Love Me Sweetly

Chapter Two

Sunday went by fast and nobody talked about the argument that took place between my parents and Jessica. In fact Jessica stayed in her room most of the day and when she did come out she acted as though I wasn't even there and walk out. Things were pretty awkward when we made it in the same room together, but my parents seemed oblivious to it all.

With all the awkwardness between Jessica and I  would still have preferred it to this day, the first day of school. Getting up this morning was torture and if I drank coffee I would have opted for one this morning. I dressed in jeans, a white v-neck, and a red flannel. I decided to just leave my hair down to look like I made some type of effort to look nice.

I walked downstairs to see Sammy and my dad in the kitchen. Sammy was eating cereal with the box and carton of milk in front of him and dad was drinking coffee while watching the news. I grabbed a bowl and spoon then headed over to the table. Neither one of them looked up as I poured the milk and cereal.

We stayed in silence until my mom walked in talking on her phone. She was dressed really nice in heels and a navy blue peplum dress.

"Jessica! Come on were leaving!" she called up the stairs. I thought Jessica had her own car. She started walking towards the door and Sammy started getting up so I figured that was my que to go.

I hugged my dad goodbye and followed my mom out the door. Since Sammy was sitting in the passenger seat of the car I had to sit in the back with Jessica. But we didn't leave right away since we had to wait for Jessica to come out for another ten minutes. When she did get in she didn't say anything.

As we drove away I looked over at Jessica and noticed her hair was a lighter blonde than from before, as if she bleached it, and pin-straight as always. She dresses differently as well-- she's wearing all black and her makeup is heavily applied. We couldn't look anymore different than we do now.

•••  

When we got to school there were cars and teenagers everywhere. My mom said a quick goodbye and then drove away into the line of cars driving out.

I turned towards the school as Sammy pulled me ahead. While Jessica had walked away somewhere without a word.

"So this is Martin High, Home of the Falcons." my brother says in a tour guide-like voice as he gestures to the school. He motions for me to follow him inside and I do since I don't know the school. We make it to the office where there is a middle-aged woman sitting behind a computer.

"Excuse me, were here to pick up a class schedule." Sammy says to the woman. She looks up and scowls.

"Name?" she asks in an annoyed voice.

"Carina Saunders." I say speaking up. She starts typing and clicking on her computer and then points to the printer. I pick it up and say, "Thanks." But she doesn't acknowledge it.

Sammy just shrugs it off and leads me out the door. He grabs my schedule and reads it off silently and stares at it for a while and then looks at the school map as if trying to picture it in his head. He repeats this a couple more times and I feel bad since I'm sure I don't have any classes with Sammy since this is his sophomore year. So he most likely doesn't know where to go, but I don't say anything.

He leads us down hall after hall trying to find my Civics class. It's when the warning bell rings that I start to get nervous about being late. I can tell Sammy feels the same way since he huffs out a breath and asks someone where it is. 

Turns out were headed in the opposite direction so we turn around and shove through people while I'm mumbling 'sorry's' and 'excuse me's'. The final bell rings for class and I internally groan.