Senior Skip Day

It was 8:20 am on senior skip day and I was waiting in the school parking lot for my best friend Kayleigh. She wasn't actually supposed to be skipping school that day: her super strict, conservative parents would have nothing of it since her grades weren't amazing and she'd missed so much school already. But Kayleigh was the portrait of a punk rebel teenager, which meant she didn't give a shit what her parents or any authority figure said, she was going to do whatever she wanted. My parents, on the other hand, didn't care that I was skipping school that day (or any other day really). They were hippies, the total opposite of Kayleigh's parents, and they let me get away with pretty much everything. Well, most people let me get away with everything, because, unlike my best friend who had pink hair and various facial piercings, I was really good at faking innocence. I was shy and really smart, which really helped people believe the array of lies I spat out easily. And if lying didn't work, I just pulled out an adorable puppy face and within moments I would be let off with a warning. That's why Kayleigh and I made a great pair... she always got us into trouble, and I always managed to weasel us out of it.

I glanced around the parking lot, getting impatient. She was twenty minutes late, and if she didn't hurry up, the fat security guard was going to spot me and ask why I wasn't in class like everyone else.

Where are u? I texted, checking the time again and drumming my fingers against the steering wheel in boredom.

Almost there she answered.

I was about to text something smartass-y back about her lack of punctuality, but I spotted her older brother's ugly old Jeep a couple of blocks away, speeding towards me. Kayleigh was in the passenger's seat putting on mascara and yelling at Jimmy, who was clearly ignoring her as he jammed to some obscure punk band. He turned the volume down as he neared the parking lot and pulled up behind my car.

"Hey kid," he said to me, waving and smiling.

"Hey Jimmy," I said back.

"Be careful with this one today," he said, pointing to Kayleigh as she grabbed her backpack out of the back seat. "She's pmsing or something... very moody."

"I wouldn't be moody if you'd hurry the fuck up," she snapped back, slamming the door, rolling her eyes and walking towards me.

Jimmy just laughed. "See ya... stay out of trouble!"

"Sorry for being so late – it's Jimmy's fault," Kayleigh said when we had safely left the school parking lot.

"It's fine, I'm sure the guys are used to us being late."

"And my dad was being a dick today. He finally saw my new tattoo." Kayleigh was in a constant fight with her father. He was a fierce Christian who believed that tattoos, piercings and hair dye were things of the devil, and every time Kayleigh came home with a new one, he paddled her until he felt like God would forgive her for her sins. And he didn't wait on it either – if he found the new piercing, tattoo or hairstyle while I was over, he didn't hesitate to bare her bottom in front of me and paddle it red. It was so crazy to me... I don't think my parents even believed in spankings!

Anyway, when she said her dad saw her new tattoo, I knew what that meant – "Ouch, so you got it before school today."

"Yeah, that's part of the reason I was late." She shifted uncomfortably in the seat. "I don't know how I managed to hide it for so long anyway... this might be a new record: three weeks!"

"Score!" I said and gave her a high five.

She turned up the radio and started dancing. "Happy senior skip day!!"

We met up with our college friends in the IHOP parking lot where we proceeded to smoke a joint in the car, then stuff our faces with entirely too much food. In the middle of my strawberry-banana pancakes, my friend Adam looked at me. "Remember that stuff you wanted to try?"