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Sixteen years old/10th Grade/January
Iheard yelling inside as I approached Patrick’s house. I felt awkward and as if I shouldn’t be there. I hesitated for a moment before I rang the doorbell. My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for the door to open. The yelling continued, and I assumed maybe the doorbell couldn’t be heard over the noise. I stretched my arm out and pressed the doorbell again.
The door opened, and a guy a little older than me stood in the entryway. He was about as tall as I was, but his build wasn’t near mine. His creepy, dark, beady eyes slid down my body and a grin appeared on his face. Was this Patrick’s stepbrother?
“I’ll take a box of whatever you’re selling,” he said.
What?
“Aren’t you here selling cookies?” I stared at him while someone else and Patrick yelled in the background. I gazed over this guy’s shoulder and peered into the house. The guy obviously was annoyed and abruptly asked, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah. Hi. I’m here to pick up Patrick.”
The guy’s smile broadened, and he nodded as his eyes looked me up and down.
“Someone already beat you to it,” he said. “A few, actually.”
What?
I looked over the guy’s other shoulder when I heard Patrick. I swore it was his voice.
“You never do anything to stop it or help!” Patrick yelled in the background to someone.
“Here for seconds?” the guy beside the door asked me.
Seconds?
“Don’t you walk away from me, boy,” a gruff voice called from the top of the steps.
The guy in front of me opened the door a little more and looked over his shoulder. With the door open wider, I could see Patrick barreling down the stairs two at a time. At the top of the stairs was an older man whom I assumed was Patrick’s dad. A tall, blondish haired guy with huge biceps stepped into the large entryway as Patrick bent down to pick up his backpack. Is that his stepbrother, or maybe his brother’s friend?
“Where ya going, buddy?” he asked.
“Get out of my way, Eli,” Patrick mumbled loud enough for me to hear. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and hurried over.
“Patty has a date tonight,” the guy by the door said to the blonde guy, Eli.
“Shut up, Sebastian.” Patrick squeezed his way between the guy and the door frame.
“Least he has good taste,” Eli said in the background.
“Yeah.” Sebastian looked at my torso again. “Nice letterman jacket,” he said.
My heart pounded as I was getting a glimpse of Patrick’s family.
“Patrick!” The older man’s voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs.
“What?” Patrick yelled as he stood beside me.
The man stepped in front of Sebastian and casually put his hands in his black slacks. He smiled at me and then glared at Patrick.
“Introduce me to your date before you run off in a hurry.”
I wasn’t his date. What parent teases and taunts their son like that? Unless they thought I really was his date.
“He’s not my date, Dad!”
“Watch your tone with me, young man!”
