“It’s chill, though.” Ricky put on a closed-lip smile. “I know you care about me. Thanks for coming here to make sure we’re good.”
Ricky’s quickness to brush things over when he had just told me I prioritize alcohol over him didn’t sit right with me. Still, I was relieved to hear that we were on good terms.
I fidgeted with the drawstring on my shorts. "So, what happened at the party?”
He rolled his lips together and his head hung low. “Kailey and I are on a break.”
I couldn’t stop my lips from parting in shock. As annoying as they could be sometimes as a couple, I didn’t want their relationship to have problems. They were great together and were good for each other.
But they were on a break, not broken up. A quick conversation between them could possibly fix the conversation. I hoped so, anyway.
"I'm sorry." It was my fourth time apologizing in the span of five minutes. "Last night?"
"Yeah, in the middle of the party."
It seemed that the party was a bad night for everyone.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. Ricky shook his head firmly. “Do you want me to leave?”
I didn’t want him to want me to leave. He shook his head again and a light smile formed on my lips.
"We can go inside and stuff our faces with junk while I beat you in COD," he suggested.
I pursed my lips. “Minus the snacks, but sure.”
“Sucks being hungover, doesn’t it?”
I rolled my eyes as I moved past him to let myself in. “Yeah, yeah, I don’t need a lecture. By the way, you never beat me in Call of Duty.”
He smirked. “We’ll see about that.”
Twenty
Eli
Ihadn’t done any studying in over twenty-four hours. Preparing for Thinkfast was how I was spending my downtime, and in the process I had forgotten about the thing that actually mattered: school. I did extra credit assignments, redid the problems from earlier homework assignments, and even read the chapter of a book that my teacher told us wasn't necessary at all.
I did schoolwork for three hours straight. It was genuine torture, but I forced myself because it needed to be done. If I started slacking, then my grades would start slacking and then I would have no chance at becoming valedictorian. That would mean that Javier would beat me and I could not have that, not again. I would study until I couldn't anymore if that meant securing the title.
Unfortunately, my studying was cut short when my sister entered the room, her curly hair bouncing with each stride she took. Emerson needed assistance with her homework, and because I was in no mood to fight, I agreed. By ‘assistance’ she meant that I do the homework for her. It was how my helping her with homework always ended.
Emerson was two math classes behind me. She wasn’t the best at math, so she ended up failing it twice. In my opinion, it was because she never tried hard enough. Neither of my siblings were dumb, they simply chose to be. With a little effort and concentration, they could have been just as smart as I was.
My sister was on her phone texting who I assumed to be Benji while I did her math for her. We would normally sit in silence while I tackled her assignments for her, but this time she had something on her mind.
Emerson blew a bubble with the gum of her mouth and then popped it. "You know that Gabriela girl?"
"Gabriela Cortez?" I inquired. "The girl I asked you to help prepare to try out for the cheer team and instead of telling me ‘yes,’ you called me a bozo?"
That was exactly what happened when I brought it up to her a while ago, but I blamed myself for choosing such a bad time to ask. She and Benji were arguing, and I showed up in the middle of it with a question about her helping train some random girl she had never met. She didn’t waste a lot of energy on me, simply saying, ‘No, bozo. Stop asking me stupid questions.’
I knew better than to test my sister's short patience. I had told Javier that she wasn’t going to agree, and I was right.
"Yep, that's that one!" Emerson let out a light laugh as she reminisced about the time. "She's actually so sweet and will a hundred percent be making the cheer team next year. She’s a natural. It sucks because I won't be on the team with her since I'll have graduated."
"It's optimistic of you to think that you will graduate on time," I muttered to myself.
I thought I spoke low enough, but my sister heard me. She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just because I'm not as smart as Albert Newton like you are doesn't mean I'm stupid."
