The Fighter

Chapter 55: Spit it Out

"Whose idea was it to put my face on this cake?" I muttered, as Garbonzo shoved a knife right into the part with my sugary eye, humming my mother's 'Congratulations to You' song as he did it.

Laura grabbed a cake-filled plate to hand it out to the rest of the room. "Josh was in charge of the cake," she said with a wink.

"I thought it was fitting for a celebration that's all about you." Josh said, sticking out his tongue.

Dylan nudged him playfully, "That's not what he planned to say to you."

Josh twisted his face grumpily. "Congratulations, sis," he said softly, and for just a moment I felt like he meant it.

Dylan grabbed his hand lovingly and they shared a smile between each other. 

My mom snapped my attention away, carrying out a kettle of tea from the kitchen. "My daughta, student body president! Oh, the other mothas on the PTA will not be able to shut me up about this one."

"Alright, Lorr," my dad said. "Let's not stoop down to their level." 

I smiled at them, glad that my father had turned his phone off for the night. And get this, he's not working Saturdays anymore. I mean, I needed another sane individual in the family. It's been hard managing Josh and my mother by myself. 

"Let them have it, Lorraine," Sarah encouraged, knowing about the way my mother gets stirred up. Xavier was just like her in that sense; happy to prod.

"Especially Doreen," Mr. Timothy said, wrapping his arm around Sarah's shoulders. "Doreen calls me once a week about her son's Mathletics achievements, and then asks me to give him some extra points 'here and there'." He made a puking face. 

I raised my eyebrows at Mr. Timothy. It's strange to realize that your teachers have opinions and lives outside of school. If you haven't already guessed, Sarah has been dating Mr. Timothy since Valentine's Day. 

I imagined that they've bonded over the tragic losses of their spouses and living within the specter of terminal cancer... or being lonely adults...but who knows, maybe they both like long walks on the beach.

My mother patted Laura's head. "You know, I'm not taulking about Christina right? I love your motha." Christina was on her way to becoming the next president of the PTA, and she promised Sarah that she'd make it more inclusive.

Laura to flinched. She hates when people touch her hair. "I know, Mrs. Taylor."

"What even is the PTA?" Mark asked, looking around to realize the room was bewildered. "Hey, not all of us have gone to school regularly their whole lives." He swallowed a huge fork carrying the part of the cake that made up my hair.

"Parent-Teacher Association, Mark." Mr. Timothy said, kindly. "And I better see you in class on Monday," he added, just like a teacher would.

"Hah." Mark puckered his lips, prompting one of Mr. Timothy scary glares. I realized at that moment that Mr. Timothy (who wants us to call him Jeff by the way) and Sarah both have the scariest stares in all of Brooklyn, and that's why they were dating.

Mark hastily added, "Oh yeah, school, yeah, you'll see me."

I broke into the conversation. "Don't let him fool you. Mark actually likes the normality of high school." We made eye contact and he shook his head. 

Laura gave a sideways smile, dotting some frosting on Mark's nose, cutting his attention back to her. Mark had told her about his backstory when he dropped the l-bomb, and Laura didn't mind one bit. In fact (at the risk of embarrassing her), she loves him more.