili bowl” and if you’re wondering how he got that nickname let me just give you a hint, i’m not very good at cutting hair. The question that followed the “uh Jesse” was do you mind if I come over? I then looked around the room to see three other of my friends doing many things that would cause someone to have a nervous breakdown. But as you already know I can never get myself to say no, so I just said what i’m best at “fuck it” soon after the words mumbled out of my mouth chili bowl replied “ok i’ll be right out there” But the difference between me and chili bowls friendship and the other three who were already in my basement was that chili bowl and I were inseparable. Really! Both our family’s knew each other and we had known each other since I was six and he was four. I had been his mentor and he had been like my little brother. Soon after I hit the hangup button on my phone I heard the whirl of a airsoft bb go past me ear and the words “damn nigga!”. That word would be repeated obnoxiously at least 100 times that night before they left. Right after the bb ordeal I heard the pop of my t.v.’s speakers about to blow as someone had poorly plugged in the auxiliary cords of my xbox into the t.v to play the same call of duty map that they have been playing on for months now “NukeTown” My nerves were shot and it was only 5:00pm.

About ten minutes later I seen a red Ford F150 pulled up in my drive chilli bowl had arrived. He stepped out of his grandpa’s slowly decaying 2005 truck and waddled about a dozen steps through my front yard with his flat feet. He had took his time walking up the three front steps that led to my front door. Once at the door he carelessly knocked at the storm door with a bang causing my german shepherd to go into a barking frenzy. We greeted with a vague “hey” as he followed me down the twelve steps that led to my basement. He would soon be just another addition to the three other people who had gathered on the tattered couch. He slammed down on the couch with a popping noise then instantly pulled out his Amazon Kindle HD and pulled up one of many annoying freeware apps. 

Three hours later the sun had set and everyone had stayed way past their welcome. Cellphone chargers riddled every electrical socket in the whole basement. I had hinted to everyone that it was about time to leave and I was getting tired but I guess none of them were very good at taking a hint as they just proceeded to scroll through pictures of girls that were way out of their league on instagram. Eventually I just got fed up of listening to the word “nigga” and “bad bitch” and told them to leave immediately and that I had shit to do. All but one person seemed to get the drift and by now you can probably guess who that was. While puffing on the jazz flavored black and mild I had funded for him he ignorantly asked me if I had another 84 cock sucking cents he could bum off of me! I was too fed up to care at this point and said no! He then stormed out my backdoor and rounded up the two others that didn’t seem enthused to ride along. After I heard the door on his izuzu slam shut I felt a sympathy for the others who rode with him knowing he would probably try to bum gas money off them just to take them a mile down the road to their own house. I heard the putt of a failing engine and the squeal of worn out tires. 3 down one to go.

By this time it was only chili bowl and me. He could sense I wasn’t in the mood for bullshit and asked to use my phone to call his grandpa for a ride home. Around this time I heard another car door slam it was my brother. I listened to the creak of cheap floorboards upstairs and the slam of the wind closing the storm door. It sounded like a stampede of elephants going down the steps as he maneuvered his 300 pound body downstairs. He had the usual haul of cigarettes and soft drinks. It was about 8:00 by then and I was already about to pass out from only getting two hours of sleep the night before. I grabbed a towel and went upstairs to take a shower. I took my clothes off and felt the cold tile on my feet. once in the shower I turned the faucet and looked up only to be blasted in the face with cold water. I let out a yelp of “god damn!” . someone had decided to put the shower head at an angle where it would shoot a half gallon of cold water all over you the second you turn the knob. 

After I had got out the shower I went to the basement to find my brother passed out burning a hole in a blanket with a cigarette. I smacked him awake to only for him to scream at me “WHAT WAS THAT FOR!”. Soon after that ordeal I found myself nestled in a blanket ready for whatever the next day had planned for me.

I woke up to the same beep I have for months now. Except this time i had the ability to wake up due to the fact I had gotten the first full nights sleep in months now. After the march to school I found myself in class again doing the same exact thing I was doing yesterday staring at the back of someones unkempt hair and scribbling with a pencil something that I would most likely never use outside of school. After four periods of the excitement of starring at a wall I was finally in lunch. As I walk through the hall to the prison like food i’m nearly knocked over by some weird whitekid darting through the hall like a character off naruto. I open the lunchroom doors to smell a gust of air that smells like powdered cheese and soggy chicken nuggets. I wait in line for more than half the lunch period only to be slopped five measly chicken nuggets and a small side of undercooked baked fries. I find one of my friends I was hanging out the night before with and sit with him. We start talking about the usual bull shit and he goes on to me about how his girlfriend won’t give out when the whole left side of the lunchroom goes quiet for a second to hear two black girls start to argue about something no one will never know about. Seconds later fist are being poorly swung in a catfight that wouldn't last more than a minute. I look over to see one of many of the schools security guards who suffer from short man syndrome rushing over to break up the fight. As the security guard pushes his way into the almost cartoon like fight he is covered in the typical tumble weave and blood from scratches. After that ordeal I walk to bathroom to attempt to take a piss while 3 people are shooting dice and another few are all passing around one cigarette. I then walked to my last period class to take a hour nap and hope for the best. I hear the beep of the last bell of the day and pack my things and get ready for whatever's ahead and hope today is better than the last.