My parents, both best-selling authors, write in practically half the genres that exist. Mom tends to write romance and horror while my dad strays more toward thrillers and non-fictional history. Although, she’s written more books than him. He has a social life and takes more breaks than she does. She doesn’t have much of a social life unless it’s hanging out with me, doing press tours or marketing her books. That’s most likely where I get my personality from.
I love that their successful careers allow them to work from home and make their own schedules because it’s enabled them to be available for every sports meet,parent-teacher conference and important event of my entire life. So even though they make me nauseous with their sappy love and happiness most days, I’m extremely grateful for them and hope I find a love like theirs someday.
My phone vibrates, rattling my car’s cup holder.
“You have a text from Benny Boy,” the Bluetooth in my blue Prius announces as I pull into the school parking lot.
“Read,” I instruct it, keeping my hands on the wheel.
“Yo girl, you about here? I saved you a seat, but you better hurry before Greta the troll takes it. She’s been chomping at the bit to get a bite out of me, if you know what I mean. Hurry up and come save me before it’s too late.”
I burst out laughing as I throw my car in park. Benjamin Beltre never fails to make me laugh.
He’s been my best friend since we were little. We met because our parents both used the same babysitter, although we didn’t become friends until the day Cooper, the nastiest little boy, tried forcing me to eat dry dog food because he thought it was funny. Laughing, he shoved a handful of it in my face and tried to pry my mouth open to eat it, but Ben stepped in and saved me.He pushed me out of the way, snatched the dog food out of Cooper’s hand and shoved it into Cooper’s mouth instead. We’ve been inseparable ever since. Well… mostly.
As soon as I walk into class, Ben enthusiastically waves at me and mouths the word “hi”. I approach him with a smile and study him for a second, treasuring our born-again friendship and being back to normal.
He’s such a rare breed of human. And by that, I mean he’s a contradictory sociable loner who spends most of his time in the gym lifting weights by himself or riding his motorcycle which he’s been riding since he was practically a toddler. His parents literally gifted him a mini motorcycle when he was four years old.
Andhe knows everybody, and I meaneverybody,and they all love to know him. I guess I see the appeal… he’s athletically fit with a six pack and a V-cut who’s ridden his motorcycle to school ever since he got his official license.
He can’t walk anywhere without someone stopping him to say hi. I always try to stand off to the side, but he pulls me in to make me feel included.
Well, when he’s allowed to be near me that is.
Curious as to why there’s the need for a restriction for him to be near me? One word.
Tree.
His on and off girlfriend.Ugh.
She’s popular, a nationally ranked soccer player with abs of gold and calves for days, her dark brown skin seems to glisten any time she sweats, and her curly hair always looks perfect. If only her personality was as beautiful as her looks.
She and her friends have always been secretly cruel, bullying people quietly enough to keep it hidden from the adults, but public enough that everyone knows not to mess with them. I’ve personally only talked to her on a few occasions and none of them were pleasant. I’m not bitter about it, but I also wouldn’t have minded if she fell down a storm drain and never resurfaced.
Anyways, when they’re together, I'm blocked, and he’s forbidden to speak to me. In the beginning of their relationship, it didn’t matter. He would always find a way around it to see me in private for a quick chat to reassure me we were okay. After a month, the chats fizzled but he would still sneak away and give me a high five in between classes or stop by the computer lab to say hi when he could. That stopped abruptly once Tree found out.
Currently, they’re broken up again, but I figure they’ll be back together before graduation. So, I’m just enjoying the time we have together in the meantime. Even though the thought of losing him again twists my stomach in knots.
“Hurry!” Ben yells, patting the seat next to him, pulling me out of my daze.
“Good thing I got here when I did. I see it was a close call,” I chuckle, trailing my gaze across the barren area of the classroom.
“You didn’t see it, Char! She was circling me like a shark. It was only a matter of time.”
As soon as I sit, he pats me on the back,hard, knocking me forward in my seat before turning around to his computer. I smack him on the back of the head lightly in retaliation.
Yeah, I don’t think if you had a crush on someone, you’d pat their back. He definitely doesn’t see me that way…
Mrs. Coxe rushes into class with her lab coat hanging halfway off her arms, revealing a shiny blue pant suit and purple high heels, and tosses it on the chair. When she doesn’t have her lab coat on, she’s always dressed to the nines, sporting high heels and a colorful businesssuit. I admire her style, but I don’t know if I could ever pull something like that off. My style can only be described as “tomboy”, rotating between jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt year-round. I can’t even remember the last time I wore a dress.
Mrs. Coxe drops her phone in her hurry, accidentally yeeting half the papers off her desk when attempting to catch it from falling to the floor. The chaotic woman is always running late. In her defense, she’s spread pretty thin due to how many subjects she teaches here. Computer class, chemistry, and calculus. Not to mention helping run the research laboratory at Wyvern.
“Hello, hello, hello, class. How is everyone this morning? Sorry I was a little late. You know how it goes. Please take out your textbooks and run through the exercises in Chapters 10-15. If you have any questions, let me know!” she says, rounding up the last of the papers from the floor and sitting at her desk to organize the mess she made.
Since we’re seniors, and this is a fluff course we all took to earn an easy credit, we usually work through the exercises independently while she works on items for other classes.
Typically, I finish them within forty-five minutes, leaving me another thirty to do whatever I want. Lately, I use my extra time to peruse forensic articles, scourcollege sites or check on my outstanding college applications. Benjamin, on the other hand, always chooses to distract and mess with me the whole time. Much less productive, but that’s okay. It’s helped pull me from the loud thoughts parading through my brain telling me I’m a failure and not getting into college anywhere.
