“What happened with you and Derek?” I asked frantically, instead of casual like I’d been planning to do ever since I saw them argue.
“Whoa,” he said, stepping back a little. “I was just picking on Michaela and then Derek was like ‘leave her alone, she’s mine’,” he said making quotation marks in the air with his fingers. Hell no! He’s a jock, a complete meathead, he was definitely not good enough for Mick in the least. He couldn’t even keep up with her level of intellect if he tried.
“He said that?” I asked, feeling weird all of a sudden.
“No, but I could tell he was thinking it,” he admitted, putting on an orange polo shirt.
“So what did he actually say!” I was getting really frustrated with all of Cody’s shit.
“Just that he didn’t like bullies, jeez. What’s wrong with you? Ali holding out?” he asked perturbed.
“What? No.” On the contrary the opposite, she was the one pressuring me but I wasn’t going to tell Cody about my love life or anything personal. We were not actually real friends, it was just for appearances, I wouldn’t trust him with anything.
“Hey, baby,” Ali said, jumping into my arms at the end of school.
“Hey,” I responded. She kissed me hard, not passionately just hard. Like ow, can lips bruise? Then she pulled back and licked her lips slowly but not in a sexy way, it was way too much tongue and much too slow, resulting in a huge turn off.
“I haven’t seen you in forever. We don’t have any classes together.” She pouted, frowning. Forever as in since lunch, I hated it when people were so melodramatic. I nodded like I understood and shared in her sorrow.
“Yeah, this year is going to suck,” I said knowing that’s what she wanted to hear.
“No! It’s our senior year, there will be prom and we have lots of time to have fun.” She grinned seductively and started running her fingers down my body. I grabbed her hands before they entered private territory, we were in the middle of the hall for God’s sake. I saw Mickey’s brown-blue eyes walking closer and my heart started to quicken like it often did when she was near. I grabbed Ali’s face and started kissing her, she was all too happy and began to windmill her tongue in my mouth as she rubbed her body up against mine. It was not an attractive sight to see but Mickey was sure to notice. Why did I want to make her notice so much? She hates me, I hate her, we hate each other, the math was easy and math wasn’t even my best subject, so if I got it, it was definitely a no-brainer.
Michaela
What the hell is wrong with James! First, he gives me a compliment in homeroom, which was completely weird and then I find out he’s the one who started all the rumors! I know we both hate each other but still what’s his problem? I haven’t spoken to him in almost two years and he’s being an ass now! And Ali, ew. Everyone knows she can’t keep it in her pants but then again, I guess that’s why he’s with her. From the disgusting display of tonsil hockey and clothed sex, I guess they’re doing great and both getting what they want.
“What’s up with you?” My evil stepsister Reggie asked.
I have three step sisters, two older and one younger. Reggie, short for Regina, Gert or Gertie, short for Gertrude and Paix, no nickname. Her name was French for peace, even though she was the farthest thing from peaceful, so yeah, we all had weird names. I liked to think of mine as the least weird and for that I was grateful.
“Nothing,” I said and headed for my room, homework free. That’s the one thing I like about the first day, usually you don’t get a lot of homework, if any. I didn’t cry, like I had thought I would. Instead I turned on my music and let the song fill my room and bring me to another place and another time when I had my best friend who I was safe with and who didn’t laugh at my foolish mistakes. But that was another time, we were in the present and I had to learn to get over the past. The one thing I wasn’t able to do no matter how hard I tried. I looked out my window and watched the clouds move through the blue sky, nothing stopping them. I wished I were a cloud and I could just move on without anything stopping me, the wind moving me in different directions, new paths but never stopping. Even when you don’t see them, they’re still there, still moving, stopping for no one and nothing.
The light in James’s room flicked on. I wondered when he got home and if he and Ali did anything before that. Stop, present not past Mickey, I scolded myself. But still my thoughts wandered to James no matter how hard I tried to stop them.
“Mick, dinner’s ready,” Paix said startling me, standing behind me in full on goth clothes. I hadn’t even heard her come in. I hoped I wasn’t staring at James’s room for that long, trying to look into the place I used to spend almost the same amount of time as I did my own room. “What are you looking at?” she asked, moving closer to me now.
“Nothing,” I said quickly, walking to the door and leaving. She went to the window to look but then followed me out as well.
Dinner was quiet as usual when dad was off on business, which was often. Conversation consisted of mostly: pass the rice or I want the chicken leg. It was even the same if we had guests, unless dad was home, then we’d be allowed to talk. My stepmom Alyssa cut
