"I want to go to a party," Bella said with a heavy sigh.
The mention of a party grabbed my attention. Any excuse to drink was enough to convince me. "Same, let's go."
"I don't really want to go to a party," Kailey mumbled. "Besides, we can't just show up to one."
"Not to mention the fact that it's the middle of the week," Ricky added as he continued to rub circles on his girlfriend's back. "Who the hell is throwing a party today?"
Everything they were saying was true, there was no way of getting to a party tonight. I had only ever been to a couple of parties in my teenage years, and I loved all of them. It was an excuse to get shit-faced, and no one would bat an eye. I didn't have an annoying bug in my ear telling me to ‘pace myself’ or ‘calm down’.
I had to make up an excuse to get my aunt to let me out of the house. That was why I hadn’t been to as many as I would have liked to, Aunt Macy was constantly stopping mefrom going. Not because she was worried about my safety, not because she had a good reason, but simply because she wanted to stop me from doing anything fun.
The one time I did get to go was because it was on a day where she was in a good enough mood to not care where I was and what I was doing. I needed to catch her on more days like that.
“I can ask around and find one for this weekend if you guys really want to go,” said Bella. “We can use the distraction with all of this election bullshit.”
Yes, I coulddefinitelyuse the distraction.
***
I had my school laptop in front of me and my notebook next to it. I was studying. It was what I always did when I had down time. It kept me occupied and prevented my mind from wandering into places I did not want it to go. The twins weren’t at home, my aunt was in her room, so I got to be alone as I studied in the kitchen.
Unlike the perfect Javier Cortez, I had to study to keep my grades up. The only reason I knew that Javier never studied was because I often would look at his social media. We didn't follow each other on it, but his Instagram page was public so I could see everything. He was always doing something whether that be a party, a school event, or something with his family. There was no time for him to study if he was always anywhere but his home, right?
I picked up my phone, deciding to check in on my rival to see what he was up to. I went to his page and sighed when I saw nothing new.
Why am I disappointed? I don't care whether or not he posts.
I set my phone down on the counter face down and turned my attention to my work. The urge to throw all my assignments into a shredder was almost to the max when a notification came up on my phone. I checked, it was Instagram.
j_cortez232 requested to follow you
My heart sank. How ironic he followed me right after I stalked his page. After all of these years, why was he requesting to follow me now? We weren't friends and nothing between us had changed. I had my account private for a reason. Why would I ever let him in?
I decided that I was not going to accept it. I went back to reading on and on about whatever the fuck we were learning in history class. Unfortunately, even as I was reading, I still had no idea what we were learning. Damn, it was a real struggle trying to be top of the class. All the studying wore me out, but studying until I couldn't anymore was better than letting myself be with my thoughts.
A twenty-dollar bill was silently slid in front of me. My brother, Easton, had gotten home from work and was giving me cash like he did every week. I looked at him, but he refused to meet my eyes. I was going to say he looked tired, his eyes red and bags under them. But when he slowly and silently walked past me I caught a whiff of the familiar smell of weed that was usually coming off him.
That was when I noticed my sister standing in front of the refrigerator. I somehow missed the fact that both my siblings had entered the house. Sure, the music I was playing in my earbuds was loud, and I was busy thinking about the assholethat everyone else loves, but still. If Easton and Emerson were murderers, I would be long dead.
"Did you drink all of the milk?" Emerson asked me, irritation evident in her voice.
"Why would I?" I replied as I paused the song.
Emerson scoffed. "I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking."
“I did not.”
She humphed and then pursed her lips. My sister did not believe me, but I did not care enough to do anything about it.
Resuming my music, I went back to staring blankly at my work. Staring at my work was my attempt to study, but all I could think about was Mr. Perfect. What was he thinking trying to follow me? Why did he think I would ever in my right mind accept it? I mean, I had only had two posts on Instagram, both of which I only posted because I was prompted to. If Javier’s goal was to stalk my page and learn things about me, he would be out of luck. I was not one to post anything personal about me.
I was startled for the third time that evening when a box of fast food was plopped down in front of me. I paused my playlist again before Emerson mumbled, "Almost forgot to give this to you."
And with that, Emerson walked off. I smiled at the kind gesture from my sister. She knew I hadn't eaten a proper dinner. Not that fast food was a proper dinner, but it was better than ramen noodles for the fifth time in a row. Home cooked meals were a rare occurrence in our household.
And as I ate. I thought more about the guy that I hated. Maybe he only wanted me to accept his follow request because he is plotting something to ensure I lose the class election. Or maybe he wanted to do something to turn all of my friends against me. Nothing good could come out of me accepting his follow request.
So then why did I accept it?
