8At some point I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Isaac was shaking me awake at the end of the period. I yawned and stretched my arms as the rest of the kids filed out of the classroom. Alice was already long gone, ready to see her girlfriend no doubt.
"Whoops. I probably shouldn't sleep during class." I grumbled, looking over at Isaac. He grinned.
"Maybe not," He said, "You're not learning all that well when you sleep through the class."
"Bah, fuck learning," I replied, gathering my shit up and throwing it in my backpack. "Come on Isaac, let's blow this popsicle stand." He nodded in agreement and we walked out to the bus together.
"So how was your first day of classes here at the lovely Randleton High, Isaac?" I asked as we settled into a bus seat together. It was a little cramped, given Isaac's size, but we managed.
"Not so bad," Isaac said, settling his backpack into his lap. "The gym teacher's the football coach and he said he could probably get me on to the team, even though it was kinda later in the season."
"Good for you man," I said. I actually had no idea the douchewad that was our gym teacher was also the football coach. Wasn't exactly surprising though.
"Yeah," He said. "I'm pretty excited. You're gonna be at all my games, right?" He looked at me, giving me puppy dog eyes. I rolled my eyes in return.
"Of course I am," I said. "Even though we've barely met, I am your number one fan and cheerleader. I will be there at every game, home and away, to cheer on my friend. Even despite my disposition against the sport," I paused. "Well, all of the home games anyway. No promises about the away ones." Isaac let out a laugh.
"That's okay. I probably wouldn't go to the away games in your shoes either." He said, smiling at me while the bus took off.
"I hate bus rides," I grimaced, changing the subject. Isaac looked at me, puzzled.
"Why's that?" He asked. His answer came in the form of a coincidental wad of paper hitting me in the face and multiple children screaming from the front of the bus. I gave him a deadpan look and he laughed at me again. "Okay, okay, maybe it's a little bit loud and maybe there's some throwing of objects that should not be happening."
"Maybe?" I scoffed, "More of a definitely." I was pelted in the face by yet another wadded up piece of paper and I froze. That felt a little directed…too directed. I slowly turned my head and there I saw my arch nemesis, staring at me with a devilish grin.
Luke was an adorable child, sure. Most kids are cute and Luke looked straight angelic. But his appearance was nothing more than a ruse, for Luke had a soul blacker than the night itself.
"Get down," I hissed, ducking behind the seat in front of me and pulling Isaac down with me. Well. Trying to. He didn't exactly fit and he was still pretty much over the seat, but some coverage was better than none from the nightmare child.
"What's wrong?" Isaac asked, sounding worried.
"The little blond boy a few seats in front of us," I whispered, "He's a demon in child form." Isaac raised an eyebrow.
"He can't be that bad Sam," He said, not unreasonably. Few can know the terror of Luke without experiencing it for themselves.
"He is though," I argued. "Just look at him." Isaac poked his head up (well, sort of. He more or less just kind of looked up instead of down like he was) before leaning back down.
"He looks like any innocent little boy, Sam," He said. I scowled.
"He isn't! He is possessed by evil spirits! He is not to be trusted, Isaac! Don't let his appearance fool you!" I whispered frantically. Isaac rolled his eyes and sat back up.
"Really Sam, you're just being paranoid." He said, smiling and waving at Luke. I held my breath and waited…but he was never pelted in the face with any sort of paper objects. "See?" I tentatively sat back up and locked eyes with the small child. He smiled innocently and waved.
"He's acting," I insisted. "He's doing this because he wants me to look like a liar!" We both turned to look at him again but Luke was facing forward, talking to one of his tiny friends. Demon child.
"Maybe he just hates you in particular," Isaac offered, looking back at me. I bit my lip and avoided eye contact. Isaac sighed. "What did you do to him Sam?"
"What, me? I have done nothing." I protested. Isaac gave me a look and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, maaaybe he was eating ice cream by the street one day and maaaaaybe I accidentally bumped into him and made him drop his ice cream."
"Sam!"
"It was an accident!"
"Did you at least apologize?"
"I…well, not exactly."
"Samuel!"
"I meant toooo," I groaned, leaning my head against Isaac's arm. "Really, I meant to. But I was with a group of people and by the time I realized what had happened we were already way far past and-"
"You didn't want to deal with him crying and his mom, did you?" Isaac interrupted.
"I'm not saying it's impossible." I mused. Isaac flicked me lightly in the head. I protested.
"I don't blame the kid for hating you," Isaac said, "That's terrible."
"I know," I said dejectedly, "I don't blame him either really. Ice cream is a sacred thing. But as life stands now, he is my mortal enemy."
"Wouldn't Bryce be your mortal enemy?" Isaac asked.
"No, not really. He's more of a guy who likes to verbally and physically abuse me. Though physical abuse is worse, I have to admit." Isaac scowled.
"He won't be doing that anymore," He promised.
"Maybe not when you're around," I said, "But there's nothing really stopping him from when you aren't."
"I can beat the shit out of him," Isaac said.
"Aw, how sweet of you. But that's okay. Violence is not the answer. " I said, a little surprised Isaac was this willing to stand up for me. But it was nice, really. "Not the mention he has a lot of little henchmen friends. And while you're quite imposing, you wouldn't do so well against a group of people."
"Fair enough," Isaac grumbled, obviously unhappy with it. I patted him on the back.
"There, there." I comforted, "Maybe you can beat the shit out of someone on my behalf some other day."
"Yeah, yeah," Isaac sighed, before suddenly looking out the window. "Oh hey, my house is coming up here."
"Oh shit, gimme yo phone home slice." I said, making a grabbing action with my hand. He handed the cellular device over. I quickly typed my number in and handed it back. "Alright. Text me later so I get your phone number." Isaac grinned at me.
"Alright! I'll talk to you later Sam," Isaac said as the bus slowed to a stop. He stood up and lumbered off, leaving me alone in the wretched wasteland of the bus. I kept an eye out in front of me for the demon child, but he was blissfully unaware, engrossed in a conversation with his tiny friends. I let out a sigh of relief. I was safe, for now.
It didn't last for long.
A few minutes after Isaac was gone, I was pelted by what seemed like hundreds of papers. Even ducking down in my seat didn't help completely, paper raining down on me like a severe thunderstorm which poured down paper instead of water. It was pretty annoying, but it was a monster I had created. I had to live with the consequences. Plus the fact that Henrietta was a hateful bitch and made no move to stop them. Whore.
Needless to say, I was happy when the bus finally stopped at my house. I burst through the door to my house and threw my backpack to the side.
"Honey, I'm hoooome!" I yelled out. There was, as expected, no answer. Anna was likely still hanging out with Daniel or at some extracurricular activity (really, I can never tell with that woman) and Mom was still at work.
I figured that the best course of action at this point would be to check on my nose and how it was doing, so I walked over to the bathroom. I pulled out the cotton balls and surveyed the damage done. There was a bit of dried blood that no one had decided to tell me about, but at least the bleeding seemed to have stopped. I cleaned my face up and decided that this was not something my family needed to know about. They'd give me way too much shit.
I let out a heavy sigh and wandered back into the kitchen, grabbing an apple out of the fridge before settling on the couch in the living room. I flipped through some channels on the TV while nibbling on my apple. There was, of course, nothing on. I settled on letting some Golden Girls run for some background noise while I laid back on the couch and played on my phone.
That went on for a solid twenty minutes or so before I heard the front door open. I poked my head up to see Anna walk through the door, throwing her backpack next to mine.
"Hello, dearest sister," I greeted.
"Oh, my darling little brother," She said dramatically, flopping down onto the loveseat beside the couch. "Oh fuck yes, Golden Girls. Is this the episode where Dorothy's son and Roses' daughter do the do?"
"You bet your skinny ass it is." I replied.
"Fucking A," Anna said, switching her gaze from the TV over to me. "How did today go?"
"Surprisingly, far less terrible than expected." I said, "I made a new friend today."
"Oh, cool. What's their name?" Anna inquired, getting back up and heading for the kitchen.
"His name is Isaac. He just moved here from Texas."
"Oh, boss. Does he have the Texas accent and everything?" There were rummaging sounds from the kitchen. "And we need some more food. The only thing that's really in the fridge is hot sauce and apples."
"Nah, he didn't grow up there," I answered, "And right? We need to run to the store soon."
"Well, it's good you made another friend. Oh hells yes, I found some ham."
"Is it any good?" There was a pause.
"Well. It isn't moldy." She said finally. "I'ma eat it."
"You should try making a sandwich with it. Put some hot sauce on that shit."
"One step ahead of you." She said, walking out with the said sandwich. She offered the culinary experiment to me. "You wanna try a bite? It's not really so bad." I shrugged and took the sandwich, taking a bite.
"I've had worse," I said, giving her the sandwich back. She munched on it thoughtfully.
"I concur," She said, plopping back down into the loveseat. We sat there in a comfortable silence, the only noise coming from the antics of old women on the TV. It was all quite peaceful really. The peace was interrupted by Mom coming through the door.
"Hello children," She said, throwing her purse by the two backpacks. I'd never noticed we kind of threw all of our shit in the same place.
"Hi Mom," Anna and I said in unison, neither of us looking up from our phones. I checked the time. Only 4:34.
"You're home earlier than usual," I commented.
"Finished my project early," Mom said, heading into the kitchen. "What the hell? Why don't we have anything to eat?"
"There's ham and hot sauce," Anna offered.
"Gross," Mom said, returning to the living room. "Anna, if I give you money will you go run to the store and get some food?"
"Sure thing," Anna said happily, "Just make me up a list. You wanna go, Sam?"
"No ma'am," I said, shaking my head violently. "Too much can go wrong in a convenience store on a day like this." Anna shrugged.
"Whatever," She said, and she and mom began discussing things we needed. I stretched and got up, deciding this was a good time to retreat back to my room.
I threw my phone on the bed before I booted up the TV in my room. Since I didn't have anything better to do until Anna got home and I had to bring in groceries, I turned on my Xbox 360 and started up some good old Call of Duty.
It was about an hour later when I stopped playing, out of frustration rather than Anna getting back from the store. Of course, today being the day it was, I hadn't won a single match. In fact, I went negative in most of the games I played. I groaned in frustration, flopping down in my bed face down. This sucked.
I was distracted from my moping by my phone buzzing loudly. I reached my hand out blindly, groping around for my phone blindly. I was sure I left it on my bed…ah. There it was.
From: (737) 281-4824
You put your name in as Coolest Person You Know? :P
That could only be Isaac. Unless I put my number in someone's phone and forgot. But that seemed far more unlikely.
To: Isaac
Uh yeah. Just stating the obvious.
From: Isaac
Lol debatable...;P. It took me like, 10 minutes to figure out who you were in my phone lol.
To: Isaac
Wow. Can't believe you would say something like that :'(. And really? Haha loser.
From: Isaac
You'll get over it :). I thought you thought smiley faces were so middle school? :P
To: Isaac
In notes! Texting is another story. Not the same thing.
From: Isaac
Psh, double standards :P. So what's up?
To: Isaac
Just finished up some call of duty. Didn't do very well :(. Stupid September 16th.
From: Isaac
Is it because of the day or is it because you just suck? Lol :P
To: Isaac
WOah. I'll have you know I am amazing at call of duty. Way better than you
From: Isaac
Probably lol. I've never played it :P
To: Isaac
Wat. You're a teenage boy and you've never played cod? How's that even possible?
From: Isaac
Lol I dunno. I've just never really had any interest in owning a gaming system.
To: Isaac
This is sacrilege! You and I are going to play this sometime. You can come over sometime or something. Or I can come over and bring it.
From: Isaac
Lol sure :). Sounds like fun.
I was interrupted from my texting by the sound of the front door opening and closing and Anna yelling for me.
To: Isaac
Oh, gtg. I'll text you later.
I left my phone on the bed and went downstairs to help bring groceries in and put them away.
After everything was brought in and put away, instead of deciding to use this new food to cook dinner, Mom decided we should go to Denny's instead. Not that I blame her, cooking is a lot of effort.
It wasn't until we got there, however, that I realized I forgot my phone back at home. I groaned loudly.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked, looking at me as we walked into the diner.
"Nothing," I grumbled, "Just forgot my phone is all."
"Good!" Mom said, beaming at me. "Some face to face family interaction will do us good!" I made a face at her.
"How about no," I disagreed.
"Nonsense." She said as we were lead to a table. "Besides, it's already too late. You don't have your phone, you're going to have to talk to me."
"What about Anna?" I complained.
"Of course Anna is gonna talk with us!" Mom exclaimed, "Isn't that right, dear?"
"Mhmm," Anna said, not looking up from her phone. The bitch.
"How did your day go, Sam?" Mom asked, "What with the day it is and what not."
"Surprisingly not so bad," I answered, the conversation briefly interrupted as we all ordered drinks and food. "I made a new friend today."
"Oh? What's their name?" She asked.
"His name's Isaac. He just moved here from Texas." I answered.
"Ooooh, so he's a cowboy." I groaned again, covering my face with my hand.
"Mom, you're stereotyping him. That's terrible of you," I said, "And no. He's not. He hasn't even lived there his whole life."
"Oh," Mom said, "So why'd his family move up here to Indiana?" I shrugged.
"Dunno. He didn't say and I didn't wanna bother him about it. Seemed personal."
"I'm glad you're making new friends though," She said, smiling at the waitress and thanking her as she brought us our drinks. "Sarah and Alice are great, but I'm worried about how few friends you have."
"I have plenty of friends!" I protested. "I mean…there's Will too."
"You've barely ever talked about him." Mom retorted and I sulked in my seat. I didn't have that many friends cause I didn't want that many friends. "Tell me about this new friend of yours though!"
"Well," I began, "His name is Isaac. And he's massive. Not like fat, he's just really really tall and really really buff. He looks way older than…however old he is." Mom nodded.
"What else?"
"He…he has really green eyes and curly black hair," I struggled. Mom raised her eyebrows at me. "And he's really nice. He seems a little self concious and you can make him blush really easily."
"He seems nice," She commented, "But give me some details, not-so-sweet child of mine! What's he want to be? What's his favorite color? Does he have any siblings?"
"Mom! We became friends today! I don't know his life story!" I rolled my eyes at her, "Jeez Mom, why you gotta be so nosey? You've never even met the guy."
"Forgive me for taking an interest in my son's social life," She snorted.
"Not forgiven," I said, but the questions she asked bounched around in my head. I realized I didn't really know much about Isaac and he didn't really know that much about me. What did Isaac want to be? Probably something cliché and perfect to fit in with his personality. Like a doctor or something. "And didn't you say Anna was going to participate in this lovely face-to-face talk time?"
"Oh yes," Mom turned her attention to Anna, who sighed and put her phone in her pocket.
"It was nice while it lasted," She muttered, glaring at me. I shrugged. All is fair in matters of our mother.
The rest of dinner went by fairly peacefully, and it was almost nice, talking like a family (read: almost) but the realization that I didn't know much about Isaac stuck with me for the rest of the night. Maybe I didn't know much about him, but I realized that I wanted to.
When I got out of the car, I made a beeline for the door and for the stairs that would lead to the wonderful device known as my phone.
"Do you want to join on some family game time?" I heard Mom ask.
"I'm good," I said, beginning my ascent up the stairs.
"Even…Super Smash Brothers Brawl?" I paused, my foot halfway up to the next step. I turned to glare at her. Super Smash Brothers is sort of a sacred thing in our family. When we were young and I played Melee, Mom decided that it would be a good way to settle fights in the household. We all ended up playing a lot (it was a surprisingly good way to take out aggression towards your family) so we tended to be fairly matched up in skill.
"Only if you're prepared to lose old woman," I retorted, and she raised her eyebrows at me.
"You haven't played in so long, you probably can't land a single KO on this 'old woman'," She taunted.
"I don't need to have played in a while to whoop you," I retorted, storming back down the stairs and booting up the Wii and TV in the living room. "You in Anna?"
"Uh, duh," She said, sitting down in the couch. "Neither of you stand a chance against me."
"I seem to raised some awfully delusional children," Mom mused, sitting down in the loveseat. I took my place next to Anna and handed out Gamecube controllers because let's be honest, that's the only way to play.
We all went with our normal characters for the first match – I played Ike, Mom played Meta Knight, and Anna played Peach. It was a five stock match, all items on, and I was ready to kick some ass.
"Mom! You're spamming!"
"All is fair in Smash, Sammy boy!"
"Hey! I thought we all agreed that we wouldn't use the fan!"
"Take that, you bitch!"
"Sam, I'm only excusing that use of bitch because your sister was being a bitch by ledge guarding. Nice one, honey."
"Sam, stop it with the yo-yo. That is not okay."
"Who even plays Bowser? He's slower than a potato in an ice cube."
"You're going to play Captain Falcon? He's terrible."
"You would DARE to Falcon-Punch your mother!?"
"TOUCH THAT SMASH BALL AND DIE. IT'S MINE."
"YOU CAN'T CALL DIBS ON SMASH BALLS!"
"HA, YOU SUCKERS. I GOT THE SMASH BALL"
"WHY WOULD YOU JUST LET HER GET THE SMASH BALL LIKE THAT?!"
"IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR TRYING TO CALL DIBS ON IT!"
Needless to say, we all get pretty into the whole thing. We ended up playing quite a few matches and by the time we looked up at the clock, it was already 10:30.
"Well, my ducklings," Mom said, stretching and yawning loudly, "While it has been fun beating you guys at this video game, I need to get some sleep."
"Me too," Anna replied, putting the controllers up and shutting down the TV. "Gotta get some beauty sleep."
"You'll need sleep than you're going to get for the beauty part," I snorted.
"Be nice to your sister," Mom said before kissing us both on the forehead. "Night guys, love you."
"Love you too." Anna and I said in unison and the three of us all split up to our individual rooms. The first thing I did was flop down into bed and then check my phone. I had four texts, three from Sarah and one from Isaac:
From: Isaac
Alright! :) Talk to you later!
From: Sarah
Hey, do you know where my headphones age?
From: Sarah
Are* sorry, autocorrect
From: Sarah
Nevermind, they were in my backpack.
I decided to ignore the texts from Sarah since there didn't seem to be much point in texting her now, but I did send Isaac a text back.
To: Isaac
Hey. Sorry, had to spend time with family and shit. What's up?
I left my phone on my bed while I went to brush my teeth and change into some sweatpants instead of the jeans I had on. I checked my phone again when I got back to my bed only to find it blank. Oh well. Isaac must have gone to bed already. What's the best way to end a sort of lousy day? Go sit up on the roof of course. I left my phone on the bed and went over to my window, opening it up all the way. The way my house was set up, I could kind of step out to the side of my window to get onto the roof. I like to go out on the roof sometime and kind of just look at the stars. It was nice really, relaxing to just look up at all the stars and just think about life.
I stepped out through my window, placing my foot carefully onto the roof and pulling myself out. I laid down on the roof and put my arms behind my headIt wasn't cloudy tonight, so there were millions of little prinpicks of light illuminating the sky. It was still pretty warm out, in a way that you could only feel in the beginning of autumn, and sounds of crickets chirping still filled the air. I closed my eyes in sighed in content.
Today had been an alright September 16th. Probably the best one to date, really. I mean, I made a new friend who seemed pretty cool and I got to talk to the girl I had a crush on. Sure, a couple bad things happened, like running into the floor with my face. And a pole. But that's light stuff compared to years past. I opened my eyes back up and looked at the millions of lights twinkling in the inky blackness.
Besides, compared to all of the stars light-years away, my problems were insignificant.
A/N: So this has been mostly done for a long time, I just needed to edit and fix some things and well. I didn't. Oops. Thanks for reading, any and all reviews are appreciated :)