Uncontrollably Falling For You

Chapter 2

I woke with a start to the obnoxious sound of my alarm. Is it seriously that time already? I groaned and reached over to grab my phone off my night stand. I turned off my alarm and glanced at the time. 6:45 AM. Too early for my comfort. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. The sun was beginning to rise, causing a dim light to fall through my room. After a moment of laying there and willing myself to wake the hell up, I forced myself to sit up. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my glasses and cigarettes off my nightstand before standing. I groggily left my room and headed for the bathroom, careful not to bump into anything as I went.

My morning routine was always the same. I would piss, brush my teeth, make sure my hair didn't look too dirty or stupid, then head downstairs. I was immediately greeted by the smell of fresh coffee, which was much needed. My mom was standing by the coffee pot, pouring herself a cup, when she glanced over at me.

"Good morning sunshine!" She greeted cheerily, causing a crooked grin to form over my face.

"Hey... didn't you just get off work?" I asked, taking a seat at the table. She nodded.

"Yes, but I have a few errands to run before I go to bed... so I need some caffeine!" She walked over and set down a mug full of coffee and cream in front of me. I smiled at her before taking a small sip of it. I loved coffee. I was definitely a bit addicted to caffeine, which was probably not the best since I was only 16. "Your sister needs to wake up." Mom shook her head before walking towards the stairs.

I stood up from my seat, the familiar longing for a cigarette buzzing in my brain. I took my mug of coffee and headed out the back door. Titus was there to greet me, his whole body wiggling with excitement. I took a seat on one of our benches in the backyard and lit a cigarette. It felt good out- probably in the mid 60s, and it wasn't humid.

Our backyard was small, and directly attached to our neighbors on either side. We all had plants at our fence lines so that there was a little more privacy, but it still could feel like you were right on top of each other when everyone was outside. We had a stone pathway leading from the door and towards the front of the house. Farther in the yard, we had a small fire pit dug out in the grass. There were a couple nights where Jayla and I lit a fire and drank a couple beers together. That was my favorite thing about having it..

I finished my cigarette as quickly as I could, aware that I was on limited time, and headed back inside with Titus at my heel. I drank the last sip of my coffee and set my mug in the sink. Jayla was sitting at the kitchen table, her expression matching mine. Neither of us wanted to go for the day. Every minute that went by made me feel more and more dread. I was so tired and groggy, and not ready to sit in class for seven hours.

I stifled a sigh and headed back upstairs to put my contacts in and get dressed. I was the unlucky one in my family that had to wear contacts and glasses.. but it was probably thanks to my green eyes that everybody loved but me. I wasn't sure how I ended up needing them and Jayla did, with her blue eyes. Sometimes I thought she pretended she could see better than she actually could.. I decided to wear black jeans, unsure of what the weather would be like, and a short sleeved Primus t-shirt. I peered in my mirror. My dyed red hair was messy, but at least it looked clean. It was cut short on the sides, but longer on the top, in choppy layers, so having it messy was never a problem to me. I sat down on my bed, glancing at the time to see it was 7:30. God dammit. I groaned and stood up almost as soon as I sat before heading back downstairs.

"You ready?" I asked Jayla as I walked into the living room. She let out a groan, her head hanging, before replying.

"Yeah, I guess...," She grumbled. I knew how she felt. I was definitely not ready for class. It was only Wednesday, too. We both lazily gathered our school belongings together and headed for the front door. "We're leaving, mom!" Jayla called into the kitchen.

"Alright, guys! Have a nice day!" She called back. With that we left the house. A burst of fresh, dry air met us. I was thankful for the lack of humidity- though that didn't mean it wouldn't be later in the day. We walked across the street until we were standing outside of her Jetta. She unlocked the doors and we got in.

The ride to school always felt much too short, and soon enough we were there. She parked in her usual spot as we finished our cigarettes. Once we were done, we got out and headed for the prison everybody referred to as school.

"Christ, I hate this fuckin' place," Jayla muttered angrily. I nodded in agreement, not sure what to say that hadn't already been said one hundred times. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my sweatshirt and stared ahead at the building as we got closer and closer.

Soon we entered the building, groups of students standing around the main lobby talking before they would have to go their seperate ways. Jayla and I exchanged glances. Our lockers were in different halls from one another's.

"Alright, well... I'll see you at lunch," She sighed. I nodded.

"Yeah, see ya then." We departed from each other to head for our lockers. I needed to put my sweatshirt away. Even though it had been a bit on the cool side that morning, it always felt annoyingly stuffy in the school building. Once I reached my locker, I grabbed my s**t out for my chemistry class and put my sweatshirt away. I took a deep breath before heading towards my classroom.

I hated chemistry. It was boring, my teacher was dry as can be, and it was the first class of the day. The only thing that made it a little tolerable was the fact that I had it with my best friend, Evie. I'd known her since elementary school. Rhett and I were really good friends, too, but we'd only met in middle school. Evie and I had been friends since third grade.

I stepped into the classroom, my eyes immediately focusing on my friend. She was already sitting in her seat, looking bored. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her hazel eyes staring out the window. I sat down next to her, causing her attention to be torn from the scene outside

"Hey!" She greeted happily, shifting to face me more.

"What's up?" I asked, setting my books down on the desk in front of me. She shrugged with a sigh.

"Oh, nothing... Not looking forward to this. But I never am, so.." She shrugged her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know," I agreed. I was never very talkative in the morning. It took me a little while to wake up. I felt kind of bad for Evie, since she had to deal with it. I slid down in my seat, sighing with discontent.

"You alright?" Evie asked me suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. I frowned and nodded.

"Yeah.. why?" I asked in return.

"I dunno. You just seem down," She explained, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her desk top.

"No, I'm just tired. And I really don't wanna fuckin' be here." I shook my head as I thought about the next seven hours to come. "I thought you've known me long enough to tell the difference between when I'm in a bad mood and when I'm tired." I attempted a small smile.

"Yeah, well, don't the two go hand in hand?" She snickered. I shrugged a shoulder.

"Touche...," I agreed quietly. I wasn't the most pleasant person in the morning, I knew that. It was definitely something I needed to work on.

Eventually the teacher, Mrs. Nickles, began her lecture. It was monotonous as ever, of course. I glanced over at one point to see Evie was doodling in her notebook, likely not listening to a word of what was being said. I couldn't blame her. I tried my best to listen to lecture, but it was difficult. I was fairly smart. I could retain information easily, and even if I didn't listen during class, I could easily go back in the book to review before a test. I hardly ever had to study.. that's just always how I'd been.

As the class came closer to an end, I began to feel a new wave of dread. I hated chemistry class, but unfortunately for me, the next class on my agenda was even worse... Gym. I loathed gym.. Lucky enough for me, however, I was able to share the disdain with Rhett. I think gym class is every misfit kid's nightmare.

"Mark." My attention immediately snapped back to lecture. My eyes widened and I stared ahead at Mrs. Nickles. She was staring back, an expectant look on her face.

"W-what?" I sputtered, sitting up in my seat. She grinned at me, and I could tell she knew I had been day dreaming.

"An organic compound made of sugar molecules is called...?" She asked slowly. I nearly sighed with relief at how simple the question was.

"A carbohydrate...," I replied once I collected myself a bit. She nodded, her beady eyes narrowing.

"Yes. Pay attention...," She ordered, causing a small ripple of laughter from the class. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my stomach. I glanced at Evie to see she had an amused grin on her face as she continued to doodle. Why couldn't she have picked on her instead?

It wasn't much longer before the bell rang and we were dismissed from class. I wasted no time in standing up and grabbing my books. Evie stretched her arms above her head, exposing her stomach as she did. I was surprised Mrs. Nickles hadn't bitched at her about it.

"I gotta go," I muttered. He frowned.

"Alright, Mister Amicable," She snorted. I rolled my eyes.

"See ya, Eve..." I brushed past her and headed for the class room door. The science wing was on the opposite side of the school from where the gym was, so I always had to hurry. I couldn't help but drag my feet as I walked, every foostep bringing me closer to my hour and a half of horror. The most enjoyable part of gym was how f*****g retarded people would act. I guess I was lucky that year. I was in with a bunch of people similar to me. A bunch of misfits and people who didn't give a f**k- not a ton of jocks.

I opened the door to the boy's locker room, greeted by the familiar sound of chit chatting and laughing. I walked over to my locker and opened it, staring in at the annoyingly ugly black and red gym outfit. I begrudgingly began undressing. Changing in the locker room never bothered me. It's not like I was overweight, or deathly thin. I knew it bothered some people, but I wasn't one of them.

"Hey, sexy," I suddenly heard the familiar voice of Rhett come up beside me. I looked over at him with a snicker.

"Come on, man. You're gonna make everybody suspect something if you say that every time!" I teased, tossing my shirt into my locker after grabbing out my uniform.

"Dude, the coach is gonna get pissed at me... I forgot sneakers...," Rhett sighed. I raised an eye brow and glanced down at his feet. I stifled my laughter when I saw that he was wearing his pair of Dr. Marten's boots. It looked a little ridiculous with the uniform he was wearing.

"Doc Marten's, seriously? Those are too nice to wear to gym class. You're gonna ruin them," I laughed, taking my pants off. "But, I dunno... I don't even have a pair that I keep here. I just keep my Converse on." I shrugged as I put the disgusting gym shorts on.

"Yeah, but that's Converse... not boots. I'm tellin' you, he's gonna give me points or something!" He insisted.

"He probably will," I agreed, shutting my locker once I was done. I took a deep breath and glanced around. Everybody was beginning to file out of the locker room. "I guess we should go..," I grumbled.

Class always started with us doing stupid ass warm ups. We would do some stretches and run for a few minutes. People would pretend to fall, pull their pants up past their bellybuttons and tuck their shirts in, and just a bunch of stupid ass s**t like that. It always made me laugh.

We took our normal roll call spots, waiting for the coach to tell us to begin our monotonous run around the gym. Soon enough he gave us the go ahead. We all began lazily walking towards the wall of the gym.

"Hawkins!" Coach William called out. I glanced over my should to see Rhett looking expectantly at him. "What is that on your feet?" He asked, sounding annoyed.

"I don't have sneakers!" He replied with a shrug. I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"You better get some for next time!" He growled and shook his head.

"Duly noted," Rhett replied, sounding like a sarcastic asshole, before he began jogging with the rest of us. I didn't miss the dark scuffs he was leaving all over the floor. That made it all the better, though. Sure enough, as we ran, the dramatic falling began. It didn't take long for coach William to notice.

"What is this!" He yelled. "Basketball!? Quit your flopping and keep up the pace!" This only caused a ripple of laughter to come from all the students, myself included. Coach Marks was such a dipshit.

I sucked at sports. I sucked so f*****g bad. I always felt awful for whoever got me on their team. I was a competitive person when it came down to it, but not with sports. I didn't see the point. That day we were going outside and playing flag football. I was good at one thing in flag football. Penalties.

I collided roughly with a short, blonde haired kid on the opposing team named Kevin. I lead with my shoulder, catching him off guard. He ended up falling roughly to his ass. I burst out in laughter.

"Yo, f**k you, Mark!" He snapped bitterly, slowly making his way to his feet.

"No, f**k you, Kevin!" I laughed.

"Green!" I heard Coach William’s angry yell from behind me. I turned to see him motioning with his thumb for me to get off the field. "Knock off your bullshit!" He yelled and I snickered to myself. My plan had worked. I grabbed the stupid ass flags off my waist band and tossed them to the side as I walked off the field. I sat down heavily and watched as everybody continued to play. I didn't care if I got in trouble...

I was relieved when class came to an end and we all headed back towards the gym. Rhett fell in step beside me and let out a deep sigh. I couldn't help but look down at his shoes and laugh again. It was so ridiculous that he'd gone the whole class with them on.

We filed into the locker room where we all began changing back into our normal clothing. I never worked myself enough to build much of a sweat, but I still kept deodorant and s**t in my locker. I never understood the kids who would go around smelling like a fuckin' onion all day after gym. It was f*****g disgusting!

"Thank god," I breathed to myself as I shut the locker door. I turned to see Rhett was waiting for me. "Ready?" I asked. He nodded and we headed out to the hall together. We didn't have any other classes together, especially since he was a grade ahead of me, but we did have lunch together. We had last lunch, so it wasn't until the end of our next class. I preferred it to first lunch- that way we only had one last class to deal with after we ate. "I need a fuckin' cigarette," I grumbled.

"Yeah, dude. Me too," Rhett sighed in agreement. "Let's sneak out at lunch for one," He suggested quietly. That didn't sound like a bad idea... we tried not to get into the habit of sneaking out, but it was somewhat easy to. Right by the lunch room, there were back doors to the school. We could easily sneak out the back, run across the street, and smoke off of school property. We'd done it quite a few times in the past. But there was always a chance the school cop would catch us, then we'd be in some big s**t.

"Sounds good to me, man. I'll see you then." I gave him a half assed wave and he nodded to me.

"Later, dude." We headed down separate hallways to go to our next class. English. As boring as it was, it was probably my favorite class. It was easy, I enjoyed writing essays and reading, and it was taught by one of my favorite teachers. I had my English class with Olive, but unfortunately, we had assigned seats in alphabetical order. So since her last name was Pearce, we didn't get to sit next to each other.

Remember that party earlier in the month? Well, Olive had gotten pretty upset with me for leaving without telling her. I'd gotten an array of texts as I was sleeping off what little hangover I had acquired. I was right- she thought I was mad and that I wanted to break up. I'd assured her that wasn't the case, and in a few days she was back to her normal self. Being with her was great, but it could be so exhausting at the same time.

I entered the classroom and took my seat. I glanced over to see Olive already in her seat, looking in my direction. She waved, a warm smile on her face. I waved back with a grin before setting down my book and notebook in front of me for class. After about a minute, I felt someone sit down next to me. I looked over expectantly to see a blonde girl with green eyes taking her seat. She was wearing stretch pants, a Rancid t-shirt, and a lightweight sweatshirt. Her name was Holly Kurtz, which is why we ended up seated next to each other. I glanced over at Olive to see her happy look diminish. She sat forward, and I wondered what the hell prompted the shift in her attitude.

"Hey, Mark!" Holly greeted with a smile. I said hi in return and glanced at the clock. Class would be starting soon. "How are you today?" She continued to chat.

"Oh, alright. How about you?" I asked in return. I'd known Holly since middle school. She and I got along. We often got seated next to each other since our last names were close in the alphabet.

"Fine. I'll be better when this s**t is over," She muttered and I couldn't help but snicker. I suddenly felt my phone buzz in my pocket. My brow furrowed and I and pulled it out, keeping it under my desk so nobody could see it but me. I was surprised to see the text was from Felix. Wasn't he in class today? 'Hey. What are you doing after school?' He asked. I replied quickly, 'Nothing. What's up?'

I glanced up to see the teacher entering the room. My phone buzzed shortly after he walked in luckily. 'Wanna hang out? It's supposed to be cooler tonight. We could go smoke some weed at the park or something.' I had to refrain from laughing at that. 

'Sure, dude. I'll hit you up when I'm out.' I replied before shoving my phone into my pocket. I liked hanging out with Felix. I'd only known him for a little under a year, but when we first met he was pretty distant from the group. Brody and him went to school together, which is how we were all introduced.

Felix was an interesting guy. He had always been nice to me, and I'd never really seen him get mad. We'd become pretty good friends over the past months. Our personalities seemed to go hand in hand with one another's. He was definitely a private person, and I didn't know much about how he grew up or anything like that. The only thing I knew was that his mom died a few years earlier, and he lived with his dad. I had only heard that from Brody, though. Felix never mentioned his mom, or his dad for that matter. He never talked about his home life, or anything personal. I wasn't one to prod, no matter how curious I was.

I listened to the teacher as he spoke, having a more difficult time paying attention than usual. I didn't have anything in particular on my mind, except maybe needing a cigarette, but I just wasn't in the mood. Eventually class came to an end and we were dismissed to lunch. I gathered up my s**t and walked into the hallway, waiting for Olive to come meet me. She left the classroom and was soon standing beside me. I leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before we began walking towards the lunch room.

"How are you today?" I asked lightly as we walked.

"Good!" She replied cheerily. "How about you?" She asked. I shrugged a shoulder.

"I'm alright." I grinned over at her. That was probably one of my least favorite questions to answer. Most of the time nobody wanted to know how you really were, so we all made up a bullshit answer.

"That class is so boring," She sighed. I shrugged a shoulder.

"I don't mind it, honestly," I said, not thinking much of it until she gave me a hard look. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing... I just wish we sat next to each other." She looked forward again, her eye brows furrowing lightly. I narrowed my eyes.

"Well, yeah, so do I." She was acting weird. "What's the matter?" I asked. Her sudden shift in attitude was clear to me. She shook her head.

"Nothing. Wish you didn't sit next to Holly, that's all..," She grumbled. Holly? Jesus Christ!

"What do you have against her?" I asked. This hadn't been the first time she'd brought her up to me. As mentioned previously, we often sat next to each other because of our names.

"She totally has a crush on you!" Olive growled, scowling up at me. My eyes widened at her sudden hostility.

"So what?" I snorted, unable to deny the growing annoyance in my gut. "Just because she likes me doesn't mean I like her!" Sure, Holly was a very pretty girl, and I did find her attractive. I would never admit that to Olive, though, because I didn't want to be with Holly. I was with the girl I wanted to be with.

"I just feel like if you were more respectful of me and our relationship- you would limit your time talking to her," She hissed.

"Olive!" I snapped. "I f*****g sit next to her! We're acquaintances!" I shook my head. "You have nothing to worry about," I grumbled. My need to smoke a cigarette was growing with every word that came out of her mouth. She let out a heavy breath, shaking her head.

"Whatever!" She snapped before walking quickly ahead of me. I scowled in her direction as she got farther and farther away. Why was she being so weird? I rolled my eyes and tried to calm down. It was so unnecessary.

"Hey, Mark!" I heard Jayla's voice call from down the hall beside me. I stopped walking and looked down to see her jogging towards me. "Where's Olive going?" She asked, nodding towards my raging girlfriend. I shook my head with a snort.

"She's mad at me because I sit next to Holly in English," I explained as we began walking. Jayla laughed loudly at that and shook her head as well.

"God damn, dude. How much secret baggage does she have?" She asked, prodding her elbow into my side. I gave an exaggerated shrug.

"Dude, I don't fuckin' know... She's been extra crazy lately," I groaned.

"Well you don't have a thing for Holly, do you?" She asked. I gave her an incredulous glance.

"No!" I retorted. "She's my class friend. So what? Not like we're doing anything wrong."

"You're not. I was just asking... I always wondered what Olive's issue was with s**t like that since the day you guys started going out," Jayla explained. We entered the lunch room and got in line. I always got the same thing for lunch. A plain, every now and again blueberry, bagel. I hated school lunch. It was vile and looked like you could catch an unknown disease from it.

"I don't know. I feel like it's getting worse, though. You'd think the longer we're together, the more she would trust me," I pondered.

"Well, she probably cares more about you now than she did in the beginning...," Jayla suggested. "Olive's a pretty girl with an ugly interior."

"That's not necessarily true!" I disputed. "She has a nice personality... she just needs to chill the f**k out." I walked away from Jay to go grab my bagel and pay for it. Once I was done with that, I headed over to our usual table. Rhett was already sitting in his seat, eating taco salad, when I arrived. I wasn't surprised that Olive had chosen to sit with a different group. I took a seat with a heavy sigh.

"Hey, man. Where's Olive?" He immediately asked.

"Oh, she's mad at me, of course," I told him, peeling the plastic wrap from around my bagel. He laughed slightly.

"What'd you do this time?" He asked, a smile creeping on his face. A food tray suddenly crashed loudly down on the table next to me, causing me to jump in my seat.

"Mark's bein' a man slut!" Jayla laughed, taking a seat swiftly next to me.

"Hey! Am not!" I growled. "She's pissed off because Holly Kurtz sits next to me in English, and apparently she has a fuckin' crush on me or something dumb like that," I explained. Rhett laughed, shaking his head.

"Well- shame on you, Mark," He teased before scooping a mouthful of the revolting taco mix into his mouth. I glanced over to see Jayla had gotten the same thing. "She is pretty fuckin' hot, though."

"That's besides the point... hey, is that s**t even good?" I asked, crinkling my nose slightly in disgust at their food. They both shrugged their shoulders in unison.

"Ehhh," Jayla snorted. Didn't sound too convincing.. I ripped a piece of my bagel off and shoved it into my mouth. It was dry, but not too bad.

"You still wanna go out for a cigarette, then?" Rhett asked between bites.

"f**k. Yes." A wide smile formed on Jayla's face. "I have my pack in my bag." She patted the purse sitting in her lap.

"Good.. because I left mine in my sweatshirt, which is in my locker," I said. I'd forgotten to get them out. I always kept them in my locker. You would get in big trouble if you were ever found with them in your pocket or anything like that. Jay didn't care so much, though.

Once we were all done scarfing down our food, we nonchalantly stood and headed towards the cafeteria doors. We threw away our trash and left the room. Lucky for us, the bathrooms were right outside the cafeteria, and the back doors just past them. So it didn't seem too suspicious that we were headed in that direction. We walked calmly yet swiftly out the doors. The uncomfortable, humid heat nearly smacked me in the face once the doors were shut behind us.

"Oh, god!" Jayla complained, obviously having the same thoughts about the weather as me. We walked swiftly down the sidewalk and across the street. She pulled out her pack of cigarettes from her bag and handed one to each of us. "You guys are gonna give me one when school's over!"

"No s**t," Rhett snickered as he lit his. Jayla handed me her lighter and I quickly lit my cigarette as well. I took a deep drag, the familiar feeling of smoke filling my lungs calming me almost immediately. We were all on the look out as we smoked, aware that a stupid cop could come by at any moment.

I smoked my cigarette quickly, to the point that I felt a bit of a tobacco buzz. I took one final drag and threw my butt to the ground, stomping it out as I slowly blew out the last of the smoke from my lungs. The other two were soon to follow. "Ready?" I asked. They exchanged glances with each other.

"Not really... but I guess we have no choice," Jayla complained dramatically. I rolled my eyes half heartedly with a small smile.

"I know...," I whined in agreement. "Come on.." We made our way back across the street and through the doors we had left earlier. By the time we made it back in, it was almost time for the last class to begin. We said our good byes and started heading towards our destinations. I had math for my last class, which I absolutely hated. It was boring, and always felt like it dragged on and on. Plus, none of my close friends were in it.

As I sat in my seat, I was left to think about earlier events. I hadn't seen Olive after lunch, and I most likely wouldn't see her until the next day. I was still puzzled as to why she'd gotten so upset... but she often confused me in that way. It undoubtedly left me feeling grumpy. My stomach flickered with excitement when I reminded myself that I had plans after school. That would help me feel better and get my mind off of shit..

Eventually, after repeatedly staring at the clock, class ended and the bell rang. Every student rushed for the door, myself included, and began walking down the hall. I came to my locker, where I put my books away and grabbed my sweatshirt. I turned and began walking once more, relieved that class was done for the day. Same old routine, done yet again.

I didn't run into any of my friends, so I made it outside rather quickly. I walked across the grass, towards Jayla's car, glancing around for anybody I knew. I was slightly surprised when I made it to her gray Jetta before she did. I sighed and leaned against it, taking out my pack of cigarettes, and watched towards the school. Soon I spotted her walking across the grass towards me.

"Hey!" I called, grinning. "You done flirting for today?" Jayla laughed and shook her head.

"I wasn't doing any flirting today!" She called back. Soon she was standing outside the driver's side door. She unlocked it and we both got in. She turned on the engine and wasted no time in driving out of her parking spot. "Finally!" She laughed. "Give me the cigarette you owe me." I nodded before pulling out two cigarette. I handed one to her before lighting mine. School traffic was absolutely atrocious, so we always tried to get out as fast as we could. If you weren't early enough to make it out, it was almost like you needed to leave a half an hour late to miss the awful traffic. "So what're you doing tonight?" She casually asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Actually, Felix hit me up. He wants to hang out... smoke some weed or someshit," I told her, taking a drag of my dwindling cigarette. I heard her scoff, so I turned my head to scowl at her. "What's your problem?" I asked.

"Why the f**k are you hanging out with him all the time?" Jayla growled, casting me an annoyed look. I raised an eye brow.

"I'm sorry... I was unaware that I wasn't allowed to hang out with someone who has a bunch of s**t in common with me." I shook my head, immediately feeling defensive. Just because she and him had some stupid quarrel in the past didn't make me like him any less. She sighed, clearly agitated.

"You're allowed, dude. But why him?" She whined. I couldn't help but snort with laughter.

"Why do you hate him so much, Jay?" I asked, glancing at her as I spoke. "Because he wasn't into you? That was a while ago." I took another drag of my cigarette before continuing. "If you gave him a second chance I think you would really get along with him... as a friend this time." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well... You know he used to be a junkie, right?" She continued as if trying to make a point. "I don't want you getting into that s**t!" I laughed slightly, but my interest was definitely piqued. I had no idea he used to be into that.

"I don't really care- and I wouldn't... and isn't the key phrase there used to be?" I pointed out. "Besides, how long has he been clean now?"

"I don't know... like six months maybe? He was like, just clean when we started f*****g around or whatever," She grumbled, seeming purely irritated. "You never noticed the scars on his arms from old track marks?" She asked. I thought back but shook my head. Not sure how I never noticed that..

"No, I didn't," I muttered. "I don't think doing h****n defines who you are, though," I continued to defend my friend.

"Dunno, man... kinda think it does!" She retorted. "You have to be some kind of shitty person to do that shit... clearly." I shook my head and took one last small drag before throwing the butt of my cigarette out the window. I had to disagree with her.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. You're butthurt that he left you and now you're jealous that he's hanging out with me. It's fine," I teased. She shot me a hostile look and I burst out laughing. He worked her up like nobody I had ever known before...

>

I stood up from my front step as I watched the familiar black Mazda pull up to the curb beside my house. I took the couple steps between me and the car and got in the passenger's seat. "Hey!" Felix greeted me happily. He had a cigarette between his fingers.

"What's up?" I greeted in return. I immediately took notice that Glass Animal's newest album was playing. He shrugged a shoulder and put his car in first gear before pulling away from the curb and driving down the street. "Where are we gonna go?" I asked.

"Not sure. Maybe just to my yard or something...," He muttered before taking a drag of his cigarette. Jayla and my conversation from earlier in the day was still stuck in my head, so I couldn't help but look at his arms. I didn't really see anything... but it was getting kind of dark, being as it was seven already. I wanted so badly to ask him, but I resisted the urge.

"Did you go to school today?" I asked nonchalantly. He glanced at me with a smirk before shaking his head.

"Nope. I f*****g hate school... and I think being a senior just makes it worse, honestly." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're a sophomore, right?" He asked. I nodded, taking out a cigarette of my own.

"Yeah... I f*****g hate it, too," I grumbled before lighting it.

"Brody always tells me that Warwick is better than Manheim Central, at least!" He snickered. "I believe it. Manheim sucks dick." I laughed when I felt a sudden buzz in my pocket. I groaned inwardly before pulling my phone out.

"Shit...," I hissed under my breath once I saw it was Olive.

"Hm? What's up?" Felix asked. I shook my head.

"Nothin'. Olive got mad at me today, and she just texted me," I explained, debating whether to open the text or not.

"Ahhh," He breathed in understanding. "Another reason why I have no girlfriend..." I smiled at him before opening the text conversation. 'If you don't like Holly, I don't see why you can't just not talk to her. I saw you talking to her today. You looked pretty happy.' Jesus Christ! I stared at it momentarily before replying. 'I sit next to her! Am I just supposed to blatantly ignore her!' I was so irritated. I stuck my phone in the passenger's door drink holder. I didn't want to talk to her while I was hanging out with my friend.

"Dude, she thinks I have a fuckin' crush on this girl that sits next to me, just because that girl supposedly has a crush on me!" I huffed. Felix burst out in laughter and shook his head.

"That's kind of funny, gotta admit. Not for you. But for me." He grinned at me. What an ass.

"Sometimes I wonder if I should just leave her," I admitted. "Things would definitely be easier..."

"Yeah, they prolly would be," Felix agreed. We'd made it out of town and on our way to Manheim. It didn't take too long to get there from my house.. I honestly didn't know where Felix lived, though. I wasn't sure if that's even where we were going.

"She's just different than she used to be, you know..," I trailed off.

"That's usually how things go, sadly," He snorted.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, not sure why I'm telling you all this shit... I'm just pissed!" I laughed. She shook his head with a crooked grin.

"I don't mind, dude. That's what friends are for..," He trailed off slightly. By then the CD had started over, and 'Youth' began playing. Just as it began, Felix reached forward and skipped it.

"You don't like that song?" I asked. I really liked the song, so I was kind of taken aback at how abruptly he'd skipped it.. but I guess not everyone had to like the same stuff.

"Hm? No... not really," He replied with a shrug.

"Why not?" I asked. He smirked.

"Because it's sad...," He snickered. I raised an eye brow, a crooked smile on my face.

"Seriously?" It was kind of sad, but I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Nah, I just don't like it." He took a final drag of his cigarette before tossing it out the window. That was fair enough.

Soon we were driving through Manheim. We came to a red light beside a Twin Kiss, where we sat for a couple minutes before it turned green. I was only slightly familiar with Manheim, since Brody had moved there- but he didn't even live in town.. Before that, I'd never really had any reason to visit.

We went down a few streets, past an elementary school, and eventually we were pulling up to the curb in front of a house right on the corner of an alley. The house looked quiet, all the windows dark. It had a shabby front porch with overgrown bushes by the steps. It was directly attached to a home beside it, but that wasn't uncommon in towns.

Felix parked his car with a sigh, sitting in his seat for a moment before pulling the keys out of the ignition. He glanced past me to look at the house.

"Is this where you live?" I asked, pointing over at the gloomy home beside us. He nodded, looking the least happy I'd seen him in a long time, if ever.

"It sure is!" He opened his car door and got out. I followed suit shortly after. "Let's go around back," He suggested. I nodded and began following him down the small alleyway. The side of the brick house was covered in ivy, and I could tell nobody had taken care of the plants for quite a while. In the back there was a small yard attached to a back porch, a small driveway leading to the back of the home next to theirs, and then a longer yard on the opposite side of the driveway. We continued walking past the house and through the yard until we came to a garage.

Felix sat down in the grass on the edge of the property. I hesitantly took a heavy seat next to him, staring out in front of us. There was a lumber yard or something directly across from the garage. I peered down the adjacent alley to see it went pretty much the whole stretch down.

"I don't think I've ever really been in Manheim... well, in town at least," I told him, pulling at the grass beneath me.

"Oh, yeah?" He asked. I heard the flick of a lighter and glanced over to see he was lighting what appeared to be a joint. "Well you're not missing much." He smiled at me before taking a toke. We were sitting under a street light, but there was another overgrown bush hiding us from the alleys. He held the joint out in my direction, and I found myself looking at his arms once more. This time, under the light of the street post, I did notice his scars. He had quite a few, some less noticeable than others. I graciously took the joint from him, and I didn't miss another scar on his hand. I wondered how I'd never noticed before... I guess I hadn't really been looking.

I took a drag in and held it in for as long as I could handle before slowly breathing out. The familiar burning hit my chest, and I willed myself not to cough. I handed it back to him and let out a small laugh.

"Thanks for this, man... especially after the shitty day I had," I snorted. He cast me a sly smile and nodded.

"Not a problem. I didn't have the best day, either... so it's always nice to sit outside and smoke a joint. Plus it isn't hot as s**t anymore." He looked up towards the sky, which in turn caused me to look. You could see stars, but not that great since we were in a town. I fought the urge to ask him what went wrong with his day, not wanting to over step any boundaries. To put it nicely, I was a curious person.. But really i was pretty damn nosey.

I wanted to ask him why he started h****n in the first place, and how his mom died. I wanted to know when his life tragedy first began. But Felix was a very private person.. and I could respect that. So instead, I smoked the joint with him and we talked around random, stupid s**t. I didn't think about Olive. I didn't think about school.

All of that could be dealt with in the morning.