Caution: Words Haunt

"Ugh, I hate going home." I whined as I started walking out of Zach's house. It was Sunday. Damn Sabath, signalling school the next day!

"Just stay then. It's not like you don't have half my closet anyway." he commented, pointing at the shirt I was borrowing currently.

"But my backpack and everything... I dunno. It's just time I go back, I guess." I said. He looked at me to show he understood. I walked out into the cold night and started walking towards my house. I loved walking at night because no one drives in the residential areas, and something about walking in the middle of the street makes me feel like I'm the center of the world; as if everything is controlled by me for at least a moment.

Sure, the street wasn't exactly empty. There's always those gang members asking me for a light (which I have, of course) and a few people asking me if I know where to get some good weed (which I know, of course) but it still feels peaceful.

"Hey little hoe. You want some cheap drugs? I got some right here if you unbutton me." I heard a familiar voice behind me. Wait, it's not Zach's voice... but who else knows about me...

"You douche bag!!!" I screamed and turned around so fast I almost slipped on the wet street. I ran as fast as I could in a 10 foot span and pounced my old best friend.

"Is that how you want to refer to you're best friend? Or did you mistake me for someone else?" Jerry asked. Damn, Jerry left this stupid city almost two years ago! How the hell did he recognize me?!

"Haha, I haven't seen you in forever and the first thing you do is temp me with sex and drugs? Haha, you know me too well." I joked.

"Well I knew you'd only take the offer if I made a girly voice. I was actually expecting you to punch my face in for the dirty comments. I'm rather shocked. Has someone calmed down a little?" he kidded.

"Haha, no. You jerk, I didn't want to hurt you since it's been so long. Where have you been?! No, why are you here? Wait, just... what happened?" I was in shock but too happy to think straight.

"Ok, so at first I was living with my dad, right? Then I got kicked out of a school over there for fighting too much. Someone was spreading rumors, so I just got pissed one day and from then on, I was fighting every week. Anyways, so my mom was upset and thought it was my dad's fault. One long custody battle later, and here I am!" he summarized it all.

"Damn. Well, are you gonna be able to go to our school still? You know we miss you!" I said honestly. Jerry was the clean one of us and it was hard to think of him as getting into fights all the time. I'd only seen him angry about ten times and we'd known each other since second grade. But I guess we all acquire issues over time.

"Yeah. I should be going tomorrow, in fact. Anyway, fill me in on your life. I missed you." He said. Damn, he better not still have a crush on me. Once I told him I was a lesbian he went insane because he loved me, but at least he didn't go insane as another person did...

"Ok, so I've got a girlfriend. Remember... oh wait, I don't think you ever met Hannah. OH! And I'm tryin to get clean. It's workin pretty well, ya know? I'm thinkin we're all gonna be good little kids like you soon!" I joked.

"Shut up." he laughed. "Hey, it's kinda late. You wanna get outta the street and to you're house? I'll walk you there." He offered. Ah, Jerry. Always treating me like a little lady even though I was basically the opposite.

"Yeah, sure. In fact, you wanna stay over tonight since my dad's probably off getting drunk tonight? It's Sunday, right?" I checked.

"Haha, I'll stay for awhile, but my mom missed me so I should probably go home SOMETIME tonight, ya know?" he replied.

"Good enough for me." I said and we started walking to my house.

We came in through the fire escape. "Let me see if he's home or not." I said. I jumped in and started checking the house for any signs of him. Then I heard a loud grunt from the couch. "Where the fuck have you been?" he tried to yell but couldn't manage to stay loud the entire sentence.

"With Zach. Hey, my friend's with me and we're gonna chill in my room for a little while. We won't do anything stupid so don't worry." I said and and signalled for Jerry to run in before my dad turned to check out what was up.

"Whatever. Just don't bother me." He said angrilly and continued watching tv. Alright, so far so good. Jerry was sitting on my bed when I entered and I sat down next to him.

"So should I be warned about any teachers this year?" he asked.

"Only if you get English with me. Trust me, that bitch is horrible." I rolled my eyes and flopped backwards. He joined me.

"Man, I hate school so much. It's beyond aggrivating!" I complained.

"Not to mention it's a bitch to be quitting during the school year." he replied.

"Well, actually, no. I did so much worse stuff during the summer 'cause of all the free time. It's just better that I do it now." I said.

"Well, at least you've found a girl." He said cheerily.

"Yeah, true that. But, like, I'm worried she's going to find out about my drug problem and stop liking me." I murmerred.

"Whoa, wait! She doesn't know?"

"Like, I said, I was trying to quit..."

"Will she actually break up with you if she finds out?!" he asked, genuinly worried.

"Well, that's the problem! I don't know!" I said, feeling suddenly worried.

He sighed. "I won't tell her, but she might find out." He said, looking down.

"Yeah. Since the day we started dating, I couldn't help but think I was setting myself up for heartbreak."